UCalgary student wins prestigious award for C. difficile abstract

Posted June 17, 2009
By Marta Cyperling

Jeff Ng works under the supervision of Dr. Dan Muruve and Dr. Paul Beck: Photo Credit: Bruce Perrault

As a graduate student Jeff Ng has been working in a University of Calgary lab for only 18 months, but he has already received several awards in recognition of his research.  He was recently honoured as the only Canadian to win one of ten prestigious student abstract awards at the American Gastroenterology Association (AGA) meeting. And locally he won the Shaffer Research Award for the top MSc presentation.

Ng’s abstract presented at the AGA looks at how Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) causes intestinal injury and infection.  The hope is to eventually determine how to block the signaling pathways of the proteins that are associated with severe and potentially deadly infections in the colon sometimes caused by the bacteria
 
“We are doing research in this area because it is a very serious health problem that is resulting in an alarming number of deaths and our present treatment strategies are ineffective,” says Ng.

Ng studies under the supervision of Drs. Paul Beck and Dan Muruve who are both excited to hear about his recognition.

“Having a student from U of C win such prestigious awards tells the world the University of Calgary is a great institution that does a great job training students" says Beck, “C. difficile is a huge public health problem causing numerous deaths in Canada and through out the world”.

C. difficile causes diarrhea and other intestinal conditions.  It can be fatal, and is responsible for killing hundreds of people  in Canada during the last few years. The bacteria is shed in feces and is easily spread through surfaces or objects that may contain trace amounts of fecal matter.  Humans touching contaminated objects can then easily pass it between each other.  For this reason, C. difficile is spread easily in hospitals and long-term care facilities.