NB-BioMatrix Inc. (NBBM) has developed a magnetic chitosan nanoparticle product, Naqua PureTM for industrial heavy metal water remediation. Unlike current heavy metal removal technologies, Naqua PureTM is cheap, environmentally friendly, requires a low energy input, and is highly efficient. However, in order to commercialize this technology it is necessary to (1) develop and implement quality […]

Scintrex Trace Corp. is a company that designs and manufactures systems that detect trace amounts of explosives, narcotics, and other chemicals. Due to upcoming changes to Canadian drug laws, they want to develop a new system that can better detect THC in oral fluid for roadside impairment testing. Scintrex is partnering with Professor Jeffrey Smith […]

major contributor to smog formation is the release of volatile chemicals which are emitted from many sources including automobile exhaust and consumer products. To combat the adverse effects smog has on air quality in North America, agencies such as Environment and Climate Change (Canada) and the Environmental Protection Agency (United States) enforce limits on the […]

Sugarbush Spa is a London-based company that specializes in the removal of unwanted body hair by a method known as sugaring. The method, used for centuries in the Middle East, has several notable advantages over traditional waxing. Commercially available sugaring pastes suffer from inconsistency in production and unsatisfactory performance. At its core, the creation of […]

Chronic rhinosinusitis is a common condition in which the cavities in the nasal channel become inflamed and swollen. This condition interferes with drainage and causes mucus to build up. Delivery of the positively charged proteins containing short chains locally to the nasal area can be used for the treatment of this problem. This proposal suggests […]

Saliva is a promising alternative specimen since it is easy and non-invasive to collect, and available at any time. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) has been recently introduced as a green, simple, fast and sensitive sample preparation technique for high-throughput and in vivo analysis of drugs in various biological fluids, including saliva. The proposed research aims at […]

The complement system is an essential component of innate immunity, but also causes self-damage when the system is aberrantly activated or self-protective capacity is exceeded. There are many conditions where failure to protect against self-damage from the complement system has been implicated in the pathology, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, paroxysmal nocturnal […]

In the wake of the Paris meeting on global climate change in December of 2015 (COP21), commitments to drive down greenhouse gas emissions have escalated around the world. Man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are accepted as the largest contributor to climate change. Promising next-generation technologies for decreasing CO2 emissions are being investigated at the lab […]

As computer chips approach the nanometer-scale size, it is becoming increasingly clear that the next revolution in computing technologies will be enabled by quantum computing. A pioneer in quantum technologies aimed at quantum computing, the Canadian company D-wave Systems has developed quantum annealing processors consisting of superconducting circuit that can be used as efficient devices […]

Through the Mitacs internship program, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is partnering with Western University researchers to build confidence in the lifetime of copper-coated steel containers, proposed as one of several barriers that will keep nuclear waste contained and isolated from the environment. The intern, Ms. Thalia Standish, will simulate the corrosion of copper-coated […]

The aim of this project is to develop and characterize metal matrix composite materials for applications in the field of power electronics and automotive. The material under study are constituted by a copper or aluminum matrix, reinforced by carbon (fibers or platelets) and it is known that the composite properties depend on the orientation of […]

The purpose of this research will be to analyze microbial volatile organic compounds for the purpose of the development of an analytical method for the detection and speciation of moulds in an indoor environment.