Programs
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Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
The Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology has an extremely vigorous and high quality Graduate Program that will expose you to the latest in exciting and leading edge research in a number of different areas. About 80 graduate students are currently enrolled, 60% of whom are in the PhD program. As of January 1, 2008 we guarantee a stipend of $20,000 per year for MSc students, $22,000 for PhD students and $23,000 for post-candidacy PhD students at the beginning of their fourth year. Roughly one third of our students receive their support primarily from external scholarships, while almost all students have some form of scholarship support as part of their stipend. The department is home to exciting and well funded initiatives in genomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics. These research & service facilities help support and complement existing research strengths in bacterial pathogenesis, cancer biology, cardiovascular biology, cellular & molecular neurobiology, diabetes & endocrinology, developmental biology, immunology, joint injury & arthritis, smooth muscle, and population genomics. Graduates of our program are productive and exceptionally well trained in a broad range of methodologies, and have gone on to successful careers in both industry and academia. For more information, please click here.
Cardiovascular & Respiratory Sciences
The Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta has developed a program of research ranging from patient based studies to analyses of the molecular process that cause arrhythmias and the normal and abnormal contraction of the heart and blood vessels. Research projects focus on cardiac metabolism; coupling between the capacitance veins and the heart; interplay between the heart and pericardium; lipid metabolism in blood vessels; mechanics of the heart as a pump; mechanism, diagnosis and treatment of life-threatening arrhythmia; heart rate control; sleep and cardiorespiratory thermoregulatory control, excitation-contraction coupling, and Ca2+ homeostasis.
The Airway Inflammation Research Group (AIRG) at the University of Calgary in the Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation (III) is involved in numerous research areas targeting aspects of Asthma and COPD for which current therapies are less than ideal. The group is well positioned to study these complex diseases from a number of different perspectives, including studies of inflammatory mechanisms, surfactant function, airway remodeling, and epithelial cell biology, and can test pharmacological interventions in both pre-clinical and clinical settings. This research has been facilitated by the recent opening of a new ~1500 square foot "state-of-the-art" dedicated clinical research suite that is unique in Canada. The group is made up of basic and clinician scientists who are well published and recognized worldwide in their areas of expertise. The collaborative atmosphere within the group promotes a team effort to elucidating the underlying mechanisms of these diseases and finding better therapeutics for combating these ailments.
The Smooth Muscle Research Group consists of thirteen full and twelve local and external associate members and their research teams. The combined expertise of the Group members spans the disciplines of biochemistry, molecular biology, biophysics, cell biology, developmental biology, physiology and pharmacology. The general areas of investigation include: contractile and regulatory proteins involved in smooth muscle contraction and relaxation and signal transduction pathways that control these processes; ion channel function and regulation, in particular potassium and non-selective cation channels and gap junctions; control of cytosolic free calcium concentration and the involvement of intracellular organelles (sarcoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria); protein structure, structure-function relations and protein-protein interactions; receptor biology, e.g. proteinase-activated receptors; enzymology, in particular of protein kinases and phosphatases; endothelium-smooth muscle interactions: endothelium-derived relaxing and contracting factors; regulation of the renal microvasculature: signal transduction pathways in the afferent and efferent arterioles and the regulation of glomerular capillary pressure; atherogenesis; blood vessel development in zebrafish; smooth muscle and endothelial cell dysfunction in specific disease conditions such as hypertension, cerebral vasospasm, diabetes mellitus and end-stage renal disease. Research projects extend from the molecular to the whole animal to the clinic, affording the opportunity to employ a broad spectrum of approaches to understand the molecular basis of abnormalities of smooth muscle regulation in health and disease.
For more information on this program click here.
Community Health Sciences
The primary aim of the Graduate Program in Community Health Sciences is to prepare candidates to conduct research, either in the need for and the organization and delivery of health care, or in the understanding of diseases and their risk factors. PhD and thesis-based MSc degrees are offered, with specializations in Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Health Services Research, Population Health, and Hospital Epidemiology. Combined MD/MSc and MD/PhD programs are also available. Students acquire knowledge and skills in respect to biostatistics, clinical and community-based epidemiology, needs assessment, health and illness behaviour, and the organization and evaluation of health services and programs. Over 70 faculty members currently act as Supervisors in the Community Health Sciences Graduate Program. The Department of Community Health Sciences has the most multidisciplinary group of faculty members in the Faculty of Medicine, with faculty research interests including such disciplines as biostatistics, cancer, child and adolescent health, chronic disease, clinical trials, complementary & alternative medicine, geriatric health and health services, health care planning and evaluation , health economics, health policy, health promotion, infectious diseases, international health, medical education, medical ethics, mental health, occupational and environmental health, population health, sports medicine, telehealth and e-health, and women's health. The program is housed in the Department of Community Health Sciences, which is committed to enhancing the well-being of individuals and communities through education, research, and service. The Department is home to such programs as the Calgary Centre for Health and Policy Studies, the Global e-Health Research and Training Program, the Western Canada Waiting List Project, and the Women’s Health Research Group. For more information on the Community Health Sciences program, click here.
Gastrointestinal Sciences
The Gastrointestinal Research Group (GIRG) is a major centre for studying disorders of the digestive system. This group is a multi-disciplinary group comprised of 17 Faculty members from a variety of basic science and clinical departments, including Physiology & Biophysics, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, Pediatrics, Medicine and Surgery. Most members of the GIRG are involved in laboratory-based research, while others perform clinical research. Some members of the GIRG do both laboratory and clinical research. The laboratories of the GIRG are located on the first floor of the Health Sciences Centre, adjacent to the Foothills Hospital. For more information on this group, click here.
Medical Science
The Department of Medical Science graduate program offers the degrees of M.Sc. and Ph.D. It employs an interdisciplinary approach to graduate education and is only one of seven research programs available to graduate students through the Faculty of Medicine. Graduate supervision is organized under the geographical context of multidisciplinary groups of clinical and basic science investigators sharing broad research interests. Rather than studying in a classical discipline such as anatomy or biochemistry, students have the opportunity to become broadly trained in a specific area of research (e.g. physiology, medical education, immunology, etc). Yet, students also have the opportunity to become sufficiently trained in basic disciplines so that they may be identified as a biochemist or molecular biologist by employers who prefer more discipline oriented labels. This was the first graduate training program offered by the Faculty of Medicine and has been in existence for over 25 years. Graduates of this program have been very successful in obtaining postdoctoral positions leading to faculty positions at top universities in Canada and abroad. For more information on admission into this program, click here.
Microbiology & Infectious Diseases
The Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (MID) is comprised of individuals who carry out research on pathogenesis, epidemiology, host responses to diagnosis and therapy of microbial infections. For more information on this program click here.
Neuroscience
This program offers training in a variety of areas including developmental neurobiology, neural systems and their disorders, molecular neurobiology, ion channels, cellular pharmacology and neurotoxicology and the control of movement. The Faculty in the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, the umbrella for neuroscience research at the Faculty of Medicine, are drawn from all the major disciplines and include both basic and clinical scientists. The close links between the University and the Foothills Hospital provide a unique environment of collaboration between clinicians and basic researchers. This enables the Department of Neuroscience to offer a variety of research programs whose topics range from invertebrate neural systems to electrophysiological studies in man. For more information on this program click here.
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