[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/CRC_05.jpg” caption=”New Canada Research Chair Parameswaran Nair, centered, is pictured with, clockwise from top left, Catherine Hayward, Shiping Zhu, Yingfu Li, and Daniel Coleman”]McMaster is now home to 58 Canada Research Chairs with a national announcement that includes one new Chair and four Chair renewals and represents a $2.5 million investment for the University.

McMaster respirologist and assistant professor of medicine, Parameswaran Nair, has been named Canada Research Chair in Airway Diseases. His work, conducted at the Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health, will focus on understanding cellular biology and measuring airway inflammation in clinical practice to improve treatment of airway diseases such as asthma and Chronic Obstruction Pulmonary Diseases (COPD).

Asthma and COPD are common diseases afflicting more than 20 million people in North America and approximately 20 per cent of all Canadians. The treatment of these diseases already costs the health care system billions of dollars and their prevalence is increasing. Nair's work will focus on further development and clinical application of non-invasive measurements of airway inflammation to treat both asthma and COPD.

All five Chairs are Tier 2, worth $500,000 and are tenable for five years and renewable once. They are granted to exceptional emerging researchers, acknowledged by their peers as having the potential to lead in their field.

Mamdouh Shoukri, vice-president of research and international affairs, says the process for renewal is as rigorous as it is for the initial round and is not automatic. He says the renewals translate into significant benefits to both the researchers and their students. “The continuity of these Chairs confirms that McMaster identified ideal candidates initially and by so doing enriched the research focus in these areas of strategic importance. The groundwork has been set, the research is in motion and our students are reaping the benefits of working with and being trained by these world leaders.”

Each of the recently renewed Canada Research Chairs were asked to highlight their most significant accomplishments as a Canada Research Chair holder, provide an update on their research and discuss what they hoped to accomplish with the renewal of their Tier 2 research chairs:

Daniel L. Coleman, associate professor of Canadian Literature

Canada Research Chair in Critical Ethnicity and Race Studies

Coleman lists the publication of two books and two edited volumes as significant accomplishments during his first five years as a chair holder. He has trained and supervised twelve graduate students and in 2003 was awarded the President's Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision.

Coleman continues to do research in the areas identified in his first nomination: immigration and diaspora literature, gender studies, race and ethnicity studies, but has recently done work on the cultural and spiritual impact of reading.

“In a time when forms of visual culture are becoming more and more universal, I am interested in the ways in which book-oriented forms of reading are adapting to the new medias,” he says.

Coleman would like to do more writing with this renewal and adds that he would like to, “facilitate a greater distribution of resources: the CRC program can be a way that resources are concentrated, and I hope we at McMaster can see our way to using these Chairs to spread resources to fellow faculty and students.”

Catherine Hayward M.D., professor, pathology and molecular medicine; associate member, department of medicine

Canada Research Chair in Molecular Hemostasis

As a Canada Research Chair, Dr. Hayward was able to expand the scope and size of her research group, providing new training opportunities for graduate and postdoctoral students. Her team made important contributions to the field of molecular hemostasis that included describing the first human bleeding disorder with increased levels of a clot-dissolving enzyme urokinase-type plasminogen activator. Her group also reported new functions for molecules in hemostasis, including how the platelet protein multimerin1 interacts and affects the functions of coagulation factor V (a molecular essential to coagulation) and its properties as a vascular adhesive protein.

The Chair also facilitated collaborations with individuals in Canada interested in bleeding disorders, and an important publication on assessing risks for inherited bleeding disorders. Hayward's CRC helped her to establish an international presence in the field of platelet disorders and molecular hemostasis, leading to appointments as co-chair of an international committee on platelet disorders and on the Executive of a North American association on coagulation testing, and invitations to speak at international meetings.

During the initial funding of her Chair, Hayward's research program expanded and a number of international collaborations were facilitated. This has allowed movement in new directions, such as investigating the genetic cause of the Quebec Platelet Disorder  an inherited Canadian bleeding disorder that her team is studying. The chair also fostered national and international collaborations with world-class experts interested in coagulation and cell adhesion.

With the renewal, Hayward will continue bench-to-bedside studies of proteins important for blood coagulation and platelet adhesion, and move into new areas, such as testing protein function in animals. Her team will is interesting in finding out how the body produces platelets that help form clots and how the Quebec Platelet Disorder makes the body produce abnormal, “clot-busting” platelets. Hayward will be continuing collaborations with Nancy Heddle and the McMaster University Transfusion Medicine Research Group to improve the assessments of patients with bleeding problems. The hope is to improve the diagnosis of bleeding problems and understand better the problems that patients with bleeding problems face.

Yingfu Li, associate professor, biochemistry and biomedical sciences; joint member, department of chemistry

Canada Research Chair in Directed Evolution of Nucleic Acids

During his term as Chair holder, Yingfu Li cemented his reputation as an emerging star in the field of nucleic acids. Li attracted more than five million dollars in research funds, trained a dozen graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and more than thirty undergraduate students. His accomplishments also include the publication of more than twenty research papers and several patents have been filed to commercialize his research.

The scope of his research endeavours have significantly expanded since he was first appointed to his research Chair and now his work encompasses the fields of bioanalytical chemistry, biotechnology, nanotechnology, chemical biology and studying cancer.

Li's vision for the next five years is to build a truly innovative lab that is well funded and interdisciplinary in nature – performing research and training at the interface of chemistry, biology and medicine. His goal is to establish more research collaborations that will tackle the challenging questions and will continue to train, and hopefully increase the number of up-and-coming research stars in his lab.

For Li, being a Canada Research Chair means he has, “an enhanced opportunity for my research program, an added responsibility to represent my university and my country well, and no excuse for being just mediocre. For the second term of my CRC, I will be as determined as I have been in the first term, to perform my duty to the best of my ability.”

Shiping Zhu, professor, department of chemical engineering

Canada Research Chair in Polymer Science and Engineering

For Shiping Zhu, one of the highlights of his first five years was a research project in the area of advanced radical polymerization that resulted in the production of polymer materials with tailor-made properties. His group provided fundamental understanding for the polymerization mechanisms and developed several novel reactor technologies that minimize catalyst residues and thus contaminants in the final products. The developed technologies have good potential in industrial applications.

Zhu is also proud of the graduate students who have been a part of his research group during his term as a Canada Research Chair – he's trained more than 20 High Quality Personnel (HQP), including Masters, Ph.D., Post Doctoral Fellows and visiting scientists. He is currently supervising eight Ph.D.s and two Masters students. Four of his trainees have become faculty members in Canadian and US universities, while others are working in major chemical, polymer, and pharmaceutical companies.

While continuing his effort in the area of polymer reaction engineering and materials, Zhu expanded his research to biomaterials, plastic microelectronics, and interfacial engineering. He can now make medical devices and implants more biocompatible by growing a densed layer of special polymer from surface.

For the next five years as Canada Research Chair, Zhu plans to develop novel polymerization technologies for surface modification of various materials. These materials include metals, ceramics and other polymers whose modification can be for protective or catalytic purposes.

McMaster was awarded 70 Canada Research Chairs based on its research funding from the federal granting agencies – the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR). The Chairs Program was launched in 2000 to help Canadian universities attract and retain the best researchers and achieve research excellence in natural sciences and engineering, health sciences, social sciences and humanities.

The announcement – which included funding for 126 Canada Research Chairs – was made Thursday in Montreal. David L. Emerson, minister of industry and minister responsible for the Canada Research Chairs program, believes that one of Canada's most important national assets is its greatest minds. “By empowering the most talented university researchers, the Chairs Program has become the keystone of the government's strategy to invigorate Canadian research, innovation and know-how.”