Patients most vulnerable to COVID-19 have pre-existing illnesses, including diabetes and heart disease. Two potential treatments in clinical trials for COVID-19 are the anti-malarial drug, hydroxychloroquine, and the antibiotic, azithromycin. These drugs can cause side-effects, including cardiac arrhythmias which can lead to heart failure, that make them inappropriate for the most vulnerable COVID-19 patients. Cardiac […]

Dose has developed a new probiotic that targets several aspects of oral and respiratory health. This project aims to understand the exact mechanism of our probiotic’s inhibitory properties against the pathogens associated with the above diseases. Dose is a new start-up in the probiotic/microbiome health sector, and this project will allow for improved technology and […]

The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, which started in Dec. 2019, has so far not been contained due to unpreparedness and unsuccessful development of antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2. In response to this pandemic, we propose strategies for the development of novel antiviral agents against a number of known viral targets using in-silico modeling and laboratory testing to rapidly […]

This Mitacs-NSERC COVID-19 joint initiative is to investigate the mechanism of COVID-19 inducing hyperinflammation and cytokine storm. COVID-19 infected cells cause injury that triggers immune cells to release inflammatory cytokines. The partnership with Encyt Technologies Inc. and PI will use established immune macrophage cell lines to identify the molecular mechanism of hyperinflammation induced by COVID-19 […]

SARS-CoV-2 is a novel, highly infections virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to its rapid spread and high mortality rate, intense research efforts are focused on developing screening tests, antiviral therapies and vaccines. Further research is needed to understand how this virus interacts with host cells to infect them, replicate and release new virus […]

The rapid spread of COVID-19, associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is of tremendous global concern. There is an urgent need to expand the current diagnosis capacity and to develop effective home-usable tests, and simple ones that can be used at the primary point-of-care. Ideally, the test will be simple enough that […]

Cell-based treatments for chronic metabolic disorders such as diabetes are poised to disrupt conventional treatments based on insulin administration through needles. These treatments involve transplanting cells that can provide the needed hormone or enzyme directly into the patients’ circulation, in principle for years and without human intervention. However, these transplanted cells need to be protected […]

This project will develop thin polymer strips that dissolve rapidly in the mouth and can deliver a therapeutic payload. Specifically, the proposed strips will be loaded with vaccine particles that can be delivered directly to the bloodstream via the sub-lingual mucous membranes. It has been previously shown that sub-lingual vaccination is effective for a number […]

COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel SARS corona virus, has been a global threat for months now. The pandemic has crippled global healthcare sectors and economies. Early, rapid, and accurate detection of the contagion is critical for isolating infected patients to prevent further community spread. Currently, most communities in Canada suffer from insufficient […]

We all know someone who looks or functions like someone who is much younger than their actual age (or vice versa). Why is this? Whether our bodies age faster or slower than expected can be explained by lifestyle choices (e.g. adopting a healthy or unhealthy diet), environmental exposures (e.g. stress or exposure to pollution or […]

In order to help deal with COVID-19 pandemic, there is an urgent need for development of fast, reliable, and sensitive tests that will be capable of detecting IgG and IgM proteins directly in people’s blood. Our novel test for detection of IgG and IgM proteins in the blood offers several major advantages compared to other […]

In order to investigate proteins in their natural environment one can attach tiny reporter molecules to them that can be traced with appropriate instruments. However, these small reporter molecules may often cause strong perturbations to the functionality of the proteins, or cannot be seen due to experimental restrictions like low concentrations. Bioorthogonal chemistry aims to […]