PEI Industry Research Connector
Thursday, September 26, 2013
NRC Lecture Theatre, UPEI
550 University Avenue, Charlottetown, PEI
Agenda
9:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Registration and pre-event networking
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Welcoming Remarks – Dr. Robert Gilmour, VP Research, University of
Prince Edward Island
10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
3 minute Researcher Pitches
11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Networking Break
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
3 minute Company Pitches
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Networking Luncheon
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Genome Atlantic Forum
Genomics: The Hidden Gem in the Food Production Toolkit
Presenter: Sean Myles, Canada Research Chair, Agriculture Genetic
Diversity (Dalhousie University, Faculty of Agriculture)
Presenters
Dr. Robert Gilmour, Vice-President Research, University of Prince Edward Island
Dr. Robert Gilmour, Jr. is UPEI’s Vice-President Research. An experienced administrator and wellpublished researcher who also holds several patents, Dr. Gilmour has managed a diverse research
portfolio encompassing multiple funding sources while maintaining an active laboratory. Dr. Gilmour’s
experience in inspiring and leading multidisciplinary research teams—especially those addressing
important issues in biomedical and health science—will be vital to the University, as UPEI continues to
work strategically with academic, and private- and public-sector partners to advance discovery.
Dr. Gilmour comes to UPEI from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, as former Associate Dean for
Research and Graduate Education at the College of Veterinary Medicine. Previous to that role, he
served as a professor of physiology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and associate professor
in the Department of Physiology at Cornell; visiting professor at the University of Milan; associate
professor, assistant professor, and fellow in the Department of Medicine at Indiana University School
of Medicine; research associate at the Krannert Institute of Cardiology; and US-USSR exchange
scientist at the All-Union Cardiology Research Center in Moscow.
Dr. Gilmour continues to positively fulfill UPEI’s research mandate by leading Research Services, which
supports more than 18-million dollars in annual research expenditures at UPEI.
Dr. Sean Myles, Canada Research Chair in Agricultural Genetic Diversity , Dalhousie University
Dr. Sean Myles is from Fredericton, New Brunswick, where he received his BA at Saint Thomas
University. He completed his Masters in Human Biology at Oxford University and his PhD in Human
Evolutionary Genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.
He turned to plants during his postdoc at Cornell where he worked in Ed Buckler's lab on grape
genomics. He also spent time as a postdoc in Carlos Bustamante's lab at Stanford before starting his
current position in the Faculty of Agriculture at Dalhousie University as the Canada Research Chair in
Agricultural Genetic Diversity in the summer of 2011.
His research focuses on elucidating the domestication and breeding histories of apples and grapes
and figuring out how to use genomics to more efficiently breed improved fruit that requires less
chemical input to grow.