Huntington’s Disease (HD) is a fatal hereditary neurodegenerative disease caused by expansion of the CAG repeat tract at the 5’ of the huntingtin (htt) gene resulting in polyglutamine expansion of the HTT protein (polyQ-HTT) of aberrant function. HD symptoms include loss of motor coordination, cognitive and speech impairment, and psychiatric disorders. HD affects approximately 1 in 7000 people in Canada, and there are no cures or disease-modifying therapies to date.

The ex-vivo organ support system (EVOSS) being developed by Tevosol, Inc.
Organ transplantation remains the standard therapy for treatment of end-stage heart and lung failure. Tevosol Inc., a Canadian organ transport device company in the market, is developing an ex-vivo organ support system (EVOSS). The EVOSS is a system that is used to preserve donor organs in a working state at body temperature during the time between donation and transplantation into a patient.

Using genomics in clinical care has the potential to treat patients more efficiently. There have been a number of recent discoveries of genomic assays that can guide treatment. However, most genomic data is generated in a research setting and useful health data only in a clinical setting. Translating potential genomic research into a clinical setting as well as bringing clinical data into a research setting faces significant challenges. One challenge is technical: genomic tests often take days to run and are thus not efficient enough for a clinical use.

Brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) (Halyomorpha halys (Stål)) is an invasive pest with a large host range that includes many economically important fruits, vegetables, and row crops. Native to Asia, BMSB was first detected in North America in 1998 and since has become established in British Columbia, Quebec, and Ontario; and 44 American states. In order to develop efficient BMSB focused integrated pest management program (IPM), it is critical that novel alternative control tactics are investigated primarily because there are no effective insecticides available.

Burn injuries and wounds caused by burns are big health problems and in Canada alone cost nearly $290 million. Additionally, these wounds usually persist and become infected and subsequently drastically compromise patients’ health, result in significantly longer hospitalization, delayed wound healing, higher costs and higher risk of death. Therefore, prevention and management of wound infections have priority in treatment of burn patients. In order to early diagnose microbial infections in wounds and accelerate wound healing to such injuries, 4M Biotech under leadership of Dr.

For stem cell discoveries to translate into improved health solutions for Canadians, we must use engineering manufacturing practices to grow enough cells safely and efficiently. Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) have the unique ability to transform into any cell in the body when subjected to specified environmental conditions. They are invaluable in studying disease and gene functions and can be differentiated for potential use in transplantation.

Celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, wheat allergies and dietary gluten avoidance for other reasons appear to be on the rise in Canada. However, prior to the recently released Canadian Community Health Survey, there has never been an opportunity to investigate dietary gluten avoidance using recent, representative survey data collected throughout Canada. It is important to know the burden of gluten avoidance in Canada and who is affected to advocate for resources.

Conventional biomonitoring methods based on capture and observations can be difficult, destructive of habitat, stressful for the organisms, inefficient, and expensive. Living organisms shed DNA into the environment (eDNA) and this signal can be detected using molecular methods. eDNA allows species detection without physical observation or capture. The non-invasive nature of eDNA is essential for revealing elusive and invasive species.

This internship aims at advancing the use of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) for the analysis of clinical samples (including whole blood) and of materials used by the semiconductor industry during their manufacturing process. The complexity of biological samples indeed limits the broad use of conventional inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) for their analysis. For instance, the measurement of a very small concentration of manganese in whole blood is highly skewed due to the presence of a huge concentration of iron.

The global oligonucleotide synthesis market size is expected to grow USD 3.9 billion by 2025. Therefore the demand for an efficient and sensitive oligonucleotide label for their detection, purification and delivery is on continuous rise. The current labels used in oligonucleotide detection have several serious drawbacks that limit their sensitivity. In the proposed project we plan to employ lanthanide-doped upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) as a label due to their unique upconversion property, which will offer remarkable sensitivity when compared to current fluorophores.