The effect of holding a research chair on scientists’ productivity

Having combined data on Quebec scientists’ funding and journal publication, this paper tests the effect of holding a research chair on a scientist’s performance. The novelty of this paper is to use a matching technique to understand whether holding a research chair contributes to a better scientific performance. This method compares two different sets of regressions which are conducted on different data sets: one with all observations and another with only the observations of the matched scientists. Two chair and non-chair scientists are deemed matched with each other when they have the closest propensity score in terms of gender, research field, and amount of funding. The results show that holding a research chair is a significant scientific productivity determinant in the complete data set. However, when only matched scientists are kept in data set, holding a Canada research chair has a significant positive effect on scientific performance but other types of chairs do not have a significant effect. In the other words, in the case of two similar scientists in terms of gender, research funding, and research field, only holding a Canada research chair significantly affects scientific performance

The effect of holding a research chair on scientists' research impact

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the effect of holding Canada Research Chair (CRC) on a scientist’s number of citations as a measure of research impact, based on an econometric analysis with combined data on Quebec scientists’ funding and journal publication. Using Generalized Least Square (GLS) method for regression analysis, the results show that holding either tier-1 or tier2 of CRC significantly and positively results in conducting research with higher impact. This finding, however, does not necessarily imply that the others are the lesser scientists

What determines researchers’ scientific impact? A case study of Quebec researchers

Using a data set integrating information about researchers’ funding and publications in Quebec (Canada), this paper identifies the main determinants of citation counts as one measure of research impact. Using two-stage least square regressions to control for endogeneity, the results confirm the significant and positive relationship between the number of articles and citation counts. Our results also show that scientists with more articles in higher impact factor journals generally receive more citations and so do scientists who publish with a larger team of authors. Hence the greater visibility provided by a more prolific scientific production, better journals, and more co-authors, all contribute to increasing the perceived impact of articles. All else being equal, male and female receive the same number of citations. These results suggest that the most important determinants of researchers’ citations are the journals in which they publish, as well the collaborative nature of their research

Detecting colorectal cancer using electrical impedance spectroscopy: an ex vivo feasibility study

Objective: Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer worldwide, with a lifetime risk of around 20%. Current solutions do not allow clinicians to objectively assess tissue abnormality during endoscopy and perioperatively. A solution capable of objectively assessing samples in real time could greatly improve the treatment process. A solution that can be integrated in minimally invasive diagnostics and management strategies to provide real-time point-of-care information would be greatly transformative. Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) may provide such a solution. In this paper, we present a feasibility study on using EIS in assessing colorectal tissue. Approach: We performed tetrapolar EIS using ZedScan on excised human colorectal tumour tissue and the matched normal colonic mucosa in 22 freshly resected specimens following elective surgery for colorectal cancer. Histopathological examination was used to confirm the final diagnosis. Statistical significance was assessed with Wilcoxon signed rank test. Main results: Tetrapolar EIS could discriminate cancer with statistically significant results when applying frequencies between 305 Hz – 625 kHz (p < 0.05). 300 Ω was set as the transfer impedance threshold to detect cancer. Thus, the area under the corresponding receiver operating characteristic curve for this threshold was 0.7105. Significance: This feasibility study demonstrates that impedance spectra changes in colorectal cancer tissue are detectable and may be statistically significant, suggesting that EIS has the potential to be the core technology in a novel non-invasive point of care test for detecting colorectal cancer. These results warrant further development and increasing the size of the study with a device specificity designed for colorectal cancer

Growth arrest-specific transcript 5 associated snoRNA levels are related to p53 expression and DNA damage in colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND The growth arrest-specific transcript 5 gene (GAS5) encodes a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) and hosts a number of small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) that have recently been implicated in multiple cellular processes and cancer. Here, we investigate the relationship between DNA damage, p53, and the GAS5 snoRNAs to gain further insight into the potential role of this locus in cell survival and oncogenesis both in vivo and in vitro. METHODS We used quantitative techniques to analyse the effect of DNA damage on GAS5 snoRNA expression and to assess the relationship between p53 and the GAS5 snoRNAs in cancer cell lines and in normal, pre-malignant, and malignant human colorectal tissue and used biological techniques to suggest potential roles for these snoRNAs in the DNA damage response. RESULTS GAS5-derived snoRNA expression was induced by DNA damage in a p53-dependent manner in colorectal cancer cell lines and their levels were not affected by DICER. Furthermore, p53 levels strongly correlated with GAS5-derived snoRNA expression in colorectal tissue. CONCLUSIONS In aggregate, these data suggest that the GAS5-derived snoRNAs are under control of p53 and that they have an important role in mediating the p53 response to DNA damage, which may not relate to their function in the ribosome. We suggest that these snoRNAs are not processed by DICER to form smaller snoRNA-derived RNAs with microRNA (miRNA)-like functions, but their precise role requires further evaluation. Furthermore, since GAS5 host snoRNAs are often used as endogenous controls in qPCR quantifications we show that their use as housekeeping genes in DNA damage experiments can lead to inaccurate results

Translational application of metabolic profiling technologies in the colorectal cancer clinical pathway

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of global cancer-related morbidity and mortality. A deeper understanding of the biological processes that drive CRC development and progression is essential in order to improve patient outcomes along the CRC clinical pathway (diagnosis; treatment; prognostication/surveillance). Metabonomics (metabolic profiling/metabolomics) is a rapidly advancing field in systems biology that generates disease-relevant micro-molecular information downstream of the genome and proteome. Metabolic profiling studies utilising nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (MS) have demonstrated early promise in cancer research. For this body of work I have designed and implemented a multi-axis metabolic profiling strategy for evaluation of fresh frozen CRC tissue; the study framework has been specifically designed to assess the translational utility of different NMR and MS –based technologies at key phases of the CRC clinical spectrum and to develop next-generation bioinformatics solutions to facilitate translational deployment of these approaches. My findings have demonstrated that: (i) High-resolution magic angle spinning NMR (HR-MAS NMR) spectroscopy allows rapid and accurate diagnosis and local staging of CRC, making it well suited to translational deployment at the diagnostic end of the CRC clinical pathway. In addition this approach can potentially be used to develop an alternative to frozen section for intra-operative tissue evaluation. (ii) Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation imaging MS (MALDI-MSI) has potential to supplement conventional histopathological methods of tissue assessment and reveals novel tumour-associated ‘field effects’ which may have translational utility in CRC prognostication. (iii) Desorption electrospray ionisation imaging MS (DESI-MSI) represents a more sophisticated method for histology-driven imaging mass spectrometry and permits ‘chemical mapping’ of the CRC tumour microenvironment in a way not possible until now. This technique can be used to derive an entirely new pool of biomolecular data with which to develop next-generation cancer biomarkers for prognostic and therapeutic personalisation. Currently, the complexity and volume of data generated by MSI experimentation represents a major rate-limiting step, hampering translational application of this approach. My work in CRC MSI profiling has concurrently led to the development of a novel bio-informatics pipeline designed to address current challenges, and this platform is also introduced in the following thesis.Open Acces