News Releases & Announcements

OTTAWA, July 21, 2009 — Three leading-edge researchers from the Faculty of Science at the University of Ottawa will share $360,000 in grants to support projects in the fields of biology and physics as part of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s (NSERC) Discovery Accelerator Supplements.

Dr. Rees Kassen, associate professor in the Department of Biology, and Drs André Longtin and Andrew Pelling, both in the Department of Physics, were selected as recipients of the accelerator grants. These grants provide additional resources to researchers who show strong potential to become international leaders in their respective area of research. These grants are also accompanied by a total of $4.96M in grants and scholarships awarded to 220 University of Ottawa students.

Dr. Kassen’s work focuses on the evolutionary process, as it unfolds, by using microbial populations such as bacteria, algae and fungi. He aims to develop a general working theory of adaptation that could be applied to the emergence of new infectious diseases like SARS and West Nile Virus.
Professor André Longtin’s research explores temporal pattern memory—how the brain actually represents memories—and the roles of noise and feedback in representing and conveying information in the human brain. His work holds great promise for important discoveries in the fields of physics and biology.

The research of Assistant Professor Andrew Pelling focuses on understanding cell biophysics, which plays a major but relatively unexplored role in cell biology. The long-term goal of his research program is to understand the genetic and architectural control mechanisms that allow cells to convert mechanical stimulus into chemical activity.

The University of Ottawa, one of Canada’s top research-intensive universities, is committed to excellence and encourages an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge creation that attracts the best academic talent from across Canada and around the world.