For the past several years, University of Toronto researcher Courtney Toth has been keeping a close eye on fermenters. But instead of brewing beverages like beer or wine, she’s growing a cocktail of microbes that ‘eat’ some of the world’s most widespread contaminants. 

While Juliette Champeil pursues her PhD in Chemical Engineering at Laval University, she also serves as co-founder and CEO of her bioengineering start-up, Ivano Bioscience. The company is advancing Champeil’s breakthrough innovation: ready-to-use lab test kits that come pre-loaded with bioengineered artificial cells and viruses designed to mimic real life. The test kits speed up the process for testing new vaccines, helping them get to market faster. 

Speedy solution 

The Internet is the decisive technology of the Information Age. This global network of computer systems, largely based on platforms of wireless and near instant communication, provides limitless opportunities for multimodal interaction in chosen time, transcending space. Increasingly driven by the need to constantly produce greater amounts of information and knowledge, the Internet transmits data at higher and higher speeds over fibre optic networks and its impact on culture and commerce has fundamentally altered the way we live, work, and interact. 

Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC), the Canadian-led consortium of pharmaceutical companies, clinicians and academia, supports open-access drug discovery around the world. And it’s bringing hope to the 300 million people afflicted by rare diseases and a world ravaged by COVID-19. 

The COVID-19 pandemic sparked an urgent need for innovation in all aspects of our lives – and researchers rose to the challenge. From COVID-19 diagnostics and treatments to changes in how we work and receive healthcare, the pandemic has fast-tracked innovation across sectors. 

High-potential researchers and businesses around the world did a pandemic pivot, shifting their work and resources to respond to the world’s pressing need for solutions. In Canada, Seyyedarash (Arash) Haddadi’s story is a standout example of innovation partnerships helping to counter the COVID-19 threat. 

Sofia Addab, Jean-Gabriel Lacombe, and Georgia Powell are master’s students in the Department of Experimental Surgery at McGill University in Montréal. During a shared internship shadowing medical staff in the emergency room at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, the trio quickly identified that the time-consuming practice of calculating correct doses of IV medication by hand was leading to potential mistakes and disrupting workflow at critical points during the intake of trauma cases in the hospital’s emergency room, posing serious safety risks to children.  

Former Mitacs postdoctoral researcher Dr. Ulrich Legrand understands that the world is facing major challenges due to climate change. He also knows that decision-makers are looking for solutions to the global crisis while driving economic growth

“Governments and businesses agree that reducing emissions is the right thing to do to protect the environment, but at the same time, they want to see a financial benefit,” Dr. Legrand says. And he has developed a first-of-its-kind technology that does just that.

When Vladyslav Los, an undergraduate student at RWTH Aachen University, in Germany, applied to the Mitacs Globalink Research Internship program, he knew he wanted to study in the area of quantum physics and quantum computing. It was during an interview with Dr. Adrian Lupascu, Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing, that he began to see an exciting path forward.

Dr. Lupascu had a project for an intern that wanted to look at how to do optimal control in multi-level systems, or how to control quantum systems that have multiple states.

With the goal of reducing the risk of arsenic contamination in drinking water, American chemical engineering student Andrea Green is helping a University of Victoria (UVic) lab create a rapid, low-cost, and reliable detection test using a cellphone — all from the comfort of her home in Atlanta, Georgia.

Indumathi Prakash, a 21-year-old undergraduate student at Harvard University, is working remotely from home under the guidance of Dr. Robert Colautti, who heads a lab at Queen’s University devoted to the study of genetics and biological invasions. Prakash is helping to develop a first-of-its-kind device to quickly extract and purify DNA from ticks in the field as part of a project for rapid detection of pathogens using on-the-spot gene sequencing.