9 February 2013

Nancy Dumais, from the Science Faculty of the Université de Sherbrooke and Brendan Bell, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, were named Persons of the Year at La Presse’s Excellence evening event on January 13^Th 2013.

The two UdeS professors had previously been named Science Persons of the Week in October 2012 following a major discovery related to AIDS.

Work accomplished by Mrs. Dumais and Mr. Bell has identified cellular and viral components that can specifically activate the virus. This breakthrough could potentially enable the control of the virus’s latency, either to eradicate it from the body, or to make it definitely inactive.

Their discovery was published in the Retrovirology magazine in July 2012.

The two honorees are continuing their research in order to discover treatment possibilities.

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FURTHER READING

» Article presenting the list of winners on La Presse’s internet site

» « Major discovery in the fight against AIDS »  – by Sherbrooke Innopole

Source: Université de Sherbrooke
Photo credit: La Presse, Hugo-Sébastien Aubert