Five Top Ontario Researchers Awarded Polanyi Prizes honouring Nobel Winner

TORONTO, Nov. 17, 2014 /CNW/ - Five leading Ontario researchers are being awarded prestigious Polanyi Prizes today for breakthroughs in research that have the potential to, among other things, forge a new understanding of gravity, and target and kill cancer cells.

"The Polanyi Prizes are the highest honour researchers can achieve from the province of Ontario; the research talent being recognized is bringing our knowledge of science, medicine, economics and literature to new heights and is being applied to benefit all Ontarians," says Max Blouw, Chair of the Council of Ontario Universities and President of Wilfrid Laurier University.

The Polanyi Prizes were created to celebrate John Charles Polanyi's 1986 Nobel Prize, and the areas of research they recognize mirror those of the Nobel Prizes. Winners - post-doctoral researchers in the early stages of their careers - are awarded $20,000 by the Ontario government.

"The province has been loyal to these prizes for over a quarter of a century, believing that the soil of Ontario is suitable to the cultivation of Nobels," says Dr. Polanyi. "The province is saying something far-sighted, namely that it values the free inquiry essential to discovery. For that, Ontarians owe them a debt of gratitude."

Winners of the 2014 Polanyi Prizes:

Chemistry: Dr. Drew Bennett, University of Waterloo, takes the prize for research that has the potential to improve treatment for those with serious diseases such as cancer, HIV, Parkinson's and bacterial infections. Promising advances in nanoscale biotechnology are making new drugs and therapies possible, but a major hurdle is the ability to target specific cells. Bennett's research uses computer simulations to produce "movies" of how individual molecules interact. The goal is to design new peptides that target and penetrate the membrane of diseased cells, and deliver specific drugs, to ultimately kill them.

Economic Science: Dr. Rahul Deb, University of Toronto, wins for research into whether it is possible to tell, using a relatively simple test, whether firms involved in a competitive bid for business with government or another regulated vendor are genuinely competing, or whether they are secretly colluding. Another aspect of his research examines how to allow governments conducting auctions for contracts to favour a weaker bidder, for the social good, while still operating within rules enforced by the courts.

Literature: Dr. Andrea Charise, University of Toronto, Scarborough, is recognized for research into how the generational identity and intergenerational conflict seen in modern times was represented much earlier in literature. Today's alarmist visions of a tsunami of retirees and a lost generation of young people warn global audiences that people of different age groups are simply incompatible. The conflict between generations was evident in literature as far back as Oedipus Rex and King Lear.

Physiology/Medicine: Dr. Jennifer Brunet, University of Ottawa, takes the prize for research into the ways physical activity can not only have a positive effect on treatment of cancer and recovery, but can also prevent the deadly disease. Through her research, Brunet wants to demonstrate that physical activity is an effective therapy and can complement conventional medicine and should therefore be considered an integral part of medicine.

Physics: Dr. Eduardo Martin-Martinez, University of Waterloo, is recognized for quantum research theory into gravity. Einstein gave us an alternate theory of gravity in the early 1900s, and for years physicists have tried unsuccessfully to examine gravity in relation to quantum theory. Martin-Martinez's goal is to use powerful tools from quantum information, science and technology to study quantum effects induced by gravity and to make new discoveries about spacetime. Potential applications include quantum computing technology and answers to how curvature and quantum theory affect the processing of information.

‎"The Polanyi Prize is a wonderful opportunity to recognize the contributions of our postsecondary sector's top researchers and this year's recipients have already made outstanding contributions to their field. Supporting researchers here in Ontario helps us to create a dynamic business climate and drives our culture of innovation and I look forward to seeing what these impressive researchers will do in the years to come. Congratulations on your outstanding achievements," says Reza Moridi, Ontario Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities.

For more information on the research awarded by the Polanyi Prizes, click here.

COU is a membership organization of 21 publicly assisted universities in Ontario. It works closely with the provincial and federal governments to shape public policies that help universities deliver high-quality programs for students and advance the research and innovation that improves the social, cultural and economic well-being of Ontarians.

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SOURCE: Council of Ontario Universities

Wendy McCann, Director, Strategic Communications and Media Relations, 416-979-2165 x233, 647-271-0825 (cell), Email Wendy McCann