Friday 10 December 2004

Department of Biochemistry Year-End Party

The Department celebrated a successful year with a terrific catered lunch, superb pot-luck desserts, carol-singing, and much socializing between faculty, staff, post-docs, and students.

Click here for some photos.

Santas Isenman and Reithmeier with
door prize winner Liliana Attisano.

Thursday 21 October 2004

Molecular Chaperones Celebrated at 2004 Gairdner Awards

Dr. Ulrich Hartl, Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry; Dr. Arthur Horwich, Yale University, and Dr. John Ellis, University of Warwick, were awarded the 2004 Gairdner Prize “for their fundamental discoveries concerning chaperone assisted protein folding in the cell and its relevance to neurodegeneration".

This was a major event for the Biochemistry Department in part because the awardees were hosted by three of our faculty members with strong research interests in the field of molecular chaperones, Drs. Walid Houry, Reinhart Reithmeier, and David Williams.

The awardees are pictured at right along with their hosts at the Gairdner gala awards ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel, Toronto.

Two other renowned scientists were honoured with Gairdner awards this year:

Dr. Seymour Benzer, California Institute of Technology
“for pioneering discoveries that both founded and greatly advanced an entire field of neurogenetics, thereby transforming our understanding of the brain and its mechanisms”

Dr. George Sachs, University of California, Los Angeles
“for his elucidation of mechanisms of gastric acid secretion and the development of novel therapies for gastric disease”

The Three Chaperone Awardees
(left to right) Drs. Hartl, Horwich, Ellis

The Three Amigos
(left to right) Drs. Houry, Reithmeier, Williams

Wednesday 06 October 2004

New Graduate Students Honoured for Undergraduate Achievements

Two of our new biochemistry graduate students, Lia Cardarelli and Marty Dziedziura, have recently won awards, as they graduated from the Biochemistry Specialist undergraduate program here at the U of T.

Lia won the newly created Advanced Biochemistry Laboratory Coordinators Award for excellence shown within the advanced fourth year biochemistry lab and Marty won the Amy Britton Award for excellence in her fourth year biochemistry courses.

Both Lia and Marty are also to be commended for their many contributions as executives of the BUSS where they helped the Undergradute Coordinator greatly, and for continuing their education within the biochemistry graduate program here at U of T.

Lia Cardarelli (left) and Marty Dziedziura (right)
wear winning smiles with Undergraduate Coordinator, Roy Baker.

Wednesday 16 July 2004

Department honours Dr. Norman Camerman

On Wednesday July 16, 2004, the Department of Biochemistry celebrated the many years of service provided by Dr. Norman Camerman to the University of Toronto with lunch attended by a number of close friends and colleagues. As a memento of his time in the Department as a small molecules crystallographer Norman was presented with a piece of fine Swarovski crystal.

In the photo Norman and long-time Research Associate Dr. Andrew Hempel show Chair, Reinhart Reithmeier the proper procedure for mounting the crystal on a X-ray diffractometer. The Department is very proud of Norman's contributions to the Department and in particular his prowess as a lecturer in our introductory biochemistry courses. We all wish Norman well in his future endeavors.

Norman Camerman flanked by
Andrew Hempel (left) and Reinhart Reithmeier

Wednesday 09 June 2004

Ravi Ramjeesingh wins Scott Award

The David A. Scott award this year was presented Ravi Ramjeesingh. The award is for the best all round Biochemistry graduate student using as criteria performance at seminars, readiness and willingness to assist fellow graduate students and staff, abilities as teaching assistant, etc. Ravi was selected on the basis of research excellence, exemplary performance as a TA, and an outstanding contribution to the Department and his fellow students while president of the Biochemistry Graduate Student Union.

The award is provided from an endowed fund set up by the estate of David Scott in his honour and is currently valued at $500. David Scott was one of Canada's most distinguished biochemists. He played a key role in the development of methods for large scale preparation and purification of insulin. He was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 1939 and the Royal Society of London in 1949.

Ravi receiving Scott Award from
Graduate Coordinator, David Williams

Wednesday 09 June 2004

This year's Dorothy Sterling Dow Walsh Award goes to Michael Chang

The Dorothy Sterling Dow Walsh award is presented each year to the highest-ranked recipient of an Ontario Government Scholarship. It provides roughly $5000 towards the total OGS award plus the recipient receives a $200 cash prize from the Department in recognition of the achievement. Michael was selected on the basis of both academic and research excellence.

The award was established in 2002 by Marguerite Dow, who named this award in honour of her sister who was a biochemist with the Federal Dept of Agriculture.

Michael being congratulated by
Graduate Coordinator, David Williams

Thursday - Friday 3-4 June 2004

The First CIHR Strategic Training Program International Symposium on Proteins: Structure, Folding and Disease was a terrific success

For photos of the event click here

Wednesday 02 June 2004

Lewis Kay Wins Laukien Prize

The Laukien Prize for 2004 was awarded to Dr. Lewis Kay for his innovative
contributions to nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) of biological
macromolecules, particularly for the study of side-chain motion in proteins
by deuterium resonance and correlated relaxation measurements, and for
gradient-and-sensitivity enhanced heteronuclear correlation spectroscopy.

Established in 1999 to honor the memory of Professor Günter Laukien, a
co-founder of Bruker Instruments, the Laukien award is intended to
recognize cutting edge experimental NMR research with a high probability of
enabling beneficial new applications. Lewis Kay has gained a leading
position in NMR of biologically relevant molecules by numerous seminal
innovations relevant for the study of protein structure and dynamics.

Congratulations Lewis!!!

Tuesday 18 May 2004

First Annual Biochemistry Research Day

Our first research day, held at The Old Mill in Toronto, was a terrific success attracting more than 140 students, post-docs, faculty, and staff. The day included great meals!!, oral presentations by students and faculty, a poster session, and the Theo Hofmann lecture given by Natalie Strynadka of U.B.C. who kindly served double duty as a poster judge.

For photos of Research Day click here.

The Biochemistry Department out in force
for Research Day at The Old Mill.

Monday 12 April 2004

The Department remembers Professor Emeritus William Thompson.

It is with sadness that we report the passing of William Thompson, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Biochemistry and its Acting Chair from 1989-1991. Bill passed away peacefully during the night in the palliative care unit of St. Michael's Hospital. Bill was somewhat a medical miracle in having survived for over 25 years on hemodialysis. Despite the considerable limitations that this placed on his lifestyle, he always fiercely maintained his independence and carried on both cheerfully and actively, be it while he was still in our midst in the Department, or in his retirement years. Faced with the imminent loss of independence due to his ever-increasing frailty, Bill took the personal decision to end dialysis and electrolyte-maintaining treatments.

Bill was a man of enormous intellect and his dry wit sense of humour was legendary. Those who regularly had lunch with him at what he called the "Biochemistry Academy" table of the cafeteria, knew that Bill could be counted on for in depth knowledge and analysis on matters ranging from university politics, to worlds politics, to fine arts, to the intricacies of some of the more bizarre instruments of the financial markets. We always looked forward to being intellectually stimulated during these lunches with Bill and will cherish the memories forever.

The Department is arranging a memorial service for Bill to be held in May. Please contact the Chair's office for further information.

William Thompson 1933 - 2004

Tuesday 06 April 2004

Biochemistry students throw a surprise party for Lloyd Porter who is retiring after 30 years!! of superb service in the teaching labs.

Students from the BCH 371 lab course, TA's from the present and (distant) past, and old friends from the Biochemistry Department gathered to celebrate Lloyd's retirement. Senior Lecturer Patricia Bronskill gave a touching testimonial describing Lloyd's ever-helpful, cheerful,and unflappable nature. Lloyd will be sorely missed by students and TA's alike.

Happy Retirement Lloyd!!!.

A very surprised Lloyd with Patricia Bronskill

Friday 19 March 2004

The Department celebrates Professor Emeritus Theo Hofmann's 80th birthday.

Click here for some pictures from the party.

Happy Birthday Theo!!!.

Friday 12 March 2004

25 Year Service Award

Annelise Jorgensen received the "25 year service award" from Chair Reinhart Reithmeier for 25 years of dedicated service to the University of Toronto.

Annelise Jorgensen with
Reinhart Reithmeier at Hart House.

Tuesday 9 March 2004

History of Women in Biochemistry

As part of the celebration by the University of Toronto of the 120th anniversary of the official admission of women to our University, members of the Department met to discuss the history of women in biochemistry as well as the recent Brenda Maddox book “Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA”. Prof. Marian Packham, Departmental historian, provided some recollections about women in our Department.

Click here for more information about the event.

Marian Packham with her copy of
"Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA".

Saturday 17 January 2004

Second Annual Biochemistry Open House

Over 60 students attended the Open House, enjoying presentations, student posters, 1 on 1 chats with faculty and grad. students, tours of the campus/research institutes, and free meals!!.

Click here for some pictures from the Open House.

Seeing the world up close
in the EM facility.