AFMNet's Second Annual Scientific Conference

The Advanced Foods and Materials Network (AFMNet) hosted its Second Annual Scientific Conference "Research, Results, Rewards: The Science and Beyond - Swifter, Higher, Stronger!" in Calgary, Alberta from Sunday, April 30th until Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006 at the downtown Westin Calgary.The conference included three exciting days of research seminars, industry speakers, poster competitions and networking opportunities. Click here to view the three day Program at a Glance.

• Dr. Marc Fortin - AFMNet researcher and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's new Assistant Deputy Minister, Research - kicked off the conference with an inspiring opening keynote address.
• Dr. Suzanne Fortier, "relatively" new president of NSERC, complimented the network on setting the bar very high for all subsequent NCE conferences (ours was the first Annual Scientific Conference she had the chance to attend).
• AFMNet Scientific Director, Rickey Yada, officially announced the 20 new and renewed projects to be funded by AFMNet over the next three years.
• Two-time Olympian, Lindsay Alcock showed us some terrifying skeleton footage, told us how she came to be an Olympic athlete and inspired all attendees to face life head on and strive for innovation!
• Dr. Nicholas Low presented 8 HQP with awards for their stand-out posters (there were 49 entries in this year's AFMNet Poster Competition).
• Dr. Robert Church, University of Calgary professor and pioneer of molecular genetics and embryo transfer technology in cattle, ended the conference encouraging AFMNet researchers to ask the obvious questions to elicit extraordinary results.

An important part of this conference, focused entirely on HQP, was the poster competition as it offered an opportunity to showcase HQP projects to other Network researchers, government and industry representatives.

The objective of the competition was to award top HQP within AFMnet who demonstrate excellence in research, networking and communications through their poster presentations. With 49 submissions, deciding on top honours was not an easy task but in the end, our judges came up with the following 8 worthy winners, announced at the HQPA session on Tuesday.

1. Simon Vieth, Ryerson University
   Tailoring Hydrogel Microstructure Via Phase Separation and Kinetic Trapping
   Theme I
2. David Mackenzie, St. Francis Xavier University
   Controlled Release in Two Component Hydrogel Delivery Systems
   Theme I
3. Natasha Kachan, University of Toronto
   Canadian Consumers Perceptions of the Risks Associated with Using Natural Health Products (NHPs)
   Theme III
4. Shama Joseph, Universite Laval
   Effect of CLA isomer trans 8, cis 10 on lipid metabolism in 3T3-L1 mouse preadipocytes
   Theme II
5. Sarah Schooling, University of Guelph
   Probing the ultrastructural properties of biofilms: Membrane vesicles within the matrix of mixed and Gram-negative biofilms of lab. and environmental origins
   Theme I
6. Ravinder Kumar Goyal, University of Victoria
   Expression of antimicrobial peptide in transgenic plants enhances innate immunity and modulates inducible hypersensitive response
   Theme I
7. Jessica Miller, Dalhousie University
   Mechanisms of action of conjugated linoleic acid in differentiated 3T3-L1 preadipocytes
   Theme II
8. Bryce MacMillan, University of New Brunswick
   Magnetic Resonance in Doughs and Gels
   Theme I

A special thanks to all our judges:
Jessica Miller (HQP, Dalhousie University),
Mike Nickerson (HQPC, University of Saskatchewan)
Karen Durrell (HQP Training Officer, McGill University)
Nicholas Low (AFMNet Researcher, University of Saskatchewan)
Darren Korber (AFMNet Researcher, University of Saskatchewan)
Heather Boon (AFMNet Researcher, University of Toronto)
Barbara Moffat (AFMNet Researcher, University of Waterloo)
Jeff Turner (AFMNet Board of Directors and President, Life Science)

In addition to the Poster Competition Awards, three other awards were also given out to hardworking HQP at the Tuesday HQPA session.

David Mackenzie from St. Francis Xavier University (and newest member of the HQPA) was awarded the Marilyn Griffith Memorial Scholarship recognizing his research and leadership excellence and contribution to the advancement of HQP and AFMNet. Congratulations Dave.

Christian Schultz-Nielsen and Scott Allen were awarded the AFMNet - HQPA Merit Award for their leadership excellence in the development of the Advanced Foods & Materials Networks Highly Qualified Personnel. Congratulations!

The conference was a great success and AFMNet would like to thank the speakers, poster presenters, participants, conference organizers and hotel staff for their important contributions. See you in Montreal in 2007!