Facts and Figures for the Dept. of Biochemistry
Building Our Successful Research and Teaching Enterprise
Our humble beginnings at Western…
- First Biochemist hired in 1921
- Biochemistry Dept. founded in 1924
- First Biochemistry Honors BSc awarded 1968
- First Biochemistry MSc awarded in 1948
- First Biochemistry PhD awarded in 1949
Our growth…
- Faculty Members
1 in 1921
2 in 1947
36 in 1977
55 in 2007
- Total Research Funding
$86,000 in 1977
$340,000 in 1987
$1.5 million in 1997
$5.6 million in 2007
- Undergraduate Students
~613 enrolled in 12 Biochemistry courses in 1977
~607 enrolled in 11 Biochemistry courses in 1987
~1370 enrolled in 11 Biochemistry courses in 1997
~2340 enrolled in 22 Biochemistry courses in 2007
- Graduate Students
40 in 1977, of which 6 graduated in 1977
43 in 1987, of which 9 graduated in 1987
49 in 1997, of which 12 graduated in 1997
82 in 2007, of which 16 graduated in 2007
- Departmental Facilities
1 in 1997 (NMR Lab)
6 in 2007:
- Biomolecular NMR Facility
- Functional Proteomics Facility
- Macromolecular Crystallization Facility
- MALDI Mass Spectrometry Facility
- Biological Mass Spectrometry Laboratory
- Biomolecular Interactions & Conformations Facility
And where we are today…
- 181 publications in 2012
- 3228 career publications
- 114,265 career citations
- Funding
- $4.7 million of total research funding (2011-12)
- $1.4 million of CIHR funding (2011-12)
- $4.4 million of faculty salary awards since 2005
- $2.6 million of CFI funding since 2005
- 95% hold one or more operating grants
- 60% hold a CIHR grant
- 45% hold a NSERC grant
- 15% hold both CIHR and NSERC grants
- 57% of new faculty since 2003 have held an Early Researcher Award (ERA)
- External Awards
- 14 Premier’s Research Excellence Awards (PREA)/Early Researcher Awards (ERA)
- 7 Canada Research Chairs
- 5 American Heart Association Awards
- 4 NCIC/CCS Research Scientist Awards
- 2 NCIC/CCS Harold E. Johns Awards
- 2 Boehringer-Ingelheim Young Investigator Awards
- 1 Royal Society of Canada Fellow
- 1 NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplement
- 1 Peter Lougheed/CIHR New Investigator Award
- 1 CIHR-CMAJ Top Canadian Achievements in Health Research Award
- 1 Government of Ontario Distinguished Researcher Award
- 1 Canadian Diabetes Association Young Scientist Award
- 1 IMHA Quality of Life Award in Oral Health
- 1 International Association for Dental Research Distinguished Scientist Award for Basic Research in Biological Mineralization
- 1 International Association for Dental Research Salivary Researcher of the Year
- 1 Genetics Society of Canada William F. Grant and Peter B. Moens Award of Excellence
- 1 Merck-Frosst Award in Bioanalytical Chemistry
- 1 Canadian National Committee-IUPAC Award
- 1 Chemical Institute of Canada Fellowship
- 1 Fred Beamish Award of the Canadian Society for Chemistry
- 1 CLC Senior Scientist Award for Excellence in Lipid and Lipoprotein Research in Canada
- 1 Jean Davignon Distinguished Cardiovascular Metabolic Research Award, Pfizer Canada
- 1 Partners in Research Biomedical Science Ambassador Award
- 1 Ontario Society of Clinical Chemists Lifetime Achievement Award
- 1 Paediatric Chairs of Canada Paediatric Academic Leadership - Clinician Investigator Award
- 1 Ken Standing Award
- Internal University Awards
- 17 Dean’s Awards of Excellence
- 5 Faculty Scholar Awards
- 2 Florence Bucke Prizes in the Faculty of Science
- 2 Distinguished University Professorships
- 2 Dept. of Medicine Research Awards of Excellence
- 2 Scientist of the Year Awards (CHRI)
- 1 Distinguished Research Professorship (Faculty of Science)
- 1 Hellmuth Prize
- 1 Alumni Award for Professional Achievement
- 1 Stiller Centre Prize
- 1 Wolfe Senior Research Fellowship in Steroidal Hormones in - Health and Disease
- 1 Wolfe Senior Research Fellowship in Tumor Suppressor Genes
- 1 Division of Experimental Oncology Award of Excellence in Research and Teaching
- 1 Lawson’s Dr. Joseph Gilbert Contribution of the Year Award
- 8 Honors Degrees offered
- ~2100 students in 23 undergraduate Biochemistry courses:
- Year-2 students: ~1150
- Year-3 students: ~500
- Year-4 students: ~450
- ~35-40 Biochemistry Honors BSc students graduate each year
- 77 MSc and PhD students currently enrolled (53% PhD)
- ~15-20 students graduate each year
- 90% of students have undergraduate averages of A or A+
- 40% of our students hold major provincial or national awards
- Our graduate students have received 8 of the past 11 awards given to the most outstanding PhD thesis in Medical Research at Western
- 6 open-access facilities comprise the London Regional Proteomics Centre (LRPC)
- $28 million total investment from infrastructure funding
- $1.8 million total investment from institutional funding
- $1.5 million total maintenance funding
- 90 users during 2007-08
- $60 million in external funding by Western users during 2007-08
- Outreach Science Ontario Program
- Biotechnology in the Classroom: PCR and cloning lab module
- initiated with funding from NSERC PromoScience, currently supported by the Biochemistry Dept.
- ~44 high school teachers trained to use the lab module
- ~5878 high school students used the lab module
- considered by students as the course highlight at Sr. Biology levels
- most significant student comment: “We are the biotechnologists of the future.”
Last updated by L. Weir, June 2013.
