History and Information
The Canadian Oxidative Stress Consortium (COSC) aims at advancement of research and education in oxidative stress in health and disease. Oxidative stress has implications for a broad range of disorders including ischemia-reperfusion injury, stroke, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, arthritis, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s), spinal cord injury, sepsis, inflammation and respiratory diseases, etc. Initiated in July 1999 by Dr. Ashok Grover (McMaster University), with support from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the COSC consists of researchers from about 50 laboratories from 15 different universities in Canada. Its goal is to foster research collaboration among these laboratories, to provide better training opportunities for students and postdoctoral fellows working in them and to foster closer ties between its members and the pharmaceutical industry.
Training Tomorrow’s Scientific Leaders
A major objective of the Canadian Oxidative Stress Consortium is to provide a quality environment and to expand training opportunities for the developing scientist. A major emphasis of the biannual meeting of the Consortium is to provide graduate students and post-doctoral fellows (Postdocs) with the opportunity to interact and engage in intellectual thought that is imperative in the process of learning and training to become prime scientists. Trainees benefit from an intimate atmosphere at the meeting which often results in student exchange visitations for the purposes of collaboration and the acquisition of new techniques in the field of oxidative stress. Graduate students and post-doctoral fellows are encouraged to hone their skills at effectively delivering oral presentations at the biannual meeting. Travel awards are also provided to presenting trainees. Additionally, monetary rewards are bestowed upon the trainees who deliver the best oral and poster presentations. Furthermore, the Consortium encourages Trainees to carry out experimentation in other laboratories in order to benefit from the expertise of other researchers in the field of oxidative stress and to learn new techniques that are relevant to their research projects.