Sepsis is a life-threatening infection of the blood caused by a wide range of bacterial and viral pathogens. Unfortunately most tests today still take days to detect and identify the pathogens and their underlying antimicrobial profiles. Working together with a leading biotechnology company, founded in Toronto, we plan to modify our recently designed algorithms to capture very low levels of circulating pathogens in the blood in a few hours, potentially saving thousands of lives.
Response to an oil spill involving wildlife can be challenging in the Pacific Northwest. The terrain, weather and remoteness of many locations are all elements to be considered when determining an effective response strategy. A goal of a wildlife response team is to be as prepared as possible when responding to an incident. The animals present at any particular time depend on factors such as migration, breeding, and food abundance. Using existing studies, environmental sensitivity maps and novel research, we will enable the best wildlife response at a given time of year at a given location.
The project involves the investigation and optimization of carbon electrodes to achieve efficient perovskite photovoltaic devices for indoor and outdoor applications based on a method that can be used for industrial production.
The intern will first study the optimization of carbon electrodes for solar cells, which will involve materials and device engineering. Then, the intern will engineer carbon electrodes for wide-bandgap perovskite absorbers, with a view to realizing efficient photovoltaics for indoor energy harvesting.
Remote Indigenous communities governed by Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN) will be engaged in a multi-criteria geospatial evaluation. The focus of the internships is to research the factors that can constrain and enable renewable energy (RE) development in the communities. The geospatial assessment will be based on structured cartographic modelling and map overlays that are informed by community participation.
Requirements for nutrient removal from municipal wastewater (MWW) are stringent in order to reduce environmental impact of anthropogenic activities on natural ecosystems. Common practices in MWW treatment involve chemical and bacterial processes. Micro—algae have been proposed as an alternative or complementary approach to MWW treatment but technologies for such implementations remain limited. We propose to test, as a proof of principle, a photo-selection process, designed to reduce the complexity and costs of MWW treatment.
Gene therapy has the potential to cure a wide range of debilitating genetic diseases. One of the best ways to correct a genetic defect is to use a viral vector to deliver a functional copy of the gene to cells in the body so that they can express a functional protein and reverse the disease phenotype. Currently, adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors are the leading gene delivery platforms as they can infect almost any cell type in the body and can elicit sustained expression of a function protein.
Since the end of whaling, the population of humpback whales feeding in the Canadian Pacific waters has
been steadily increasing. As generalist feeders, these large cetaceans aggregate near the coast of British
Columbia to feed on krill, Pacific herring, and other schooling fish. Yet, the consumption of prey by humpback
whales in Canadian Pacific waters has not been estimated. The aim of this research is to quantify how much of
each prey population the humpback whale population consumes from the Strait of Georgia.
Engineering consulting is a unique occupation that requires professionals to possess both strong technical and non-technical abilities. Engineering consulting organizations have identified the the gap between top performers and their peers to pertain to be social, relational and leadership skills. Our work seeks to identify the leadership skillset that differentiates top performers in engineering consulting organizations by taking a qualitative exploratory approach, collecting data through interviews and focus groups with engineering consultants at various stages of their career.
Impacts to the Nootka Sound watershed from historical logging activities and climate change have led to declining habitat for fish species such as the West Coast Vancouver Island (WCVI) Chinook Salmon. Placing gravel-sized rocks in a stream is a strategy used to restore spawning habitat for fish. In particular, lake outlets are considered to be ideal locations for gravel placements due to the relatively stable flows and the limited upstream sediment input. Although fairly common in practice, there is little scientific evidence supporting the preference for lake outlets.
For marine autonomous surface ships (MASS), a more acceptable operation is ‘constrained autonomous operation’ where the ship operates fully autonomously. Most of the existing systems have strictly defined operational constraints or limited available decision spaces; therefore, autonomous decisions are only allowed for some predefined scenarios. However, marine environment is dynamic; the environmental disturbances (wind, wave, current, ice), surrounding obstacles (ship, ice) can change quickly.
