Pharmacy school doubles its faculty

UW’s school of pharmacy has its second faculty member, as the founding director is joined by a researcher from the University of Saskatchewan whose work is focused on delivering medications through the skin without a needle.

She’ll fit into UW’s growing nanotechnology group, which already involves researchers in fields from electrical engineering to chemistry. The idea is to deliver medication through vesicles that act as microscopic containers to carry large protein molecules through the skin, without the need for injections or any electrical device. The medication can be applied as a patch or spread on the skin as an ointment.

The researcher, Marianna Foldvari (right), created a company in 1991 in order to commercialize the technology, which she has been continuing to develop. Helix BioPharma Corporation, which acquired her spinoff in 1999, is now working on three products that use her technology, including a delivery system for vaccines. She spent this summer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a visiting professor working with Robert Langer of the Department of Chemical Engineering on strategies for improving transdermal delivery systems.

Originally from Hungary, with a PhD from Dalhousie, Foldvari has been a faculty member and associate dean (research and graduate affairs) in the U of S College of Pharmacy and Nutrition. She officially joined UW’s faculty September 1 and has her office in the “B. F. Goodrich” building at 195 Columbia Street West. Plans are under way to open a lab for her, according to Laura Manning of the School of Pharmacy office.

Foldvari and a group of Saskatchewan colleagues have just received a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to continue work on “Design and Development of Targeted Gene Delivery Systems”, under CIHR’s Regenerative Medicine and Nanomedicine program.

Foldvari joins Jake Thiessen, formerly of the University of Toronto, who had been the pharmacy school’s only faculty member. But more will be coming soon. “We are working hard on faculty and senior staff hirings,” says Manning, reporting “three interviews in the last two weeks, and eight more candidates to be seen before Christmas”.

In January 2008, the first pharmacy students will begin working toward their degrees, a process that will take seven academic terms and four co-op terms under the revised curriculum approved by UW’s senate in June. A provisional curriculum approved earlier was modeled on the system in use at U of T, without a co-op component.

Previous announcements had set September 2007 as the start date. Says Manning: “The January entry point will be used for at least for the first two years, at which point we will evaluate whether to continue or to move back to a September start. The intention, however, is that offers of admission will be distributed at the same time as the University of Toronto.”

Applications for the 2008 class are now open, with a deadline of January 19, 2007. Admission requirements include two years of university-level science, with specific courses. The admissions process will also include interviews. “Student interest in the program is extremely high,” Manning says, “with multiple inquiries coming in daily regarding appropriate courses of study and admissions criteria.”

She also notes that the Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs has granted Qualifying Accreditation Status to the proposed UW BPharm program. “This followed the submission and review of a detailed accreditation application, and a site visit in May from Dr. Jim Blackburn, Executive Director.”

She quotes the CCAPP report: "Dr. Thiessen and his small administrative staff have made remarkable progress in the establishment of the School. He has received excellent cooperation from the University as well as from the pharmacy profession in the area. The operational and financial plan for the program appear appropriate for the new School and the capital and operating funding appear to be solid at this point in time. This will be the first pharmacy program in Canada to make use of co-operative work placements as a component of the baccalaureate program and we will follow this development with great interest."

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Robotics event returns in March

from the UW media relations office

UW is inviting high school mech-heads from across southwestern Ontario to participate in the first round of an international competition in robotics.

The FIRST Robotics Competition challenges teams of high-school students and their mentors from around the world to solve a common problem in a six-week period using a standard parts kit and common set of rules. Teams build robots from the parts to play a game where the objective is to score points by completing such tasks as shooting balls, stacking boxes, climbing over obstacles or hanging from bars.

"There is nothing like the clashes you see on the robo-warrior programs," said Ian Mackenzie, a one-time student participant and current planning committee chair for FIRST Robotics Waterloo Regional. "FIRST is the acronym for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. This is really about making science, math, engineering and technology as cool for kids as sports are today."

The competition, to be held March 22-24, will be open to the public, and admission is free. Mackenzie said about 30 teams will attend the event from across Ontario and a few from the United States, including a team from Michigan and one from Florida. The UW-hosted event is one of two Canadian venues hosting a regional FIRST competition in 2007. The other Canadian regional takes place March 29-31 at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga.

The annual contest draws 1,100 teams in regional competitions in Canada and the United States. The final championship will be held in Atlanta on April 12-14.

The competitions are high-tech spectator sporting events, the result of brainstorming, teamwork and mentoring, as well as project timeliness and meeting deadlines. Referees oversee the competition and judges present awards to teams for design, technology, sportsmanship and commitment.

Major sponsors for the Waterloo regional competition include Research In Motion, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Government of Ontario and the Discovery Channel. Anyone seeking more information or interested in sponsoring the Waterloo competition should contact Mackenzie at ian.e.mackenzie@gmail.com.

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Notes on the last day of classes

I wrote yesterday about the possibility of a student referendum next term on a fee to support World University Service of Canada and its refugee sponsorship program. Jeff Henry, a vice-president of the Federation of Students, promptly weighed in with a reminder that "WUSC requires approval through Federation of Students' procedures to achieve a referendum. Thus far no such approval has been achieved. Both the Federation of Students' Board of Directors and Students' Council have rejected the referendum as being outside their comfortable jurisdiction to call, given the issue at hand. Should a petition be received and verified with 10 percent of the full-time undergraduate student population signing on, only then will a referendum be called by the Federation of Students and will, according to by-laws, be held within ninety days. Depending on the success of WUSC in achieving the necessary number of petitioners in a sufficiently rapid manner, such a referendum may coincide with Federation of Student elections in February." He adds that the Federation, "through guidelines of the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, must approve any non-academic ancillary fees such as a WUSC fee in order for the UW Board of Governors to approve it."

Just in time for fall term exams, the registrar and the dean of graduate studies have issued a memo to "all UW teachers" about proctoring — and preventing cheating — at exams and tests. It quotes UW's regulations: "If the Presiding Officer has reasonable grounds to believe that a violation of academic regulations has occurred, that person shall collect all of the evidence available." A proctor can also "question an unidentifiable device or suspect situation", require a student to move to a different seat, "look into a knapsack, bag, purse, pencil case, etc.," and so on. "In all cases, student(s) are to be allowed to finish writing the test or examination," and the details are to be provided to the course instructor afterwards. Among other notes in the memo: students have to turn off BlackBerrys before the exam starts; "baseball caps must be removed and placed under the desk."

Another memo sent across campus this week comes from the human resources department and is addressed to all faculty and staff members in the UW pension plan, but particularly those who have maxed out their RRSPs and are looking for a way to put aside more money towards retirement. It makes the annual suggestion that money can be invested in the Flexible Pension Plan, but only with caution — the more so since the end of compulsory retirement at age 65. "Caution is advised to those members intending to work past age 65 who have participated in the past or plan to participate now in the Flex Plan," it says. "There is a greater risk of losing your flex contributions." That's because (the rules are complicated) the pension generated by those extra contributions can be used only in certain ways, and one of the chief of them is improving the level of pension after early retirement. There are details on the HR web site.

The registrar's office will be closed over the noon hour (11:45 to 2:00) tomorrow, Wednesday, because of a staff Christmas lunch. • The Computing Help and Information Place will have reduced hours tomorrow (9:30 to 12:30 and 1:30 to 4:30) because of the WatITis professional development conference. • Brubakers cafeteria in the Student Life Centre is offering Christmas lunch and dinner tomorrow.

And the university secretariat sends this announcement: "Following from the recent call for nominations to fill the AHS faculty vacancy on Senate, term to April 30, 2007, Paul McDonald (Health Studies and Gerontology) is the successful candidate."

CAR

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