Many undergraduate students desire to delve into research at McGill in labs led by primary investigators and professors. Undergraduates themselves, however, have equally promising initiatives to lead exciting investigations. One of these student groups, McGill iGEM, is an undergraduate synthetic biology research team that has made impressive progress in recent[Read More…]
Search Results for author "Ali Baghirov"
Shrek at the beach: Would green sunscreen be worth it?
Eumelanin, a form of melanin typical of mammals, is a brown-black coloured pigment found in skin, hair, and eyes. It absorbs sunlight energy and transforms it into heat, acting as a natural sunscreen. For a pigment that plays this crucial role—and many more—surprisingly little is known about its composition and[Read More…]
To cure the incurable: Stem cell transplantation process provides insight into potential HIV cure
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a viral infection characterized by its ability to harm white blood cells that are crucial for the immune response. This makes HIV patients very susceptible to slightly or moderately acute diseases (that would not normally pose a serious risk for healthy individuals) by diminishing their[Read More…]
Combatting pseudoscience with reason and rationality
Albert Einstein once said that “two things are infinite: The Universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the Universe.” Although a quick fact-check shows that the acclaimed physicist might not have actually said this, the essence of the statement remains clear—there are no limits to human folly. Pseudoscientific[Read More…]
Call off the search for a “normal” brain
A “normal” brain—also termed “neurotypical”—has long been used in cognitive science research as a benchmark for brain activity comparisons. But this distinction between brains actually limits neuroscience research and has long escaped the notice of experts. Jakub Kopal, a postdoctoral fellow in neuroscience at McGill, researches the effect of genetic[Read More…]
Making soup with methane, vitamin D, mRNA, and shellfish waste
The 35th semesterly Soup & Science was one for the books, with top-notch student and professor research presentations accompanied by delectable soup. The McGill Tribune brings you the presentations we liked best for a little taste of the event. Improving mRNA resilience by combining it with other molecules U4 chemistry[Read More…]
“Black in Pharma” event delves into evolving opportunities in pharmaceutical industry
The “Black in Pharma” panel, organized by the McGill Pharmaceutical Career Student Network (PCSN) and Advancing Black Talent in Pharma (ABTiP) on Feb. 9, was a candid talk about advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in pharmacology. Panellists included Corinne Buchanan-Russell, ABTiP president, Abraham Oniku, a senior manager in Medical[Read More…]
Copy–pasted nucleotides found to cause neurodegenerative disease
Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and ataxia are caused—as their categorization would suggest—by the degradation of nervous system cells. One to three individuals per 100,000 are affected by late-onset cerebellar ataxias (LOCA), a disease characterized by impaired muscle control that worsens over time. While most types of ataxia set[Read More…]
Peering into the universe with gravitational lensing
Radio waves coming from galaxies millions or billions of light-years away—an immense distance compared to only eight light-minutes between the Earth and the Sun—gradually fade as they lose energy. Many become essentially invisible even to today’s powerful telescopes by the time they reach our little, blue planet. So it’s not[Read More…]
