Invited Speakers 2014
Read more about the speakers who shared their work at our 2014 Conference
Dr. Johnathon Stone
With his yearly visits to the iSci community, augmenting the first year invited speaker seminar list, Dr. Jonathon Stone (aka Doc Roc) holds enlightening information from his Computational Biology lab. Computer programming is the principal tool for conducting life science research in his lab. By involving data analysis, mathematical or numerical modeling, and graphical or rule-based simulation in to his biological work, Dr. Stone effectively integrates the two disciplines and tackles questions about genes, cells, tissues, individuals, populations, species, and taxon. Credited with a B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. in Biology & Physics, Chemistry, and Zoology, Dr. Stone currently holds a position as a Professor under the Department of Biology, as well as the current Associate Director of the Origins Institute. The Origins Institute takes full advantage of Dr. Stone’s experience within multiple scientific disciplines and encourages his trans-disciplinary approaches and methods to tackle questions pertaining to the origins of space-time, the cosmos, elements, life, species, and humanity.
Dr. Dawn Bowdish
Dr. Dawn Bowdish is a Hamilton native, who attended the University of Guelph for an undergraduate degree in Microbiology. Dr. Bowdish later completed her PhD at the University of British Columbia, studying the role of small naturally produced antimicrobial peptides in host defense against infection with Dr. Bob Hancock. Her work eventually resulted in various patents and led to the formation of a biotechnology company that primarily investigates the therapeutic uses of these peptides. She did her post-doctoral work with Prof. Siamon Gordon, a renowned expert in macrophage biology, and studied the role of macrophage receptors in recognition and response to pathogens. In 2009, she became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology & Molecular Medicine at McMaster, and has since been affiliated with the McMaster Immunology Research Centre (MIRC) and the M.G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research (IIDR). Some of her primary research interests include studying the role of macrophages in initial interactions with pathogens, determining how age-related changes in the immune response affect susceptibility to infection. Her long-term goals include making advances in the understanding of host defense against infectious disease at a molecular and cellular level, and treating infectious diseases with novel immune modulatory therapies.
Dr. Miroslav Lovric
Dr. Lovric is a professor of mathematics at McMaster University as well as the undergraduate chair. His research in the area of differential geometry is about some aspects of the curvature of a Riemannian manifold; in particular about the ways various curvature assumptions influence topological properties of manifolds. Dr. Lovric is presently working on medical and biological applications of math in collaboration with colleagues and grad students from Health Sciences; as well as the structure of mathematics education. Dr. Lovric also authored of a variety of math textbooks including “Vector Calculus”, an Amazon Top 100 bestseller. In 2010, he was awarded the prestigious Adrien Pouliot Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to mathematics education in Canada.