Last week, this year's Vanier Scholarship award winners were announced. Among the prestigious group were three Faculty of Science graduate students, including Christian Ieritano (Chemistry), Finnian Gray (Physics and Astronomy), and Spencer Weinstein (Biology).
The three scholars will each receive $50,000 over three years from the Natural Science and Research Council (NSERC). The Vanier Scholarships were developed by NSERC to attract and retain world-class doctoral students from around the world and to establish Canada as a global centre of excellence in research and higher learning. Vanier scholars are chosen based on their academic excellence, research potential, and leadership qualities.
Ieritano,
a
PhD
student
working
with
Professor
Scott
Hopkins,
will
be
using
this
scholarship
to
further
his
research
of
rapid
molecule
testing
and
prediction
to
aid
in
the
drug
discovery
process.
Traditionally,
screening
for
appropriate
and
effective
pharmaceutical
drug
molecules
has
been
a
long
and
expensive
process.
Ieritano
is
working
on
a
system
which
uses
Differential
Mobility
Spectrometry
(DMS)
to
quickly
characterize
molecules,
and
then
uses
machine
learning
and
artificial
intelligence
to
accurately
predict
which
molecules
are
likely
candidates
for
drug
development.
This
combination
of
techniques,
pioneered
by
the
Hopkins
lab,
has
the
potential
to
significantly
increase
the
speed
and
reduce
the
cost
of
drug
discovery.
“It’s nice to be recognized for doing research that others can see the benefit in,” said Ieritano. This award will allow him to travel to international conferences - when that’s an option again after COVID-19!
Congratulations, Christian!