Thank you all for coming out to the New Student Orientation on September 21st. It was great meeting you all. You can find the slides the council presented here

Save the date for the February Technical Seminar! This month, Ariana Arduini, a MSc student in the Liang Lab, will be discussing different applications of viral vectors and their implications in gene therapy and vaccines.

Visit emgss.org/tss for a link to attend the presentation.

HCV vaccination : the final frontier in controlling the HCV pandemic

This seminar is being held as the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM)’s annual Marie and Willie Chrétien Lecture.
Dr. Houghton will discuss the discovery of Hepatitis C virus and the development of methods diagnostics, antiviral treatments and vaccines.

Register in advance for this webinar:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-1T0V2pwQqWyEX10iixuhA

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Researchers have historically relied on tissue cultures and animals to model biological phenomena in humans. However, traditional 2D tissue cultures lack physiological complexity and animals may be inappropriate for certain human diseases. Recent discoveries have made it possible to faithfully re-create key elements of the architecture and physiology of human organs using stem-cell-derived 3D culture systems (organoids). Human organoids provide unique opportunities for the study of human biology and disease. 

The next installment of the McGill Biomedical Technical Seminar Series will be presented by Dr. Nguyen-Vi Mohamed and Dr. Maria La Calle Aurioles, a Postdoctoral Fellow and a Research Associate at The Neuro's Early Drug Discovery Unit (EDDU). The presenters will cover their respective expertise in generating midbrain organoids from human iPSCs and assaying/imaging 3D tissues to answer specific research questions.

Visit emgss.org/TSS for a link to attend the seminar

LDI Trainee Committee Presents the LDI Journal Club

This month’s highlighted paper:

“Integrated single-cell analysis of multicellular immune dynamics during hyperacute HIV-1 infection” by Kazer et al. Nature Medicine. 2020.

Trainees from across McGill are welcome.

Read the paper and come ready to discuss.

Get your chance to win some cool prizes!

ZOOM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83805026062

Meeting ID: 838 0502 6062

Register here

The Green Labs Initiative (GLI) is expanding! Newly formed committees are working together at every research site served by EMGSS and further to grow the seeds of a new era in sustainable lab research. These new committees will collectively make up the Green Labs Initiative at McGill (GLI-McGill). To start a new initiative, we need a new logo and we want you to make your mark on the organisation. The winner of the GLI-McGill logo competition will be awarded a $50 gift card of their choice, a mug with their logo printed on it, and serious bragging rights.
For your logo to be considered, it must:

• Be high-resolution or in a vector format

• Be composed of solid & bold colours

• Fit in a box or circle

Please submit the logo in a .pdf, .svg or .png format to gliatneuro@gmail.com. If you need more information regarding the goals of the GLI in order to create the logo, please visit the Neuro’s GLI seeds of change campaign page.

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) provides researchers the ability to explore gene expression at a single-cell resolution. With the maturation of scRNA-seq and bioinformatics comes an incredible number of analytical tools. When applied, these tools allow us to deepen our understanding of biological systems, including regulatory networks, unique cell types, and steps involved in the development of a phenotype. Our next technical seminar, held in collaboration with the LDI trainee committee, will be hosted by Matthew Salaciak, an MSc student in the Johnson Lab (Lady Davis Institute). This seminar will provide an overview of scRNA-seq technologies with a focus on computational analysis using popular software packages. The seminar-workshop will familiarize you with standard downstream workflows using an example dataset.

Check emgss.org/tss for a link to attend the presentation.

Join us for a delicious chocolate chip cookies Easter themed baking session on Zoom! The recipe has been inspired by https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/bas-best-chocolate-chip-cookies. See you there!

Register HERE.

Congratulations! You've landed an interview!

Are you ready for what comes next?

The LDI Trainee Committee is inviting everyone in Experimental Medicine and beyond to join their interview skills webinar moderated this Thursday by Erin Corber from CaPS.

Meeting ID: 873 8068 7595

https://mcgill.zoom.us/j/87380687595

All EMGSS students are invited to a thesis writing webinar held by the LDI trainee committee.

Join us on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85899664100

Meeting ID: 858 9966 4100

A basic overview of Immunohistochemistry in free-floating tissue

This month's technical seminar presented by Morgan Foret, a PhD candidate in the Cuello lab (McMed) with help from Ryan Rys from the Johnson lab (LDI), will cover the basics of how to perform immunohistochemistry (IHC) for both brightfield and fluorescent labelling in free floating brain tissue sections. Topics will include how to select and troubleshoot primary and secondary antibodies as well as other experimental conditions to consider depending on the protein of interest.

https://mcgill.zoom.us/j/88044581656?pwd=bm5mUE9mRVJkV0tyRDRmbkEzRE84Zz09
Meeting ID: 880 4458 1656
Passcode: 396959

More details on how to join at emgss.org/tss.

Be you at the LDI or not, all are welcome to this upcoming journal club.

Come for the prize, stay for the science.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83805026062

Meeting ID: 838 0502 6062

Our February speaker has sadly needed to cancel their presentation, so the below presentation will no longer be on our calendar.

We are in the process of scheduling a replacement seminar on the first week of March and will be updating our website (emgss.org/tss) and this calendar as soon as we can confirm a date.

The McGill Advanced BioImaging Facility (ABIF)

At our upcoming seminar on February 17th 2021, the McGill Advanced BioImaging Facility will be presenting a wide variety of microscopy platforms their facility provides as well as a new training program developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We expect this will be a great introduction to the capabilities of modern microscopy techniques for those less aware of the ABIF and will also be helpful for frequent users to appreciate new services offered. Come ready with questions from the fundamentals to the particulars for an experienced team of microscopy enthusiasts.

BH3 Profiling: A Flow Cytometry Protocol to Determine Apoptotic Competency

A hallmark of cancer growth and progression is the evasion of apoptosis and resistance to treatment in malignant cells. Recent focuses of cancer research have included the development of targeted therapies aimed at increasing a cell’s response to apoptotic stimuli. Join our December edition of the Technical Seminar Series to hear from Ryan Rys, a PhD candidate in the Johnson Lab (Lady Davis Institute), who will highlight a technique for analyzing apoptosis in cancer cells called BH3 profiling. This flow cytometry assay helps to determine whether a cell can undergo apoptosis by assessing the balance between pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins. A fast and efficient method, Ryan will discuss the protocol and provide examples of how this technique can be used to classify levels apoptotic dysfunction, screen for drugs that are efficient in inducing cell death and identify potential therapeutic targets.

See emgss.org/tss for a link to the webinar.

Setting Sail for the Hi-Cs : An introduction to 3D Chromatin Structure

Over the last two decades, the field of epigenomics has been rocked by innovations in the study of 3D chromatin structure. Such innovations have shown that chromatin structure plays a crucial role in key cellular functions, in embryonic development and in cancer progression. Tune in on Wednesday to hear Benjamin LeBeau, a PhD candidate in the Witcher lab (Lady Davis Institute), introduce the biological importance of 3D chromatin interactions and their regulating mechanisms. Benjamin's seminar will include a deep-dive into the experimental techniques used to investigate these structures alongside multiple bioinformatic pipelines used to analyze and visualize chromatin conformation.

See emgss.org/tss for a link to the webinar.

Save the date for an interesting talk on the set-up, expectations and limitations of the BQC19 at the Jewish General Hospital to understand the implications biobanking may have on the course of the current pandemic and more broadly on the future of medicine. Note that the Biobanque québécoise de la COVID-19 (BQC19) is currently inviting the scientific community to submit their requests as part of the first phase of the data access process (deadline Oct. 12th). Available data include genome-wide genotyping associated with twelve baseline variables on more than 500 samples from the BQC19, divided between SARS-CoV-2 positive participants and case controls. See the following link for more details: https://www.bqc19.ca/en/access-data-samples.

NEW DATE: We are thrilled to announce that the 20th Annual McGill Biomedical Graduate Conference (AMBGC) is BACK! To ensure the safety of all our participants, this event will take place in a completely virtual format via the cellphone/desktop apps Whova and Zoom. AMBGC 2020 will take place Wednesday, October 21st, 2020 and the schedule of the day events will remain unaltered.

Check out our AMBGC page for more information.

Mark your calendars for the inaugural EMGSS, GAPTS and GAP virtual Technical Seminar of the academic year!

Progress in the field of inducible pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has expanded what we can model in vitro, ranging from complex neurological disorders to cardiomyopathies. However, you may wonder how easy is it to integrate iPSCs into our daily routine. This talk will discuss considerations for how to culture and differentiate iPSCs and will address some common challenges associated with keeping these cells in culture.

Be sure to check the next EMGSS litserv for a link to the upcoming seminar. Also, if you are an EXMD student or Post-Doc interested in sharing a method you regularly use in the lab with an interested audience in October, contact our VP Eexternal, Owen Dunkley (owen.dunkley@mail.mcgill.ca) with your proposal.

We would like to welcome all new trainees to the New Student Orientation which will take place on Thursday, September 17th, 2020 via Zoom! We will be hosting several speakers who will provide important information for new trainees. These talks will help you get a grasp of what ExMed is all about, how to navigate through grad school, what funding opportunities are available, and so on! Please register for this event HERE.

Join us for our first ever 🤩EMGSS Virtual Trivia Night🤩, Family Feud style! Be prepared to share your knowledge by answering science, general knowledge and pop-culture questions. Monetary prizes will be given to the WINNING TEAM🤑😎! Meet up via Zoom, Wednesday, August, 26, 2020 from 7:30pm. Limited spots, sign up now: REGISTRATION CLOSED

Are you feeling... Tired? Stressed out? Bored and looking for something fun to do? If any of these apply, then we have the perfect event for you! Come join us on Monday August 17th, 2020 from 3:00 – 4:00pm for a FREE online yoga and meditation workshop hosted by our Health, Wellness, Equity and Diversity Rep, Kerman Sekhon! No experience necessary, all you need is comfy clothes and some water. Workshop will be held via Zoom. Register for this mindful meditation and de-stressing workshop HERE.

Are you #boredinthehouseandiminthehousebored? You want to take a break and have some fun? Then don’t miss out on our #EMGSS beginner Hip Hop class! No dance experience necessary, just find a small area of space, bring yourself and some comfy clothes!

Registration closed.

Want to start making progress towards your thesis writing? Want to hear from graduates about their submission experience? Do you have questions that you would like to share with the Division? Join us next week during our first Thesis Writing Webinar!

The webinar will bring together EXMD students who can currently benefit from their time to make progress with their theses writing process with recent graduates from the program! To target the panoply of trainees in EXMD, we are proud to present:

A. our speakers:
Dr. Anne-Marie Lauzon, Director, Division of Experimental Medicine
Ms. Sandra Morrison, Student Affairs Administrator, Division of Experimental Medicine
Dr. Yvonna Hung, Graduate Program Coordinator, McGill Writing Center, Graphos

B. our panelists:
Samantha Bovaird, MSc thesis writing
Katarina Pessina, MSc
Karina Gasbarrino, PhD
Nathanne Dos Santos Ferreira, PhD

The webinar will provide students with the opportunity to hear from recent graduates about thesis writing and submission experience. If you have only recently begun your graduate program, you will also find out how to benefit from this time to make an outline for your project/thesis. We are also happy to be joined by Graphos who will be providing tips and information on how to make the writing process more efficient, precise and structured. Similarly, you will hear from the Division of Experimental Medicine about GPS requirements, timelines and recent updates about graduation policies.

EMGSS understands and acknowledges that these tragic events might have a particular effect on students, especially our international peers, who also have to worry about their families abroad. With this in mind, the Experimental Medicine Graduate Student Society and the McGill Iranian Student Association would like to reiterate and further affirm its openness to supporting students and trainees during such difficult times. Our council aims to serve as a safety hub where students can feel comfortable, welcome and supported.

We sincerely wish you the best of outcomes for the rest of the year and hope that your new pages fill up with nothing but joy and success.

EMGSS and GSAN present Our Holly Jolly Holiday Party!

Come and join EMGSS and GSAN to make your December “one to remember “at our Holly Jolly Holiday Party! We’re co-hosting this year’s holiday party at Kin Experience, on St Catherine Street W, so be prepared for a beautifully lit and cheerful dance night. Make sure to purchase your ticket before midnight on December 1st to take advantage of our Early Bird discount. Each ticket includes all you can drink and eat, with a full bar service.

Feel free to bring any non-EMGSS/GSAN members, the more the merrier! Just make sure to purchase the relevant ticket type (EMGSS, GSAN or EMGSS Guest, GSAN Guest) - we will be checking at the doors. Our event is also fully accessible to any guests with disabilities. If you have any specific requirements in terms of mobility, or dietary restrictions, please fill these sections of our form when you are buying the tickets for our Holiday Party. We want to make sure that anyone and everyone can come and join in on the fun!

To buy tickets visit our Eventbrite page: EVENT CLOSED

Are you craving an adrenaline-rush? Do you enjoy team sports? Why not try DodgeBow with us!  In a face-off amongst ExMed trainees we will have an entire area open for this game which mixes dodge ball, archery, and paint-ball (without the paint!). At the end of the hour we'll see, who will outfox who? 

Join us for an action-packed hour of DodgeBow on November 14th, 2019! ExMed tickets are just 10$! Bring a non-ExMed friend for just 15$.

To sign up visit: EVENT CLOSED

Come join us after the New-Student Orientation for our Post-Orientation Social Event at Terrasse St-Ambroise (weather permitting). A group of students will be leaving from the Glen Atrium around 6pm on Friday, September 13th. DRINKS for Exmed Students are FREE!