Thick African beer, a new TB vaccine and Drake’s deal with the Raptors

Newspaper

October 9, 2013

McMaster is known for making a positive impact on the local, national and international stages. Each week, The Office of Public Relations highlights a few of the many McMaster stories making the news.

Research:

The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, The Hamilton Spectator, CBC Hamilton and CHCH TV were among the outlets reporting on the development of a new tuberculosis vaccine, featuring interviews with researchers Fiona Smaill and Zhou Xing (both of Pathology and Molecular Medicine).

Post Media News distributed a feature highlighting research by Martin Gibala (Kinesiology) into high-intensity interval training. Among the papers to publish the piece were The Montreal Gazette, Edmonton Journal and Vancouver Sun.

Post Media News distributed a feature on sometimes bizarre syndromes that can affect patients recovering from strokes. The piece revisited research by Karin Humphreys (Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour) into what is called Foreign Accent Syndrome, where patients begin speaking with what appears to be an accent.

Community Engagement:
The Hamilton Spectator published a story and photo about the impact of a program in which Hamilton residents facing economic barriers can receive free treatment from graduate students at McMaster‘sSchool of Rehabilitation Scienceunder the supervision of registered therapists.

The Welland Tribune published an article on the Pipeline Project, run by students at the Niagara Campus of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine designed to introduce children to medical science at an early age in the hope that those students might one day choose to become physicians.

The Hamilton Spectator published a story previewing a public seminar on dealing with stress, organized by Robert Tytus (Family Medicine).

Expert opinion:
CBC News Network interviewed Manish Kacker (Marketing) for a piece on “rescue marketing” in the context of the Toronto Raptors engaging the rapper Drake as a representative.

CTV News Channel interviewed Atif Kubursi (Economics)about the North American and global impact of the US government shutdown.

CTV News Channel interviewed Marvin Ryder (Marketing)about continuing developments concerning BlackBerry, while CHCH talked to him about the US government shutdown.

Global National News interviewed Peter Graefe (Political Science) about perceptions of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford in view of the arrest of one of his associates on drug-trafficking charges. (The interview appears at the link at 5:56.)

The Toronto Star interviewed African history specialist Bonny Ibhawoh (History) about Chibuku, an increasingly popular commercial version of a traditional opaque and porridge-like African beer historically hand-made in small batches.