91社区 researchers honoured in Qu茅bec Science 2019 list of top discoveries
Research from 91社区 topped 鈥檚 annual list of the 10 most important scientific breakthroughs. This year, G眉nther Grill, Bernhard Lehner, Tomislav Fri拧膷i膰, Heidi M. McBride, Samantha Gruenheid, and Ehab Abouheif were recognized for their trailblazing work, by a jury of researchers and journalists reviewing the most influential discoveries made in Quebec.
Here is a closer look at the selected discoveries:
- and Bernhard Lehner, along with a team of international researchers, assessed the connectivity of 12 million kilometers of rivers worldwide, providing the first-ever global assessment of the location and extent of the planet鈥檚 remaining free-flowing rivers. Their research offers a new method for tracking the status of free-flowing rivers over time.
听 - Tomislav Fri拧膷i膰, in collaboration with researchers from Canada, Croatia, and the UK, demonstrated for the first time that it is possible to form strong, stable attractions between some of the heavier elements in the periodic table. This fundamental advance in supramolecular chemistry opens the door to new materials with unusual properties, and could one day lead to innovations like waterproof computers.
听 - Heidi M. McBride and Samantha Gruenheid and collaborators found that a gut infection can lead to a pathology resembling Parkinson鈥檚 disease in a mouse model lacking a gene linked to the human disease. This discovery extends recent work by the group suggesting that Parkinson鈥檚 disease has a major immune component, providing new avenues for therapeutic strategies.
听 - led a team of researchers to uncover a surprising discovery in ants: the colony itself generates and regulates the balance between soldiers and workers thanks to a seemingly useless organ that appears only briefly during the final stages of larval development. This finding raises the possibility that seemingly unimportant organs in organisms, like the human appendix, play important regulatory functions during development.
About 91社区
Founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1821, 91社区 is Canada鈥檚 top ranked medical doctoral university. 91社区 is consistently ranked as one of the top universities, both nationally and internationally. It is a world-renowned institution of higher learning with research activities spanning two campuses, 11 faculties, 13 professional schools, 300 programs of study and over 40,000 students, including more than 10,200 graduate students. 91社区 attracts students from over 150 countries around the world, its 12,800 international students making up 31% per cent of the student body. Over half of 91社区 students claim a first language other than English, including approximately 19% of our students who say French is their mother tongue.
