National Legalization of Cannabis has occurred in Canada. Very little is known about the different compounds in the Cannabis Plant. The two main compounds are THC and CBD. Both of them have shown some benefits for different conditions. We would like to determine the best dose and ratio of compounds within the Cannabis plant for PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and Anxiety to build evidence for a large-scale clinical trial. More data will help support safe and effective use of Cannabis, which may provide an alternative to traditional pharmaceuticals.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating disease that primarily affects young individuals. Disease Modifying Therapies (DMT) developed in the past two decades have greatly improved the quality of life for people living with MS. Assessment of brain lesions using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been a standard method to evaluate the efficacy of DMT in clinical trials and practice. However, standard techniques do not differentiate between the different stages of lesion evolution.

The research supports the effective knowledge translation of evidence-based best practice information related to healthy lifestyle behaviours. Over a two-year period, the post-doctoral fellow will create a series of knowledge translation tools that can be used in the effective primary and secondary prevention of chronic disease through lifestyle behaviour modification. Our proposed initiative will capitalize on the best of the existing models of health promotion.

Modern molecular targeted therapies have shown promise in treating some blood cancers, but a cure remains elusive for most acute leukemia patients. This is largely due to the survival of some leukemic cells that possess unique properties and can cause treatment failure or relapse, warranting identification of new, distinct targets for improved therapies. In collaboration with Signalchem Lifescience Corporation (SLC), we aim to develop and test a new drug combination strategy to target acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patient cells that are resistant to current therapies.

Greater physical activity and exercise is associated with better overall health and a reduced risk of many chronic conditions, but most of the Canadian population is insufficiently active. Physicians reach a large proportion of the population but experience barriers such as of time that prevent them from providing tailored exercise advice, as such they are interested in referring their patients to qualified exercise professionals or community exercise programs.

Lipid-based nanoparticular drug formulations are a successful technique to enable targeted treatment. The Canadian company Precision Nanosystems Inc. (PNI) develops the innovative instrument family NanoAssemlr for lipid nanoparticle preparation based on microfluidics. These instruments are fast, easy-to-use and provide a high batch-to-batch reproducibility and quality. Recently, we developed a novel lipid nanoparticle formulation with the unique feature of selective liver targeting, which could only be prepared with NanoAssemlr Benchtop at relatively small scale.

Benefit payments totaled 2.5 billion dollars for Ontario workplaces in 2015. The most common injury resulting in a lost time claim was a strain or sprain - indicating despite massive efforts to reduce musculoskeletal injuries by ergonomists, these issues still have a significant financial burden on the economy. An easy-to-use, readily available, and automated physical demands description (PDD) tool can allow worker health and safety professionals to evaluate worker injury risk with minimal training and expertise, and take steps to prevent or mitigate workplace injury risk.

The sport of short track speed skating is an extremely fast paced sport, in which multiple skaters, reaching speeds upwards of 50 km/h, jockey for position on a narrow track. Although skaters wear protective equipment and helmets, concussions continue to plague the health of athletes. Currently, there are no statistics on the ratesand prevalence of concussion in short track speed skaters.

Many of those dealing with anxiety and/or depression are frequently in the care of a friend, partner, or family member known as an informal caregiver. This important role can be very taxing both physically and psychologically, yet few resources are available to specifically target individual caregivers’ needs. The proposed project will contribute to our understanding of caregivers’ experiences as well as evaluating care’n, a smartphone application designed to support informal caregivers’ wellbeing.