This MITACs proposal seeks funding to establish an internship cluster dedicated to researching novel psychedelic compounds for the purposes of treating clients suffering from PTSD and anxiety using its comprehensive psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy treatment model. The objective of this one-year project is to characterize the chemical composition of psychedelic mushrooms, optimizing extraction process, testing extracts and active compounds on insect model, in order to advance the science around the use of psilocybin in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

Antibiotic therapy has been the primary approach for strep throat. Although various antibiotics, including penicillin, are effective, bacteriologic, and clinical treatment failures have been reported. Patients are more concerned about soothing the pain during the infection, and green/natural drug therapy with less or no adverse side effects are becoming popular. From preliminary studies and literature, carvacrol has been identified as a potential candidate for antibiotic therapy alternatives.

Grasslands store carbon, regulate water, recycle nutrients, and conserve biodiversity. In western Canada, seasonally flooded, wet meadow grasslands, also provide habitats for species at risk. Despite their importance to conservation, little is known about the effect of grazing on these ecosystems. This research will help understand how grazing effects plants, soils, and the ecosystem services provided by wet meadow grasslands. Specifically, this project will explore links between grazing, plants, and soil nematodes, small worm-like animals, that recycle carbon and nutrients in soils.

Although COVID-19 is considered a respiratory illness, the genetic material of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has been found in the feces of people infected with the virus. It is known that the virus survives longer in the gastrointestinal tract than in the respiratory tract. As such, wastewater has been used to determine the presence of the virus either before someone develops symptoms; receives a positive test result; or is an asymptomatic carrier of the virus.

In southern Canada, wolverines share their natural habitat with humans. Forestry, for example, alters local ecosystems and leaves behind road networks that give access to people, also including recreationalists. Finally, many valley bottoms contain human infrastructure. This research project examines if wolverine numbers are impacted more by human or natural factors, determines if population connectivity is interrupted by human infrastructure and asks if those patterns are different for reproductive females.

Monitoring biodiversity using DNA-based approaches has many advantages for large-scale studies. DNA metabarcoding can assess the presence, absence, and abundance of species in a sample where individuals are not morphologically identifiable, such as bulk samples of larval fishes or from environmental DNA (eDNA) in water samples. We propose to develop a high-throughput metabarcoding-based approach that will quantify fishes entrained by the water-cooling system at Bruce Power.

BOLD-100 is a promising new drug that initial studies have shown has potent activity against the SARS-CoV-2 (the cause of COVID-19) in cell culture experiments. Before being able to start clinical studies with BOLD-100, additional research into the mechanism of action is required, plus testing the safety and efficacy of BOLD-100 in animal models of COVID-19. The purpose of this project is to utilize a range of cell culture and animal models to test BOLD-100 against COVID-19 to better understand the drug.

Stargardt disease affects approximately 1:10,000 individuals and causes progressive, irreversible blindness. While primarily a juvenile disease, age of onset can range from childhood to adulthood. Although supportive care can help slow progression, there are currently no approved therapies and all patients are expected to reach legal blindness. Therefore, Stargardt disease represents an urgent unmet medical need.Oak Bay Biosciences, based in Victoria BC, is a preclinical biotechnology company with a goal to develop the first approved therapy for Stargardt disease.

Koivisto Materials Consulting Inc (KMC) is a Canadian-owned and operated for-profit company that seeks to commercialize a low-cost optically transparent photovoltaic windows and coatings. KMCs proprietary technology is based on a modified dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) architecture and novel bio-inspired dyes. The two major advantages for DSSC devices are their optical transparency and ability to operate more effectively in diffuse light conditions (cloudy days, indirect sunlight, etc.); making them amenable for urban landscapes and all interior surfaces.

Saltmarshes and coastal wetlands in Atlantic Canada are some of the habitats that have experienced the greatest decline in area over the past 400 years. Various organizations have monitored habitat change and bird use of these sites for decades, but no one has undertaken a comprehensive examination of changes in habitats or avian abundance, potential factors that influence those (including government policies), and the perspectives of local stakeholders on the successes and failures of conservation efforts in these region.