Projets novateurs réalisés

Developing and Implementing Marketing Strategies, Parados with UNB Catlayst

Parados is seeking a dynamic group of students to prepare for our initial launch.

Parados Cerebral Solutions Inc. is a multiple award-winning start-up, founded in 2020 that helps assess, monitor and improve key physical & mental predictors of health and performance. As a team of engineers and advisors with personal experience as pro athletes, coaches, analysts, trainers and agents we work closely with several professional athlete trainers, non-profits, and research organizations to develop affordable, accessible and widely applicable products & services. Our main offering is an online platform that enables accurate, remote analysis of biomechanics while we are also in the R&D stages for wearable devices.

During the the internship, students can analyze PARADOS’ current messaging, visuals, marketing strategy while taking a look at what competitors have done during their launch.

Based on students’ work, we hope to develop a data-driven launch strategy then carry it out over the ten week period. Innovations that will help guide us will include investigations according to geography, target market segments, according to when our early adopters’ buying cycles are. PARADOS has conducted over 100 customer interviews -this information can also be reviewed and quantified.

The Communicative Challenges and Implications of Quantum Computing

The industry partner 1QBit has access to a processor that uses an adiabatic annealing technique to address a special class of optimization problems for initial application in finance. Optimization problems have a long and broad relevance to challenges faced in the financial sector. The prospect of quantum annealing as a way to innovate in solving finance optimization problems has been an area of growing interest, though limited in practice due to the lack of suitable analog hardware. 1QBit is bringing together a group of researchers from physics, mathematics, computer science, engineering and finance to investigate the prospect of quantum annealing in financial applications. In this internship project, I will apply my research aims to trace the development of the diverse network that is being built to facilitate quantum computing, understand the communication challenges faced in interdisciplinary public-private technological production, and consider the implications posed by a quantum model of computing to theories of information and the material nature of communication.

Sydney Water Taxi

Mops & Pops Water Taxi business is developed with the idea of creating a tourist activity, business event venue, an expansion in the transit system, and highlights the expanding Sydney Waterfront. The business will start water taxi services under contract with the Sydney Port Authority. The taxi service would be cost affordable and based on early mornings and late afternoon (for the majority of commuters). Off-peak times would focus on tourists and local event-goers.
This project will explore the optimal vessel, create a website, create partnerships, create a social media presence and verify the proposed rate schedule and ensure the viability of the business through a series of surveys and interviews.

Creation of a Prototype Digital Tool for ALC Patient Discharge Optimization from Hospital to Home Care

This project will focus on the creation of prototype digital ALC discharge solution, with an initial scope focused on optimizing discharges to home care. This focused scope will help demonstrate the workflows, technology integrations and efficiencies and allow our team to gather evidence of impact and further the capacity of our partners to user modern solutions in the context care. Building on this project, the prototype and subsequent data gathered will set the stage for the development of a full ALC Patient Discharge Optimization Tool, regardless of the discharge destination (e.g. home care, long-term care, palliative, institutional, etc.).

Gatien UNB Catalyst: Digital Transformations

Laura Gatien & Associates is a local mental health therapy practice offering individual and group mental health counselling to individuals, couples, and families. Our team of 16 therapists have various areas of specialization and treat many unique challenges. Our counselling intern program allows us to offer low-cost counselling as well as a free walk-in clinic; the first of its kind in the area. We treat people from all over the Atlantic provinces (virtually). We are known for challenging stigma, normalizing mental health support for all and removing barriers to seeking mental health services. With increasing awareness of mental health issues due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Laura Gatien and Associates works to provide better access to mental health therapy for all.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, services are now offered virtually as well as in-person. Therapists are able to interact with clients from their homes. This creates a huge reliance on digital skills in the workplace for all staff; managing databases, tracking client interactions and communications with clients and internal staff.

Conductive Hydrogels for neurohybrid interfaces (CHORE)

CHORE aims at the design of a biohybrid synapse between biological neuronal cells and organic neuromorphic devices made of

CHORE aims at the design of a biohybrid synapse between biological neuronal cells and organic neuromorphic devices made of a conjugated polymer-based hydrogel which is sentitive to ions released by ther biologtical counterpart. The project icludes background in material synthesis and cahraterizaion as wells micro fabrication of devices. Furthermore, the hybrid interfaces will support the understanding of the physical and electrochemical coupling between neuronal cells and neuromorphic materials at the micro and nanoscale. The expected results of the project will be the first steps towards the establishment of a soft neuromorphic interface to be potentially coupled to the neuronal system for adaptiove smart sensing and stimulation.

Shoreline oil granular particle interaction and the formation of sunken oil contamination

This project will explore the interaction between sediment and oil that has been stranded on a shoreline as a result of an oil spill. More specifically, this project will investigate how stranded oil can entrain or adsorb oil and, as a result, sink and contaminate the marine environment. The two proposed oils to be tested are diluted bitumen (dilbit) and Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oil (VLSFO). These oils have been selected because dilbit is an important growing export in Western Canada and VLSFO is a fuel common in large ships around the world. This research will help the partnering organization better understand the behaviour and fate of oil in the aquatic environment in the event of a spill and allow them and the broader oil spill response community to better prepare for such an event.

Establishment, characterization, and directed differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells for the improved treatment and understanding of pediatric brain tumors

Brain tumors occur in one out of each four children diagnosed with cancer. Sadly, these kids are less likely to survive their disease than those diagnosed with blood cancers. The kids that do survive brain cancer often suffer from side effects of treatment, which can hamper their ability to succeed later in life. Thus, the greatest challenges facing a child with a brain tumor are: (1) the detection and successful treatment of their disease; and (2) the protection of their future quality of life. Our researchgoal is to eventually improve the lives of children diagnosed and treated for brain cancer by developing cellular technologies that enable the prediction and amelioration of toxicities to normal cells that may occur in children as a result of the aggressive treatments for brain tumors. These cellular technologies will also enable us to learn more about the biology that underlies the normal growth and development of neural stem cells, so we can better recognize and treat disorders, like cancer, that result when normal development is disrupted.

Evaluating the efficacy of a 91-day self-talk mental health self-care journal

Self-talk describes our inner monologue, or “inner voice”, that we are often conscious of. This self-talk can be important and helpful, such as when it is encouraging us, calming our fears, or giving us confidence. However, often this self-talk is negative, and can make us feel sad, upset, or worthless. There has been a recent surge in the popularity of health-promotive self-care products, or products aimed at providing individuals with “the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to achieve and maintain good health”. However, there has not yet been a self-care journal aimed at improving positive self-talk. The purpose of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of a 91-day self-talk journal for improving self-talk, mental health, and overall well-being. By the end of this project, Switch Research will receive a detailed report and academic manuscript prepared for peer-reviewed publication, both outlining the efficacy of their self-talk journal.

Access to Justice, Nunavut Legal Aid Internship

Nunavut Legal Aid aims to increase the access to justice in Nunavut through the reinstallation of Inuit legal traditions and restorative justice as an alternative to colonial carceral systems. This project will follow a three-phased approach to develop appropriate communication channels for each of Nunavut’s 24 communities; develop a community engagement framework; and consult with communities to determine the needs regarding access to justice. This research is significant as it does not impose colonial resources and solutions but rather provides each community the opportunity to determine resource and governance needs, to move away from a colonially imposed justice system. This research is done in the spirit of reconciliation.

Investigating AKT1-dependent pathways to regulate cellular metabolism

The serine/threonine kinase AKT1 is a key mediator of cell growth and survival processes including glucose metabolism, apoptosis, transcription, proliferation, and migration. AKT1 is activated by phosphorylation at two key regulatory sites, Threonine308 and Serine473, that are both used as clinical diagnostic markers for cancer. AKT1 also plays an important role in glucose metabolism by inhibiting glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) isoforms through phosphorylation. I will investigate AKT1-dependent changes in the mammalian metabolome and glucose metabolism specifically in collaboration with the laboratory of Dr. Karsten Hiller (U. Braunschweig), I will monitor the metabolic profiles of multiple mammalian and cancer cell lines transfected with inactive AKT1 or active AKT1 with programmed phosphorylation at one or both regulatory sites. Leveraging the expertise of the Hiller lab in glucose metabolism and quantitative metabolomics, identification of metabolites and constituents of glucose metabolism that respond to differentially phosphorylated AKT1 will be carried out. Together, the data will reveal new target substrates for AKT1, and metabolites that are diagnostic for hyper-active AKT1, which hallmark of cancer that occurs in 50%human tumors.

Metabolic differences during metastasis of epithelial ovarian cancers

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is a debilitating disease that has a 5-year survival rate of only 44%, making it the fifth most lethal cancer in women. A major reason for this low survival rate is the high rate of metastasis, where cells detach from the primary tumour site on the ovary and reattach at secondary locations to form additional tumours. When these cancer cells detach from the primary tumour on the ovary to metastasize, the individual cells clump together to form aggregates known as spheroids. Although the cells in these spheroids are not actively dividing, they are able to travel through the body and reattach at additional sites, where the cells again begin uncontrolled cancerous growth. Understanding the genetic pathways underlying spheroid formation and reattachment is key to metastasis prevention and development of new chemotherapies. My project aims to use a technique called metabolomics to identify potential biomarkers in EOC. This method looks at intermediate signalling molecules to predict pathway functions and will be used to investigate the mechanisms by which ovarian cancers are able to metastasize.