More children die from brain cancer than from any other disease in the western world. Many anti-cancer drugs are unable to cross the blood-brain barrier to reach the tumor and certain genetic mutations in the tumor cells increase resistance to chemotherapeutics. The novel chemotherapeutic drug VAL-083 readily crosses the blood-brain barrier and accumulates in brain tumor tissues and has documented activity against pediatric brain tumors in historical clinical trials.

The main objective of this research project is to investigate, develop and evaluate state-of-the-art image processing and machine learning algorithms, which are suitable for accurate modeling and recognition from large-scale medical image datasets that are weakly labeled.

Bats often use urban areas, but ecologists lack understanding of where they roost and forage. Bats are important predators on insect pests, including mosquitoes, so understanding their requirements is important. This need is made more critical by the likely imminent spread of an exotic fungal pathogen that causes white-nose syndrome, which is often lethal to bats. Our proposed work will support a MSc student who will examine summer roosts in the Metro Vancouver region.

Besides sport activities, active wear has found its way into people’s routine life because of its fashionable appearance and comfort. Active workwear is also preferred for some jobs with strenuous activities, like operators working in factories or construction fields. Each of these environments has its own list of hazards, such as fire, chemical spills, or falling objects. Accordingly, specific protective clothing has been designed for such hazardous environment. However, they are not necessarily comfortable.

This project involves in depth interviews of HR/line managers as well as skilled migrant employees in 3 organizations. Our focus is on understanding current issues and challenges related to inclusion and integration of skilled migrants locally. Our goal is offer actionable practical suggestions in terms of how identified challenges may be addressed in the future. Specifically, we are interested in providing advice around better inclusion practices and in depth understanding of current issues from multiple perspectives.

The activity of putting on and tying one’s shoes is completed multiple times per day, and is taken for granted until an individual experiences mobility challenges due to pain, stiffness, weakness, or instability. A new foot stool, the LaceUp, is designed for users to sit or stand, and perform the activity of putting on and tying shoes while maintaining balance and proper posture. The objective of this study is to determine the usability and acceptance of LaceUp according to occupational therapists who work in the community with clients who need help with activities of daily living.

This proposal aims to investigate vocal production by users of Med-El cochlear implants (CI), in response to feedback alteration of their voice pitch. The originality of this proposal is to shift the usual focus of CI research from perception to production. We feel that the history of Med-El research on pitch coding would strongly benefit from this novel perspective because the characteristics that make voice pitch more audible may not necessarily be the same characteristics that are relevant to the speech motor planning areas of the brain.

Heavy pesticide and antibiotic use are prevalent in modern agriculture and is an essential requirement to feed the ever-increasing human population. Their increased use, however, has also resulted in a loss of ecological biodiversity, environmental contamination, emerging pesticide/antibiotic resistance and is an economic burden to farmers, especially in low income nations. The research proposed aims to develop novel alternative agricultural bio-control technology centered around Baker’s yeast, a common and non-toxic organism used in baking and brewing.