"It's not what the vision is, it's what the vision does"
Peter Senge, business strategist

Memorial research is helping doctors with diagnosis and offering patients enhanced treatment opportunities. For example, Dr. Yagang Xie, Faculty of Medicine, was instrumental this year in identifying the genetic mutation for mild hemophilia A in a central Newfoundland population. Based on the molecular nature of the mutation, Dr. Xie's team established a simple and quick direct mutation test. This test is now offered as a clinical service for the entire province, enabling early diagnosis for pre-symptomatic patients who can then have early medical measures to minimize the long-term complications.

In addition to basic research, faculty and staff are engaged in applied research projects they work with an eye to the marketplace. The Genesis Group Inc., our technology transfer unit, facilitates the interchange of innovative ideas and solutions between the university and community for the purpose of commercialization and application.

Dr. Graham Bodwell, from the Department of Chemistry, likens his research in synthetic organic chemistry to playing with Lego blocks on a molecular level, but instead of using plastic blocks, he uses molecules. Dr. Bodwell has been working in a number of different areas and his research is not only relevant to the general advancement of science, but also to the possibility of building new materials which might be used in reusable electronic documents.

Robots built to work in environments hostile to human life, innovative uses for plants cultivated for industrial applications and for commercial sale, a black box' designed to record the myriad of data flowing into a ship's bridge. These are just some of the ideas that have been realized at Memorial and recently put into practice.