Awards

Oral presentations

Awards will be presented for the top oral presentations in each category, and to the top poster presentations overall. Categories include:

Biochemistry
Molecular biology
Organic chemistry
Inorganic chemistry
Physical and Computational chemistry
Nanochemistry
Chemical education
Chemical and Materials engineering
Analytical and Environmental chemistry

Award will be given for oral presentation (10-12 minutes) and for poster presentations.

Subject to change based on category participation and/or sponsor donations.

For pictures of past CBGRC events, come visit us on Facebook or Instagram.

Past recipients

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

2021: S. Selber-Hnatiw (Concordia University), Secondary Metabolite Production in Aspergillus niger: methyltransferase specificity
2021: M. Tung (University of Toronto), Tellurophene-appended BODIPY: Photodynamic Therapy with Mass Cytometry
2020: Paul Jaouen (Université de Laval), Membrane interaction of retinal proteins S100A1 and S100B (Oral)
2020: Yann Ayotte (INRS-Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie), Exposing Small-molecule Nano-entities By a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Relaxation Assay (Oral)
2020: Daniel Rocca (University of Lethbridge), snr30 in the Assembling Ribosome: Determining the Function of An Essential snoRNA in Ribosome Biogenesis (Oral)
2020: Julia McCain (McGill University), Photodynamic Inactivation of E. coli by a Theragnostic ROS-Activated Dormant Photosensitizer (Oral)
2020: Promita Ghosh (University of Manitoba), Proximity-dependent labeling with BioID to identify putative interacting partners of HYAL2, a cell surface hyaluronidase (Oral)
2019: Antonius Van Kessel (McGill University), Development of Fluorescent tools to Study Cellular Lipid-Derived Electrophile Chemistry (Oral)
2019: Yeganeh Habibi (McGill University), Characterizing Conformational Changes in the Haloduracin b Lanthipeptide Synthase (HalM2) by Utilizing Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry(Oral)
2019: Caroline Brand (Université de Sherbrooke), Characterization of the Protein-Protein Interaction Between NS3 and NS5 Within the Replication Complex of West Nile Virus (Oral)
2019: Audrey Paillé (Université de Sherbrooke), Falloff of RNA Polymerases I at DNA Damage, and their Replacements by Nucleosomes, is Mirrored by the Inverse Activities of Transcription Coupled (TC-) and Global Genome (GG-) Nucleotide Excision Repair (Oral)
2018: Ryan Collins (Carleton University), Non-Histone Substrates for Histone Methyltransferases: Investigating MLL4-Dependant Methylation of 53BP1 and Cfp1 (Oral)
2018: Houman Motesharie (Carleton University), Heavy Metal Sensitivities of Gene Deletion Strains for ITT1 and RPS1A Connect their Activities to the Expression of URE2, a Key Gene Involved in Metal Detoxification in Yeast (Oral)
2017: Elise Malek-Adamian (McGill University), 4′-C-Methoxy-2′-Deoxy-2′-Fluoro Modified Ribonucleotides Improve Metabolic Stability and Elicit Efficient RNAiMediated Gene Silencing (Oral)
2017: Julie Ducharme (McGill University), CYP3A4 Cooperativity Investigation via the Bioconjugation of Natural Ligands (Oral)
2017: Olivier Gagnon (Ottawa Univeristy), VIPER: A Webserver for In Silico Simulation of Protein-peptide Interaction Specificity (Oral)
2017: Samantha Logan (Carleton Univeristy), Fat but Fit: How Hibernating Ground Squirrel AdiposeTissue Regulates Pro-inflammatory Signaling Pathways (Oral)
2016: Simon Boudreault (Université de Sherbrooke), Reovirus infection alters host cell alternative splicing landscape (Oral)
2015: Paknoosh Pakarian (Concordia University), Subunit Orientation in the Intracellular Escherichia coli Enterobactin Biosynthetic EntA-EntE Complex (Oral)
2015: Marie-Claude Carrier (Université de Sherbrooke), A functional tRNA-Derived RNA Fragment Fine-Tunes Gene Expression in Escherichia coli (Poster).
2015: Sanoji Wijenayake (Carleton University), Metabolic Arrest During Hibernation! Cardiac Regulation of Pyruvate Dehydrogenase (PDH) Complex in Hibernating Ground Squirrels (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus) (Poster).
2014: Emily Bordeleau (Brock University), Cyclic nucleotides and bacterial biofilm formation (Oral)
2013: Shane Caldwell (McGill University), Evidence for adaptive catalytic regulation from the structure of antibiotic resistance domain APH(2'')-Ia (Oral)

Physical, Computational and Nanochemistry

2021: A. Clermont-Paquette (Concordia University), Cellular uptake, cytotoxicity and trafficking of fluorescent carbon dots in human cells
2021: S. W. Tatarchuk (University of Guelph), Mechanism of Urea Oxidation on β-Ni(OH)2 from First-Principles Simulations
2021: Z. Zhang (McGill University), Adatoms in the surface-confined Ullmann coupling of phenyl groups
2021: S. Harroun (Université de Montréal), Using SERS and DFT to Examine Modified Nucleobases on Silver Nanoparticles
2021: M. Keramatnejad (Concordia University), Impact of Pollutant Ozone on the Biophysical Properties of Tear Film Lipid Layer Model Membranes
2021: C. Hennecker (McGill University), Using transient equilibria (TREQ) to measure the thermodynamics of slowly assembling supramolecular systems
2020: Toni Spilfogel (McGill University), Uncovering the World of Halogen-Based Architectures in Solid-State Porphyrin Systems using the Cambridge Structural Database (Oral)
2020: Siobhan Liu (University of Guelph), Effects of solvated ions on electrochemical CO2 reduction (Oral)
2020: Sarah McColman (Ryerson University), Tunable SARS-CoV-2 mimetic to study viral structure-function relationships (Fisher Scientific Nanochemistry Oral)
2020: Zujhar Singh (Concordia University), Donor-Chromophore-Acceptor Assembly Visible Light-Driven Oxidation of 1-Phenylpyrrolidine by a Heterogeneous Photoanode (Fisher Scientific Nanochemistry Oral)
2019: Ehsan Hamzehpoor (McGill University), Crystal Engineering of Room Temperature Phosphorescence in Organic Solids: The Story of Carbonyl-bridged Triphenyl Amines (TANGOs) (Oral)
2019: Farah Noun (Concordia University),Towards Uniform Optical Properties of Carbon Dots (Oral)
2018: Brandon Wallace (McGill University), Aerosol Diffusivity Studies: Single-Particle Experiments Using Optical Traps (Oral)
2017: William Copp (Concordia University), Influence of Nucleotide Modifications at the C2’ Position on the Hoogsteen Base-Paired Parallel-Stranded Duplex of Poly(A) RNA (Oral)
2016: Diana C. Rodríguez Burbano (Concordia University), Development of CaS:Eu²⁺/Dy³⁺ persistent and NIR photostimulated nanophosphors (Oral)
2016: Max Schütz (Université de Montréal), Temperature dependent band splitting in Raman spectra of square-planar dihalogendiammine Pt(II) complexes: effects of isotope distribution and symmetry (Oral)
2015: Abdullah Kahn (Concordia University), Impact of Nanoparticles on Lung Surfactant Functioning (Oral)
2014: Madhu Kaushik (McGill University), Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) as supporters, reducers and chiral inducers (Oral).
2013: Audrey Laventure (Université de Montréal), Heads vs. Tails: A Study on the Glass-forming Ability and Stability of Substituted Aminotriazine Molecular Glasses (Oral)

Analytical, Environmental and Educational Chemistry

2021: K. Krause (University of British Columbia), Toward the development of a quantum dot-based ‘nose’ for profiling protease activity
2021: O. Kuteyi (Concordia University), Stability of oxylipins on solid-phase microextraction devices
2021: Z. Aghaei (Memorial University of Newfoundland), Does exposure to microplastics during pregnancy impact fetal and placental development?
2020: Jaime Korner (University of Victoria), Artificial brain and intestinal “cells-on-a-chip” for drug permeability prediction (CIC Analytical Oral)
2020: Kaitlyn Ramsay (University of Victoria), The bottom-up synthesis of bespoke microfluidic prototissues (Oral)
2020: Ons Ousji (Université du Québec à Montréal), In vitro metabolism of Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) analogs by LC-HRMS/MS (CIC Analytical Shotgun)
2020: Aidan England (University of Guelph), Hydrodeoxygenation of 5-Carbon Sugar Alcohols to Diols via a Tandem Bicatalytic System (Oral)
2020: Jacky Deng (University of Ottawa), Evaluating the impact of English language proficiency on chemistry students’ abilities to construct scientific arguments (Oral)
2019: Benjamin Keenan (McGill University), Stanol Concentrations and Ratios in Sediments as Indicators of Human and Animal Populations from Lakes Across Climatic and Land-Use Gradients in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize (Oral)
2019: Béatrice Garneau (Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières), Chemistry against the New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) hydra : a flexible analytical framework to win the battle (Oral)
2018: Marie-Pier Ouellette (Université de Montréal), Improvement of Robustness and Enzymatic Activity of Reticulated Proteolytic Enzymes with Glutaraldehyde for Peptide Mapping by Capillary Electrophoresis (Oral)
2017: Xilong Yuan (Queen's University), Carbonated Water for the Separation of Carboxylic Compounds: A Green Chromatography Approach (Oral)
2017: Ankita Gupta (Concordia University), Development of Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Assay for Determination of 11β-Prostaglandin F2α and Leukotriene E4 in Human Urine (Oral)
2016: Brigitte Desharnais (Concordia University), Automated selection and validation of a calibration model through statistical testing (Oral)
2016: Justine-Anne Rowell (Université de Montréal), Role of natural organic matter on rare earth elements speciation and bioavailability with Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Oral)
2015: Markan Golizeh (Université du Québec à Montréal), Identification of 4-Hydroxynonenal Protein Targets in Rat, Mouse and Human Liver Microsomes by 2D-LC-MS/MS (Oral)
2015: Justine-Anne Rowell (Université de Montréal), Role of Natural Biopolymers on Rare Earth Elements Speciation and Bioavailability with Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Oral)
2014: Nausheen Sadiq (Queen's University), Multi-elemental risk assessment in baby rice cereal using on-line continuous leaching and ion exchange chromatography coupled to ICP-MS for the speciation analysis of bio-accessible elements (Oral). This award is sponsored by the CIC Analytical Division.
2014: Matthew Edwards (University of Waterloo), Evaluation of a single-stage consumable-free modulator for GCxGC: Analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine pesticides and chlorobenzenes (Poster). This award is sponsored by the CIC Analytical Division.
2013: Simon Boudreault (Université de Sherbrooke), Quantification of alpha-, beta-Hydroxybutyric Acids by GC-MS to Diagnose Hyperglycemia (Oral)

Organic and Inorganic Chemistry

2021: K. May (Ryerson University), An Investigation of Biologically Active Azole-Boron Containing Compounds (ABCC’s)
2021: M. Nayyar (Western University), Luminescent Group 11 Metal – Chalcogen Clusters with Conjugated Diphosphine Ligands
2021: Z. Singh (Concordia University), Surface Grafting of a Donor-Chromophore-Acceptor Assembly onto Zinc Oxide Nanowires for Alcohol Oxidation
2021: D. Cadwallader (York University), Synthesis of Carbamoyl Fluorides with a Difluorophosgene Surrogate
2021: A. Cook (University of Ottawa), Nickel-Catalyzed Deoxygenation of Diverse C-O Bond-Bearing Groups: The Hunt for Potential Intermediates
2021: A. McKnight (York University), Development Towards a Lewis Acid Catalyzed Intramolecular Acylfluorination Method
2020: Amelia Yuan (The University of Western Ontario), Metallothionein protects zinc enzyme carbonic anhydrase from cadmium toxicity (Oral)
2020: Felix Saraci (Concordia University), Exploring the crystalline phase changes of a Y6-based MOF, CU-45 (Oral)
2020: Francis Buguis (The University of Western Ontario), Near-Infrared Boron Difluoride Formazanate Dyes (Oral)
2020: Lea Mélin (Université du Québec à Montréal), Development of First-in-Class Potent and Selective PB1 Inhibitors (Fisher Scientific Organic Oral)
2020: Eric Isbrandt (University of Ottawa), Use of P2N2 ligands to enable challenging nickel-catalyzed cross coupling reactions (Oral)
2019: Audrey Gilbert (Université Laval), Silver-promoted Synthesis of SF₅-Containing Oxazolines and Lactones(Oral)
2019: Lea Mélin (Université du Québec à Montréal), Development of Small-Molecule YAP–TEAD Inhibitors Derived from Flufenamic Acid(Oral)
2019: Mira Rupp (Université de Montréal), Long-lived Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution using Ru(II) bis-terpyridine Complexes as Photosensitizers (Oral)
2018: Cynthia Messina (Concordia University), Sequential Palladium-Catalyzed Decarboxylative Cross-Couplings for the Facile Synthesis of Non-Symmetic Arylated Thiophene (Oral)
2017: Shawn Parisien-Collette (Université de Montréal), Photochemical Intramolecular Amination for the Synthesis of Heterocycles (Oral)
2017: Adam Elmehriki (McGill University), Late Stage Introduction of Quaternary Stereocentres: Total Synthesis of Puraquinonic Acid (Oral)
2016: Jeffrey Santandrea (Université de Montréal), Toward a photoredox-mediated synthesis of alkynyl sulfides using continuous-flow (Oral)
2016: Anissa Brahami (INRS), Rhenium and ruthenium complexes as antibiotics against methicilin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (Poster)
2015: Sylvain Taillemaud (Université de Montréal), Mechanismdriven Elaboration of an Enantioselective Bromocyclopropanation Reaction of Allylic Alcohols (Oral)
2015: Katie Harriman (University of Ottawa), Utilizing Organo- 4f Chemistry in the Design of New Single-Molecule Magnets (Oral)
2014: Daniela Olea-Román (Université de Montréal), Spectroscopy of lanthanide compounds with symmetrical Schiff bases (Oral).
2014: Jeffrey Santandrea (Université de Montréal), Cu(I)-Catalyzed Macrocyclic Sonogashira-Type Cross-Coupling Protocol (Oral).
2014: Laura Andrea Rodriguez-Solano (Concordia University), Catalytic Aerobic Phenol Functionalization with Cu(II) Complexes (Poster). This award is sponsored by the CIC inorganic division.
2013: Marc-André Courtemanche (Université Laval), An Ambiphilic Organocatalyst for the Metal-Free Reduction of CO₂; to Methanol Using Hydroboranes (Oral). This award is sponsored by the CIC Inorganic Division
2013: Anne-Catherine Bédard (Université de Montréal), Efficient Macrocyclic Cu(I)-Catalyzed Cycloaddition of Iodoal-kynes and Azides via a Phase Separation Strategy (Oral)
2013: Mathieu Leblanc (Université de Montréal), Synthesis and Characterization of N-Bridged Bis-Hydroxyamidines/alpha-aminonitrones(AMOX) as Synthons in Supramolecular Chemistry (Poster). This award is sponsored by the CIC Inorganic Division.

Posters and Shotgun presentations (2020-2021)

2021: M. Cyr (University of Ottawa), Exploring Ellagic Acid as an Organic Semiconductor
2021: W. Leal (Concordia University), Conversion of electrochemically deposited carbonates to perovskite with retention of crystal morphology
2021: K. Snyder (University of Guelph), The Exploitation of Molecular Perturbation Effects in Experimental and Calculated Vibrational Spectroscopy
2021: O. Zambito (UQAM), Untargeted metabolomic analysis of Hirschsprung’s disease in a mouse model
2021: F. Hutinet (UQAM), Structural and molecular characterization of the interaction between SIZ1, a SUMO-E3 ligase involved in Arabidopsis thaliana environmental stress responses, and its substrates
2021: B. Keenan (McGill University), Fire history, vegetation and climate change in the Maya lowlands over 3,300 years
2021: A. Watson (The University of Western Ontario), Exploring the Chemistry of Phosphorus Hydrazonides
2021: L. Domínguez (Concordia University), Dynamics of the evolution of antibiotic resistance in soft agar
2020: Matthew Elsby (University of Ottawa), Design of Base Metal Catalysts for Bifunctional Catalysis Utilizing Biomimetic SNS Ligands (Shotgun)
2020: Joseph Ricardo-Noordberg (Concordia University), Functionalization of Semiconductor Surfaces Towards Solar Energy Conversion: Morphological Control, and Photonic Crystals (Shotgun)
2020: Hudson de Aguiar Bicalho (Concordia University), Mixed-linker metal–organic frameworks for the removal of organic pollutants from water (Shotgun)
2020: Sally Hamry (McGill University), Genome mining of Novel Class II Lanthipeptides from Actinomycetes (Shotgun)
2020: Lola Cottin and Sarah Giraard (Université du Quebec à Trois-Rivières), X-Ray Diffraction Structures of Bulky N,N'-Disubstituted Aryl Amidines : the N,N'-Bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-4-pyridylamidine (Shotgun)
2020: Lucia Wang (McGill University), Drug-derived DNA damage as a predictive biomarker in personalized medicine (Shotgun)
2019: Tommy Lussier (Université du Sherbrooke), Iodine(III)-mediated Method to Access Polysubstituted γ-Butyrolactone Derivatives
2019: Hardeep Singh (Concordia University), Partial Hydrogenation of Nitro to Hydroxylamine Group Tethered to Asymmetric Salen-type Ligands and Their Complexation with Metal Ions.
2019: Natali Shevchenko (Université de Montréal), Coordination Polymers Based on Linear Terpyridine Ditopic Ligands
2019: Golara Golbaghi (INRS), Synthesis and Characterization of Ru(II) Complexes Bearing Triazole Containing Ligands for Potential Antifungal Applications
2019: Pierre-Francois Blanc (Université de Montréal), Spectroscopie Raman d’un complexe du nickel(II) commutable à ligand azoture
2019: Muhammad Ghufran Rafique (McGill University), Sequence-defined (DNA-oligomer)-based 2-D Nanostructures
2019: Ons Ousji (Université du Québec à Montréal), In vitro Metabolism of Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT) by LC-HRMS/MS
2019: Audrey Joly (Université du Québec à Montréal), Développement de méthodes de conservation, d’extraction et de quantification du 4,4'-MDA dans les sols. This award is sponsored by the CIC Analytical Division.
2018: Lisa Lahens (Université de Sherbrooke), Study of the Occurrence of Trace Organic Contaminants in Eastern Canadian Lakes
2018: Jogiardas Vainauskas (McGill University), Engineering Dichroic Cocrystals Using Halogen Bonds
2018: Haten Titi (McGill University), Hypergolic Metal-Organic Frameworks as a New Class of Greener Hypergolic Fuels
2018: Jessica Castro (Université de Montréal), Boron Complexes of N,N’-Diphenylbenzamidine-N-Oxide Ligands with Crystallization-Induced Emission Enhancement Characteristics - Towards Blue and White OLED Applications
2018: Stuart Green (Carleton University), Regulation of the TCA Cycle Through Modification of the a-Ketoglutarate Dehydrogenase Complex in a Mammalian Hibernator, the Richardson's Ground Squirrel (Urocitellus Richardsonii)
2017: Jessica Mattice (Carleton University), Examining the Regulation of Glutathione Reductase in Response to Ischemic Stress in the Dehydration-tolerant African Clawed Frog, Xenopus Laevis
2017: David Zhou (McGill University), Investigating the Balancing Forces of Programmed Cell Death and Survival in Yeast
2017: Nathalie Reid (Concordia University), Identifying Genes Responsible for tRNA Nucleotidyltransferase Production in the Yeast Schizosaccharomyces Pombe
2017: Alexia Caillier (Université de Laval), Implication of Sam68 RNA Binding Domains in Migration of Metastatic Cells
2016: Caroline Mireault (Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières), Analysis of polymers in false identity documents: A new contribution to forensic intelligence?
2016: Maythem Ali (Concordia University), Secondary metabolite induction in P. luminescens
2016: Carolyn Ladd (Université de Montréal), Access to cyclopropyl-fused azacycles via a palladiumcatalyzed direct alkenylation strategy
2015: First place: Patrick Semana (Concordia University), Homogentisate and Gentisate 1,2-dioxygenases: Two NonHeme Iron Containing Ring-Cleavage Dioxygenases with a Cupin Fold
2015: Second place:
2015: Third place: Andrew Hollingshead (University of Ottawa), Covalent Organic Frameworks: Using 2D Rigid Cores for Enhanced Electron/Charge Transport
2014: First place: David Gareau (Université de Montréal), Design, tuning and application of DNA based nanothermometers
2014: Second place ex aequo: Marie-Claude Gagnon (Université Laval), Synthesis and Properties of Monofluorinated Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine Derivatives: Potential Fluorinated Probes for the Study of Membrane Topology
2014: Second place ex aequo: Audrey Laventure (Université de Montréal), Quantitative Monitoring of Hydrogen Bonding in Aminotriazine Glass-formers
2014: Third place: Yazan Abbas (McGill University), Structural and evolutionary insights into domain swapping within the antiviral protein IFIT3
2013: First place: Atefeh Rafiei (Université du Québec à Montréal), A survey into untargeted metabolomics data analysis: Comparison of peak generating workflows
2013: Second place: Erum Mansuri (Concordia University), Surface Behavior of Novel Boronic Acid-Terminated Silicone Surfactants
2013: Third place ex aequo: Liliana Guevara Opinska (University of Toronto), Towards understanding the catalytic decarboxylation mechanism in Benzoylformate decarboxylase
2013: Third place ex aequo: Jessica Gagnon (Université de Montréal), Characterization of the epigenetic regulator and tumor suppressor TET2

Chemistry and Biochemistry Graduate Research Conference