News from the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research

Office of Technology Transfer (OTT)

McGill, through OTT, and the Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) have just concluded an exclusive licence agreement with Eli Lilly & Co. The object of this agreement is a gene and its related products that could play a key role in providing more effective treatment of diabetes, a chronic disease for which there is currently no cure. The underlying mechanism is a combination of stimulation of the regeneration of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas and regulation of its production to meet the body's demands.

The McGill research team, which has collaborated for more than 10 years with the EVMS research team led by Dr. Aaron Vinik, director of the EVMS Diabetes Research Institute, is composed of Dr. Lawrence Rosenberg, director of the McGill Transplantation Surgery Program and the Centre for Pancreatic Diseases at the Montreal General Hospital, and Dr. William Duguid, Pathologist-in-Chief at the MGH. The McGill research was supported by grants from the Canadian Diabetes Association and the Medical Research Council while OTT supported the commercial activities led by EVMS. Under the terms of the exclusive licence agreement, McGill and EVMS will receive initial fees, milestone payments and royalties on potential product sales.

Research Grants Office (RGO)

Canada Council Programs
Killam Research Fellowships Program
The 1998 Killam Research Fellowship and Killam Prize brochure have been posted on Canada Council's website at http://www.canadacouncil.ca/prizes/killam.htm. However, the Killam Research Fellowship Application will not be posted until the end of April. A small number of brochures and applications will be available in RGO soon.

A committee has been set up by the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research to provide assistance to candidates in order to optimize their applications. Since the deadline for receipt of applications in Ottawa is June 30, 1997, the committee should receive at least a draft of the applications by June 10, 1997, to provide sufficient time to give constructive input to the applicants.

For more information on the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Prizes, please contact the Office of the Associate Vice-Principal (Research) at 3993.

Grant Competitions Results

Medical Research Council
Approximately the same number of applications (new and renewal) for the Operating Grants were submitted by McGill (including the Royal Victoria Hospital and Montreal Neurological Institute) for the September competitions in 1996 and 1995, but the success rate in 1996 was 40% compared to 24% in 1995. The national success rate for the 1996 competition for universities and all affiliated hospitals was 23%, while our success rate was 30%. For the EquipmentGrant (1), the Maintenance Grant (1), the Multi-User Equipment/Maintenance Grant (5) as well as the Clinical Trials (1) competitions, all applications submitted were funded, hence a 100% success rate.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Our success in the Research Grants competition remains above the national rate (39% vs 35%), which also rose compared to last year (1997: 35%, 1996: 30%). Of the 84 applications we submitted, 33 were awarded, a success rate of 39% compared to 32% in the previous year.

McGill did extremely well in the Strategic Grants competition. Six applications were submitted of which four were funded, a success rate of 67% compared with the national rate of 37%. Overall, McGill received an 8.2% share of the total applications funded by SSHRC and 8.8% of the total budget awarded.

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
In the overall competition, we have the same success rate of 61% as last year. The same applied to the Research Grants competition, our success rate being 79%, compared to 78% in the previous year. The national rates for NSERC competitions are not yet available.

Deadlines

A list of upcoming deadlines is posted on our RGO Website at http://ww2.mcgill.ca/fgsr/rgo.htm. More deadlines are available in the SPIN database at http://www.infoed.org/