UBC Reports | Vol. 46 | No. 20 | December 14, 2000

Scientists garner national awards

Two are among 15 to receive research award

Prof. Terry Snutch of the Biotechnology Laboratory and Prof. Philip Hieter of the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Genetics have received Senior Scientist Awards from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR).

The award provides $350,000 over five years to each recipient.

Snutch, who also holds appointments in the departments of Zoology and Psychiatry, was recognized for his contributions to the area of electrical and chemical signaling in the brain and heart.

He has identified and characterized a class of proteins called calcium channels that are implicated in a number of human disease states including chronic pain, stroke, epilepsy and cardiovascular disease.

Hieter, a professor of Medical Genetics, was recognized for his investigations of genetic control mechanisms in yeast. His work contributes to the understanding of human genes involved in controlling both normal cell growth and the abnormal growth seen in diseases such as cancer.

There were 15 Senior Scientist Awards given across Canada in the recent competition.

CIHR also recently awarded Snutch the largest non-clinical operating grant in Canada.

The grant for $1,225,000 over five years will allow his lab to continue studies on the functional roles of calcium channels in normal brain signaling in mammals as well in the model organism C. elegans.

CIHR is the major federal agency responsible for funding health research in Canada.