Dr. Susan Aitken is this year’s recipient of the 2005 Petro-Canada Young Innovator Award. Dr. Aitken’s research focuses on understanding how plants can be used to decontaminate soils that are polluted with toxic heavy-metals. Other applications of her research include the production of varieties of crop plants with improved nutritional quality, and an improved understanding of sulfur amino acid metabolism in humans that will lead to the development of treatments for diseases including atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, and Down syndrome.