The Story
Vitamin D is put in Canadian milk, thanks to Scriver’s study of rickets in Quebec children. He’s also done work on identifying genetic predisposition to disease and raising nutritional standards. His recommendations have had great impact on Quebec’s health care system, which became the first in the world to provide a system for identifying genetic diseases and nutritional information to help overcome these conditions. He was also involved in the inception of the Human Genome Project, though his research focus has been more towards genetic variation rather than gene identification and cloning. Another result of Scriver’s work, the Interuniversity Institute for Research on Populations (IREP) maintains a database on the Quebec population and is able to track genes such as phenylalanine hydroxylase, which is involved in a form of mental retardation that can be avoided with early treatment. Scriver has won the Wilder Penfield award and Prix du Québec Science Award.
Sources: The McGill Reporter, Dec. 7, 1995; Image: McGill University Health Centre website
The Person
- Title
- Alva Professor of Human Genetics, and a Professor in the Departments of Biology, Human Genetics and Pediatrics
- Office
- McGill University
- Status
- Working
- Last Updated
- June 11, 2011
- Popularity
- 12594
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