“Calgary is the kind of place where this can happen,” says Salahub.

In one of his roles, Salahub links U of C science and business to form startup companies in medicine, oil and gas, wireless technology and many other areas.

The university’s highest hopes these days ride on the shoulders of Dr. Naweed Syed, 48, the Herald’s choice as a potential science pioneer in the 21st century.

Syed and his U of C team of neurobiology researchers have drawn worldwide publicity for successfully linking animal brain cells with computer chips.

The implications stretch beyond science fiction — implanted chips could end epileptic seizures, command the growth of new brain tissue, control artificial arms and legs, destroy cancers and repair shattered spines.

The science is astonishing, but Syed qualifies as a New Pioneer as much for his passionate loyalty to Calgary and Canadian society.

Since the findings of his group were announced in 2004, Syed has been offered choice posts at U.S. universities.

“But I’m not going,” says Syed, who is originally from Pakistan. “I want Canada and Calgary to have this science. I love Calgary. I love Canada.

“It’s the greatest country to live in, the best place to be.

“I’m an immigrant and when I came to Canada, society accepted us with open arms.” When he was a boy in Pakistan, Syed says, his father would sometimes take him to a mosque one day, a synagogue the next and a church after that.

“He always said we are all cousins serving the same Lord,” Syed says emotionally. “I believe in that deeply, in the value of tolerance and multi- culturalism.

“That’s why I am a Canadian first and everything else afterward. The fun comes in giving something back to this wonderful society.” Syed uses the word “fun” quite a lot. He talks about the fun of speaking to students at Calgary schools, hoping to foster the spark of inspiration. And he recalls the excitement that rocked his lab when they knew that snail brain cells and silicon chips were talking to each other.

“That was amazing, just the most incredible feeling,” he says.

Salahub says Syed is “bringing together two different worlds, where he’s actually putting brain cells together with microelectronic chips . . . . brain functioning on the one hand, engineering on the other.” This new science could soar, perhaps one day even taking Syed to the Nobel podium. Or it could fade, because early breakthroughs have a discouraging way of stalling on the steep hills of practical application.

Regardless, that won’t change the remarkable contribution of Dr. Naweed Syed, whose heart belongs in Calgary.