Welcome to the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology

As the largest basic science department in the Cumming School of Medicine, Physiology and Pharmacology and its members represent six of the School's seven research institutes - the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, the Libin Cardiovascular Institute, the Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute, the McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health, and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute for Child and Maternal Health.

The strength of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology lies in our outstanding faculty, staff, postdoctoral fellows and students, all of whom take pride in a strong commitment to excellence in research and education.

On behalf of our department, you are invited to explore our website. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you wish more information.

Congratulations

to Dr. Vaibhav Patel for the success of his Heart and Stroke Foundation Grant-in-Aid, for his project "A single-cell serenade into the role of Angiotensin 1-7 in thoracic aortic aneurysm and cellular dynamics"

Congratulations

to Megan Meechem (PhD, Patel and Fedak lab) who was awarded the Heart & Stroke Women’s Personnel Award for doctoral students (2024-2027).

Published

Dr. Larissa Périco (MacNaughton Lab) and co-authors recently published their paper in the American Journal of Physiology: Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, titled Protease-activated receptor 2 drives migration in a colon cancer cell line but not in non-cancerous human epithelial cells.

Read

Paul Kubes joined the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology at the University of Calgary in 1991, after completing his Masters and PhD in Physiology at Queens University, and a postdoctoral fellowship at Louisiana State University. His research over the course of his career has been extensive and impressive, with a particular focus on microcirculation and inflammation. His early research investigated the mechanisms leading to white cell recruitment in cardiovascular disorders, which led to identifying that an endogenously produced gas, nitric oxide, functions to reduce leukocyte recruitment. This work subsequently branched out into areas of infection and autoimmunity.

Over the course of his career, Dr. Kubes spearheaded advancements in state-of-the-art infrastructure within the CSM, heading CFI applications that led to the development of the Snyder Live Cell Imaging Laboratory, the Western Canadian Microbiome Centre, now the International Microbiome Centre, and the Wild Microbiome and Immunity Centre.

Together with Dr. John Reynolds and Dr. Dean Befus, Dr. Kubes founded the Immunology Research Group, which Paul chaired from 1996 until 2003, after which he became the first Director of the Calvin, Phoebe and Joan Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases. He led the Snyder Institute for 16 years, from 2004 until 2020. Since the mid-1990’s, under Paul’s leadership, the Immunology Research Group has grown to over 25 members, with thriving research and teaching programs.

Dr. Kubes' awards and distinctions are numerous. He was awarded a Killam Annual Professor Award in 2018, a CSATVB Scientific Excellence Award in 2019, and in 2023, was awarded an Order of the University of Calgary and a CAHS Fellowship Induction.

In June, Paul will return to Queen's University, taking up the mantel of a Canada Excellence Research Chair in Immunophysiology and Immunotherapy. To read more about Paul's outstanding achievements, read Dr. Keith Sharkey's article and commendation below.