News

Job Opportunities:

• Postdoctoral position. Dr Vincent Poitout laboratory, CRCHUM, Universit� de Montr�al:
  Nutrient regulation of beta-cell proliferation.
• Postdoctoral position. Dr Romeo Ricci laboratory, IGBMC, Universit� de Strasbourg, France:
  Lysosomal functions in pancreatic beta cells.
• Professorship. Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. For more information please click here.
• Doctoral student. Dr Andr� Marette laboratory, Laval University, Quebec City. For more information please click here.
• Graduate student (MSc or PhD). Dr Gareth Lim laboratory, CRCHUM, Universit� de Montr�al. For more information please click here.
• Assistant, Associate or Full Professor of Pharmacology. University of Washington (Seattle, USA), School of Medicine. For more information please click here.
• Graduate student (MSc or PhD). Dr Vincent Poitout laboratory, CRCHUM, Universit� de Montr�al. For more information please click here.
• Research Assistant in cell culture. Dr Nabil Seidah laboratory, Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montr�al. For more information please click here.
• Postdoctoral position. Dr C�line Aguer laboratory, Institut de recherche de l'H�pital Montfort, Ottawa. For more information please click here.
• Postdoctoral position. Dr Raphael Scharfmann laboratory (Pancreatic endocrine cell development), INSERM Cochin Institute, Paris, France. For more information please click here.
• Licenced nurse graduate student. Dr May Faraj laboratory, Institut de recherches cliniques de Montr�al, Universit� de Montr�al. For more information please click here.
• Graduate students (MSc or PhD). Dr Thierry Alquier laboratory, CRCHUM, Universit� de Montr�al. For more information please click here.
• Graduate students (MSc or PhD). Dr Mathieu Ferron laboratory (Research Unit in Integrative and Molecular Physiology), Institut de recherches cliniques de Montr�al, Universit� de Montr�al. For more information please click here.
• Doctoral student. Dr Pierrette Gaudreau laboratory, CRCHUM, Universit� de Montr�al. For more information please click here.

MDRC researchers are wearing blue for the World Diabetes Day 2016

Fall 2016 MDRC Travel Awards are attributed to...

MDRC offers student travel awards of $700 twice a year to MSc, PhD students as well as post-doctoral trainees. Here are the recipients of the fall 2016 series of awards:

• Xinping Zhao, Shao-Ling Zhang laboratory
• Karen Markwick, Corinne Hoesli laboratory
• Nadine Taleb, R�mi Rabasa-Lhoret laboratory
• M�lanie Le Barz, Andr� Marette laboratory
• Min-Chun Liao, Shao-Ling Zhang laboratory

Congratulations!

Deadline for application to the next series of awards is May 31, 2017. Click here for conditions and requested material (PDF).

The first North-American meeting of the World Health Summit will be held in Montreal May 8 and 9, 2017

The Universit� de Montr�al and the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM) will be hosting the first World Health Summit to be held in North America. The world leaders in global health will be attending this prestigious event, including over 800 researchers, doctors, industry leaders, decision-makers, government members and civil society actors from around the world.

Vincent Poitout, together with Philippe Halban (Geneva), will chair a session on "Diabetes in Pluralistic Societies". Speakers for this session will be Sir George Alberti (UK; The global challenge of type 2 diabetes), Robert Hegele (Western Ontario; Learning from genetics of diabetes in aboriginal people), Alex Brown (Australia; Managing type 2 diabetes in vulnerable populations) and David Nathan (Harvard MGH; How to prevent type 2 diabetes in real world settings, focus on developing countries).

To register, please visit www.worldhealthsummit.org/regional-meeting.html.

10^th MDRC annual retreat

More than 230 researchers and students gathered at the new CRCHUM Agora last February 5 for the tenth MDRC annual retreat. The meeting started with the 3^rd George Cahill Lecture given by Dr Dan Drucker from Mount Sinai Hospital of Toronto and entitled "Redefining classical concepts of incretin hormone action". Three students then presented their work - Denis Blondin (from Andr� Carpentier laboratory) was awarded for best oral presentation - and Dr Ron Kahn gave the 11^th J Denis McGarry Lecture entitled "Interactions between genes, environment and the gut microbiome in insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome".

In the afternoon, 69 posters were presented and prizes were awarded for best presentation to: Erin Coyne (S Wing lab, McGill), Sophie Gravel (V Michaud lab, CRCHUM/UdM), Khalil Bouyakdan (T Alquier lab, CRCHUM/UdM), Nida Haider (L Larose lab, McGill), Liliia Butiaeva (M Kokoeva lab, McGill), Hicham Mahboubi (U Stochaj lab, McGill), Cindy Audiger (S Lesage lab, HMR), L�a D�carie-Spain (Fulton/Alquier lab, CRCHUM/UdM), Blandine Secco (M Laplante lab, U Laval) and Hasna Maachi (V Poitout lab, CRCHUM/UdM). Congratulations to all the students for their excellent work and presentations.

Three seminars ended the day, given by Sylvie Lesage from H�pital Maisonneuve-Rosemont, Fr�d�ric Picard from Universit� Laval and In�s Holzbaur form Amorchem. Day highlights can be seen on MDRC twitter account @MDRC_CRDM.

CHUM ©

MDRC researchers at CRCHUM are wearing blue to mark the World Diabetes Day 2015

CHUM ©

Congratulations to the fall 2015 MDRC Travel Awards recipients

MDRC offers student travel awards of $700 twice a year to MSc, PhD students as well as post-doctoral trainees. The purpose of these awards is to cover registration fees and travel expenses for MDRC students who will give oral or poster presentations in a scientific meeting.

Here are the recipients of the fall 2015 series of MDRC Travel Awards:

• Farah Lizotte, Pedro Geraldes laboratory
• Alexandre Garneau, Julie Lavoie laboratory
• Mohamed Raef Smaoui, R�mi Rabasa-Lhoret laboratory
• Paul Simon, Pavel Hamet laboratory
• Maha Al-Riyami, Constantin Polychronakos laboratory

Dr Norbert Schmitz' lab is organizing a conference on prediabetes and mental health

The conference, titled "Prediabetes and Mental Health - A Call for Action" will be held on November 12-13, 2015 at McGill University and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. More information on the conference and guest speakers is available on the conference website.

The first conference day will take place at McGill (Thompson House) and will focus on knowledge exchange with a series of presentations by guest speakers who are experts in diabetes and mental health research. The second day (half-day) will take place at the Douglas and will focus on identifying future research priorities with round table discussions between researchers, clinicians, and policy-makers who are interested in prediabetes and mental health. Click here to download preliminary program.

Dr Vincent Poitout appointed Director of Research for the CHUM

The CHUM announced the appointment of Vincent Poitout as CHUM's Director of Research and Scientific Director for the CRCHUM. He was occupying the position since June 2014, following the departure of Jacques Turgeon.

Lise Gauvin elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences

Lise Gauvin was elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences during a ceremony held in Ottawa on September 17, 2015.

Over $2.5 million to R�mi Rabasa-Lhoret for research on the artificial pancreas

Dr R�mi Rabasa-Lhoret research team at IRCM is receiving a grant of more than $2.5M USD from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to perform an important clinical study on external artificial pancreas in adults and children with type 1 diabetes.

The goal of the project is to compare glucose control achieved using the single-hormone (insulin only) automated artificial pancreas, the dual-hormone (insulin and glucagon) artificial pancreas, and the conventional insulin pump to deliver insulin.

Dr Rabasa-Lhoret team is leading the field of artificial pancreas development in Canada, a technology which has the potential to greatly reduce complication risks associated to a poor glucose control in people with type 1 diabetes.

Click here for the IRCM news release.

MDRC presents his first Report of Activities

MDRC is proud to present, for its tenth anniversary, his first report of activities. Since its inception in 2005, MDRC have made remarkable steps forward in building a successful and integrated diabetes Center that spans basic, clinical and population health research on all types of diabetes and its associated complications. The document describes our unique Center and lists key achievements and steps since its opening. It can be viewed on line through the Issuu platform or downloaded here.

Marc Prentki receives the "Prix d'excellence en recherche du CRCHUM 2015"

Dr Marc Prentki, director of the MDRC, received the Prix d'excellence en recherche du CRCHUM last January 29 for his overall career. This award recognizes the outstanding achievements of a CRCHUM investigator in health research.

CRCHUM ©

Left to right: Marc Prentki, John Stagg, CRCHUM director Vincent Poitout and Daniel Kaufmann.

Congratulations to the 2014-2015 Facult� de M�decine de l'Universit� de Montr�al/MDRC Studentships recipients

In recognition of the MDRC success at the Canada Foundation for Innovation competition, the Facult� de M�decine de l'Universit� de Montr�al generously gives us $40,000 in funding for Msc and PhD students. Thanks to this support, 4 studentships of $10,000 are awarded each year.

Here are the 2014-2015 recipients:

• Elsa Nyam, MSc student, Vincent Poitout lab (CRCHUM). Project title: "L'ur�e, potentiel m�diateur de la dysfonction de la cellule b�ta-pancr�atique au cours de l�insuffisance r�nale chronique".
• Nadine Taleb, MSc student, R�mi Rabasa-Lhoret lab (IRCM). Project title: "L'efficacit� du pancr�as artificiel externe durant l'exercice chez les adultes atteints du diab�te du type 1".
• Cindy Audiger, PhD student, Sylvie Lesage and Nathalie Labrecque labs (HMR). Project title: "Role des cellules T m�moires dans la pathogen�se du diab�te de type 1".
• Am�lie Germain, MSc student, Mathieu Ferron lab (IRCM). Project title: "Le r�le de Gas6 dans le m�tabolisme du glucose".

2015 MDRC annual retreat

MDRC annual retreat is scheduled for February 6, 2015. It will be held in the auditorium of the new CHUM research center, 900 St-Denis Street. Dr Philipp Scherer from the Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas is the invited speaker for the "2015 J Denis McGarry Lecture".

Since last year the MDRC is proud to also present a major Lecture in clinical research, the "George Cahill Lecture". Our second invited speaker is Dr Ralph DeFronzo from the Health Science Center in San Antonio. Oral and poster presentations by MDRC students and trainees are scheduled, as well as a presentation by Dr Philippe Crine, from Enobia Inc.

Please register as soon as possible through the form available here. Students and post-docs interested in giving an oral or poster presentation must submit their abstract through the same form before January 18, 2014.

The program will be available soon.

The 2015 Annual Retreat is sponsored by Merck, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, Janssen, Boehringer, Sanofi, McGill University Faculty of Medicine, Réseau de Recherche en Santé Cardiométabolique Diabète et Obésité (CMDO), IRCM, Diabète Québec and CRCHUM.

Visiting Scientist Awards for projects on human islets

The Alberta Diabetes Institute is introducing a competition to offer 2 visiting scientist awards at a maximum of $10,000 each, so that scientists at any level can spend up to 4 months in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada carrying out their own research projects on human islets.

For more details please download this document or visit Dr Patrick MacDonald lab website. Deadline for application is January 31, 2015.

Discovery of a new mechanism to prevent type 2 diabetes in obese individuals

A new study conducted by MDRC member Dr May Faraj, shows that the number of low-density lipoprotein particles carrying bad cholesterol in the blood is an important factor in promoting the risk for type 2 diabetes in obese individuals. Their results are published in the May 2013 issue of the Journal of Lipid Research. This scientific breakthrough may help prevent diabetes by targeting treatments to higher-risk individuals. Click here for more details.

IRCM ©

Left to right: Nathalie St-Pierre, Catherine Leroux, Simon Bissonnette, Annie Tardif, Dany Gauthier, Robert Dufour, May Faraj, Val�rie Lamantia, Hanny Wassef.

AmorChem venture capital fund invests at MDRC

Two projects of the MDRC researchers Marc Prentki and Nabil Seidah have recently been funded by the venture capital fund AmorChem: more than 1 million and 1.5 million $, respectively. The shareholders of this fund are the Quebec government, Fonds de solidarit� FTQ and Merck. The mission of AmorChem is to increase the commercial value of academic research discoveries in Quebec. Click here for an article in La Presse about this news (in French).

Three MDRC students are awarded at the 5^th COLosSUS annual meeting

Three MDRC students were awarded for best presentation at the 5^th COLosSUS annual meeting, held last February 14 and 15 at Orford. These are Meriem Semache and Bader Zarrouki, from Vincent Poitout laboratory, and St�phanie Auguste, from Stephanie Fulton laboratory. Congratulations!

A $100,000 donation from Sun Life Financial

Sun Life Financial is providing a $100,000 donation to CRCHUM-affiliated MDRC researchers to fund two pilot projects linked to the prevention of diabetes. The two research teams selected will each receive an amount of $50,000 to undertake new fundamental research projects. Click here to read the Sun Life Financial communiqu�.

Photographer : Marcel La Haye©

From left to right: Mr. Hugo Rivard-Royer, Assistant Chief Executive Officer, Fondation du CHUM, Dr Jacques Turgeon, CRCHUM Director, Dr Vincent Poitout, MDRC Co-Director and CRCHUM Scientific Director, Mrs. Diane Lafontaine, Assistant Vice President, Marketing and Communications, Sun Life Financial, Quebec, Dr Marc Prentki, MDRC Director, and Mr. Serge Langlois, President and Executive Director, Diabète Québec.

MDRC success for a CFI competition - Creation of the BIOcMET consortium

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) announced last January 15 the attribution of a 6.5 million $ grant to fund the project entitled "The Montreal Cardiometabolic biomarker and drug discovery consortium (BIOcMET)". This project is led by Dr Marc Prentki, MDRC director. Among the 10 investigators involved in the project, 8 are MDRC members: Drs Prentki, Poitout, Hamet, Turgeon, Gaudreau (UdM/CRCHUM), Rabasa-Lhoret, Seidah (UdM/IRCM) and Sladek (McGill). The two other researchers are Drs Blanchette (McGill) and Coulombe (UdM/IRCM).

Marc Prentki is the EASD's 2011 Albert Renold Prize recipient

MDRC Director Marc Prentki has been awarded the 2011 Albert Renold Prize by the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) for "outstanding achievements in research on the islets of Langerhans".

As part of the prize Dr Prentki was invited to give the Albert Renold Lecture at the 2011 EASD annual meeting. The title of his talk was: "Tricycling along the β-cell and its coupling mechanisms for fuel induced insulin secretion".

MDRC at the forefront

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