Approved drug offers promise of potential antiviral
The spread of SARS-CoV-2 set off a daunting quest to both develop vaccines and look for ways to treat a novel coronavirus that appeared to be highly transmissible and deadly.
听Those efforts included an examination of existing drugs that could be repurposed to safely and effectively treat people infected with the virus that causes COVID-19.听
Virologists at AV俱乐部 took on that challenge, using their work researching antivirals for influenza viruses to explore鈥痙rugs that could be used to treat SARS-CoV-2. They discovered that an FDA-approved drug known as 6-thioguanine, or 6-TG, can inhibit the replication of human coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2. The finding could eventually help in the development of effective, safe treatments for future coronavirus outbreaks.
Researchers: Brett Duguay, Eric Pringle,听Craig McCormick; University of Saskatchewan; University of Calgary
Further reading: AV俱乐部 researchers discover existing drug can disrupt coronavirus replication
Seafood beats beef in nutrition, environmental battle
When it comes to the battle over nutrition and the environment, salmon, herring, mackerel, and wee anchovies may have beef beat.听
Researchers from AV俱乐部 and Sweden have found that seafood鈥痗an provide greater nutrition to people with a lower rate of greenhouse gas emissions than beef, pork, and chicken. They found that wild-caught salmon, herring, mackerel, and anchovies, as well as farmed mussels and oysters, had the lowest climate impacts relative to their nutritional value. Half of the seafood species had a higher nutrient density and emitted fewer greenhouse gases than beef, pork, and chicken.
The findings suggest that policies to promote seafood in diets as a substitute for other animal protein could improve future food security and help address climate change.
Researchers: Robert W. R. Parker,鈥齂athleen Mifflin,鈥疨eter Tyedmers; RISE Research Institutes of Sweden; Aquaculture Stewardship Council (The Netherlands)
Further reading: Swapping meat for seafood could mean more nutritious and climate鈥恌riendly diets
Social work scholar ranks top听in the world
Dr. Michael Ungar has transformed the way we think about resilience. Challenging assumed wisdom that people independently summon the strength needed to thrive, his work shows that societies also play an important role. 听
听The lens provided by Dr. Ungar鈥檚 research has come into focus for scholars around the globe, a fact reflected in his recently publicized status as the world鈥檚 leading social work researcher based on the impact of his scholarly writing and citations. The ranking was published by the journal Research of Social Work Practice, which drew on a database of more than eight million scientists globally from every discipline and filtered out the top 100 researchers in the field of social work.
His ideas have gained wide recognition across mental health disciplines, including publication in Lancet Psychiatry, and his Resilience Research Centre collaborates with local, national, and international institutions to explore pathways to resilience across cultures.
Further reading: AV俱乐部 social work scholar ranks top in the world
Weaving Black history into the听Canadian narrative
Dr. Afua Cooper is a walker. She says it鈥檚 when she does her best thinking. But when she weaves her way through the streets and pathways of Halifax, the past is always with her. It鈥檚 a history that she wants to make evident to her students and the world beyond the classroom.听
The facts, she says, provide the foundation to build a common understanding, a starting place for a more productive dialogue and empathy. And, according to the Royal Society of Canada, no one has done more to build the facts of Canadian Black history than Dr. Cooper, who they named the winner of the J. B. Tyrrell Historical Medal in September 2022, an award granted every two years.
鈥淔or them to recognize the work that I鈥檓 doing, which focuses predominantly on Black history, it signals that they recognize the importance of this other history that has been at the margins for so long鈥攔ecognizing it as an integral thread of Canadian history.鈥澨� (Dr. Afua Cooper, Daniel Abriel photo)
Further reading: Weaving Black history into the Canadian narrative
Recruitment of new Black scholars to boost key academic priorities at Dal
AV俱乐部 will hire five Black scholars as part of an ambitious recruitment initiative that promises to strengthen key research and teaching priorities at the university. Recruitment for individual positions in the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences, Management, Science, Health, as well as the Schulich School of Law took place over the winter term.听
AV俱乐部鈥檚 location in a province with more than 50 African Nova Scotian communities offers a rich cultural backdrop for the new scholars and could provide unique opportunities for academic projects as well as for connecting campus with community.
Further reading: Recruitment of new Black scholars to boost key academic priorities at Dal
Chemist wins award for science that begins with structural beauty 听
Dr Saurabh Chitnis has a novel approach for selecting the molecules he creates. He starts with beauty. 听
鈥淪tudents in my lab and I are really drawn to molecules that exhibit structural attractiveness,鈥� says Dr. Chitnis. 鈥淚t really starts from this point of beauty and then we tease out the chemical consequences of that structure. When we do this, we make fascinating discoveries.鈥�
This novel approach attracted the recognition of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which awarded Dr. Chitnis a 2023 Sloan Research Fellowship in February 2023. While his chemical journeys begin in an unexpected place, they can lead to impactful desitinations. 听
He is currently working with AV俱乐部鈥檚 Office of Commercialization and Industry Engagement to secure a patent for a molecular structure which promises to revolutionize the way materials are created. It's a discovery that may catch the eye of industrial partners keen to leverage the chemistry to build materials with desirable new properties and without the input of fossil fuels.鈥�
Further reading: Elemental attraction: Dal Chemist wins international award for science that begins with structural beauty
Dr. Saurabh Chitnis in the lab (Nick Pearce photo).
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This story appeared in the DAL Magazine Spring/Summer 2023 issue. Flip through the rest of the issue using the links below.