2012 CCFC / M&M Charity Barbecue surpasses expectations
The 24th annual CCFC Charity BBQ Day fundraising efforts surpassed expectations and came in at a national total of $1,546,000. Not only was the goal of raising $1.5 million exceeded, but when the in-store and online Stars, Blossoms and Coupon Books sales were included, this brought the 24-year Charity BBQ Day grand total to $23,106,000. Thanks to all who supported the cause!

March 2012 - GIDRU students present their work
After months of hard work, Physiology 499 students Derek Moynes of the Lomax Lab, Linda Lee of the Vanner Lab and Jeffrey Chen of the MacLeod Lab presented posters of their research findings at the Biological Sciences building this week.
Congratulations to all three!

July 2011 - Dr. John Macleod makes two presentations at Wnt meeting at UCLA
Every two years researchers into Wnt worldwide meet for the "Traditional" meeting, where oral presentations are chosen from 350 submitted abstracts. Last week John MacLeod presented two orals: The first ("Ror2 is a co-receptor of Kremen2 in intestinal epithelia allowing physiological levels of Dkk1 to function as an agonist of Ror2 and titrate Wnt5a signaling") answered how Dkk1 can cause beta-catenin independent effects, while the second ("Canonical Wnt signaling is increased by intracellular alkalinization: a new role for Down regulated in Adenoma (Dra), Slc26a3, in intestinal epithelia.") demonstrated that canonical Wnt protein addition results in intracellular pH changes to cells, which had not yet been shown.

GIDRU success at 14th Annual Scientific Meeting for Health Sciences Trainees
Congratulations to Michelle Taylor from Dr. Elaine Petrof's Lab for winning a prize for her oral presentation of her work on probiotic factors!

CCFC and M&M Charity Barbecue 2011
M&M Meat Shops' 2011's charity barbecue for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada was a great success. From the sites on Bath Road and Gardiners Road over $10,000 was raised this year, an increase of 21% over last years' haul. Congratulations to all involved.

Dr. Ivan Beck
Dr. Ivan Beck, Emeritus Profesor and founder of GIDRU, passed away in November 2010 at the age of 86. He will be sadly missed, both here in Kingston and beyond.

CCFC & You Education Symposium: Living Well with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
For patients, their families and the general public. Saturday, November 20, 2010 at the The University Club, Queen's University, 168 Stuart Street, Kingston. 9:00 a.m. Registration, 9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Sessions. For registration information click here.

10th annual Research Topics in GI Disease Meeting
The Canadian Association of Gastroenterology (CAG), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada (CCFC), have announced the 10th annual RESEARCH TOPICS in GI DISEASE meeting, to be held February 24th- 25th, 2011 in Vancouver, BC (in advance of CDDW 2011, February 26 -March 1). This meeting provides a venue for Canadian trainees and students in gastrointestinal research (fellows, residents, graduate and undergraduate students) to share and discuss research at a formal and informal level. Abstracts will be accepted on-line, through the CDDW abstract system, at the CAG website (www.cag-acg.org) until 11:59 p.m. EDT, October 15, 2010.

CCFC Heel and Wheel 2010
On Saturday June 5th, Team GIDRU was out working to raise pledges and help find a cure!

Summer Students 2010
A warm welcome to this year's summer students Amanda Li, Jack Li, Stephanie Luco, Simrin Nagpal, Jeff Overington and Stephanie Vanner. They are now working on their projects, details of which can be found here

CCFC Education Event
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 - 7:00 -9:00 pm
Ongwanada Auditorium (191 Portsmouth Ave). Guest Speaker: Dr. John MacLeod followed by documentary film "Rubber Side Down: From the Rockies to the Rock."
Everyone is welcome to attend this free event. We especially encourage the Gutsy Generation -youth from 15-24 - to come out and meet others who share your experiences in living with IBD. Refreshments will be served.

M&M's Meat Shop 22nd Annual CCFC Charity BBQ
May 8th, 2010 This event is held in Kingston and surrounding areas Franchises. This year is the 22nd annual Charity BBQ. We look forward to seeing you there!

Congratulations to Dan and Mark!
April 2010.
Dan Mulder of the Justinich Lab has been awarded a CIHR Doctoral Research Award, while Mark Lukewich of the Lomax Lab has received a CIHR Canada Graduate Scholarship.

Canadian Digestive Diseases Week 2010
February 27 – March 2, 2010 Fairmont Royal York, Toronto.
GIDRU will be well represented with 13 abstracts, a number of which are 'posters of distinction'. Click here for a complete list of abstracts for the meeting.

The Giant Colon came to Kingston in February to raise awareness of colon health. Sponsored by ColonCancerCheck, a joint program between the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and Cancer Care Ontario, the 40-foot-long, eight-foot-wide pink colon was on display for visitors to walk through at the Cataraqui Town Centre. Click here for information on the Giant Colon Tour.

Congratulations to Dr. Fernando Ochoa-Cortes on his recent successful PhD defense!

Digestive Diseases Week 2009
May 30-June 4th, 2009 McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois.
GIDRU trainees were represented by 9 basic science posters.
In addition, there were clinical posters and presentations by GIDRU members.

May, 2009
Welcome new GIDRU summer students:
Cory Valinsky: Dr. Beyak
Emily Stern and Simrin Nagpal: Dr. Lomax
Amanda Li: Dr. Blennerhassett
Elizabeth Trusevych: Dr. Ropeleski
Stephanie Luco and Jay Jantz: Dr. MacLeod
Jasdeep Kahlon and Lily Duong: Dr. Petrof

Canadian Digestive Diseases Week Banff, Alta.
Feb. 27-March 2nd, 2009
GIDRU members have contributed to 16 posters.
Amanda Vanderlee has the CAG student prize, her poster is #44. To view the posters, click here

Feb 2009 - CBC's Marketplace features a commentary from Dr. Vanner. Dec. 2008 Dr. Petrof is awarded a CFI grant.

Nov. 8th, 2008.
The tour of GIDRU by CCFC members included meeting GIDRU trainees, with demonstrations of lab equipment and techniques.

Susan Chisholm (above) Mark Lukewich (below) with CCFC members


October 24th – October 26th
There were nine presentations from GIDRU at 2008's RESEARCH TOPICS IN GI DISEASE VIII - details.

August, 2008 Congratulations to Mohammed Motagally and David Rodrigues for successfully defending their Master's thesis. Good job guys!

June 3, 2008 GIDRU members featured on pg. 4 of today's Spectrum Health Sciences Research Day: GIDRU poster presentations are listed on page 9 of the itinerary.

May, 2008 New graduate student: Mark Lukewich joined Dr. Lomax's lab as a M.Sc. candidate. Welcome Mark! April, 2008 CAG Post-doctoral Fellowship Receipients: Donna Daly and Pierre Yves Gougeon New appointment: Dr. Elaine Petrof, M.D. WELCOME!!!

CAG studentship award: Maaike Devries. Supervisor: Dr. Alan Lomax. Congratulations Maaike!!!

Receipient of the Ivan T. Beck Research Prize in Digestive Sciences for 2007: Dr. Andrew J. Schell

NEW GIDRU members:
Telma Liliana Ramos-Lomas: Post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Vanner
Mark Lukewich: M.Sc. candidate with Dr. Lomax
Meredith Boccanfuso: M.Sc. candidate with Dr. Vanner
Donna Daly: Post-doctoral Fellow with Dr. Beyak
Hima Shiva Chandra: Ph.D. student with Dr. Ropeleski
Marcela Miranda Morales: Post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Vanner