Immunotherapy drugs that unlock a person’s immune system to attack tumours have shown remarkable promise in treating cancer. Unfortunately not all patients respond to these immune therapies and researchers still do not understand why some patients respond while others do not
Cancer cells release small particles called extracellular vesicles (EVs) into our blood. EVs carry messages that can instruct our immune system to shut down or to avoid attacking the cancer.

The production of formate salts – one of the most preferable chemicals for de-icing via electrocatalytic CO2 reduction is currently a promising technology. Lignocellulosic biomass is a potential material for the manufacture of electrocatalysts because of not only its great abundance and availability but its conversion inducing graphite-based materials, which are excellent catalyst supports. The current project aims to upgrade the biomass pyrolysis to improve the quality of the obtained products and their ownership to meet the current needs of new growth markets.

Afin d’atteindre la carboneutralité et de gérer l'approvisionnement intermittent en énergie renouvelable, les batteries Li-ion - des dispositifs de stockage électrique sous forme d’énergie chimique, sont entrées en jeu. Bien que ces technologies énergétiques soient prometteuses, il faudrait encore améliorer leurs performances de plusieurs ordres de grandeur afin de les utiliser pour les véhicules électriques.

New biomass uses can boost the economy of the Lower North Shore of Quebec province in Canada. This project seeks the development of a sea cucumber extraction process to obtain bio-ingredients under the perspective of performing the future extractions in a remote region as Lower North Shore of Quebec where such process integration is challenging.

The Canadian company Algae-C is developing innovative platforms for the growth of different kinds of phototrophic algae around the world. The algal biomass from its modular units is used for the aquaculture, biofuel, nutraceutical, chemical, and personal care markets. Algae-C wants to expand the use of their technology in more areas such as the pharmaceutical field. In order to achieve their goal, the company wants to optimize its own microalgae strains. With this project, Algae-C wishes to optimize genetically engineered microalgae for the production of plant-based metabolites.

More than 7000 children live with inflammatory bowel diseases, chronic incurable diseases, in Canada. Those children encounter several challenges during adolescence. Therefore, it is important to adequately prepare them for their adult life.

Blood platelets are the principal source of cells known to shed small extracellular vesicles which package biologically active molecules. We have recently identified a new type of these vesicles (called microparticles/MPs) that contain mitochondria, which represent the energy producing motors for living cells. We have also discovered that MPs preferentially bind and internalize into leukemia cells to transfer their contents. As a result, recipient cancer cells gain energy producing capacity, which leads to increased cancer processes.

Algae-C is a company specialized in algal biomass production. It enables on-site production of algae for a wide variety of sectors (aquaculture, nutraceutical, cosmetic and biofuel). To date, many fuels, pharmaceuticals and cosmetic products are extracted from plants. These valuable plant natural products (PNPs) are often produced in low quantities in plants and extraction methods can be long and expensive. Thus, there is much interest in metabolic engineering for developing microbial platforms to produce specific PNPs.

The inflammation triggered by oxidative stress is the cause of many diseases, including atherosclerosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Alzheimer disease and cancer. Although numerous molecules evaluated as antioxidants have exhibited therapeutic potential in preclinical studies, clinical trial results have been mixed.

NanoBrand Inc. and the UQTR research team headed by Prof. Nguyen-Tri successfully developed silver-nanoparticle-based coatings with an exceptional antiviral activity towards human coronavirus to treat various textiles used as base materials for the fabrication of medical coats. The company would like to develop more advanced nanoparticle types to fabricate antiviral coatings, which possess more efficacy and more extended durability towards a wide range of pathogenic viruses.