Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive condition characterized by the chronic elevation of pulmonary artery (PA) pressure leading to failure of the heart. In spite of recent advances in approved therapies, PAH remains a serious disease with significant mortality.

One of the main problems facing current cancer therapies, including chemotherapy and immunotherapy, is the poor functionality of the blood vessels present in tumours. Indeed, tumour blood vessels are highly abnormal, and this leads to poor perfusion, resulting in poor delivery of oxygen to the tumour. This has profound consequences for cancer therapies, as the lack of oxygen in the tumours impedes the tumour-killing functions of immune cells or the diffusion and efficacy of cancer drugs.

Aux Etats-Unis, plus de 15 millions d’unités de sang sont transfusées chaque année à des patients atteints, entre autres, d’anémies ou de certains cancers. Bien que cette technique soit pratiquée depuis longtemps, plusieurs risques y demeurent associés. Le risque le plus important est l’incompatibilité entre le donneur et le receveur, pouvant résulter dans les cas les plus extrêmes à la mort du patient. Cette incompatibilité repose sur l’existence d’une grande diversité de groupes sanguins qui demeurent difficiles à identifier avec précision.

Une bonne compréhension de la biologie derrière le développement du diabète de type II est indispensable à son traitement. Malheureusement, c'est une maladie complexe dans laquelle de multiples protéines sont impliquées dans le maintien du taux de sucre dans le sang, débalancé lors du diabète.Il existe différentes approches, dites « multiplex », pour mesurer la concentration de plusieurs de ces protéines simultanément. C'est une façon d'obtenir un portrait plus large et de mieux comprendre les dérèglements biologiques en cause.

Adoptive cell therapy using transferred tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) is limited by the physical barrier created by a restrictive tumour microenvironment (TME) and by T-cell inactivation within the TME. Thus, minimizing the immunosuppressive effects of the TME and overcoming T-cell inactivation is crucial. AVID200 is a potent TGF-beta inhibitor designed by Forbius that selectively neutralizes TGF-beta1 & -beta3 with picomolar potency that reverses immunosupression, fibrosis & renders tumors sensitive to checkpoint blockade.

With the goal of increasing the safety of civilian air flight, the detection of a decrease in pilot attention is becoming an important need in civilian aeronautics. Multiple models used for the detection of hypovigilant states have been developed over the years in experimental conditions, but barriers still exist limiting current use. First, some of these models require the execution of behavioral tasks that can disrupt pilot workflow. .Second, other models relying on the use of physiological monitoring devices are still too cumbersome.

This project will provide software tools to predict where a gene modifying system will make changes in the DNA of a living cell or animal. This is particularly important to investigate since this new system called CRISPR-Cas may one day be use for human gene therapy. We will test our system in animal models and develop a predictive platform to determine if the therapy will be safe for human by predicting with CRISPR-cas system should be use for specific diseases. Our work will hopefully pave the way for gene therapy applied in an ethical fashion in human.

In recent years Medical Cannabis (MC) has become a much discussed and ever-evolving topic in Canada. A growing number of studies have highlighted the medical and multidimensional benefits of cannabis. The question of the spiritual benefits of MC forms part of this holistic approach. Qualitative research on medical cannabis is limited, and most of it has explored the experiences of people who took cannabis illegally.

SMA is a neurodegenerative disease characterised by the loss of lower motor neurons and is an incurable disease. SMA is the leading genetic cause of early childhood lethality, with an incidence of 1 in 6,000 to 10,000 live births and a carrier frequency of 1 in 35-40. Current therapeutic strategies under development are almost exclusively based on increasing functional SMN protein.

Parallex BioAssays est une jeune biotech issue de travaux de recherche universitaire en génie biomédical. Au cours des dernières années, ils ont développé la SnapChipMC... un nouvel outil de laboratoire qui permettra d'accélérer la recherche biomédicale en mesurant plusieurs protéines à la fois, sans aucun compromis sur la qualité des résultats. Au cours de ce projet, le stagiaire postdoctoral participera très étroitement à la mise au point de nouveaux tests, de manière à rendre la SnapChipMC utile à tous les domaines de recherche.