New DNA technology expected to cure genetic diseases

Stargardt’s disease is a rare inherited ocular illness that affects the Canadian population. According to Fighting Blindness Canada, 1 in 8,000 Canadians suffer from Stargardt’s, a degenerative ocular illness that ultimately leads to vision loss. Typically, patients are diagnosed with the disease by the age of 13, and most experience progressive vision loss as they get older. It is not uncommon for patients to develop complete blindness by the age of 35. Still today, despite the many clinical trials taking place, there is no cure for Stargardt’s disease.

Collaborative Innovation

Don't try to innovate alone! Find ways to boost your company’s competitive advantage by joining our interactive panel, sponsored by Mitacs on June 18, 2019.

Explore the foundations of successful collaborative innovation with panellists from the University of Waterloo, Deloitte and Miovision. Learn how to identify the right potential partners and establish effective feedback channels.

High-tech partnership explores human perceptions of chatbots

 

“We wanted to understand what people’s reactions to a bot might be in different types of workplace situations,” says Julia. “Will people trust the system the same way they trust a person? What kinds of challenges or barriers might arise when implementing chatbots as a tool in the workplace?”

A meeting of the minds meets the challenges of deadly disease

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) — responsible for safeguarding the health of people, animals, and plants in our country — recognizes that scientists do a much better job of identifying and dealing with biological threats if they work together.

Kids with heart disease hit the court

That’s why Angelica jumped at the opportunity to research physical literacy programs for kids with CHD through a Mitacs internship.  She partnered with Sportball, a non-competitive sports education organization that offers methodology-based instruction for kids aged 16 months to 12 years old. Sportball programs across Canada work on developing children’s physical literacy while focusing on important sport, social, and motor skills.

Finger prick test exhibits early detection of heart disease

In collaboration with University of Waterloo-Mitacs researcher, Yael Zilberman-Simakov, LeNano's portable device tests blood for a specific biomarker, a type of protein, elevated by the onset of heart failure. “If a patient has a higher-than-usual concentration of the biomarker, they are at an increased risk of having heart failure,” says Yael. “Similar to how glucose levels should be monitored among diabetic patients, this type of protein needs to be checked every day.Compared to a lab test, personal test devices like LeNano's are faster, simpler, and more convenient.

Mystery or romance? How Big Data can help you pick your next book

Kobo’s Big Data Director Darius Braziunas says he knew early on that to stay competitive in the e-book world Kobo would need to collaborate with university researchers to take their products to the next level.

Swimming upstream: Hamilton tech start-up aims to keep Ontario’s lakes and rivers safe

The company is a spin-off from McMaster University and was created “organically,” says InnovoGENE CEO Kha Tram. It all started when Kha was completing his PhD at McMaster and was looking to develop technology that could quickly identify E. coli in food. He realized the same technology could be used to rapidly test bacteria in water — and InnovoGENE was born.

Ryerson intern clears the air in Toronto

Florian Mayer, a Mitacs Globalink intern who spent his summer at Ryerson University in Toronto, wants to figure out how cities and roads can be built to reduce traffic, while working to improve long-term health outcomes in the world’s busiest cities. Researching alongside Associate Professor Leila Farah, Florian examined how the urban environment affects public health and how planners can work with communities to improve it on a local level. 

Self-driving wheelchair rolls out at University of Toronto

Working under the direction of Professor Jonathan Kelly, Xinyi is helping to extend leading-edge technology that makes it possible for the wheelchair to navigate and drive itself.

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