On Thursday, May 30 and Friday, May 31, 2024, over 160 members of the IRCM's internal community - researchers, students and professionals - gathered for the IRCM Forum. In the idyllic setting of the Grand Lodge Mont-Tremblant, they came together to share their latest work, exchange ideas and talk science.
Nearly 31 oral presentations were given, as well as 56 poster presentations on a wide variety of interesting subjects, all touching on medical biology and innovative ways of improving current health knowledge.
Organized by the IRCM's Academic Affairs Department, this much-anticipated annual event has become, over the years, a genuine opportunity for scientific synergy, bridge building and the emergence of promising collaborations between colleagues working in different fields of research.
“The Forum is truly a privileged moment when we can all cogitate together to broaden our horizons and take scientific reflection even further. It's a moment of collegiality in the image of good science, and we're delighted to be able to offer it to our community,” confided Dr. Jean-François Côté, President and Scientific Director of the IRCM.
Since 2023, BMO Group has financially supported the Scientific Forum.
“At BMO Group, we are honoured to be associated with the IRCM, a high-performance, world-class Montreal institution. We are proud to support a generation who is committed to finding sustainable solutions to tomorrow's healthcare challenges,” said René Douville, Market Manager, Entrepreneurial Ecosystem at BMO Private Client Group.
At the end of the event, the BMO Financial Group - Emerging Scientists Award was presented to the students who stood out for the quality of their scientific oral or poster presentation.
Discover our 2024 winners:
Oral Presentations
- Pedro França (Ph.D under the supervision of Dr. Michel Cayouette), The role of Ikaros family members in amacrine cell diversification
- Kevin Guo (Ph.D under the supervision of Dr. Mathieu Ferron), Identification of novel scaffold proteins in Sonic hedgehog-mediated axon guidance
- Nicolas Chofflet (Ph.D under the supervision of Dr. Hideto Takahashi), IgSF21 governs dendritic inhibition and neuronal networks homeostasis
- Noé Seija (PhD s under the supervision of Drs. Javier Di Noia and François Robert), Chromatin readers MLLT1/3 enable mutagenesis by activation induced deaminase in B cells.
Oral « Flash » Presentations
- Lok San Wong (PhD under the supervision of Dr. André Veillette), PSGL-1 is a novel inhibitor of tumor cell-macrophage interactions.
- Gilberto Duran Bishop (PhD under the supervision of Dr. Mohan Malleshaiah), Modelling of early embryogenesis using chemically induced totipotent cells.
- Maria Galipeau (PhD under the supervision of Dr. Jennifer Estall),The diabetes-related Gly482Ser polymorphism regulates PGC-1α biology in INS-1 β-cells.
Poster Presentations
- Sanidhya Jagdish (Master under the supervision of Dr. Mohan Malleshaiah), Single cell analysis of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition & senescence in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
- Rozhin Agoush (Master under the supervision of Dr. David Hipfner), Slik-Rho1 negative feedback loop: orchestrating non-autonomous tissue growth.
- Dennis Drewnik (PhD under the supervision of Dr. Frédéric Charron), Uncovering the role of the WAVE regulatory complex during neuronal migration.
- Fatima Kassem (PhD under the supervision of Dr. Michel Cayouette), Photoreceptor reprogramming to prevent retinal degeneration.
- Laura Quirion (PhD under the supervision of Dr. Jean-François Côté), Mapping the global RAS-family interactome uncovers DOCK5 as a new link to the RAC pathway.
- Vanesa Jiménez-Amilburu (Postdoctoral fellow under the supervision of Dr. Frédéric Charron), A novel player controlling neuronal migration during cerebellum development.
- Samantha Boudreau (PhD under the supervision of Dr. Michel Cayouette), Uncovering the role of Podxl in photoreceptor polarity and function.
- Johanna Guerry (PhD under the supervision of Dr. Javier Di Noia), Identification of the function of a new deaminase in humans and its potential implications in oncology.
- Kavindu Puwakdandawa (PhD under the supervision of Dr. François Robert), Dissect the role of an amphipathic alpha-helix inside the Med19 IDR on Cdk8 function.
- Mathieu Joseph (PhD under the supervision of Dr. David Hipfner), Regulation of Slik by STRIPAK in epithelial tissue growth control and integrity.
- Rebecca Cusseddu (PhD under the supervision of Dr. Jean-François Côté), The microtubule plus-end-tracking protein (+TIP) ACF7 is essential for metastasis of HER2-positive breast cancer.
