Many mineral ores are concentrated by froth flotation, a process that often uses toxic chemicals to selectively alter mineral surface properties. With increasing regulatory restrictions, the industry could face a dead end with no alternative reagents that are sufficiently efficient, low cost or environment friendly. It has been previously shown that peptides could selectively bind mineral surfaces.

OSSimTech develops and sells virtual reality (VR) surgical simulators. This proposal aims to improve the efficiency of the simulation of cutting and deforming organs. The current simulator used by the company is appropriate for a range of surgery scenarios, but for several scenarios, it is too long to compute. The company has plans to expand its portfolio of simulators to less powerful devices, potentially including portable devices such as tablets. In this context, the development of a low-cost simulation approach is of great interest for OSSimTech.

The project involves the development of a system to automate the extraction of synthesis procedures from the texts of organic chemistry journal articles that describe explicit, experimental syntheses of organic compounds and their corresponding properties.

Current analytical methods used for gluten detection are not able to discriminate the specific source of gluten and tend to overestimate the overall gluten content if from rye and barley by at least 10-fold, leading to limit food choices for coeliac patients. The main objective of this research is to initiate the development of bioanalytical methods specific to wheat, barley and rye, with the aim to discriminate gluten sources and quantify total gluten with more accuracy.

Plants, like humans, sometimes get sick because of the activities of pathogens. When crops are diseased, their growth vigor will be severely damaged, leading to tremendous yield loss. To cure plant disease, farmers have been relying on synthetic pesticides for centuries; but the over-use of synthetic pesticides has caused pest resistance and serious environmental issues. To overcome this dilemma, companies like Terramera Inc. have been developing alternative powerful pest-managing products, namely biopesticides, which are eco-friendly bioactive agents derived from natural resources.

To ensure effective cancer treatment, it is vital to match the drug with the molecular characteristics of the patient’s tumor. This research project is focused on developing functional diagnostic assays that may be used eventually in the clinic to stratify patients for targeted therapies. The project will provide a unique opportunity for the interns to work with a clinician at the forefront of cancer treatment and scientists of a partner organization that is developing innovative tools to enable precision cancer medicine.

We recently developed a rapid and cost-effective pre-clinical technology that is well suited for precision medicine –the ex ovo chicken embryo ChorioAllantoic Membrane (CAM) assay. Our goal is to perform a pilot study that combines tumor genotyping data and the use of personalized CAMavatars, to predict drug sensitivity in renal cancer patients and to test newly developed cancer therapies. We also propose technical advances to the CAM technology and the development of a humanized CAMavatar model that can be used for testing immunotherapy.

Across Canada, many families struggle to find high quality, affordable child care. Most child care options for families are limited to daytime and weekday work hours; this creates even greater challenges for shiftworkers who rely on paid child care. When child care is not available, mothers usually bear the greatest burden as many women, whether parenting alone or with a partner, act as the default primary caregiver.