Canada Research Chairs
Curiosity and research are at the forefront of our Faculty’s service.
Here at Algoma University, we host Canada Research Chairs (CRC) in Invasive Species Biology, Plant Lipid Metabolism, Healing and Reconciliation and Tissue Biophysics, strengthening our research reputation at international stages.
Dr. Isabel Molina
Tier II Canada Research Chair in
Plant Lipid Metabolism
Understanding How Plants Protect Themselves
We need plants to enable and sustain life on Earth. As well as absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, plants pump energy through the food chain and produce vital ingredients for medicines. But human activity is causing stress to plants across the world’s ecosystems on an unparalleled scale. Dr. Isabel Molina, Canada Research Chair in Plant Lipid Metabolism is trying to understand how plants adapt to protect themselves from stresses such as pathogens, salinity and drought.
Helping plants—especially crops—to better withstand drought and high temperatures is increasingly important in an era of unprecedented climate change. Deeper insights into plant surface lipids could also lead to the development of novel crop varieties capable of producing larger amounts of waxes, biopolymers or their building blocks, which could potentially be used as renewable energy sources or chemical feedstock.
Dr. Pedro M. Antunes
Tier II Canada Research Chair in Invasive Species Biology
Understanding Soil Organisms and their Interactions with Plants
Exotic and native invasive plants increasingly hinder land management and use, as well as restoration projects. Exotic invasive species represent a major environmental disturbance with serious social and economic consequences. The Canadian and Ontario governments have called for research to better understand and predict impacts of invasive species. A major concern is their long-term consequences to soil and plant health and ecosystem processes.
In his second term as Canada Research Chair in Invasive Species Biology, Dr. Pedro Madeira Antunes’ research will continue to assess long-term effects of exotic invasive plants on soil biotic diversity and function. He and his team will investigate mechanisms whereby plant-biotic interactions can cause declines of native and invasive plants and, in this context, expand into considering climate change factors.
Dr. Nirosha Murugan
Tier II Canada Research Chair in Tissue Biophysics
Understanding How Cellular Communication Affect Tissues
Pattern formation is the process by which cells acquire different identities. It ensures that tissues and organs develop in the correct places and orientations, a crucial step in development. As Tier II Canada Research Chair in Tissue Biophysics, Dr. Nirosha Murugan is investigating how cellular communication goes awry leading to the mispatterning of tissues, such as in the case of cancer.
Specifically, Dr. Murugan is leading a research team to explore the role of biophysical signaling in cancer patterning and harnessing these signals to develop therapeutics. To do this, they are studying long-range signaling that controls the plasticity of tissues as well as how cells use their biophysical signals (such as endogenous optical and electrical signals) to control their fates. Advances in this work will lead to novel therapeutics that use light and electrical-based platforms to reprogram the fate of cancer back to its normal state.
Dr. Paulette Steeves
Tier II Canada Research Chair in Healing and Reconciliation
Understanding the History of Indigenous Peoples in the West
In her research, Dr. Steeves argues that Indigenous peoples were present in the Western Hemisphere as early as 100,000 years ago, and possibly much earlier. She has created a data base of hundreds of archaeology sites in both North and South America that date from 250,000 to 12,000 years before present, which challenges the Clovis First dogma of a post 12,000 year before present initial migrations to the Americas.
The place of rewriting Indigenous histories as paths to healing and addressing racism in contemporary society are also highlighted. Though many archaeologists have spent their careers denying the deep Indigenous past, there are a few who dedicated their lives to truth-telling, and they paid a heavy price for their honesty. Dr. Steeves explains the importance of counter stories focused on decolonizing Western narratives of the Indigenous past, reviving identities, rewriting histories, and reclaiming the homelands and human rights of the Indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere.
