Brock University Raises the Stakes
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• Brock University Bothre Sides of the Brain search in Action BROCK UNIVERSITY RAISES THE STAKES plus Why students and scholars are choosing Brock Powered by The Globe and Mail's Custom Content Group Discover why over 600,000 professionals and graduates enjoy greater savings Join the growing number of members who enjoy greater savings from TD Insurance on Home and Auto. Most insurance companies offer discounts for combining home and auto policies, or your good driving record. What you may not know is that we offer these savings too, plus we offer preferred rates to many university graduates, including Brock University graduates, and professional association members. Find out how much you could save if you are a member of one of the many universities or professional associations that enjoy our preferred rates. Go to join.tdinsurance.com or call 1-855-JOIN-TDI (1-855-564-6834) to find out more. HOME AUTO LIFE TRAVEL The insurance program is underwritten by SECURITY NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY and distributed by Meloche Monnex Insurance and Financial Services Inc. in Ontario. ®/ The TD logo and other trade-marks are the property of The Toronto-Dominion Bank or a wholly-owned subsidiary, in Canada and/or other countries. Projet : MM8964-12-Ann. spécial Brock Province : Ontario Épreuve # : 4 Client : Meloche Monnex Publication : Brock’s Globe & Mail special insertion ad Date de tombée : 2012/10/15 No de dossier : Format : 7.875X10.75 MM8964-12-Ann. spécial Brock Couleur : Quad Graphiste : Marie-Josée Proulx Hamelin Martineau • 505, boul. de Maisonneuve O. Bureau 300 • Montréal (Québec) H3A 3C2 • T : 514 842 4416 F : 514 844 9343 ATTENTION : Merci de vérifier attentivement cette épreuve afin d’éviter toute erreur. president's message contents editor Simon Beck Globe edGe Knocking 2 art director CUttiNg-EDgE HUB Frank Perito Globe edGe down the walls The Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research contributors Kevin Cavanagh Complex in action Jeffrey Sinibaldi Tiffany Mayer Cathy Majtenyi Kaitlyn Little 4 tRaNSDiSCiPliNaRitY re•search is produced by Researchers working the globe and mail's together globe edge to solve the world’s problems director, client engagement & globe edge Teena Poirier 6 group editor, JOURNEYS tO globe edge DiSCOVERY Charlene Rooke In pictures: Tales of research excellence program manager, globe edge Liz Massicotte business development manager, 8 globe edge AGENtS OF Krista Cain CHaNgE [email protected] Brock’s student researchers aim to make a difference printing and pre-press by DM Digital+1 A university has to know what it wants to be. 10 At Brock, we have our own clear sense of who we are AT tHE tOP OF and what our role should be. tHEiR GAME At the heart of Brock’s mission is a simple idea: Over- A look at Brock’s 13 come boundaries. This includes the boundaries between Canada Research Chairs our own internal academic disciplines. It also includes boundaries between formal classrooms and the real life of surrounding communities. on the COVER Within a university, rigid boundaries can create silos of disciplines that don’t always relate to the challenges being 12 experienced in real, living communities. WHY BROCK? Like most universities, Brock has specific research Students, professors and strengths. Unlike most universities, Brock has been break- alumni reveal why they chose ing down the barriers between those disciplines. This this university includes creating transdisciplinary institutes that involve community partners. In doing so, we collaborate with communities and also provide unique educational experiences for our students. Situated on the brow of Brock is committed to the pursuit of academic excel- the Niagara Escarpment lence, and to being a partner that helps advance the in Ontario’s Niagara Brock University’s Canada economic, social and cultural development of communi- region, Brock University Research Chairs in front ties beyond our campus. is named for War of 1812 of the new Cairns Family These principles set our inner compass, so when stu- hero Major-Gen. Sir Isaac Health and Bioscience dents come to Brock, they become contributing members Brock, who died defending Research Complex. of a family that knows where it’s going. Canada during the Battle of Photo by bob tymczyszyn Please visit us at brocku.ca Queenston Heights, not far from the present-day campus. learn more about Jack Lightstone brock University at President brocku.ca Brock University brock university / 1 How it all came togetHer the cairns complex Brock opens scientists can conduct unprecedented research on the effects of the virus on mosquitoes cutting-edge to assist in controlling disease- carrying insects. And leading the way in that lab is Fiona Hunter and her students. research hub In the years when West Nile was running up its death toll, Hunter and her colleagues had to rely heavily on American studies to in- new $112-million centre Since then, climate change has form their research. They also had brought more insect strains and to send Ontario insect specimens to will promote greater more health threats. a lab thousands of kilometres away The hot summer of 2012 was in Winnipeg, where technicians knowledge and “unleash Ontario’s worst for West Nile in tried to help, but had their 10 years — at least 244 confirmed own obligations. innovation” cases in humans, more than half “Winnipeg had to focus on the national total. insect species endemic to their own Fiona Hunter remembers 2002 But 2012 also brought hope, when region,” says Hunter, “which are all too well. Brock University opened the Cairns not necessarily the same species When the West Nile virus began Family Health and Bioscience A new era dawned we have here. That left researchers killing Canadians a decade ago, Research Complex. when the Cairns in Ontario with a significant gap Hunter and other scientists pressed Among other assets, the Cairns Family Health in knowledge. We basically had to Ontario officials to build a sophisti- Complex houses Ontario’s only and Bioscience extrapolate — guesstimate — our cated lab where researchers could Level 3 Containment Lab (CL3) with Research Complex findings for central Canada based study the mosquitoes transferring an insectary. Now, in the heart of opened in on knowledge we had about mos- the deadly virus to humans. Canada’s West Nile battleground, September 2012. quitoes elsewhere.” 2 / brock university February OctOber may 2009 › September September 2010 › September 2008 › Province 2008 › Niagara Government of Canada 2009 › The complex is named for 2012 › of Ontario commits Region municipality announces $38-million Groundbreaking the family of St. Catharines The Cairns $33.5-million through the commits $2-million. investment as part ceremony. lawyer and businessman Roy Family Health strategic infrastructure of its Knowledge Cairns, whose gift with an and Bioscience program created in its Fall Infrastructure impact of $10-million would Research Complex 2006 Economic Statement. Program. help build the project. is opened. That will change, says Hunter, facility like this,” says Ward. different disciplines of researchers one of a handful of medical ento- “Cairns makes us a player,” says — professors and students mologists in Canada. “There is a lot Vincenzo De Luca, a leading biolo- alike — to interact, be exposed to to be discovered, and the Level 3 gist who is the Canada Research each other, compare thoughts and allows us to ask these sorts of fun- Chair in plant biochemistry. “The look at challenges through differ- damental biological questions.” calibre and the potential of this ent lenses. She is not alone in seeing Cairns facility is on par with just about The result is 176,000 square feet as the key to a better future. Other anything you want to compare (more than four acres) of cutting- researchers think it will turn heads it to.” edge labs, teaching space and and attract more of Canada’s best Kinesiologist Sandra Peters facilities where scientists and their scholars and teachers. Wendy looked around her spacious new Medical students break ground in such Ward, the Canada Research Chair lab, awash in natural light, and entomologist fields as child and youth studies, in bone and muscle develop- summed it up succinctly: Fiona Hunter is biotechnology, green chemistry, ment and a leading researcher in “It’s beautiful.” leading research psychology and health sciences. osteoporosis, will be showing off From its conception, Cairns was into the deadly The $112-million Cairns Complex the building to recruit top graduate designed to have dramatic impact West Nile virus is also home to the Niagara campus students for her team. and further entrench Brock’s cul- in the Cairns of the Michael G. DeGroote School “Most scientists go their whole ture of transdisciplinary research Complex’s state- of Medicine, and a phytotron career without ever getting to work (see page 4). Architects were told to of-the-art Level 3 greenhouse where scientists study in a brand new state-of-the-art create work spaces that would lead Containment Lab. how plants can produce safer, more cost-effective cancer drugs and pharmaceuticals. Brock officials call Cairns an important tool in their mission to use the university’s resources and strenghts to improve the regional economy and the prospects of Ontario communities. A key to this is the BioLinc business incubator, where scientists and entrepreneurs collaborate to turn discovery into business enterprises that stay in Canada and accelerate its emerging knowledge-based economy. It’s all a tall order, but Univer- sity President Jack Lightstone says the model works because it has strong partners. The visionary project received nearly $72-million from federal and provincial governments and $2-million from the Niagara Region municipality. The private sector is also pitching in, including a major gift from St. Catharines philanthropist Roy Cairns and his family.