Innovative Projects Realized

Development of Pickering water-in-oil-in-water double emulsion delivery system for protection of labile bioactive compounds

We recently showed that the fat crystal shells around water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion droplets could effectively screen the hydrophilic active components from the outer environment (Ghosh et al., Salt Release from Fat Crystal-Stabilized Water-in-Oil Emulsions. 103rd AOCS Annual Meeting, Long Beach, California, USA, May 2012). Formation of crystal shells around dispersed droplets in emulsion is a novel stabilization mechanism in which fat crystals or other suitably surface-active particles absorb on the droplet surface thereby providing a physical barrier to coalescence. This mechanism of stabilization is known as Pickering stabilization. In the proposed research the Pickering stabilized W/O will be used as an internal dispersed phase of a water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) double emulsion. Combined Pickering and fat crystal network in the oil phase would provide very high stability of the internal W/O emulsion while multiple layers of proteins and polysaccharides will provide stability to the outer oil droplets (containing water droplets) of the (W/O)/W emulsion. The system developed will be further tested for the simultaneous delivery of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic reactive compounds. Due to inherent stability of the Pickering shell, the active components will be separated from each other, until external factors like temperature change would melt the Pickering shell leading to mixing of the components. This novel delivery system could be utilized in the creation of new flavors during cooking and for the simultaneous delivery of two different types of components that requires separate delivery systems.

Exercise and a flax nutritional supplement for reducing blood pressure in older individuals

The purpose of the research project is to determine the effects of a flax-based nutritional supplement and an exercise program (walking) for improving blood pressure in older individuals. Both of these interventions lower blood pressure and we want to determine whether their effects are additive for reducing blood pressure. We will evaluated blood pressure with 24-hour monitors and also assess blood markers for cardiovascular disease risk.

Developmental genetics of the zebrafish skeleton

Osteoarthritis is a major obstacle to work productivity and quality of life for many Canadians, affecting over 10% of the general population and 15% of Saskatchewanians, with the elderly increasingly affected (>40% of Canadians over 65 years old). At the cellular and molecular level, osteoarthritis involves two main defects: 1) degradation of sugar-coated proteins (proteoglycans) in the cartilage that protects bones at the joints, and 2) changes to gene expression in the cells (chondrocytes) that maintain cartilage. For over 15 years, our vertebrate cousin, the zebrafish, has been a widely-accepted research model of human development and disease. Recently, I identified zebrafish with mutations in cartilage proteoglycan production and showed that loss of proteoglycans itself causes changes to chondrocyte gene expression. This novel experimental system provides a fresh, unexplored avenue for understanding and eventually treating osteoarthritis. This project studies the molecular mechanism by which proteoglycans change chondrocyte gene expression, hypothesizing that proteoglycans in the cartilage modulate the biological activity of growth factors, specifically bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), which in turn alter chondrocyte gene expression. To test this hypothesis, this project uses many powerful experimental tools available in zebrafish (e.g., mutants, transgenics, and embryonic injections) to manipulate the proteoglycan levels in cartilage matrix and/or BMP activity, and measure the effects on chondrocyte gene expression.

Comparison of winter limnology between selected reservoirs in Saskatchewan

Lakes across much of Canada are ice-covered for long periods every year. Ice cover creates conditions fundamentally different from other seasons, with low light penetration, low temperatures, and the presence of a barrier to gas exchange. Climate change predictions suggest that reductions in ice cover can be expected. However, logistical challenges associated with winter field work mean that we have relatively poor understanding of current conditions in lakes during winter. As a result, prediction of future changes is fraught with uncertainty.

The major objective of this study is to understand how declining periods of ice cover will affect lake ecology and biogeochemistry. During the winter 2012 -2013 season a high frequency sensor network was installed at several lakes in Saskatchewan to measure changes in temperature, light and oxygen concentrations. This new understanding will help in building models of winter biogeochemistry. This will help to predict the ecological and biogeochemical effects of reduced ice cover, and contribute to an improved understanding of how climate change will affect lakes.

The freeze-over and mixing processes in lake and reservoirs can be modeled using the hydrodynamic & water quality model CE-QUAL-W2. There is much experience in-house with this model applied to Lake Diefenbaker, a reservoir constructed in 1967 along the South Saskatchewan River. The model has also been implemented to simulate freeze-over and mixing in Blackstrap Lake, also in Saskatchewan. The student may extend the model to include water quality processes.

Structural and Functional Investigation of Disrupted in Schizophrenia 1 (DISC1)

The research project involves investigating the structure and function of DISC1 subdomains. As DISC1 is a large protein with multiple functions, breaking it down into its subdomains will facilitate our understanding of its biology. The biochemical and biophysical properties of subdomains will be characterized. This 12-week project will allow the student to learn how to use a state-of-the-art protein chromatography system to produce large quantity of proteins needed for downstream structural biological investigation. The student will start working on purifying a protein construct that has been optimized in our lab in order to learn all the basic techniques involved. Then the student will have the opportunity to design and perform molecular cloning of a novel protein construct from scratch. In the process, the student will also learn the various protein designing strategies that structural biologists frequently employ.

Imaging Processing and Machine Learning in Clinical Microscopy

In many clinical laboratory and pathology testing procedures, visual examination of microscopic slides is needed, e.g., to classify disease developments, to detect the interactions of micro-organisms, to assess the effectiveness of drugs, to determine cell viability and proliferation, etc. These tasks can be found in many important clinical applications, including cancer research, hematology, pharmacology, and genetic testing.

Traditionally, these tasks are performed manually by a qualified laboratory technician. In many cases, the tasks effectively require direct visual inspection, or some form of calibrated estimation, e.g., using a hemocytometer under microscope. Evidently, this approach is not only time-consuming and tedious, but also prone to errors due to human subjectivity and fatigue. Moreover, this ineffective approach is unsuitable to accommodate a large number of specimen samples. In fact, many cell-based research studies require rapid turn-around time, with high accuracy and reliability, in order to provide useful interpretation and analysis for clinical effectiveness.

Recent promising solutions towards clinical microscopy are based on automated image processing and analysis. These methods provide analyses and interpretation of images obtained from a digital microscope, equipped with a camera. For example, suitable image processing and segmentation are performed to identify and locate various biological cells. Using advanced machine learning, it is also possible to classify various cell types effectively, e.g., viable vs. dead cells, cells with vs. without antibodies. Growth factors and drug treatments also result in visual feature changes, and as such can be characterized automatically based on the collected images. At the same time, there are many challenges that need to be addressed to make this approach a reliable and economically feasible solution. For instance, as in many image-based problems, the presence of imaging artifacts, focusing errors, and source contamination, can create severe difficulties in the image processing procedure. Therefore, suitable pre-processing methods will need to be designed and tested under practical laboratory settings, with the advice of qualified experts in biochemistry and clinical pathology, particularly from the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency. The synergy of engineering analysis and health science expertise will be crucial in delivering an effective image-based clinical microscopy framework.

In summary, this project addresses an important need in clinical laboratory science and pathology, providing an alternative framework for conducting clinical microscopy, that is not only more rapid compared to manual methods, but also more reliable and accurate. In addition, by allowing for digitization and computer-based analyses, many additional tasks can also be envisioned. For instance, pattern recognition and machine learning can be performed to deliver relevant visual representation, and detect long-term trends based on a collection of historical microscopic images. These tasks would not be possible with manual microscopic methods, especially with the advent of the “big data” era. The success of this project would have important impact for clinical studies, which in turn will lead to improved disease characterization and treatment solutions. These are all important accomplishments in improving the quality of human life, by offering health researchers a crucial tool in the fight against deadly diseases such as cancer.

Hydrotreating of heavy gas oil using mesoporous materials supported NiMo catalysts

The sulfur and nitrogen containing compounds present in crude oil, needs to be removed before downstream catalytic processing of crude oil because (i) sulfur is known to be poisonous for catalyst and (ii) to meet stringent environment regulations. The most widely used process for sulfur and nitrogen removal is hydrotreating. Hydrotreating is a catalytic process at high temperature of 350-400 °C and moderate pressures of 1200-1400psi. The conventional catalyst used for hydrotreating is Ni or Co and Mo or W supported on .-Al2O3. The majority of petroleum reserves in Canada are in Oil sands. The oil sands bitumen derived heavy gas oil contains higher amount of sulfur and nitrogen contents (~3.5-4 wt.% S and 0.3-0.4 wt.% N). Consequently, hydrotreating catalysts with improved activity and selectivity are needed to meet the stricter sulfur specifications & quality of transportation fuels. Therefore, in recent years, the research is primarily focused on to increase the activity of catalyst and significant improvements have been achieved by changing the type of support materials. Various support materials such as Zeolites, SBA-15, metal oxides (ZrO2), mesoporous silica-alumina, etc has been tested for hydrotreating catalyst. Out of various support materials, mesoporous material has drawn most of the attention because of ordered structures, high pore diameter, high surface area and stable structural properties. Therefore, the main focus of our research group is to develop novel mesoporous catalyst for hydrotreating reactions to address the challenge faced by industries to meet the current environmental regulations

This project therefore includes the synthesis of mesoporous metal oxides (TiO2 and Al2O3) and used them as a support material for NiMo hydrotreating catalyst. The bitumen derived heavy gas oil will be used as feedstock and the hydrotreating reactions will be carried out in continuous trickle bed reactor at industrial conditions. The support material and catalysts will be characterized using various techniques such as X-ray diffraction, Fourier transformed-infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, Temperature programmed desorption/reduction, BET and TEM. The catalytic activity will then be systematically related to the textural and morphological properties.

Customary International Law Norms on Indigenous Rights in Comparative Case Law

This research project is part of a larger research programme on Indigenous rights in constitutional and international law. Within this particular project, the faculty member is examining decisions of different domestic courts that bear on customary international law on Indigenous rights. The role for the student would particularly involve examining decisions of Latin American domestic courts and tribunals as well as InterAmerican Human Rights Court jurisprudence in an ongoing examination of what light these judgments can shed on developing customary international law norms in this area.

The analysis of customary international law norms looks to state practice (which can include judicial decisions) and to opinio juris (a belief that the practice comes from binding norms of customary international law). Latin American judicial decisions, in particular, have had some particularly interesting results in relation to some indigenous rights questions, including on consultation with indigenous peoples, which has been a particular area of focus in some past and current research for the faculty member involved in this project. The faculty members continues to be interested in consultation, but is also interested in examining in these contexts other Indigenous rights, including property rights, cultural rights, language rights, and religious rights. He also has a major interest in the general interaction between Indigenous rights and natural resource development.

Although the faculty member’s research team has included some Spanish-speaking members already (and the faculty member has limited Spanish reading abilities), he is particularly enthusiastic to recruit in a student or students who would be well-positioned to examine in detail a variety of Latin American jurisprudence on these topics while having the chance to engage in discussion of comparative perspectives from other case law.

The particular research in this project involves extensive case law research and analysis, comparison of different cases, and potentially writing about cases either on their own or in conjunction with other cases that can help to flesh out particular norms of international law.

The faculty member publishes extensively and, in addition to numerous articles or book chapters, has published books on Canadian constitutional law, indigenous rights doctrines in Canadian constitutional law, natural resource jurisdiction in Canada, and collective rights as an operative concept for understanding rights held by groups, including indigenous groups. He has also commenced a major stream of international law writing that relates to indigenous rights and will be pleased to involve students in this research project related to that stream.

Incidence, pathogenesis and control measures of Enterococcus infections in chicken embryos and neonatal broiler chickens (New)

Yolk sac infections have become the number one disease problem in the broiler chicken industry in Canada.
The emergence of yolk sac infections due to Enterococcus species has increased over the last two years at
poultry hatcheries in Saskatchewan and as a result, chick quality and broiler performance have decreased
significantly. Pathogens responsible for neonatal bacterial infections of broiler chickens originate from the
hatchery and this leads to a very high first week mortality, chronic infections, increased culling during
grow-out period of broilers and increased condemnations at processing. Moreover, the exact mode of
transmission, port of entry, and virulence mechanisms of Enterococcus is unknown. Because of these reasons,
it is essential to minimize hatchery-borne infections and increase the performance of broiler flocks. Therefore,
appropriate epidemiological surveillance is a necessity for disease investigation, and has implications for
preventive and control measures. The objective of this study is to identify the causes associated with increased
incidence of Enterococcal infections in chicken embryos and neonatal chickens and to study the
immunoprotective effects of oligodeoxynucleotides containing CpG motifs (CpG-ODN) against Enterococcal
infections. We are proposing to use CpG-ODN by the in ovo route to control the emergence of Enterococcal
infections in the broiler chicken industry.

Harmful algal blooms: Links between lake ecology, chemistry, and drinking water treatment

Overall project:
Human activities can profoundly alter aquatic ecosystems and create major challenges for the provision of safe drinking water. For example, high nutrient loads can dramatically increase algal productivity. This in turn can alter lake chemistry and ecology, which can have significant effects on water treatment processes. Ecological changes can include the occurrence of harmful algal blooms. An increase in the frequency and severity of algal blooms is a major concern across Canada and globally. Blooms frequently include nuisance species which can form a variety of compounds, some of which are toxic and can induce neurological damage, liver damage, gastrointestinal distress, and even death in fish, wildlife, domestic animals and humans. Numerous algal species can also produce compounds which impart unpleasant taste and odour to drinking water.

Cost-effective and adaptive monitoring tools and techniques are needed to provide water managers and regulators with the information necessary to effectively manage drinking water supplies, particularly in water-scarce areas and areas susceptible to harmful algal blooms and degraded water quality, such as the Canadian prairies. This project builds on a long-term monitoring program led by an important regional water treatment plant. The Plant currently relies upon expensive advanced treatment processes to ensure high quality finished water, and help eliminate taste and odour. This project provides an opportunity to link new technology, scientific insights and mathematical modeling to inform drinking water treatment processes and lake management in a partnership between researchers, the water treatment plant, and the province. Anticipated outcomes include developing models to inform drinking water management, and to provide early warning of conditions likely to lead to harmful algal blooms or major changes in lake chemistry affecting drinking water treatment. Results of this work will benefit not only local water utilities and water users, but will aid in the management of other bloom-affected waters, and surface water supplies.

Internship opportunity:
The Mitacs Globalink Research Intern will have the opportunity to work with a large, multi-investigator, multi-organization team, tackling the issue of developing early-warning indicators of algal blooms and degrading water quality. The student will play an important role, using statistical or model-based approaches to assess different tools for early-warning. He or she will have available one-year of real-time lake monitoring data, combined with a long-term dataset from our partner drinking water utility.

Mechanism of Failure of Pipeline Steels in Sour Environment

Safety of transportation of oil and gas provides a guarantee for sustainable energy supply. The fracture of linepipe may lead to environmental catastrophe and significant economic losses. Hydrogen induced cracking (HIC), sulphide stress cracking (SSC) and stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in various types of linepipe steels are phenomena that are responsible for the majority of linepipe failures. The information recently published by us and other researchers indicates that special textured steels can be resistant to both HIC and SCC. These findings create an emerging but completely unexplored opportunity to manufacture new generation of linepipe steels with highly improved resistance to two major type of pipeline failure. The proposed program will focus on designing new manufacturing processes for optimizing the texture and the grain-boundary structure of pipeline steel (X60 X65 and X65X70), based on a full understanding of the influence of thermo-mechanical processing on texture formation and the role of texture in steel performance in sour environment. This project will offer a novel approach towards the ultimate objective to enhance the steel performance by texture controlling of steel. In the proposed research we plan to cooperate with EVRAZ Inc and CANMET Materials Technology Laboratory to develop new processing technology for production of novel texture-modified linepipe steels, and finally transfer the related technology to Canadian manufacturing companies of linepipe steels.

Rational Design of Advanced Materials

Society is in a constant quest for new advanced materials. Whether it be a material harder than diamond, more conductive than silver, or more insulating than aerogel, new advanced materials feed technological innovation.

The classical way to design new materials is through experiments. Experiments are expensive, slow, potentially hazardous, and require a significant amount of human expertise and intervention. Success can often be directly attributed to the skill of the individual experimentalist and the particular equipment employed. However, these two success factors are often also the two greatest limitations on the materials that can be discovered.

Very recently, a new paradigm has emerged in the design of new advanced materials: rational design. Rational design of materials refers to the use of computer simulation, through the solution of quantum mechanical models, in order to predict the properties of a material from its molecular structure. The idea is that if a mathematical model can reliably predict the properties of a material, one can use supercomputing to efficiently search the space of possible molecules and their positions to construct materials that have optimal properties. Rational design reduces the propose-test-modify cycle and gets new materials from the laboratory to the marketplace in far less time than traditional methods do. Rational design is already an indispensable part of the aerospace, automotive, and pharmaceutical industries.

In this project, we propose to discover new advanced materials that can be fabricated under high pressure and have superior material properties such as hardness, thermal power, ductility, and malleability. A significant advantage of developing our own software for this problem is that we can incorporate aspects like cost of manufacturing or impact on provincial or national economies. So for example, a material it may be more valuable to discover a material that is only 80% as hard as diamond but costs only 20% as much to fabricate than it is to discover a material that is harder than diamond.