McMaster students recognized for innovative research

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Razvan.jpg” caption=”Razvan Nutiu”]McMaster graduate student Razvan Nutiu has been selected as a runner-up to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council's (NSERC) Innovation Challenge Award competition.
Nutiu, a fourth-year chemistry PhD candidate, will receive $5,000 for his research titled: “Structure-Switching Signaling Aptamers – Generic DNA Probes for Drug Discovery.”
In this annual competition, launched in 2004, graduate students from across Canada are invited to identify potential products and services that could be created from their thesis findings. The winner of the prize was Benjamin Hatton, of the University of Toronto, who won the top prize of $10,000 for his proposal to develop and commercialize nanoporous films for applications in microelectronics.
“The quality of entries in this year's Innovation Challenge was very impressive and reflected Canada's broad research in many fields,” said Nigel Lloyd, NSERC's executive vice-president and chief operating officer. “It's very encouraging to see such exciting new talent maturing and finding their place in our universities.”
The NSERC Innovation Challenge is co-sponsored by GrowthWorks, a leading venture capital fund manager, Bell Canada, MDS Sciex, and Foragen Technologies Management Inc.
An honourable mention of $1,000 will go to McMaster PhD engineering candidate Todd Hoare for his research: “Glucose-responsive microgels for self-regulating insulin delivery.”
NSERC will present its national annual awards for excellence in innovation at an awards ceremony tonight at the Halifax World Trade and Convention Centre.