Bacillus thuringiensis MS 20 produces a peptide, Bacillin 20, that has been shown to improve crop stress tolerance, enhance plant growth, stimulate the production of phytohormones and modify the plant root systems for better uptake of water and nutrients. The purification of Bacillin 20 from microbial broth culture is affected by the organic compounds present in the growth media and as such decreases the overall peptide yield when subjected to various purification steps.

Chinook salmon may be especially vulnerable with limited food available when they first enter the ocean and during their first winter in the Straight of Georgia. To evaluate this, researchers will use lab studies to produce a new tool, that can be used without causing harm to the fish, to see whether wild Chinook salmon are getting enough food. We will then use this new tool to determine the impact of food limitation on Chinook salmon in the wild and how this may impact the survival of different populations in the winter.

This work aims to protect oat oil and produce new formulated products for food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and household care applications. Specifically, nanocellulose and food-grade cellulose derivatives will be used to stabilize oat oil-in-water emulsions which will be dried into oil powders using spray drying. The powders appear dry but are >90% liquid oil and can be used in the dry form or reconstituted by hand-shaking them in water. Attempts to isolate nanocellulose from oat hulls will be undertaken as a step towards “all oat” dry oat oil powders.

This project, working with a regional distribution company, focusses on optimizing the picking process in the warehouse to be able to distribute their products efficiently to customers. Some of the challenges include looking at how pickers are directed to pick products, reorganizing the warehouse based on reducing picking paths and reducing potential collisions with other pickers and forklifts by optimizing their path.

This project, working with a regional distribution company, focusses on optimizing the transportation to deliver their products efficiently to customers. Some of the challenges include looking at the routes that delivery trucks take between the warehouse and the customer locations, optimally packing the delivery trucks to deliver more products with the same number of trucks and potentially justify the creation of intermediate distribution hubs.

This project is in partnership with the Secwepemcúl'ecw Restoration and Stewardship Society, founded by eight Secwépemc First Nations to advance Secwépemc-led restoration and sustainable stewardship of lands and resources throughout Secwepecúl'ecw (the traditional territory of the Secwépemc Nation). Guided by the Secwépemc concept of 'walking on two legs', our project advances a novel pathway of Indigenous-led monitoring and restoration in BC’s fire-affected and fire-adapted landscapes.

Plants are always associated with a well-coordinated and beneficial community of microbes - the phytomicrobiome; this plus the associated plant forms the holobiont, the entity that provides crop yield. There is considerable communication between the phytomicrobiome and the plant, often through signal compounds. Bacillin 20 is a small protein (a peptide) produced by a Bacillus thuringiensis strain and discovered by the Smith laboratory. It improves plant ability to tolerate stress when applied at very low concentrations.

Our intention is to find excellent resistance sources in the Canadian canola cultivars, and other available genotypes through field, greenhouse and lab research to enhance resistance. This will supplement the new resistance sources including novel R gene and quantitative resistance in canola against blackleg disease in Canada. It will also reduce it to become endemic and prevent epidemics, when the environmental conditions favor the pathogen in certain seasons (like the summer of 2021 when it was very dry across the prairies).

Impacts of increased wildfires and wildfire intensity have impacts that go beyond the initial devastation often shown on the news. Wildfire recovery is a long, difficult, and multi-faceted undertaking, especially within the context of a changing climate. This project is intended to better understand the impacts of wildfire on invasive and native (culturally important) plants. Plants are the cornerstone of ecosystems including food systems for people and wildlife.

Recent estimates of agricultural land on the Canadian prairies suggest that 1 million ha are affected by moderate to severe soil salinity. These areas are not suitable for seeding annual grain crops. Perennial forages have the potential to remediate saline soils through salt ion uptake, lowering the water table, improved soil biological activity, and weed suppression. This project will evaluate establishment and remediation benefits in saline soils with perennial forage mixtures compared to annual grain crops.