The Bowdish lab attends the 14th Annual Buffalo Immunology Conference.

This year our lab is taking the Buffalo Immunology Conference by storm!

Nick Yap (MSc candidate with Dr. Brian Golding) was chosen to give a talk “The evolution of the scavenger receptor cysteine-rich domain of the class A scavenger receptor family”. Dessi Loukov (PhD candidate) will be speaking on “MacrophAGING: The effects of chronic inflammation on macrophage anti-microbial immunity” . Dawn will be giving a talk on “The aging microbiome drives age‐associated
inflammation” while many other members of the team give poster presentations.

Bowdish lab students recognized for research excellence at the IIDR trainee day!

Bowdish lab trainees Avee Naidoo and Netusha Thevaranjan were recognized for their research excellence at the fourth annual Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research (IIDR) Trainee Research Day. The event was held at CIBC Hall on Friday, October 10th and featured a keynote address by Professor Quim Madrenas of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at McGill University. In addition to the keynote speach, the talented trainees at IIDR presented their latest research findings and accomplishments during the day.

A second-year Master’s student Avee Naidoo was awarded with the Michael Kamin Hart Memorial Scholarship at a reception held at the University Club at the end of the day. The $1,800 scholarphip is named in honour of a gifted Master’s student of IIDR who tragically passed away in 2011. Avee plans to use the scholarship to attend a Keystone meeting on inflammation and aging in Montreal next year. Another Master’s student in the Bowdish labNetusha Thevaranjan, was awarded with the IIDR Awards of Excellence for her poster presentation. Kyle Novakowski was the runner up for the PhD poster award.

Both Avee and Netusha are currently working to elucidate the mechanisms underlying age-associated deterioration of the innate immune response.

Congratulations to both Avee and Netusha!

Netusha Thevarnjan wins best MSc poster presentation and Avee Naidoo wins the Michael Kamin Hart Memorial scholarship at the 2014 IIDR trainee day. Dawn beams with pride.

Netusha Thevarnjan wins best MSc poster presentation and Avee Naidoo wins the Michael Kamin Hart Memorial scholarship at the 2014 IIDR trainee day. Dawn beams with pride.

The Bowdish lab is on a roll!

This past month has been very productive in the Bowdish laboratory, with many triumphs achieved by it’s industrious members.

Firstly, a big congratulation goes to Kyle Novakowski, the Bowdish 2013-10-17 23.42.39lab’s newest PhD student. Following a lot of hard work, determination and great dedication to his Masters project, Kyle successfully passed his transfer exam on July 7 and has officially begun his seemingly endless exciting pursuit for a PhD. Good luck to Kyle in continuing his interesting investigation on the regulation and function of MARCO!

 

Dessi Loukov presents her undergraduate work in the Bowdish lab at the 1st annual Perey Symposium, convinces everyone she's a senior PhD student and brings home the Faculty choice award for best speed poster presentation.

Dessi Loukov presents her undergraduate work in the Bowdish lab at the 1st annual Perey Symposium, convinces everyone she’s a senior PhD student and brings home the Faculty choice award for best speed poster presentation.

Next up is Dessi Loukov, who is currently an undergraduate but come September will be the Bowdish lab’s 4th PhD student. At the 1st annual MIRC Perey Symposium held on June 19, Dessi impressed faculty and trainees with her educational and enthusiastic speed poster presentation on modulating the immune system to potentially reverse age-associated inflammation. Dessi was awarded a travel award as a result of her superb presentation skills. Kudos also to Fan Fei (PhD candidate) and Avee Naidoo (MSc candidate) who gave excellent speed poster talks and Dr. Chris Verschoor who gave an excellent oral presentation.  Who knew that research in inflammation could be so exciting? The Bowdish lab, that’s who!

One PhD candidate who deserves great recognition for his recent successes is Mike Dorrington. Not only was Mike awarded with a prestigious and well-deserved Canadian Lung Association & Canadian Thoracic Studentship, but he additionally achieved received The Ruth and Wilson Tafts Prize for Immunology for having the best paper published in a peer-reviewed journal in 2013. Geez Mike, save some awards for the rest of us. These awards will be used to further fund his fascinating work on the role of macrophages – clearly, the best cell around – in recognition and clearance of Streptococcus pneumoniae in the upper respiratory tract. Congratulations Mike!

At the celebration of Mike's first first author publication. Although Dawn is mostly happy for Mike, she is also slightly nervous that she might be about to lose an eye when the champagne is opened.

At the celebration of Mike’s first first author publication. Although Dawn is mostly happy for Mike, she is also slightly nervous that she might be about to lose an eye when the champagne is opened.

Then, there’s Dr. Chris Verschoor, the lab’s most productive and well-rounded member. Chris’ paper entitled, “Alterations to the frequency and function of peripheral blood monocytes and associations with chronic disease in the advanced-age, frail elderly“, was recently accepted into the PLoS one. If you’re interested in changes in monocyte populations with age – I mean, who isn’t? – keep a look out for Chris’ article in the next issue of PLoS one . Way to go Chris on this well-deserved publication!

Chris-sm

 

<- Manuscipt accepted = happy post-doc.

 

 

And last, but definitely not least, the lab takes great pleasure in congratulating our passionate leader, Dr. Dawn Bowdish, who has been awarded tenure and a promotion to Associate Professor effective as of July 1, 2014. This accomplishment is a fitting acknowledgement of Dawn’s exceptional work, devotion and academic contributions to research in the field of macrophage biology. In addition to her promotion and tenure, Dawn recently received a Best Teacher Award in the Department of Pathology for excellence in undergraduate teaching and graduate supervision. Well-done Dawn!

Dawn receives the Pathology & Molecular Medicine Department's best teacher award for her undergraduate and graduate supervision. Dr. Murray Potter, the education co-ordinator and Dr. Fiona Smaill, the chair, present her with the award.

Dawn receives the Pathology & Molecular Medicine Department’s best teacher award for her undergraduate and graduate supervision. Dr. Murray Potter, the education co-ordinator and Dr. Fiona Smaill, the chair, present her with the award.

Congratulations Bowdish lab on our successes!

Way to kill it, like young macrophages on pneumo 😉

The Bowdish lab cleans up at the IIDR trainee day!

The winning team!

The winning team!

Well it was an impressive show even for our over achieving lab! Bowdish lab undergraduates (Netusha Thevaranjan, Dessi Loukov, James Han), graduate students (Kyle Novakowski, Mike Dorrington, Fan Fei), post-docs (Dr. Chris Verschoor) and associates (Fiona Whelan, Dr. Jennifer Stearns, Michelle Pinto) all got selected to present posters at the IIDR trainee day. James Han won the IIDR Award of Excellence for best poster by an undergraduate and Dr. Jennifer Stearns brought home the award for best poster by a post-doc.  Avee Naidoo was selected to give a talk only 6 weeks into her graduate degree and Dr. Chris Verschoor won the Gulliver award ($1000!) for the best oral presentation by a post-doc.  What a great day!

For a complete album of photos, click here.

Avee Naidoo gives her first talk on her project - 6 weeks into grad school!

Avee Naidoo gives her first talk on her project – 6 weeks into grad school!

Dessi Loukov presents her poster and gets lots of compliments on her story.

Dessi Loukov presents her poster and gets lots of compliments on her story.

Dr. Chris Verschoor wins the Gulliver award for best presentation by a PDF.

Dr. Chris Verschoor wins the Gulliver award for best presentation by a PDF.

Dr. Jennifer Stearns and James Han win IIDR awards of excellence for their poster presentations.

Dr. Jennifer Stearns and James Han win IIDR awards of excellence for their poster presentations.

PhD candidates Alicja Puchta and Mike Dorrington win at the 2013 FHS Research Plenary

Congratulations to both Alicja Puchta and Mike Dorrington for winning at the 2013 FHS research Plenary! Mike was the recipient of the Best Poster Presented by a Doctoral Candidate award. Alicja was the recipient of an Outstanding Achievement Award, which recognizes graduate students in their final year of a Master’s or Doctoral program who have made outstanding achievements, based on the opinion of their graduate program.  This award can be given to a maximum of 10-15% of all students in the final year of a Master’s or Doctoral program affiliated with the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Congratulations and keep up the awesome work!

Bowdish Lab Cleans Up at the 53rd Annual Bay Area Science and Engineering Fair (BASEF)!

On Thursday May 21st, Bowdish Lab members were not only working hard as judges at the 53rd Annual BASEF fair, but also actively participating in presenting our research. Our high school students Jason Fan, winner of the IIDR summer studentship in 2012, and Leonard Rivet, a high school co-op student, both created fantastic posters and engaged judges in discussing their projects. Jason Fan (Right) received a Gold Merit Award and $100 for his poster entitled “Saving the World — One Ligand at a Time:  Novel Streptococcus pneumoniae Ligands for Macrophage Receptors”. Leonard Rivet (Left) received a Silver Merit Award and $80 for his poster entitled “Expression and Post-Translational Trimerization of MARCO in E.coli”.

Bowdish lab members Leonard Rivet & Jason Fan present their award winning posters at BASEF 2013.

Bowdish lab members Leonard Rivet & Jason Fan present their award winning posters at BASEF 2013.

Jason went on to win a silver award at the Canada wide Science Fair and to be accepted to McMaster’s prestigious Bachelor of Health Sciences program.

Congratulations to both our fantastic young scientists!

 

Bowdish Lab Attends 53rd Annual BASEF Science Fair

Dr. Bowdish and members of the lab attended the 53rd annual Bay Area Science and Engineering Fair (BASEF) as merit and special award judges on Thursday March 21st. All members of the lab were blown away by the sheer volume of young scientists and the incredible effort these students put into their projects. Bowdish Lab members judged projects focused on Health & Life sciences. Dr. Bowdish and Dr.Mossman judged for the IIDR Summer studentship, a 6-week summer internship in the IIDR, which is one of the most sought after prizes at the science fair.vWe are all looking forward to the 54th BASEF fair.

 

Eisha Ahmed (Abbey Park High School, Oakville) presents her award winning poster "Ara h Proteins, Peanuts, and Parasites". Eisha was the winner of the IIDR summer studentship and will be back at McMaster learning bioinformatics this summer.

Eisha Ahmed (Abbey Park High School, Oakville) presents her award winning poster “Ara h Proteins, Peanuts, and Parasites”. Eisha was the winner of the IIDR summer studentship and will be back at McMaster learning bioinformatics this summer.

 

Sarah Wu won second place for the IIDR summer studentship for her very impressive project developing a novel diagnostic for malaria.

Sarah Wu won second place for the IIDR summer studentship for her very impressive project developing a novel diagnostic for malaria.

 

Bowdish lab cleans up at the IIDR trainee Day!

Congratulations to Keith Lee for winning the IIDR Award of Excellence for best undergraduate poster and Julie Kaiser for winning the best graduate poster. Alicja Puchta gave an excellent talk and Mike Dorrington, Preethi Jayanth, Kyle Novakowski, Charles Yin, and the BASEF/IIDR summer internship award winner, Jason Fan all presented excellent posters. Way to go team!

Keith Lee, a 4th year BHSc student, wins the IIDR Award for Excellence for "Best Undergraduate Poster".

 

A blurry Julie Kaiser, presents her work on elucidating host-pathogen interactions of the SMG family.

Jason Fan, a grade 11/12 high school student, and BASEF/IIDR summer internship winner presents an excellent poster on isolating pneumococcal cell wall components.

 

Alicja Puchta makes Dr. Brian Coombes repeat the question after her (very professional, very well received) talk.

 

Dr. Preethi Jayanth presents her work on understanding why the elderly are susceptible to post-influenza pneumonia.

Photo credits to Chantall VanRaay.

Alicja wins Outstanding Achievement award at Medical Sciences Graduate Day!

Congratulations to Alicja Puchta (PhD candidate) for winning Outstanding Achievement prize at McMaster’s Medical Sciences Research Day! The competition was strong this year but Alicja did a great job presenting her work on why the elderly are susceptible to pneumonia. Her winning poster has been selected to be presented at the Medical Sciences Plenary Day in May (updates to come) and after that will be featured prominently in the Bowdish lab. Well done Alicja!