Three MUHC discoveries among Québec Science magazine’s top 10 of 2011

Three of the top ten scientific breakthroughs of 2011 selected by Québec Science magazine were achieved by researchers from the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). Their work is featured in the February issue of the magazine, now available in newsstands.

• Dr. Vassilios Papadopoulos (Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Research Institute of the MUHC, Faculty of Medicine at McGill University) and his team (Dr. Laurent Lecanu and Dr. Georges Rammouz) have developed a blood test that could soon be used to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, helping detect and treat the devastating disease earlier.
  
  
• Orthopedic surgeons Dr. Paul Martineau and Dr. Edward Harvey (MUHC, Faculty of Medicine at McGill University), in collaboration with Louis-Philippe Lefebvre of the National Research Council of Canada, have patented a screw made of titanium foam that could replace the screws made of stainless steel that are currently used to treat broken bones, and thus lead to a faster recovery.
  
  
• Patients who suffer from chronic pain are subject to cognitive impairment. Laura Stone (Faculty of Dentistry, Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain) and her team, including Drs Jean Ouellet and Peter Jarzem (Orthopedic surgery, MUHC), and Drs Yoram Shir and Mark Ware (Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit, MUHC) discovered that once the pain was eliminated, it was also possible to reverse the abnormal changes seen in the brain.

Members of the public are invited to vote for the top discovery of the year. To vote or find out more about the 10 discoveries of the year, visit: www.quebecscience.qc.ca/decouverte2011