Daily News

Posted on May 30: Hike. Bike. Bus. Carpool. By canoe. On horseback. By piggyback.

How many different ways can you get to McMaster? The ACT Office (Alternative Commuting & Transportation) has a couple of suggestions: bike, bus, rideshare, canoe, horseback, piggyback, telecommute. If you need a motivating partner, walk your dog (sorry, there are no dog-sitters at the ACT Office), or find a friend. ACT Office coordinators, Jen Dawson and Daryl Bender, are encouraging all members of the McMaster community faculty, staff, students to participate in this year's Commuter Challenge. The Commuter Challenge is a weeklong competition between Canadian cities to see which one can cut its air pollution the most by using environmentally-friendly modes of transportation. Alison Sills, Assistant Professor of Physics & Astronomy at McMaster, will be using her bicycle to transport herself and her commuting partner (pictured above) to Mac during the Commuter Challenge.

Posted on May 30: McMaster Researchers Lead Fight Against SARS

Researchers in the McMaster High Throughput Screening Laboratory in Hamilton will be at the centre of a nationwide wide initiative working on screening the SARS protease aimed at developing a new therapeutic drug. Protease is the digestive enzyme that causes the breakdown of protein. The Protein Engineering Network Centre of Excellence (PENCE) has provided $250,000 in total funding for this project and seven other studies at the universities of British Columbia, Alberta, and Toronto. "Just as the protease of HIV has a lynchpin role in the proliferation of HIV, this group has recognized that the protease of the SARS virus is a target for new therapeutics aimed at SARS," says Eric Brown, assistant professor, biochemistry, at McMaster. "The sequencing of the SARS coronavirus by Canadian researchers has opened the door for understanding and targeting its Achilles heel."