Projets novateurs réalisés

Advancing a novel therapeutic for the prevention of hypoglycemia inType 1 diabetes and establishing proof of concept in Type 2 diabetes

Hypoglycemia or low blood sugar is a phenomenon that results from excess insulin or strenuous exercise in diabetic patients. If untreated, this can quickly lead to dizziness, seizures and even death. In healthy individuals, the body is able to compensate for these fluctuations and restore blood sugars to normal levels by lowering insulin and raising glucagon. In those with diabetes, they are unable to do this and struggle with hypoglycemia. The research studies outlined in this proposal addresses this urgent struggle by utilizing the individual’s own capacity to produce glucagon- a hormone instrumental in increasing blood sugar, thereby elevating blood sugar levels to prevent hypoglycemia. Our proposed research aims to provide a viable solution to hypoglycemia prevention and thus improve existing standard of care options available.

Cross cell type inference of TF binding by integrative analysis of TF ChIP-seq and chromatin accessibility profiles

Transcription factors (TF) are proteins that drive and maintain cellular functions by physically binding to DNA and regulating the expression levels of other genes. There are approximately 1,600 TFs in the human genome. Accurate and scalable identification of TF binding locations across the entire genome remains a major challenge. An effective solution to this problem would have overarching implications for understanding disease mechanisms and development of therapeutics. In this project, we devise a simple and elegant solution to this problem by jointly analyzing complementary data types. We will perform a formal evaluation of this novel approach by using publicly available data sets. Additionally, we will develop a reusable analysis pipeline to deploy this technology in order to enable efficient annotation of genome wide TF binding sites with cell type specificity.

Development of an Oral Reovirus-Based Vaccination Platform for COVID-19

It is essential to develop a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the global COVID-19 pandemic. The most efficient vaccines are built on attenuated live viruses, which can be engineered to display specific antigens and, once administered in humans, can safely induce an immune response and immunity to the disease of interest. Fast, reliable, and safe platforms are needed to develop a COVID-19 vaccine and move promising candidates to clinical trials. To support global vaccination campaigns, the vaccine should be easily produced, stored, and administered. Identifying the best possible vaccine candidates early will avoid costly delays in clinical trials. We have identified a novel viral platform based on an anti-cancer virus called Reovirus. We will use this platform to develop safe, reliable, and stable COVID-19 vaccine candidates that can be orally administered and efficiently produced. Our goal is to develop up to 25 vaccine candidates within one year. We will test promising vaccine candidates in cell and animal models to deliver the evidence needed to move the best candidates to clinical trial.

Viability of fiber optic sensors for borehole measurement of in-situ stresses and stress change monitoring

This project will support efforts to develop a new instrument and techniques to measure the state of stress in the ground. This is a key parameter used in the engineering design of underground mines, tunnels and boreholes for geothermal and shale gas extraction. Existing techniques suffer from reliability issues and it is proposed to use new fiber optic technologies to more reliably measure stress. The intern for this project will work towards a proof of concept, which will later lead to development of a prototype instrument and possible commercialization opportunities. This research will benefit the project partner (Centre for Innovation in Mineral Resource Engineering), who collaborates with other partners in the mining industry to deliver innovation that can lead to safer and more productive mines.

Enrichissement des données administratives en santé avec des données géospatiales pour un système d’aide à la décision de prévision des résultats de santé

Le but de ce projet est d’utiliser une base de données administrative en santé enrichie par des indicateurs géographiques et géospatiaux pertinents (exposition aux risques, accès aux ressources, facteurs sociaux et environnementaux) permettant de prédire les résultats et les coûts de santé et, partant, la valeur des soins de santé pour les patients et parmi les établissements de santé. Des données géographiques seront appariées aux données de la base administrative en santé en utilisant le code postal des personnes assurées. Des variables clefs seront ajoutées telles que la distance aux services de santé, les caractéristiques des services de santé de proximité, les caractéristiques socio-économiques du voisinage, les conditions environnementales du milieu de vie, etc. Par ailleurs, sur la base de l’exploitation de données géospatiales, il sera possible de développer différents indicateurs permettant de caractériser l’activité économique, l’environnement, le trafic routier ou la disponibilité des transports en commun, etc. Une attention particulière sera portée à la sélection et à la contribution des variables—en particulier les variables géographiques et géospatiales—pour la prédiction des résultats en santé et des coûts.

Security Analysis of POLARIS

Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies provide networks a method to ensure trust in the network while not relying on a central authority, or even any individual node in the network. Moreover, these technologies enable secure transaction and recording keeping within the network by using distributed consensus to verify the actions of users and cryptographically linking blocks of transaction with one another. A crucial component of the security of these technologies is the use of a secure commitment scheme for users to submit transaction to the network before execution, thus keeping users honest. Additionally, it is important for the details of verified transaction to remain secret until the appropriate time to complete the transaction. While traditional blockchains and distributed ledgers attempt to achieve the previous security needs they are still unable to address a core limitation of the protocols themselves. Traditional blockchains and distributed ledgers are unable to provide a fair ordering of transactions. This project aims to prove the security and functionality of the POLARIS protocol which addresses the two listed security needs and provide a consensus on the correct order of transactions for the network.

Assessment, Piloting and Establishment of a Green Health Care Revolving Fund to Enhance Implementation of Energy Efficiency Projects at Health Care Facilities

The objectives of the research is to identify and quantify barriers to energy efficiency in Ontario Hospitals, to identify methods to confront these barriers, including through the use of revolving funds, and to provide a case study by designing, implementing and measuring the results of a revolving fund to be set up for the Hart House at the University of Toronto.

100% Canadian Sourced Enhanced Antiviral Medical Masks for COVID-19 and PPE Innovation

The COVID-19 pandemic has created supply chain issues for medical masks worldwide. There is clearly a need for mask manufacturing and material sourcing capabilities in Canada. This proposal is a partnership with Feedband Labs to develop an enhanced ASTM 2-3 equivalent, antiviral medical mask that can be strategically sourced and produced in Canada. The 4-layer medical mask contains antiviral agents embedded into high surface area supports in the inner layer of the face mask, providing an additional layer of protection for the user. Feedband Labs aims to establish manufacturing capabilities of up to 500,000 masks per day through their manufacturing partners within the first year. This research will allow Canada to produce antiviral medical masks that are locally sourced and address current issues with the distribution of masks to frontline essential workers and the general public.

Evaluation of recombinant bovine herpes virus-1 as a platform for novel cancer immunotherapy development

The most recent breakthroughs in cancer treatment are based on understanding that our immune system can be activated to attack tumours. While first achieved using antibody drugs called “checkpoint inhibitors”, this new paradigm of activating a cancer patient’s own immune system is also possible using viruses, an emerging field known as oncolytic virus (OV) therapy. The idea of OV stems from certain viruses that cause minimal disease in humans but have the ability to infect and subsequently elicit an immune response against cancer cells. Dr. Karen Mossman’s lab has discovered that bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BHV-1), a virus that naturally infect cattle and not humans, may be developed into novel OV therapies. 3io Therapeutics, the project’s Canadian partner organization, is committed to accelerating development of BHV-1 as a new therapeutic platform to treat cancer and will benefit from the opportunity to commercialize this technology.

Investigation on a scalable platform for modular robotic systems development: Case study on AISCartPuller robot

AIS Inc. is at the forefront of developing practical mobile robots for various markets. Mobile robots are considered as very complex systems comprising of hundreds of interacting components in complex system architectures. Developing such complex robotic systems, particularly in large scale, requires a coherent collaboration and engagement on various specialized areas such as scientific research, robot production, hardware and software module production, service providing, sales and marketing, and regulation and compliance. AIS is seeking to create a comprehensive and scalable platform to enable systematic, coordinated, efficient, and productive engagement of all such knowledge areas for the purpose of creating standard practical robots. This engagement platform comprises of various roles, interactions, and processes and different components of such platform, as well as their interoperation, should be identified, designed/customized, implemented/adapted, and evaluated for utilization. Since, a good portion of the platform’s components may already exist, the first phase of engineering such a platform is to perform a comprehensive state of the art analysis.

Development of a Simulation Pipeline for Validating and OptimizingElectrically Tunable Liquid Crystal Zooming Systems

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simulation package available) to simulate a zooming system composed of tunable liquid crystal lenses
that is capable of aberration correction. The first component of the project consists of simulating a liquid
crystal lens in COMSOL. The liquid crystals rearrange themselves based on a space varying electric
field created by the placement of multiple electrodes and special materials. The crystal rearrangements
produce a rapid change in local refractive index. Therefore, the entire system produces a radial gradient
in refractive index and behaves like an effective concave or convex lens depending on the applied
voltages.
The second component of the project consists of importing COMSOL data into Zemax to create an
optical system capable of zoom and aberration correction with three tunable lenses or more. This
??simulation pipeline??, would allow for immediate design validation before prototyping the optical system,
saving research time, effort, and costs. The full zooming system has enormous applications in
smartphone photography, microscope imaging, manufacturing machine vision, and tunable glasses for
the visually impaired.

Anion Exchange Membranes for use in Industrial Electrolysis Systems for Salt-Splitting

Salt splitting is a technology in which an electrochemical cell containing 2 membranes to transport positive and negative ions, is used to produce sulfuric acid and caustic soda from sodium sulfate, a compound found commonly from industrial brine streams. Salt splitting electrolysis is a sustainable solution for the expanding markets of acid and caustic recovery and treatment of neutralization waste products, which would otherwise be disposed. One of the major challenges of this technology is to produce a relatively concentrated sulfuric acid product with high efficiency and low power consumption, due to leakage through the anion exchange membrane. Therefore, developing an anion exchange membrane with the capability of effectively blocking protons is key to the success of this technology.