This year's William G. Black Memorial Prize essay competition has been won by third-year law student Mathew Englander.

More than 50 undergraduates were competing for the prize, which is worth $1,500.

Students entering the competition are given two hours to write an essay -- without the use of resource materials or computers -- on a topic presented at the time of the competition that relates to some aspect of Canadian citizenship.

This year's topic was: "Should all persons born in Canada be granted Canadian citizenship automatically? Consider this practice from more than one perspective."

Dr. Donald Paty, a professor in the Dept. of Medicine, and Dr. Wayne Moore, a clinical professor of Pathology, have received funding of $146,000 from the pharmaceutical company Berlex Canada Inc. for research on multiple sclerosis (MS).

Paty and Moore's research will seek further understanding of the significance of MS lesions, which can be detected on brain scans done with magnetic resonance imaging during the initial onset of the disease, which may last two to 15 years.