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Dr. Adrian Tsang inspects a chip that allows him to determine the quantity and quality of DNA samples within minutes. This relatively new technology is only one example of several employed at Concordia’s Centre for Structural and Functional Genomics. The original method of separating DNA was developed in the 1970s, and takes six hours to complete.
Photo by andrew dobrowolskyj
Energy in enzymes
You could say that Dr. Adrian Tsang is an alchemist. He doesn’t turn lead into gold, but says he could do the equivalent for motorists fed up with high gas prices: Turn organic waste into fuel. “At least 40 per cent of our garbage is recoverable and can be used to produce fuels, energy, plastics and so forth. It’s a question of developing the technology to do so.” Tsang is the principal researcher at Concordia’s Centre for Structural and Functional Genomics, and leads a national research team that is studying how fungal enzymes can be used to produce everything from chemical-free cleaning agents and food preservatives to fuel alternatives. Fungi are nature’s top decomposers, Tsang said, and the enzymes they use to process their cellulose-laden diet are useful to attack clothing stains, whiten paper or even improve the texture and longevity of bread: 100 per cent naturally. Since starting his research four years ago with the assistance of $7.5...
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Ian Rakita (left) will replace Alan Hochstein as director of the Goodman Institute during Hochstein’s sabbatical.
Photo by andrew dobrowolskyj
Goodman Institute first to be CFA partner
When philanthropist Ned Goodman dreamed up the world’s first combined MBA-CFA program for Concordia, he gave the university’s business school an edge over all the others in Canada. The Goodman Institute of Investment Management is one of a handful of schools named a “Program Partner” by the U.S.-based Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts. The others noted in a first round of announcements are Saïd Business School (Oxford University, U.K.), Bocconi University (Milan, Italy), Boston and Marquette Universities (U.S.) and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. For five years the John Molson School of Business has offered a Master’s in...