IRIC - Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer

Published on March 20, 2012

The IRIC researcher is honored with the NRC Research Press Senior Investigator award

On March 17, the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences awarded Michel Bouvier with the NRC Research Press Senior Investigator award for his outstanding achievement in research. The honor is handed out annually to a Canadian scientist in the fields of biochemistry, molecular or cellular biology. Michel Bouvier is a Principal Investigator at the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) and Full Professor in the Department of Biochemistry of the Faculty of Medicine at the Université de Montréal.

Over the last 22 years, Michel Bouvier has had a transforming impact on health research in Canada. His discoveries have greatly influenced and even revolutionized our understanding of cell signaling through the largest class of therapeutic targets, the G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). GPCRs play a key role in the regulation of biological processes as diverse as neurotransmission, metabolism, cell growth, immune and inflammatory responses, olfaction and vision. GPCRs are the targets for almost half of all medications prescribed today and remain a target of choice when developing new medications. Michel Bouvier’s research aims to improve many existing drugs, as well as develop new, more effective medications in many clinical fields and in particular for cancer treatment.
Michel Bouvier advocates research and development of new therapies in partnership with the private sector. As such, in addition to his research and teaching responsibilities, he heads up a Université de Montreal based research group dedicated to research on medications, known by its acronym GRUM, for “Groupe de recherche universitaire sur le medicament”. He joined IRIC in 2005, where, along with his peers he contributed to the creation of IRICoR; a not-for-profit organization, that he now presides, which has the mission of accelerating the transfer of basic findings from IRIC’s scientists and collaborators into new treatments to cure cancer and related diseases.
This latest award is one of the many received by Michel Bouvier throughout his career acknowledging the quality and significance of his research.

For a complete list of his achievements, please visit: https://www.iric.ca/en/research/principal-investigators/michel-bouvier