Dr. Bowdish and Mossman attend the 2015 Bay Area Science & Engineering Fair as “Special Awards” judges. The IIDR awards a 6 week summer internship to the winner of the best senior project in human health, infection or disease. The winner gets to spend time in an IIDR lab doing real science. As always, the quality of the projects was high and choosing a winner was hard.
The Bowdish lab will support one applicant for a M.G. DeGroote Post-doctoral fellowship. Below is the information on the award but from past experience, applicants must have a strong publication record in high impact journals and have a clear track-record of accomplishments in a related research field. If you think you meet these criteria and would like Dr. Bowdish to consider putting you forward for this award, please contact her with a c.v.
The Michael G. DeGroote Fellowship Awards
The Michael G. DeGroote Fellowship Awards are an opportunity for excellent postdoctoral candidates to pursue top-level research training. First awarded in 2008, the awards provide funding to research-intensive individuals looking to further their academic career in the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University.
Each award provides non-renewable funding of $50,000 for one year for successful applicants. The funding is comprised of $40,000 from the Michael G. DeGroote Health Sciences Development Fund and $10,000 contributed by the applicant’s supervisor.
Awards are available in two categories: the *Michael G. DeGroote Fellowship Award in Basic Biomedical Science* and the *Michael G. DeGroote Fellowship Award in Clinical Research*. Candidates conducting basic science research are eligible for the Basic Biomedical Science Fellowship Award and those pursuing clinical research are eligible for the Clinical Research Fellowship Award. Applicants must identify in their application which award they are applying for. Separate selection committees will review the respective applicants for each award.
Visit http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/mgdfa/and apply online. The deadline for applications is *April 1, 2015* with an estimated start date of July 1, 2015.
Eligibility
*Only candidates who are (a) external to McMaster, or (b) internal students who have yet to begin postdoctoral or health professional degree studies at McMaster, or (c) internal students who began their postdoctoral or health professional degree studies at McMaster no earlier than July 1, 2014, will be eligible for the awards.
* For candidates who hold (or are completing) a PhD, the proposed supervisor(s) listed in your application must be different than your PhD supervisor.
* Priority will be given to those applicants whose graduate training has not been exclusively at McMaster.
Expectations
It is expected that winning applicants will seek out and attain external funding within their one-year award term. Supervisors are expected to assist their candidates in doing so.
Further Information
For more information on the awards, please visit the awards website or
send any questions to mgdfa@mcmaster.ca.
The Bowdish lab will be accepting one summer student through the MacWorks (Work-Study) program, providing that they have previous experience with mouse models. This summer position would ideally transition into a 4th year thesis position and/or a part-time job (5-10 hr/wk) during the 2015/16 school year as our animal care coordinator. If interested, please send a c.v. and coverletter to Dr. Bowdish at bowdish@mcmaster.ca.
Members of the Bowdish lab took a road trip to the University of Western Ontario on November 6th to participate in the 9th annual Infection & Immunity Research Forum. All members presented their research either by an oral or poster presentation.
Dessi Loukov presents her work on chronic inflammation on macrophage function.
PhD Student Dessi Loukov gave an excellent oral presentation on how the effects of chronic age and inflammation affect macrophage function; specifically in response to our favourite pathogen, Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Dr. Carol Cruezenet discusses Avee Naidoo’s poster at IIRF 2014.
Avee Naidoo, Netusha Thevaranjan, Nick Yap, Patrick Schenck and Kyle Novakowski all gave poster presentations that generated insightful scientific discussion and even some potential research collaborations! Kyle Novakowski took home the Cedarlane award for best graduate poster presentation (for students <6 months). Well done, team!
Kyle Novakowski (PhD candidate) receives his award for the best poster award as chosen by the audience.
The award winning poster! Well done Kyle!
A poster of Netusha Thevaranjan’s undergraduate work that she’s continuing as a MSc student.
Bowdish lab members past (Charles Yin and Julie Kaiser) and present (Netusha Thevaranjan) catche up at IIRF 2014.
We’ve added some major new protocols to the protocol section. We know have a section on basic molecular biology, some protocols for 16s rRNA sequencing, some updates to our transfection and NF-kB reporter protocols, etc. Take a gander & enjoy.
The nose is the gateway to the soul… or the lungs at least… making it an important point of first contact between our fragile bodies and the hordes of superbugs attempting to take over the world. Only the brave immunologist has the power to save us from this dire threat. While it’s been known for a few years now that the inflammatory cytokine IL-17A is key to the control of many respiratory infections, no-one has been able to provide any information on the source of this cytokine in nasal infections or how this production is regulated. No more!
Post-doctoral fellow Chris Verschoor and Ph.D. Candidate Mike Dorrington, both trainees in Dr. Dawn Bowdish’s lab have recently had their manuscript “MicroRNA-155 is required for the clearance of Streptococcus pneumoniae from the nasopharynx” accepted for publication in Infection & Immunity. The paper, which was produced in collaboration with Dr. Param Nair of the Firestone Institute, outlines how microRNA- (miR-)155 regulates the immune response to S. pneumoniae colonization in the nasal passages of mice by stimulating the differentiation of Th17 cells. These cells then produce large amounts of IL-17A, which then acts as a chemotactic agent for macrophages, which have awesome swords and stuff that kill the bacteria and save the world! (macrophages are the best cells, by the way)
This paper is the first to show a direct connection between IL-17A-producing T cells and the clearance of a bacterial pathogen from the nasopharynx. It is also the first to show a phenotype of IL-17A deficiency without completely knocking out the cytokine itself. It represents a significant step forward in understanding the regulation of intranasal immune responses to bacterial colonization and how innate and adaptive immune networks collaborate in clearing these events. Way to go Bowdish Lab!
For more information please visit www.bowdish.ca/lab and check out the paper in an upcoming edition of Infection & Immunity.
Verschoor CP, Dorrington MG, Novakowski KE, Kaiser J, Radford K, Nair P, Anipindi V, Kaushic C, Surette MG, Bowdish DME. MicroRNA-155 Is Required for Clearance of Streptococcus pneumoniae from the Nasopharynx. Infect Immun. 2014 Nov;82(11):4824-33. doi: 10.1128/IAI.02251-14.
This paper outlines how microRNA- (miR-)155 regulates the immune response to S. pneumoniae colonization in the nasal passages of mice by stimulating the differentiation of Th17 cells.
Kaiser JC, Verschoor CP, Surette MG, Bowdish DME. Host cytokine responses distinguish invasive from airway isolates of the Streptococcus milleri/anginosis group. BMC Infect Dis. 2014 Sep 11;14:498. doi: 10.1186/1471-2334-14-498.
This paper demonstrates that there are host- and strain- specific responses to isolates of the Streptococcus milleri/anginosis group and that isolates from invasive disease appear to be more immunostimulatory than those from commensal relationships.
Research in Lung health is not nearly as well funded as it should be considering the toll it takes on patients and our healthcare system. That’s why the Bowdish lab is involved in the Lung Association’s Breathing as One campaign to raise money for lung research. Click on the picture to read the insert that was delivered in a number of newspapers (including our own Hamilton Spectator) to launch the campaign.
Bowdish lab trainees Avee Naidoo and Netusha Thevaranjan were recognized for their research excellence at the fourth annual Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research (IIDR) Trainee Research Day. The event was held at CIBC Hall on Friday, October 10th and featured a keynote address by Professor Quim Madrenas of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at McGill University. In addition to the keynote speach, the talented trainees at IIDR presented their latest research findings and accomplishments during the day.
A second-year Master’s student Avee Naidoo was awarded with the Michael Kamin Hart Memorial Scholarship at a reception held at the University Club at the end of the day. The $1,800 scholarphip is named in honour of a gifted Master’s student of IIDR who tragically passed away in 2011. Avee plans to use the scholarship to attend a Keystone meeting on inflammation and aging in Montreal next year. Another Master’s student in the Bowdish lab, Netusha Thevaranjan, was awarded with the IIDR Awards of Excellence for her poster presentation. Kyle Novakowski was the runner up for the PhD poster award.
Both Avee and Netusha are currently working to elucidate the mechanisms underlying age-associated deterioration of the innate immune response.
Congratulations to both Avee and Netusha!
Netusha Thevarnjan wins best MSc poster presentation and Avee Naidoo wins the Michael Kamin Hart Memorial scholarship at the 2014 IIDR trainee day. Dawn beams with pride.