The proposed research project will use a combination of Participatory Action Research and Indigenous Research Methods to create an online engagement tool to gather Michipicoten First Nation (MFN) member’s perspectives on draft planning strategies and policies regarding six priority areas. Engagement is a challenge for MFN as a displaced and widely dispersed community, challenges which are heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Online engagement is an important tool for reaching Michipicoten citizens on- and off-reserve, particularly during the pandemic.

The Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat’s (APC) Fisheries and Integrated Resources Department is responsible for research, analysis, and development of policy altneratives and programs for all aspects of fisheries for their member communities. This research project examines the role of Indigenous principles for resource management in the fisheries operations of Indigenous communities in Atlantic Canada.

Over the years, consumption of wine has been a lifestyle of many Canadian households, with majority of these wines imported from outside Canada. On the local market, Canadian made wine competes with sometimes century-long wine producing countries (e.g. France, Italy, Spain) that are carefully selected by importers (SAQ, NSLC, LCBO, etc.). With this gap in the Canadian wine market, there is the need to expand the Canadian grape industry towards the production of wine with high market value to increase its share on the local market.

In this project, the interns will develop a new set of tools and techniques to provide new scientific insights into the detailed interactions that occur between drug and target molecules in the human body. Understanding of these interactions is critical to design better, more effective, and more precisely targeted drugs. The problem is that current techniques for investigating molecular interactions make “ensemble measurements” over huge numbers of drug and target molecules and give researchers only an “average” measurement of the interactions.

Understanding the stability profile of a product, whether a consumer packaged good or a pharmaceutical drug product, is key to ensuring the consumer has a safe and effective product. In the pharmaceutical realm, the internationally accepted approach to stability testing is codified within the International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) Guidance: Q1A(R2) (Stability Testing of New Drug Substances and Products) and Q1B (Stability Testing: Photostability Testing of New Drug Substances and Products).

Citco provides financial products and services to hedge funds, private equity and real estate firms, investors, institutional banks, Global 1000 companies, and high net worth individuals in the Netherlands and internationally. The previous research was focused on optimizing operations by automating trade resolution and reducing risk using machine learning. Given its success in matching individual transactions, the proposed project plans to extend the research to overall portfolio management for identifying discrepancies in the portfolio at the end of the trading day.

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common cancer type. Although it can be surgically removed, to confirm the clean removal by histology is time-consuming, which complicates the treatment and results in many incomplete removals. We propose to develop a special microscopy imaging platform that can image the skin tissue directly without sectioning and staining. This will enable detection of residual tumor cells by examining the excised fresh tissue samples on site during the surgery, providing immediate guidance for improving the treatment procedures.

Inflammatory Bowel disease (IBD) affects over 200,000 Canadians. Individuals with IBD have significantly greater risk of developing colorectal cancer. Unfortunately, the screening for colorectal cancer that is currently provided to the general population is inadequate for this group. White light colonoscopy is currently the gold standard but is challenging, as lesions are sometimes difficult to identify. Thus, random biopsies, in addition to targeted biopsies of abnormalities visualized by white light, are often performed.

XCO is a local company that specializes in wearable devices designed to improve health and human performance. The influenza, COVID-19, and other respiratory illnesses such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease require a unique need for constant monitoring of patient symptoms temperature while reserving hospital space for critically ill patients. XCO will design and produce a wearable health patch capable of detecting changes in symptoms associated with respiratory illness and infection including oxygen saturation and temperature that can be monitored remotely by health care professionals.

Virtual reality simulation is increasingly becoming a valuable tool in the training of highly-skilled and dangerous professions. Firefighting requires individuals to work in extreme environments that can be difficult or impossible to adequately train for due to cost and safety considerations. This project, in collaboration with the Oshawa Fire Services and City of Oshawa, will develop a virtual reality simulation for firefighters to train within a building collapse scenario.