Many of the flavours found in whisky and other distilled spirits are derived from alcoholic fermentation, most commonly by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Given the biodiversity of different yeast strains and species, there is an opportunity to identify strains that can produce alcoholic beverages with unique flavours and aromas. The Measday lab has isolated hundreds of yeast strains from uninoculated fermentations of wine grapes from the Okanagan Valley, BC.

This project focuses on a herd of wild bighorn sheep on Kamloops Lake in the Secwépemc Territory of southern interior BC. The first goal of the project is to monitor lamb survival and assess habitat conditions for the Kamloops Lake herd over two years. The second goal of the project is to document Secwépemc Traditional Ecological Knowledge about the Kamloops Lake herd to strengthen our understanding of the herd’s history and ecology. The results of our study will help our partners to develop strategies on how to protect bighorn sheep and their habitat.

In this project we will investigate and develop novel techniques that employ Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) for the optimal execution of queries in a relational DBMS. The research will be conducted with close collaboration with the team of IBM that develops Db2, the well-known relational DBMS of IBM. The goal is to integrate the produced ‘learned’ optimizer in Db2.

This research project will investigate the four essential steps to constructing a prototype of a fully-functional, at-home recycling machine: (1) sorting/identification of approved plastics, (2) shredding, (3) decontaminating; and (4) assembling all of the preceding functions into a single, at-home recycling machine.
The goal is to reimagine and rework the traditional recycling supply chain by having the recycling of eligible plastics performed in the home in a self-contained, multi-functioned unit, slightly larger than a dishwasher.
The expected benefits of the project for Recircle Waste Mana

Synthetic population generation is the process of combining multiple socioeonomic and demographic datasets from various sources and at different granularity, and downscaling them to an individual level. Although it is a fundamental step for many data science tasks, an efficient and standard framework is absent. In this project, we propose a multi-stage framework called SynC (Synthetic Population via Gaussian Copula) that is novel and scalable to address this research problem.

The demand for medical and therapeutic applications with terpene for human and agriculture wellness is booming with a projected market size of $1.01 billion by 2028. With over 30,000 known terpenes, the potential breakthroughs and impact on health and medicine is enormous. However, current standards are limited to the number of terpenes we can categorically identify and quantify for studying with average 21 terpene components in a single mixture.

Omega-3 PUFAs are dietary components that have been extensively recognized for their therapeutic value and have shown diverse therapeutic effects including anti-inflammatory, antiarrhythmic, antithrombotic, immunomodulatory, and antineoplastic activities. We observe, NL canola oil possesses high concentrations of the unique essential omega-3 PUFAs and other bioactive phytonutrients conferring important health promotive benefits. We seek to develop a suite of innovative health products capitalizing on the unique functional ingredients of NL Canola to improve consumers health outcome.

Concerns over climate change have led public and private institutions to change the way they conduct business. Initiatives include ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and working toward a net zero carbon society. Recycling and composting programs have been around for decades, with the goal to reduce the amount of solid waste entering the landfills. The natural decomposition of food and green wastes in landfills results in the emission of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Plastics in the environment find their way into the food chain and even human tissues.

The goal of this research project is to understand how well blockchain and distributed ledger projects conducted in humanitarian settings live up to their potential for benefitting technology users. The research will consider this question through the lens of data justice, an emerging framework that looks at the storage and protection of digital data and how technology users are treated when they produce digital data. This framework is relevant to the production of the data generated by the way individuals lead their social and economic lives online.

Renewable energy sources, such as hydroelectric dams, provide electricity to many Canadians and are important for meeting climate change targets. However, during construction, dams permanently alter the physical characteristics of the river systems and this may have consequences for the species using these ecosystems. This project will evaluate the potential changes in the distribution, abundance, diet, and mercury levels of Bank Swallow populations on the Peace River in British Columbia following reservoir filling for the Site C dam.