Thousands of kilometers away in Halifax, Canada, Mitacs Globalink intern Lisandra Oliviera is working with a team of researchers at the IWK Health Centre to conduct a systematic review of intervention therapies for parents of children with disabilities similar to microcephaly – a family of conditions known as neurodevelopmental disorders. The parenting intervention includes an “orientation” for family members to develop their parenting skills in ways that will help with management of symptoms and improved mental health for the children.

Hugo Vihvelin, a master’s student in the School of Biomedical Engineering at Dalhousie University is one of two recipients of the 2015 Mitacs Master's Award for Outstanding Innovation, for his research with Halifax-based Daxsonics Ultrasound.

Chelation Partners’ approach to fighting antibiotic-resistant diseases is a novel one: cutting off their supply of iron. Without iron, bacteria have a tough time growing, and they’re more vulnerable to the effects of antibiotics. What’s more, Chelation Partners has discovered this tactic could also be applied to the fight against cancer. Cancer cells seem to be more sensitive to lower iron levels than other cells in the body, so reducing the availability of the metal might restrict the growth of cancer and boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

As a bioinformatics student from National University of Vietnam—Ho Chi Minh City, Quang spent his summer researching the unique genes and traits of a handful of varieties of apples and grapes at Canada’s largest research orchard, the Apple Biodiversity Collection, in Kentville, Nova Scotia. Researchers at the orchard are learning how tiny modifications to a gene can affect the traits of the fruit- things like texture, flavour, and hardiness to weather conditions.