Mount Allison University Alumni Magazine- The Record (or, Why You Should Not Be Nervous about Career Opportunities after Mount Allison)

Having not yet graduated I haven't really covered Mount Allison graduates very much in my writings but Mount Allison University's Alumni publication The Record sure has. If you're looking at Mount Allison and worried about career prospects from a University that is "out of the attention of the urban mainstream"you just need to look at any of the great examples of what sort of future an education at Mount Allison can provide. I have archived issues from 2008 forward (and embedded the most recent issue below) for your convenience. More information is available at the Mount Allison University Alumni Website at http://alumni.mta.ca/


Mount Allison University--The Record (Fall 2010)

Bioprospecting NB/Soricimed Biopharma Shrew Venom as a Treatment for Cancer (or, Innovation from Mount Allison University)

Former Mount Allison Professor John Stewart while working at Mount Allison discovered a new peptide from Shrew Venom and went onto patent a new peptide that could be used to treat neuromuscular disorders and other illnesses. Here's the US patent application, a story from 2005, and a more recent story from the CBC about Soricimed Biopharma, Inc.

US Patent Application Paralytic Peptide for use in Neuromuscular Therapy (Stewart et al.)

Spit from poisonous shrew could help with cancer

Canadian Press

Date: Monday Feb. 21, 2005 8:51 AM ET

FREDERICTON — The bad-tempered little shrew has had a well-deserved image problem for centuries, but that may be about to change thanks to its spit.

New research at Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B., has uncovered enormous medical possibilities in the tiny mouths of the common backyard shrew - one of only two venomous mammals in the world along with the platypus.

Jack Stewart, a biochemistry professor at Mount Allison, and his team of researchers have discovered a compound in shrew spit that holds promise for pain control and cancer treatment.

The substance, a protein Stewart has named soricidin, after the shrew family Soricidae, has been synthesized and is about to be put through intensive animal testing and development.

"We have patents pending and we have synthesized the equivalent of about 40,000 shrew bites," says Stewart.

"Now we're preparing to look further into its properties and develop applications . . . We're talking to a whole bunch of people who are very interested in partnerships and in licensing agreements."

Shrews are ancient mammals with an extremely potent venom delivered along the bottom teeth when biting.

The shy, mouse-like creature with a truncated tail is common throughout eastern North America.

Few people know about the shrew's dark side and the fact that once it bites and paralyzes its prey, it drags the carcass back to its den to munch on at its leisure, while the paralyzed victim is still alive.

"It is gruesome," says Stewart who caught all of his test subjects in the backyard of his Sackville, N.B., home using pepperoni slices as lures.

Other scientists are studying similar paralytic agents in creatures such as scorpions. But Stewart says no other creature has a paralytic venom with such a long-lasting effect - up to 16 days.

These paralytic properties could make soricidin useful in treating migraines, facial pain, neuromuscular diseases, and even wrinkles.

It's possible that at some future date people in search of smooth, youthful skin may be injecting shrew spit instead of Botox.

Stewart says the possibilities don't end with pain and cosmetic treatments. He says it appears soricidin also attacks cancer cells by stopping the development of calcium channels.

"It's an area of study we're actively pursuing," he says.

Stewart says the research has been challenging.

Shrews, cranky creatures whose name has come to represent the sharp-tongued and bad-tempered, are not co-operative when it comes to spitting on demand for scientists.

"You haven't lived until you've washed out a shrew's mouth," says Stewart.

Industry interest in Stewart's shrew research is part of a new trend at Mount Allison, which is positioning itself as the Atlantic hub for biotechnology research and commercialization.

Andrew Paskauskas, director of research development at Mount Allison, says the university is moving away from basic research in favour of international research activities with the potential for wide application.

"We cover a broad spectrum," Paskauskas said. "We're doing work in drug discovery and development, we're doing work in advanced imaging tools based on molecular biology . . . there are a lot of interesting things happening."

The Mount Allison scientists aren't the only ones poking and prodding the mouths of shrews in the name of medical research.

Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan are also exploring the medical possibilities from a toxin found in the shrew's mouth.

Chemistry professor Daisuke Uemura and research associate Masaki Kita recently published a paper on the toxin which they believe may be able to lower blood pressure.

Years later, and the group has formed a private company and could only be a year away from human testing.

Shrew spit tames cancer cells

Last Updated: Monday, May 24, 2010 | 12:55 PM ET

CBC News

Shrew spit is under investigation by Canadian scientists as a potential screening test and treatment for breast, prostate and ovarian cancers.

The saliva of the northern short-tailed shrew can paralyze prey with one bite. (Gilles Gonthier/Flickr)

The northern short-tailed shrew, a mouse-like mammal with a long snout, is one of the world's few venomous mammal species. With one bite, its saliva can paralyze prey.

Biochemist Jack Stewart of Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B., set out to find out how.

Stewart spent several years luring the animals with pepperoni and trapping dozens of shrews in his rural backyard before he eventually identified the chemical in shrew saliva that causes paralysis. Researchers then purified and synthesized it.

At first, Stewart thought the chemical — called soricidin — might be a potential painkiller, because it blocked nerve transmission. When he tested it on a random cell culture that happened to be ovarian cancer cells, however, he found the cells died — which was initially a source of annoyance to him.

"Then a light bulb came on," Stewart recalled. "Oh, they died," he said with a laugh. "That's a good thing in cancer."

It turned out that soricidin also has an anti-cancer effect against breast and prostate tumours in animal models. It works by blocking calcium from going into the cancer cells.

Like a homing device, soricidin targets a receptor that is found in cancer cells and not healthy cells. That difference makes it a potential diagnostic and treatment tool, said Stewart.

Human trials to come

At a laboratory at the Atlantic Cancer Research Institute in Moncton, Dr. Rodney Ouellette oversees research on a number of potential diagnostic tests for cancer, including soricidin. Ouellette is cautious about raising hopes too early, but he was surprised at early test tube results of the peptide.

"It was a very profound effect on virtually all cancer cell lines we tested," said Ouellette, the institute's president and scientific director. "From that point, we started looking at this in a different way and saying maybe this is the real thing, maybe this can work."

A Phase 1 trial in humans is about a year away, Stewart said. Many research and regulatory hurdles need to be cleared before the peptide could ever be used on patients.

Human studies will determine the peptide could help detect ovarian, breast or prostate cancer cells in a blood test, saliva or urine test, said Ouellette, who has seen many promising molecules fail.

Already soricidin has beaten many odds, however, given that only about one per cent of potential cancer treatments make it to human testing.

Stewart has left his teaching job, and is now the chair and scientific adviser of Soricimed Biopharma Inc., which is hoping to commercialize his discovery to one day detect and treat cancer.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/05/24/shrew-saliva-cancer.html#ixzz19prNsMQa

Live Music in Sackville, NB: Stereophonic Music Lineup Announced

For anybody interested in live music in Sackville, NB, the lineup for the Stereophonic Music festival has been announced. Highlights include Sackville favourites Julie Doiron and Pat LePoidevin. More information is below.

For current information on live music in Sackville see We Can Build in Pieces, an online listing maintained by CHMA 106.9 FM.

2011 STEREOPHONIC MUSIC FESTIVAL LINE-UP ANNOUNCED

December 15, 2010 in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

For Immediate Release – Dec 15, 2010

(SACKVILLE, NB) - The 8th edition of what has been called one of the Maritime’s “best independent music festivals” recently announced its line-up.

The Stereophonic Music Festival, a fundraiser for CHMA 106.9 FM, Sackville’s Campus and Community Radio Station, will take place January 19-22, 2011 with a special show on Jan. 29.
The festival will feature performances by Snailhouse, Julie Doiron, Olenka Krakus, It Kills, Baby Eagle, Pat LePoidevin, Tanya Davis and a rare solo appearance by $100’s Simone Schmidt,

The festival will bring an eclectic mix of Canadian musicians to Sackville and while the full schedule won’t be officially released until January, Sackville legend Shotgun Jimmie recently gave local concert goers the highlights of the line-up in song.  A performance of this song can be viewed Here and more information on the festival will soon be available here, on this blog.

According to festival organizers, the following musicians will be performing at Stereophonic 2011:

B.A. Johnston,   Babette Hayward,   Baby Eagle,   Bad Vibrations,   Bedroom Sessions,   Bette & Wallet,   Construction & Destruction,   Cousins,   David Simard,   El Ron Maltan,   Gianna Lauren,   Hot Donna,   It Kills,   Jon McKiel,   Julie Doiron,   Klarka Weinwurm,   Landon Braverman,   Long Long Long,   Lucas Hicks,   Marine Dreams,   Mike Evin,   Molly Babin,   Mount Whatley,   Olenka Krakus,   Olympic Symphonium,   Paint For Barns,   Pat LePoidevin, Simone Schmidt,   Skies, Slate Pacific,   Snailhouse,   Splooge,   Tanya Davis,   Tupperware Remix Party,   and Wooden Wives.

Sackville, NB's Stereophonic Music Festival Ropes In Julie Doiron, Snailhouse, Baby Eagle

By Alex HudsonFor a small town in the Maritimes, Sackville, NB plays host to a surprising amount of music festivals. In addition to the annualSappyFest, the town will soon welcome the eighth instalment of theStereophonic Music Festival, which will take place from January 19 to 22 with an additional date on January 29.

Among the performers who will appear at the event are Julie Doiron (pictured), Snailhouse, Baby Eagle (aka Constantines guitarist Steve Lambke), Tanya Davis, Olenka Krakus and $100's Simone Schmidt.

The festival is a fundraiser for Sackville's campus and community radio station CHMA 106.9 FM. The final schedule and venues are yet to be announced, but if you click on the embedded video below, you can watch Sackville's own Shotgun Jimmie sing about some of the highlights of event. The clip was filmed on December 3 at George's Roadhouse in Sackville, and it features Baby Eagle on cue cards.

You can read a list of the performers currently booked for the festival right here. 

Unmoderated, Anonymous Commenting in Order to Facilitate Open Discussion

In order to facilitate more freely flowing discussions, I have disabled comment moderation and have allowed for anonymous comments on all blog posts. If you have any comments or questions feel free to share them below any post on this site. Although this will inevitably lead to more spam posts it will allow for immediate gratification by commenters in an age where waiting for approval has become an almost unacceptable obstacle. Enjoy your new freedom responsibly.

Mount Allison Professor James Devine

In regards to my previous post about going to school in Canada, McGill University in Montreal was mentioned as an institution many Americans attend. However, smaller schools are usually not included in such mentions primarily due to size...but this does not say anything about quality. For those who are stuck on this connection to larger institutions, new Mount Allison professor James Devine has lectured at Concordia and earned his PhD at McGill. Here's a recent spotlight on one of Mount Allison's newest faculty members.




Five Questions with Political Scientist Dr. James Devine
2010-12-08 13:21:01
Dr. James Devine is an assistant professor in political science at Mount Allison and received his PhD from McGill University. His research areas include: international relations and foreign policy in the Middle East; the politics and foreign policy of Iran, international rivalries and protracted conflicts; democracy and authoritarian politics in the Middle East.


1. Why do you like studying the Middle East?
It is endlessly fascinating. The Middle East is also in the headlines so I feel that I am engaged in something important. I think students react to it very well also. Even students who are not pursuing degrees in political science are interested in the region and its politics.

2. What are some of the challenges of researching in the Middle East?
One of the main problems with doing research is access to information. Getting into some countries can be difficult and in many countries the press is very restricted. However, I have been fortunate in my work on Iran. I have been able to spend time in the country and the press in Iran is, by regional standards, still very active.

3. What are the consequences of the recent leaks of numerous confidential American diplomatic cables on the web site WikiLeaks?
These leaks provide us with a glimpse of what goes on behind closed doors. Even if they do not really tell us anything we did not already know, the quotes, and the details, make for fascinating reading. Of course, many people have also taken satisfaction from the way governments and world leaders have been embarrassed by the disclosures. Political voyeurism aside, leaks such as these also provide an added degree of political transparency. Transparency in politics is necessary for an informed public and is therefore an essential feature of liberal democracies. So, the more transparency, the better — or so it may seem.
The problem is that, in practice, effective diplomacy often needs a degree of secrecy, or at least privacy. Perhaps the best example of this is the beginning of the peace process between the Palestinians and the Israelis in the early 1990s. The two sides were only able to start talking, and make progress once they moved secretly to Oslo, where they could negotiate out of the spotlight.
In the current situation, the leaks complicate efforts to maintain some stability in the Persian Gulf. The Iranians know the Saudis do not trust them, and vice versa. However, they have both managed the relationship very carefully and refrained from the type of rhetorical warfare that we saw through the 1980s and parts of the 1990s. With the Saudis’ comments now public, the Iranian government somehow has to react to them. Although Tehran has played down their significance, the leaks have put extra pressure on a political accommodation that is already strained by events in Lebanon, Iraq, and Gaza, etc.

4. What led you into academics?
I was raised in an environment where politics and history were important. My father was born in Belfast in a mixed Protestant-Catholic family and had to move to the Republic in the 1920s. He also served in the Second World War and had a library filled with books on politics and history. So, I was exposed to these topics at a very young age. Also like many academics, I have never really been able to picture myself doing anything else.

5. What are you interested in outside of work?
I have turned into a “computer geek” over the years. When I got my first computers they were very expensive and if they broke, it was the end of the world — or so it seemed. So, I had to learn how to fix them myself. I really began to enjoy working on them. Even now I still enjoy building and repairing systems. I find it very relaxing. At any given time I will have a bunch of computers around the house in various stages of repair. Also, since I have moved to Sackville, I have been cycling around the countryside a great deal.

How Mount Allison Helped Me Decide to Apply to the Peace Corps Master's International (PCMI) Program

In my last post I listed the major reasons I have found that Mount Allison provided me the great base of support and experience needed to be prepared for graduate studies. I now turn to how this relates to my decision to apply to the Peace Corps Master's International Program.

During the long drive from Squamish, British Columbia to Libertyville, Illinois I took between my Junior (grade 11) and Senior (grade 12) years in high school I've been thinking fairly seriously about joining the Peace Corps. It was encouraging when President Obama expanded the program (although it hasn't reached the levels of enrollment he had proposed). Over this past summer I had the chance to reconnect with an old manager and mentor I had years before. We discussed future plans and in a flow of consciousness moment I talked about what I wanted to do with my life in a holistic way. I talked of being somewhat disaffected by the idea of making just 'making a living' and wanted to make a difference. Although I had not done very much research into the area (outside of classwork) at the time I said that I wanted to do something that would make a sustainable contribution to developing countries.

I had heard of sustainable development in Dr. Frank Strain's ECON 3501: Economic Growth and Technological Change (a requirement for all International Relations majors at Mount Allison) but had not put a lot of thought into it since then. When I was forced to thinking of what Mount Allison meant for me and my future I realized that he helped give me the idea of what all these classes meant.

Last year, as part of Mount Allison's Year of International Engagement at Mount Allison, Kiva.org co-founder Jessica Jackley came to Mount Allison to speak about micro-financing. She came to our class to speak about her work with Kiva. It was an interesting talk and the perhaps the first time I had heard directly from someone who was working in development. 


In just over a year, Mount Allison's Kiva team's 58 members have lent $6,900 to worthwhile causes. Although a...financially impaired college student I was was able to make my first loan with a christmas gift to an entrepreneur in El Salvador.

I had always been interested in being engaged in local and international issues. In high school I led my school's Amnesty International group and organized a film festival on spotlighting different issues of concern, including input from a first nations group discussing the disappearance of native women across Canada and specifically on the "Highway of Tears" in Northern British Columbia.

I have for a while known I've wanted to work with an NGO and went about looking at different routes I could take to do that and eventually seemed as though earning a Master's degree in Public Administration (MPA) would be the most efficient route. I wanted to also include Peace Corps service and found that the Peace Corps has partnered with a number of schools throughout the US to provide graduate students a way to incorporate Peace Corps service in their studies.

In the fall I will be applying to a number of schools throughout North America. I believe that my increased interest and qualification for graduate level work in general and Peace Corps service in particular is due in large part to being able to be involved in campus groups and have a solid working relationship with professors, which is not the case with many other schools in North America.


Because I won't be applying to Graduate school and the Peace Corps for a number of months, I will post sporadically on the topics I promised earlier, those being:

• the Peace Corps application process 
• preparing to take the GRE,
• thoughts about graduate school
• and moving back to the United States (going home 2.0?)