ANNUAL REPORT

Department of Physiology January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013

Dr. John Orlowski Chair

June 2014 Description of Unit

The Department of Physiology is housed in the McIntyre Medical Sciences Building, but also includes faculty members in the Bellini Life Sciences Complex, the Goodman Cancer Centre and throughout the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) network and affiliated hospitals (Jewish General Hospital and Montreal Neurological Institute). The academic staff of the Department consists of 28 professors and 42 associate members and 2 adjunct professors. Several full‐time members have full cross‐appointments in other departments and all associate members have primary appointments with other departments at McGill (both basic and clinical). Adjunct professors hold full‐time appointments in other universities. These ties strengthen the teaching and supplement the expertise of the Department of Physiology and provide an important network of communication with other Departments within the university and with other universities. The expertise of our faculty currently spans not only the contemporary fields of , immunology, endocrinology, cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, and cell physiology, but also emerging multidisciplinary areas of physiology that incorporate mathematics, computational modeling, simulation, electrical and biomechanical engineering. The overarching mission of the Department is to foster an environment that facilitates research and scholarly activities aimed at developing a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of living systems ranging from the study of single molecules to integrated systems of the cell, organ and organism. An applied goal is to translate this knowledge into the creation of novel biomaterials, biomedical devices and artificial cells & organs for the betterment of human health.

The Department offers a well‐established multidisciplinary teaching curriculum at the undergraduate and graduate levels that attract students from across Canada and internationally. The Department currently offers 30 courses in physiology and teaches over 2500 undergraduates in the Faculties of Science and Medicine. Of these, approximately 450 students are registered for the B.Sc. degree in Physiology. At the undergraduate levels, courses are organized into seven distinct programs of study that offer varying degrees of concentration in physiology (B.Sc. Liberal Physiology Core; Majors in Physiology; Honours in Physiology) as well as other disciplines (Joint Majors in Physiology and Physics; Joint Majors in Physiology and Mathematics; Interdepartmental Honours Immunology; and Interdepartmental Neuroscience). At the postgraduate level, there are ~50‐55 students registered annually for the M.Sc. (12‐18 students) and Ph.D. (36‐44 students) degrees in Physiology and ~18‐24 postdoctoral fellows who pursue more independent training.

In addition to our faculty members, students and postdoctoral fellows, there are currently 7 non‐academic staff members comprised of administrative officers, program coordinators, course secretaries and laboratory technicians who are essential for the efficient operation of the Department. The Department went through an administrative reorganization in 2013 due to the government imposed cuts on University/Faculty budgets. Our Graduate Program Coordinator retired in June 2013, but the Department 1 | Page was not permitted to hire a replacement. As this position is critical to the smooth running of our graduate program and overall academic mission, the Chair decided to reassign his personal Administrative Assistant to one of the course secretarial positions so that an existing senior course secretary could be promoted into the position of Graduate Program Coordinator.

Despite budget cutbacks, the Department managed to maintain a balanced budget as of fiscal year‐end April 30, 2013.

Departmental Org. Chart is located in Appendix I. For a further snapshot of our Department and its offerings, please refer to our website at: http://www.mcgill.ca/physiology

Research and Publications

Our faculty members continue to distinguish themselves in scientific research and scholarship. Despite major cutbacks in Government‐based funding, the main source for our departmental members, the great majority of our active research members have retained funding from local, national and international funding agencies (continuing and new grants and contracts). The annual total amount of research funding for 2013 is ~$5.6 million, down only marginally from the 2012 level of ~6.0 million. See Appendix II for a list of funding of individual faculty members for 2013 (includes comparison to previous 4 years) as well as a break‐down of the individual funding budget amounts from the various granting agencies.

Of worthy note: Our Department has 5 CRC funded Professors (Drs. Cook, Chacron, Haghighi, Lukacs and Martinez‐Trujillo) and recently added Dr. Ana Nyzhnyk as a CRC Tier II recipient. Dr.’s Sharif‐Naeini and Jones hold independent salary awards from FRQS and CIHR, respectively.

Kathy Cullen, as lead PI, and an interdisciplinary team consisting of Antoine Adamantidis, Maurice Chacron, Erik Cook, Leslie Fellows, Ridha Joober, Julio Martinez‐Trujillo, John Orlowski, Christopher Pack and Nahum Sonenberg submitted a CFI 8 letter of intent and received the go ahead from the University to proceed with submission of the application.

In 2013, our faculty members collectively published 92 articles in leading scientific journals/books that cover the disciplines of physiology, , biochemistry, molecular biology, mathematics, computational biology and biotechnology (Appendix III).

The Department continues to host the evening “Shop Talk Soirée” series. This evening takes place once each semester at the Faculty Club and 2 members of the Department present to their colleagues on their research at this relaxed informal gathering. This series has become a very important component of the Department’s cohesion and gives

2 | Page each member an understanding of the scope of research being carried out within our Department.

Teaching and Learning (undergraduate and graduate) (1) Undergraduate Studies The Department of Physiology is relatively unique amongst the biomedical science departments at McGill with respect to the breath of its undergraduate programs. Led by our Program Director, Dr. Ann Wechsler, there are three main programs, Liberal, Major and Honours along with 4 Joint and Interdisciplinary Programs: Physiology and Physics, Physiology and Math, Interdepartmental Honours Immunology and the more recently introduced (September 2008) Interdepartmental B.Sc. Neuroscience program (Physiology, Biology and Psychology) which has been directed by Dr. Monroe Cohen from our Department since its inception. Specialized interdisciplinary programs allow students to explore more than one discipline in some depth, bringing different perspectives to the study of Physiology. Our Research Project courses (PHGY 396 and PHGY 461) give final‐ year undergraduate students an opportunity to explore potential career choices through a supervised experience in the laboratory.

Our enrollment numbers have remained relatively stable over the past 4 years; we have seen a slight decline in enrollment (as have the other depts.) since the Department of Pharmacology introduced an undergraduate degree program. The total registration in our B.Sc Physiology programs for 2012‐13 was 462 students (still second highest total registration amongst the biomedical science departments, with Anatomy & Cell Biology being first) and for the B.Sc. Neuroscience program was 184. Our students in the various programs continue to do very well academically, with the average graduating CGPA’s for the respective programs ranging from 3.1 to 3.8. The Department recommended 113 students for graduation in May of 2013. Please see Appendix IV for our program enrollment numbers for 2012‐13, as well as registration numbers for our entry (PHGY 209,210, 212, 213) and intermediate (PHGY 311, 312, 313, 314) levels courses (out of a total of 30 course offerings).

Highlights:  A new upper level course, PHGY 488: Stem Cell Biology, was approved and is coordinated by one of our newest recruits, Dr. Ana Nyzhnyk.  With funding accumulated over the last few years from the Undergraduate Lab Improvement Fund, the Department was able to purchase 2 more state‐of‐the art Zeiss epifluorescence microscopes to add to the equipment our new Undergraduate Microscopy Laboratory that is part of the PHGY 560 course (cost was approx. $60k). The Microscopy lab is also available to other Departmental members for training and or lab use outside course hours.  With the enthusiastic support of PULS (Physiology Undergraduate League of Students), the 8th Annual Department of Physiology Undergraduate Research Day was 3 | Page

held on March 22, 2013. Students registered in the year‐long ‘Experimental Physiology PHGY 461’ course presented research posters. These were visited by a large number of staff, graduate and undergraduate students. The invited speaker for the day was Dr. Lorne Mendell (Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, ). The title of his talk was “Enhancing Circuit Performance in the Injured .”  Our recently inaugurated Undergraduate Mentorship program, developed and directed by Dr. Ann Wechsler, continues to be well received. A pamphlet was created to reach out to students to partake in the program, and our faculty members have eagerly embraced this initiative through time spent with their mentees which has greatly contributed to its success.  The Department was successful in receiving Tomlinson Award funding for our Undergraduate Course Assistants that peer tutor in PHGY 209/210.

(2) Graduate Studies Our graduate program is designed for a select group of students who have a strong background in the biomedical and quantitative sciences head by Program Director Dr. John White. Our current minimum cGPA for acceptance into the graduate program is 3.2. Each student's course work is decided as a result of consultation between the student, the student's supervisor and the Graduate Student Admissions and Advisory Committee (GSAAC), and is designed to provide a basic background in systems, developmental, cellular, molecular and quantitative physiology. We also ensure proper monitoring of each graduate student’s research progress through regular meetings with a supervisory committee and strive for completion of the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in two and five years, respectively. Our retention of graduate students continues to be high and has continued to improve over levels from five years ago.

Our enrollment numbers have remained relatively stable over the past 4 years. In 2013, the enrollment in our Graduate Program was: 40 doctoral students, 18 masters, and 21 postdoctoral fellows. We also accepted 5 research trainees. 6 Students (2 M.Sc. and 4 Ph.D.) were granted their degrees in 2013.

Highlights:  A Welcome Reception Luncheon was held for the incoming students in September 2013. Returning students and faculty welcomed the newly accepted students at an informal lunch that was preceded by a more formal presentation of the program. This gathering is funded by the Chair’s discretionary fund.  Graduate Research Day was held on May 3, 2013 in the McIntyre Bldg, (6th floor) with Dr. Paul Kulesa (Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas, City, MO) being the

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invited guest speaker. His talk was entitled “Social Networking in the Embryo: How Cells Collaborate to Form the Peripheral Nervous System”.  The M.Sc. program required credits were reduced to 42 from 49 as mandated by the University.  The Chemical Biology Option was approved by the University and was launched in Fall 2013.  A new graduate course was introduced in 2013: PHGY 604 – Responsible Conduct in Research. This course is now mandatory for all M.Sc. and Ph.D. students to graduate from their programs.

Involvement in the Community Faculty members in the Department have been actively engaged in events that promote and support their academic disciplines and that contribute to the larger non‐academic community. These include the organization of numerous local, national, and international conferences, a state‐of‐the‐art summer course in light microscopy and volunteer activities, among others (for details see Appendix V).

Highlights:  Dr. Claire Brown held media interviews including Biocompare and The Scientist Magazine. Biocompare, “What's Going on in There? See It All With Live Cell Imaging”, (http://www.biocompare.com/Editorial‐Articles/131517‐What‐s‐Going‐on‐in‐There‐ See‐It‐All‐With‐Live‐Cell‐Imaging/), February 22, 2013. The Scientist Magazine, “Room with a View”, (http://www.the‐ scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/34173/title /A‐Room‐with‐a‐View/, February 1, 2013

 Homecoming weekend was held on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013 and the Department hosted its 2nd alumni cocktail event in one of the Bellini conference rooms overlooking the Atrium.  The Department underwent a cyclical unit review in 2013 which culminated in an external review committee visiting the Department in November 2013. The Final Report was received at the end of December 2013. Recommendations were to be reviewed in 2014.

Milestones:  Dr. Maurice Chacron was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure  Christine Pamplin, Graduate Program Coordinator, retired

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 The Department grieved over the loss of a distinguished colleague, Dr. Riaz Farookhi.

Honours, awards, and prizes:  Dr. Ann Wechsler received the University’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Leadership in Learning.  Mr. Walter Kucharski, Technician was the recipient of the Principal’s Award (Administrative and Support Category)  Dr. Thomas Chang: 2013 Honorary Symposium President: XIV International Symposia on Blood Substitutes and 2013 and 2013 Honorary Professor: Shantou University Lee Kai Sheng College of Medicine  Dr. Kathleen Cullen: 1) Vice President: Montreal Society for Neuroscience 2) Scientific Advisory Council of Brain Canada 3) The Schmitt Lecturer (Neuroscience) University of Rochester, NY 4) Graduate Research Day, Keynote Speaker (Neuroscience)University of Pittsburgh, PA 5) Keynote Lecture, Gordon Research Conference on Eye Movements, Stonehill College, Easton Massachusetts Gordon Research Conference  Dr. Leon Glass: Arthur T. Winfree Award – Society for Mathematical Biology  Dr. John W. Hanrahan: Awarded Faculty of 1000 – Physiology from Faculty of 1000 Ltd.  Dr. Russell Jones: Ann Wechsler Award for Excellence in Teaching  Dr. Gergely Lukacs: Visiting Professorship; Kyoto Prefectural University  Dr. Jacopo Mortola: Ann Wechsler Award for Excellence in Teaching

Undergraduate Student Awards  Kathleen Terroux Prizes: o Radu Avramescu (PHGY Honours cGPA 3.92) o Zachary Dulberg (PHGY & PHYS cGPA 3.97) o Jesse Zuckerman (PHGY Major cGPA 3.98)  Major Hiram Mills Medal: Zhiyu Chen (BIOC Honours cGPA 3.98)  Blair Jia (summer research student) won first prize in Organismal and Biological Sciences at the McGill Faculty of Science Undergraduate Research Conference for his poster "CLIC Imaging of Cells: Pressing Cells into Focus". Graduate Student Awards  Brandon Faubert: CIHR Frederick Banting & Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship AND Marilyn Wener Award of Excellence from the Canderel Foundation AND FRQS Etudiants‐chercheurs etoiles du mois for May 2013  Takla Griss: Canadian Student Health Research Forum, Winnipeg  Sharon Harel: NSERC Alexandre Graham Bell Scholarship  Lennart Hilbert: McGill Systems Biology Graduate Training Award  Said Izreig: Canadian Student Health Research Forum, Winnipeg  Mohsen Jamali: Vanier Canada Scholarship  Steven Li Fraine: GEPROM Funding and Fondation GO  Hicham Mahboubi: NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship 6 | Page

 Nour Malek: Alexander Graham Bell Canada Scholarship, Canadian Student Health Research Forum, Winnipeg  Babak Memari: Harrison Watson Scholarship, Faculty of Medicine  Jerneja Stare: CIHR Frederick Banting & Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship  Adeline Wohlhuter: Cystic Fibrosis Canada Award

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