Notes from the Director’s Chair:

Notes from the Director’s Chair:
February is almost over and grant writing season is almost over. However, there is always
another snowstorm or grant deadline around the corner. Good luck to students, post-doctoral
fellows and Senior Scientists for their continued success in being awarded grants and
scholarships.
There is some good news to report! Dr. Leigh Murphy was awarded an Innovation grant from
Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute and Dr. Sabine Mai was awarded a New
Opportunity grant from the Terry Fox Research Institute. Congratulations on your new research
grants! Also, congratulations to Kirk McManus in receiving CFI Leader Opportunity Funds to
purchase new equipment for his lab.
I would also like to announce that I am a new academic Editor for the open access on-line
scientific journals Plos One and BMC Cancer.
CancerCare Manitoba Research Day will be held on May 2nd. The deadline for abstract is April
6th. The guest speaker will be David Malkin, Hospital for Sick Children. The MICB guest
speaker also participating in Research Day will be Dr. David Lichtfield, former Senior Scientist
at MICB and now Chair of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Western
Ontario. I encourage all graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to submit an abstract to
[email protected] to participate in Research Day.
Dr. Raouf will be moving soon to the newly renovated 6th floor of the Basic Sciences Building to
be part of the Regenerative Medicine Program. He was originally recruited to this program and
the intention was that he would have his research space in this program once construction of new
research space was completed. He will still be a Senior Scientist at MICB and contribute to our
research activities. I wish him well in this move.
The search for a MICB director is winding down. All senior scientists had an opportunity to
speak with the candidates and a public seminar on their vision for MICB was presented. I
anticipate an announcement in March. Stay tuned!
Publications:
Sundar IK, Chung S, Hwang JW, Lapek JD Jr, Bulger M, Friedman AE, Yao H, Davie JR,
Rahman I. Mitogen- and Stress-Activated Kinase 1 (MSK1) Regulates Cigarette Smoke-Induced
Histone Modifications on NF-κB-dependent Genes. PLoS One. 2012;7(2):e31378. Epub 2012
Feb 1.
Healy S, Khan P, He S, Davie JR Histone H3 phosphorylation, immediate-early gene expression,
and the nucleosomal response: a historical perspective. Biochem Cell Biol. 2012 Jan 17. [Epub
ahead of print]
Murphy LC, Leygue E. The Role of Estrogen Receptor-β in Breast Cancer.Semin Reprod Med.
2012 Jan;30(1):5-13. Epub 2012 Jan 23.
Watson PH, West N, Murphy LC Oncostatin-M suppresses estrogen receptor-α expression and
is associated with poor outcome in human breast cancer. Endocr Relat Cancer. 2012 Jan 20.
[Epub ahead of print]

If you have any awards, publicity, and/or publications accepted or in press please e-mail
them to me so I can include them in my notes.
Upcoming deadlines and seminars:
Grants:
March 1st
- CIHR Ops
- MHRC Establishment, Ops, chair
- University Research Grants Program for new researchers
- Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Translational Research LOI
- Alex’s Lemonade Stand Innovation award (brain)
March 2nd - MICH Ops
March 7th – ACGT gene therapy of pancreatic cancer (RFA)
March 14th – 21st century science (brain)
March 15th
- CBCF Prairies Research Grant (breast)
- Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Translational Research
- Prostate Canada Clinician Scientist research grant (RFA)
March 16th
- MHRC Bridge funding
- Prostate Cancer Foundation Special Challenge
- David Mazzone Award (prostate)
March 18th – Brain Tumour Innovation LOI
March 19th – LUNG-evity Translational Research
March 21st – Sontag Young Investigator Award (brain)
March 23rd – University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine Science Core Platform
March 26th – Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation Senior Research Award
March 29th – Boehringer Ingelheim Young Investigator Award
March 30th – Prostate Canada Pilot Grant (RFA)
April 1 – Canadian Cancer Society Innovation
- NSERC Strategic grants
April 2nd – Canadian Liver foundation Ops grant
Students, trainees and fellows
March 1st – Tumour Immunology
- U of M International Graduate Student Scholarship
- Manitoba First Nations students scholarships
March 2nd – MICH undergraduate scholarship
- Monbukagakusho scholarship for studies in Japan
March 12 – Harness Fellowship in healthcare policy
March 13 – Alex’s Lemonade Stand in pediatric oncology
March 14 – Kappa Kappa Gamma scholarship for women
- Banting Research Foundation
March 15 – Dan David Scholarship for genomic research
- Deer Lodge student travel award
- L’Oreal women in science international fellowship
- Burroughs Wellcome career guidance for trainees
March 16 – Canadian Society for Immunology summer internship
April 2 – Canadian Liver Foundation Summer studentship in pediatric liver disease
- Arthur Mauro Senior Student Award
- NSERC Industrial post-grad scholarships
- Armand-Frappier Foundation
- UofM Alumni Association graduate student award
- Governor General’s Gold Award
- UofM Graduate student associate department grants
- Caroline Cope Oncology Research Award
- Don Mazankowski Oncology Research Award
- Hain Oncology research scholarship
Please see Eilean for more details. FAAF’s are due with ORS at least 1 week before the deadline.
Spencer Gibson
Acting Director
Manitoba Institute of Cell Biology