Dr. An Thien Ngo
As of January 4th Dr. Ngo will be in Ottawa, Ontario as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Linda Johnston at the National Research Council / University of Ottawa. Her research will focus on how drugs such as alcohol modify the fluidity, structure, and organization of the cell membrane, to understand why these modifications affect the signaling behavior of certain ion channel proteins. Ion channel dysfunction in damaged membranes plays a pivotal role in pathologies associated with traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, and carpal tunnel syndrome. Accounting for membrane fluidity will help to treat these pathologies by improving the targeting of dysfunctional ion channels.She has also launched a miniconference for the discussion of science and policy issues affecting Quebec. Its inaugural edition took place on October 7, 2010. The project is now in the hands of the new organizing team and the Post-Graduate Students’ Society of McGill.An successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation on December 8th, 2010. Her work with Prof. Gonzalo Cosa at McGill created luminescent nanostructures involving the anionic light-emitting poly(phenylene vinylene) MPS-PPV in complex with lipid vesicles or silica beads, towards applications in biological sensing.