Model for assessment of risks of going missing in persons living with dementia during and post COVID-19 pandemic

According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the number of global deaths and disabilities related to mental health conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, has risen in recent years. This applies to Canada in the same way, causing premature deaths and disabilities. The general objective of this project is to define, […]

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Use of the Halifax Consciousness Scanner in the diagnosis andmanagement of mild traumatic brain injury / concussion

This project will evaluate whether an innovative approach to looking at consciousness allows for the diagnosis and management of concussion. The device, cali-ed the Halifax Consciousness Scanner (HCS), reads the brain waves of a person while listening to a special sound recording, and uses this information to determine a score for their level of consciousness. […]

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Circulating Tumour Cells and prostate cancer outcome II

According to the Canadian Cancer Society, an estimated 26,500 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012 and 4,000 will die of it. New approaches are required to predict clinical outcome and personalized management of patients. Drs. Mal and Cayre will combine their two newly developed technologies and work towards obtaining a new solid […]

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Development of a robust armoured RNA standard for the rapid clinical diagnosis of COVID-19

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 […]

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The impacts of human activity and landscape change on Rocky Mountain mammal communities

Gaining an understanding of the interacting impacts of human activity and landscape change on wildlife is an important step towards better understanding how to manage and conserve wild areas. The effects of landscape change on mammal communities have been studied, but interacting disturbances are rarely addressed. In Alberta’s Eastern Rockies, human activity is prevalent in […]

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Next-Generation Precision Medicine Solutions – Diagnostics

As personalized medicine approaches aim to tailor treatments to individuals, improvements are needed in the detection of existing biomarkers and genomic, epigenomic, and proteomic changes that occur during disease development. This would have potential impact on medication selection and targeted therapy, reduce adverse effects, improve cost effectiveness, and shift the goal of medicine from reactive […]

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High yield micro-algal cultures

Micro-algae, which are being used to derive biofuels from, are typically grown in large volumes of water in systems which either expose the algae to, or protect it from, the natural environment. There are two key problems associated with large-scale commercial biofuel production: the identification of high yield and high lipid producing algal species, and […]

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Mechanism of CoVID-19 induced hyperinflammation

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 […]

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Development and evaluation of the OptiSolve Pathfinder optical assay for viral particle detection on surfaces in environmental monitoring

OptiSolve Pathfinder is a diagnostic tool that allows the easy identification of contamination on surfaces through imaging. Although viral and bacterial organisms are always a threat, during the current COVID-19 pandemic, the ability to easily identify and quantify viruses is of primary importance. The Pathfinder solution developed by OptiSolve will significantly improve quality of care, […]

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Validating a new lateral flow assay for COVID-19

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 […]

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Development of a salmon diet using alternative protein and lipids suitable for land-based recirculation farming systems

Aquaculture feed has historically relied on fish-based protein sources to satisfy nutritional requirements for optimal growth. While plant-based proteins are increasing throughout the aquaculture industry, the need for fish protein is still present to ensure the “natural fish” taste that consumers want. Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) have been proposed as a solution to this […]

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