Innovative Projects Realized

Learning Natural Language Commands for Multi-Robot Systems from Examples

Impact of domestication on learning and cognitive capacities in goats

Structural Design and Development of Fibrous Morphologies

Functional analysis of a novel oxygenase BDA5 in Arabidopsis

Plant diseases damage crops in both yield and quality. Outbreaks of plant diseases can cause huge losses to crops, threatening food security globally. It is of great importance to study plant immunity and understand how plants respond to pathogen attacks in nature. My recent work in the model plant Arabidopsis identified a mutation in a novel oxygenase BDA5 which is involved in plant immunity. However, the biochemical function of BDA5 remains unclear. My proposed research project will reveal the substrate and product of BDA5 and elucidate how these molecules help plant defend against pathogen attack. My research will thus help further our understanding of the plant immune system.

Analyzation of evaluation algorithms for an electrical optical system for fluorescence spectroscopy

Trimming Fault Trees for Synthesis

Relationship between Executive Functions and Categorization

A multiple-systems theory of category learning proposes that an explicit, verbally-mediated system learns rule-defined (RD) categories categorization rules, and a procedural, nonverbal system learns new non-rule-defined (NRD) categories for which there is no easily verbalizable rule. Executive Function (EF) is a broad term that brings together cognitive processes like selective attention, inhibition, and reasoning, plays a key role in the explicit category rule learning or learning RD categories. The multiple-systems theory further hypothesizes that EF does not predict performance in learning NRD categories. The proposed study intends to examine the relationship between EF and category learning through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis. The SEM procedure will be significantly optimized if Bayesian estimation was incorporated. Bayesian analysis not only facilitate with the creation of more optimized categorization models, it is also highly transferable knowledge that can be applied in any data-driven research that involve inferential statistics. The purpose of this visit is to learn Bayesian statistics through modeling this projects’ data, and investigate the EF and category relationship through interpreting model results.

Aging Behaviour of LEDs Driven by PWM including power supply and electrostatic discharge (ESD)

Tumor-blood vessels communication impacting on cancer progression and metastasis

Tumor-associated blood vessels are a major component of the tumor microenvironment because of their important role in supplying the tumor cells (TC) with nutrients and being the border for metastatic spread. Endothelial cells (EC) of blood vessels communicate with TC through direct interactions via Notch signaling. Our group could show that activated Notch1 receptors are frequently present in EC of human tumors. Therefore, the proposed project will address the role of endothelial Notch1 signaling the interaction of EC and TC. Analyzing differently secreted factors by EC due to the activation of Notch1 receptor will give answers how tumor-associated blood vessels shape the tumor microenvironment. The aim of the project is to address the effects of EC mediators on tumor progression and metastatic potential. Immune cells are one of the main component of the tumor microenvironment and their amount correlates with a poor outcome for patients. Identifying the role of endothelial cell in recruiting immune cells into the tumor could be beneficial for tumor therapy and might improve the therapeutic outcome of patients.

Drying in Fluidized Beds

Étude de la composition et du comportement des boues résiduaires des étangs aérés lors deleur entreposage en vue d’élargir leurs avenues de valorisation

Les étangs aérés sont un traitement des eaux municipales fiable et facile à opérer pour

l’épuration des eaux usées. Au Québec, plusieurs municipalités sont équipées avec ce type

de traitement. Ce traitement génère une boue résiduaire qui consiste en la fraction des

matières non digérées et décantées dans le fond des bassins. Les étangs aérés au Québec

sont en fonction de plusieurs années alors que les boues n’ont jamais été soutirées. Dans

plusieurs cas, les boues ont atteint un niveau où elles doivent être retirées. Les municipalités

sont maintenant au prise avec des boues d’étangs à disposer et, de préférence, à valoriser

(si les coûts sont moins importants que l’enfouissement). Cependant, ce type de boues est

peu connu et n’a pas fait l’objet d’études sur leur stockage et leur valorisation subséquente

pour minimiser les risques de contamination de l’environnement. Les boues issues de ce

type de traitement contiennent différentes concentrations en contaminants chimiques

dépendamment de la nature des rejets provenant du…………………………………………….

Developing microfluidic systems to culture patient-derived tumour organoids for personalized medicine

Personalized cancer therapy has immense potential to improve clinical outcomes of cancer patients because it tailors therapeutic treatment to each patient. To realize the promise of personalized medicine, there is an urgent need to develop new tumour models in the lab that can be easily tested, and also accurately represent responses of the original tumour. Patient-derived brain tumour organoids represent one such model that could potentially address this through the use of primary tissue obtained from the original tumour site. Developing these organoid models, however, has remained challenging because of the lack of laboratory tools that can maintain these organoids in an in vitro environment that closely resembles the tumour microenvironment found in vivo. The objective of this project is to conduct preliminary testing of three conceptual designs of microfluidic systems for culturing patient-derived tumour organoids, and to demonstrate feasibility of applying microfluidics technology as a novel approach to creating a suitable in vitro tumour microenvironment for studying tumour organoids.