Canada Research Chairs Program Grant

Federal subsidies

On November 16, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development François-Philippe Champagne announced the results of several research funding programs, including the Canada Research Chairs program. Pr. Bourgault will receive support under this program for an amount of $100,000 per year for 5 years.

Biological nanoassemblies

Living organisms are an invaluable source of inspiration for the design of nanomaterials for biomedical and technological applications. To this end, proteins are recognized for their unique ability to self-assemble and the resulting supramolecular structures perform vital physiological functions, as evidenced by spider silk and the byssus of bivalve molluscs. The central objective of the Canada Research Chair in the Chemistry of Biological Nanoassemblies is the mechanistic study of the self-assembly of proteins into different supramolecular architectures in order to design functional protein nanostructures for applications in vaccination, tissue regeneration and bioelectronics. Although the chair program mainly targets amyloid fibers, other protein nanostructures, such as those inspired by bacterial flagella and pili, will also be designed. By combining chemical, biophysical and biological approaches, this research chair will lead to strategies for manipulating protein assemblies and open up new functionalities. Finally, this research chair will make it possible to demystify these protein nanostructures, thus promoting their use in the design of vaccines and biomaterials.

Source: Actualités UQAM