Building on our previous research and POC test prototype development, our goals for the project are to: 1) to confirm and further validate the association of altered levels of endothelial biomarkers with disease severity and mortality outcomes from LTIs in large patient populations in two settings, and 2) develop a rapid POC triage test for their detection at the bedside.

Cardia Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) is aq pacing therapy used to reduce symptoms and mortality in patients with heart failure. It delivers a specialized pacing lead to the left ventricle (LV) through the coronary veins to re-synchronize the contraction of the heart when it has become delayed or desynchronous. However its benefit has proved to be dependent on the placement of this lead to regions where mechanical delay is maximal and does not have underlying myocardial scar. Medtronic Inc.

Functional electrical stimulation (FES) exercise therapy (ET) is well established in the scientific community (Teasell et al, 2007) yet it is not accessible to the majority of the stroke population or those that could greatly benefit from it. In Canada alone millions of dollars has been spent in the last 20 years on proving its efficacy and trying to find cost effective means of administering this treatment. Yet to date there is little in terms of viable commercial products that allow for this type of treatment to be administered.

Current analytical methods for the extraction of lipid-soluble compounds (fatty acids, cholesterol, antibiotics, pesticides, vitamins) are costly and time-consuming. Recently, we have assessed a novel patent-pending “kit” method for extracting fatty acids and cholesterol from food and tissues with great success. We propose to continue testing this method for extraction of lipid-soluble vitamins, pesticides and antibiotics for the continued sale of kits to potential research laboratories.

The spinal cord is a main pathway connecting the brain to the peripheral nervous system. Noninvasive image?based assessment of this structure is an increasingly demanding healthcare service. This project cultivates the engineering techniques required for the development of a computer?aided spinal?scan assessment software toolkit for diagnosis of spinal cord problems.

There is a strong connection between hearing loss and cognitive impairment, particularly dementia, in old age. The number of Canadians with dementia is expected to reach 9% of adults over the age of 60 by 2038. Given the high percentage of older individuals affected by each of these conditions, it is expected that many older adults will have dual hearing and cognitive loss, and that these losses will combine to affect their everyday functioning, communication, social engagement and quality of life.

The joint-effort project by Nordion Inc and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute aims to develop a series of radiolabeled necrostatin derivatives, which act as imaging agents based on necroptosis (programmed necrosis - a type of cell death) inhibitors to help diagnose disease (such as cardiovascular, neurological diseases and cancer) and monitor their treatment effects. The roles of the fellow are to design, synthesize and characterize these agents and to assist in testing their biological properties through further in vitro and in vivo evaluation.

Dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) is a new technology that was introduced in radiology departments in the last few years. At CHUM, in collaboration with Siemens, we installed a DECT in the radiation oncology department. The global objective of this project is to develop and confirm the various applications of DECT in radiation oncology. Specifically, a first objective is to assess the improved accuracy in radiation dose calculation needed for treatment planning.

There is an increasing demand for high resolution multimodality imaging of research animals, such as mice and rats, to allow non-invasive monitoring of disease models and therapeutic interventions. This project focuses on the development of a new positron emission tomography (PET) imaging system that can be operated inside a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. Once complete, this system will allow simultaneous high resolution PET/MRI imaging of research animals.

Throughout my Doctoral Studies I have used various approaches to evaluate and/or predict the behaviour of cardiovascular structures in the setting of acquired disease. These have been focussed on two key methodologies: insilico testing aimed at predicting functional responses to therapeutic intervention, such as mechano-electric Finite Element Method (FEM) modelling of the left atrium strains and stresses in response to hypertension, and fluiddynamic FEM modelling of abdominal aortic aneurysms.