The global burden of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is increasing as it has become the second leading cause of cancer-relateddeaths and the fifth most common cancer worldwide. HCC is heterogenous, arising in the setting of various chronic liver diseasessuch as hepatitis C, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and cirrhosis. Patients with cirrhosis who develop cancer cannot tolerate therapydue to inadequate liver function.

It is well known that ‘better’ hearing aid fittings lead to ‘better’ outcomes. In recent years, ‘better’ hearing aid fittings, particularly in the bone conduction space, have benefitted from advancements in verification tools, for example the skull simulator and surface microphone. In turn, these verification tools have aided in the development of individualized prescription algorithms, namely Desired Sensation Level (DSL-BC).

Globally, neurological disorders impact over 250 million individuals and of this, stroke makes up the highest demand for rehabilitation (Cieza, 2020). As the prevalence of stroke continues to grow, the number of individuals who experience lasting impairment will continue to increase. We face challenges including the limited availability of health care providers, access to specialized equipment and increasing costs. An emerging field of research has looked at whether we can use measurable signals of brain activity to assess the degree of lost function after a stroke.

Some healthcare providers have concerns, misconceptions, and reluctance to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, which puts them at risk of occupational and public exposure to the virus. This is called vaccine hesitancy, which is defined as the delay or refusal of vaccines in the presence of vaccination services. Widespread vaccination is an effective public health measure in reducing health burdens and nationwide economic restrictions associated with the disease.

Current testing for SARS-CoV-2 focuses on detection of the pathogen via isolated nucleic acids, routinely from nasopharyngeal swabs. To our knowledge, no approved clinical SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests using nasopharyngeal swabs incorporate measurements of host responses at the time of diagnosis. Monitoring host responses during SARS-CoV-2 infection is important, as stratification of COVID-19 patients based on host responses is predictive of mortality.

The inclusion of touch and physical sensations from within Virtual Reality and other Mixed Reality experiences provides exciting opportunities from both an entertainment and academic perspective.

Minimally invasive treatments have greatly changed the clinical landscape for a variety of disorders. A catheter is navigated through the body to the target site where a multitude of interventions can be performed, including drug delivery and therapeutic embolization and in the near future delivery of tissue-engineered constructs. However, there are still limitations for treatment safety and efficacy due to the less direct control physicians have over the diseased site compared to traditional surgeries.

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and/or chronic kidney disease (CKD) affect more than 5 million Canadians. Progression of CKD is the primary cause of end-stage renal disease while NASH is now the leading cause of liver cirrhosis and liver transplant.

Competency-based medical education (CBME) is an approach to training that combines educational objectives and time-based learning. CBME is currently being rolled out in residency training programs across Canada and represents the biggest change in medical education since the early 1900s. This project aims to determine perspectives of current residents in CBME- and non-CBME-based residency training programs at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

The Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) is a not-for-profit public-private partnership research organization that aims to accelerate the discovery of new medicines through open science. This Mitacs cluster will bring together SGC’s industry and academic collaborators to work together towards new and affordable medicines for challenging diseases. Sixty-three post-doctoral fellows will spend 2-3 years developing open source tools and knowledge for previously understudied proteins, thereby unlocking new areas of biology and identifying new opportunities for drug discovery.