Blog

In honour of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which takes place each year in February, we would like to give a shout out to all the wonderful women of QBIN. This short piece by Giulia Baracchini brings a personal perspective on how we can support each other towards a more equitable academia.

In the first ever QBIN podcast, Béry Mohammediyan, master’s student in psychiatry at McGill, interviews Professors Rachel Buckley and Jason Flatt on the differences between sex and gender and how and why it is important to consider this topic in research.

Last summer, QBIN launched the first trial of a new program designed to engage CEGEP students in bio-imaging research and help graduate students and postdocs gain valuable mentorship experience. Three PhD students from McGill University were paired with two CEGEP students from Dawson College to complete a 10-week research internship. The pilot was a great success and we plan to expand the program to include more mentors and interns from across the province in summers to come! Read on to learn more about the program from the perspective of our first three QBIN mentors, Aurelie Bussy, Stephanie Tullo, and Isabelle Arseneau-Bruneau!

In Canada, 38% of adults between the age of 20 and 79 years old suffer from hearing loss, and many never receive treatment. Furthermore, scientists have found that hearing loss often precedes diagnoses of age-related dementia by 5 to 10 years. Flavie Detcheverry, master’s student in biomedical engineering at the Université de Montréal, summarizes what we know about the relationship between hearing loss, cognitive decline, and age-related dementia.

Master’s student in psychiatry at McGill, Béry Mohammediyan, explores the interesting and complex relationship between sleep and memory and the consequences of sleep deprivation – a topic that most graduate students can personally relate to!

During the 2022 QBIN Scientific Day in Sherbrooke on June 2nd, three exceptional keynote lectures were given by this year’s William Feindel lecturer, Professor Louis Collins, and the two recipients of the 2022 Rising Star in Bio-Imaging in Quebec award, Professors Sylvia Villeneuve and Hassan Rivaz. In order to learn more about their career paths, research, and interests, the QBIN blog team conducted interviews with each of the award recipients.

We would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to three of last year’s (2021-22) scholarship recipients, who have well deserved this recognition. We hope that these small interviews by Carlos Gevers-Montoro bring our members closer to our future brilliant researchers!

In our latest blog piece, Giulia Baracchini, PhD Candidate in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Neuro, draws on Italian literature to highlight how coming together in science and in the community has been pushing autism bio-imaging research forward. To learn more, read her conversations with prominent Quebec autism researchers and with a mother caring for her autistic daughter.

Exceptionally this year, QBIN will be awarding two Professors the Rising Star in Bio-Imaging in Quebec award, Profs. Sylvia Villeneuve and Hassan Rivaz, who will present their work at the 2022 QBIN Scientific Day in Sherbrooke on June 2nd along with this year’s William Feindel lecturer, Louis Collins. In order to learn more about their research and interests, the QBIN blog team conducted interviews with each of them. Stay tuned for interviews with Hassan Rivaz and Louis Collins soon and enjoy this first interview with Sylvia Villeneuve by her former PhD student, Alexa Pichet Binette!

Sivaniya Subramaniapillai introduces the Women’s Neuronetwork, an initiative that aims to enhance collaboration and academic achievement among neuroscientists who identify as women.