Turning Waste Into Wealth - Dr Jacques Gagnon
Dr Jacques Gagnon, Scientific Director of Fishery and Marine Products at the Coastal Zones Research Institute in Shippagan, is leading a massive effort to develop novel methods for the extracting, processing, and marketing of natural nutritional components of shrimp, herring, sea cucumber and snow crab by-products.
So far, he has prepared a library of extracts from the left over shells, heads and tails and other parts of the fish/seafood, and is now screening for the biological properties that can be used to prevent obesity, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases.
Dr. Gagnon studied Medical Biology at the Université du Québec à Trois -Rivières (B.Sc.) and Experimental Medicine (M.Sc. and Ph.D.) at Université Laval in Quebec. He then did a post- doctoral internship in the Department of Medicine and Cardiology at the University of Chicago (United States) in the field of Physiology and Molecular Biology. In 1992, he was appointed director of the HERITAGE project, an international research consortium subsidized by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and based at Université Laval (Quebec). In 1999, Dr. Gagnon became Director of Clinical and Pre-clinical Studies at the Molecular Endocrinology Laboratory of the hospital research centre of Université Laval and Endorecherche Inc.