On June 5 and 6, 2025, members of the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute (GCI) community came together to celebrate Professor Nahum Sonenberg’s legacy of mentorship and to announce the creation of a second Sonenberg Postdoctoral Fellowship. The fellowship honours Professor Sonenberg, a scientist recognized for his foundational discoveries in mRNA biology and decades of mentorship.
Supporting the Next Generation
The first Goodman–Kahvejian Families Postdoctoral Fellowship in Honour of Nahum Sonenberg was established in 2024 by GCI alumnus Avak Kahvejian, in partnership with the Morris and Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation. This year, they renewed their commitment by funding a second fellowship, expanding their support for early-career researchers working in cancer and related fields.
The fellowships focus on RNA-based research with applications in cancer, obesity, diabetes, and neurological diseases. They provide funding, time, and mentorship to help postdoctoral researchers pursue high-impact work at a critical stage in their careers.
Niaz Mahmood, this year’s fellowship recipient, joined the Sonenberg Lab in 2021. His research on translational control in memory and cancer spans breast cancer and neurobiology.
Postdoctoral fellows are essential to scientific progress. By investing in their success, the two Goodman–Kahvejian Families Postdoctoral Fellowships in Honour of Nahum Sonenberg ensure that mentorship, excellence, and innovation remain at the heart of cancer research.
A Scientific Legacy in Motion
The following day, members of the GCI’s scientific community gathered for a symposium in honour of Professor Sonenberg, celebrating both his ground-breaking contributions to molecular biology and the extraordinary influence of his mentorship.
Professor Sonenberg has published 15–20 peer-reviewed articles per year and trained more than 160 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, many of whom now lead research programs around the world.
“I’ve been lucky,” Professor Sonenberg said at the event. “Not just with experiments, but in attracting exceptional trainees.”
The symposium featured three former trainees who now lead their own research programs:
Antonis E. Koromilas, Ph.D., Professor of Oncology at McGill and researcher at the Lady Davis Institute, discovered the role of PKR in the integrated stress response while in the Sonenberg lab. His current work explores how cancer cells adapt to stress — and how that process can be disrupted to improve treatment.
Mark Fabian, Ph.D., Associate Professor at McGill and scientist at the Lady Davis Institute, studied microRNA regulation in the Sonenberg lab. Today, his team investigates mRNA decay mechanisms with implications for developing more effective mRNA-based therapeutics.
Sylvie Mader, Ph.D., Professor at Université de Montréal and Principal Investigator at IRIC, made one of the Sonenberg lab’s most significant discoveries during her postdoctoral fellowship. Her research focuses on breast cancer therapy resistance and how to improve treatment outcomes.
Together, the Sonenberg Fellowship announcement and the symposium reflect a unified purpose: advancing discovery through mentorship. They underscore how Professor Sonenberg’s influence extends far beyond his own discoveries, living on through the scientists he has trained, who are now leading research at the frontiers of cancer biology.
Support the next generation of cancer scientists by donating in honour of the Sonenberg Fellowship
Rosalind & Morris Goodman Cancer Institute all rights reserved • Privacy policy • Accessibility
Website by Riposte
