The genetic formations of new animal species and the identification and interpretation of genetic variations in humans are just some of the innovative research being done by Western’s latest Canada Research Chairs (CRC).
Assistant Biology professor Amanda Moehring and Bio-Chemistry professor Peter Rogan are Western’s newest Canada Research Chairs, announced Tuesday by Elgin-Middlesex-London MP Joe Preston. Together, they bring the total number of CRC’s at Western to 67.
Elgin–Middlesex–London MP Joe Preston, was at the university Tuesday to announce the 61 new or renewed CRCs for 14 universities across the province of Ontario, which includes two new and two renewed chairs at Western totaling $3.8 million.
Through support of the CRC program and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Preston says the government is making it possible for universities to attract and retain top scholars from across Canada and abroad.
Western’s new CRCs include assistant Biology professor Amanda Moehring (Canada Research Chair in Functional Genomics: Tier 2 $500,000) and Bio-Chemistry and Computer Science professor Peter Rogan (Canada Research Chair in Genome: Tier 1 – $1.4 million).
Together, they bring the total number of Canada Research Chairs held at Western to 67.
Receiving CRC renewals were Norm Huner (Canada Research Chair in Environmental Stress: Tier 1 – $1.4 million) and Lars Konermann (Canada Research Chair in Protein Folding and Biological Mass Spectrometry: Tier 2 – $500,000).
Moehring’s work focuses on how such a wide variety of creatures came to be living on our planet. Her research centres on the genetic changes that cause new species to form and be maintained.
Both the genetics of behavioural isolation (why species are not attracted to other species) as well as hybrid sterility, which occurs from interspecies matings, are studied using fruit flies because they allow a wide array of genetic and genomic tools, and offers species pairs that can be crossed together to produce fertile offspring.
“The ability to tap into CRC funding, along with the position here at Western, were the main reasons I chose to come here,” says Moehring, who came from Duke University. “This funding will allow me to really progress ahead with my research.”
Moehring also received $163,330 in infrastructure CFI funding for a Molecular and Behavioural Genetics Laboratory.
Rogan is working toward providing ill patients with individual molecular diagnoses. These diagnoses may reveal details about individual natural histories of disease and responses to therapy earlier and more precisely than previously possible.
“There are genetic variations that differ in each individual,” says Rogan. “Through this we can also determine those common variations that are predisposed to many common diseases.”
Rogan adds many patients have chromosome abnormalities that are too small for existing commercial probes to detect and his goal is to introduce DNA probes into clinical laboratories to benefit patients throughout Canada and around the world.
Rogan also received $374,063 in CFI infrastructure funding for Chromosomal and Point Mutation Discovery and Interpretation in the Post-Genome Sequencing Era: Tools for Bioinformatic and Genomic Analysis.