Congratulations to Dr. Jenny Bruin, who was a recipient of the Early Researcher Award. This award is a $140,000 award administered by the Province of Ontario to help promising, recently-appointed Ontario researchers build their research teams of graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and research associates.
Dr. Bruin’s research provides insight into how modifiable risk factors in our environment may be driving increased rates of diabetes across Ontario. Dr. Bruin is cross-appointed to the Department of Biology and the Institute of Biochemistry and leads the The Bruin Lab. The lab’s research focuses on whether environmental contaminants such as flame retardants, pesticides and other agricultural chemicals play an important role in causing diabetes.
Dr. Bruin interests are in fluorinated chemicals that are regularly used in everyday products such as water repellency on rain jackets and coatings on non-stick pans. Dr. Bruin currently has one PhD student working on PFAS research and she is hoping to recruit more thanks to the ERA grant.
“I’m really excited to get this prestigious award,” she says. “It’s a real compliment to receive it, knowing how many people applied and knowing the quality of other early career researchers.”
To read more and learn about the other recipients of the award, please Click here to read the full story!