[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/science_city_panel.jpg” caption=”Science in the City panelists pictured from left: anthropologist Hendrik Poinar, vaccine expert Jonathan Bramson and infectious diseases authority Mark Loeb.”]The headlines are full of the news that an influenza pandemic is a virtual certainty. Behind those headlines there is concrete, leading edge research that is taking place here at McMaster University that will be shared by a panel at tonight's Science in the City lecture, From pathogen to pandemic: how science is responding to infectious threats.

Anthropologist Hendrik Poinar, vaccine expert Jonathan Bramson and infectious diseases authority Mark Loeb are uniquely positioned to offer the public their insights into the threat of a global outbreak of disease. All three are currently funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to answer pieces of the puzzles that might one day provide countermeasures or vaccines to deal with infectious diseases.

Poinar will begin the session, discussing his work as a molecular evolutionary geneticist whose lab is looking looks at the evolution of virus genomes to help determine what strain the pathogen is, where it derives from and whether it has drug resistant mutation. Understanding a virus's evolutionary trajectory can lead researchers to design “smart” vaccines.

Bramson, an assistant professor in the department of pathology and molecular medicine, will outline the challenges faced with viruses like the bird flu. In an interview with The Hamilton Spectator, Bramson notes that problem with the bird flu is that it kills cells so fast that scientists can't get the vaccine to multiply quickly enough.

“We don't have a lot of time before we're facing real danger . . . the only thing that is clear is that we are overdue for a pandemic,” says Bramson.

In the same interview, Mark Loeb, associate professor in the departments of clinical epidemiology and biostatistics, and pathology and molecular medicine, cautions that “we don't want to incite any panic but we want to present the facts.”

He will discuss vaccine strategies and answer the questions: are we vaccinating the right people? What's the best way to vaccinate? How can we overcome shortages of vaccine doses during crises?

The panel is helping to celebrate the CIHR's fifth anniversary as Canada's premier health research funding agency, supporting more than 8,500 researchers in universities, teaching hospitals, and research institutes across Canada.

Since the CIHR's inception in June of 2000, McMaster University researchers have been funded for more than $158 million.

David Andrew's is McMaster's representative for the CIHR. Andrews, a professor in the department of biochemistry and biomedical sciences and Canada Research Chair in Membrane Biogenesis, can remember what it was like for researchers before the creation of the CIHR.

“Just prior to the creation of the CIHR, basic and clinical medical research in Canada was on the point of collapse. Researchers (including myself) that in the previous decade and a half had returned to Canada expecting to have careers in academic research were demoralized and many were talking about leaving the country. The improvements in funding due to the creation of the CIHR and other new forms of funding such as the CFI have completely changed the landscape,” he says.

The free public lecture is open to the public and will be held at the Hamilton Spectator Auditorium, 44 Frid Street in Hamilton. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the lecture begins at 7 p.m. To reserve your seat, e-mail sciencecity@mcmaster.ca or leave a voice mail at 905-525-9140, ext. 24934.