Canada’s bioeconomy, utilizing renewable biological resources for producing materials and energy, holds promise for diversifying the nation’s economy. Pulp mills are integral to this shift, transforming wood fibers and residues into various high-value products, fostering innovation and sustainability. Key to this transition is understanding mill sustainability through life cycle assessment (LCA). However, there’s a notable […]

Phytopathogenic fungi secrete diverse enzymes to help them infect host plants. Foliar phytopathogens like Colletotrichum species, contain tandem copper radical oxidase (CRO) and peroxidase genes. The CRO-peroxidase pair is co-secreted during initial leaf penetration phases. The CRO oxidizes long-chain alcohols found in the leaf cuticle while the peroxidase activates the CRO. We discovered that the […]

The challenges posed by yield loss and plant diseases facing climate change are on the rise. And it is impossible to ignore fungal pathogens in agriculture. Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is one of the most devastating plant pathogens that can cause substantial damage to major crops such as canola, various beans, and sunflowers in Canada, the USA, […]

This research aims to determine and study the sources of MPs in the SoG and identify the processes controlling MP dispersal within the MetroVancouver area. The majority of marine MPs are suspected to originate from and-based sources including wastewater and stormwater/ road runoff. This project will assist in the identification and quantification of the various […]

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly invasive and heterogenous disease that does not express oestrogen receptor and progesterone as well as the human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 and accounts for approximately 20% of all breast tumors. Its heterogenicity makes unlikely to reach the complete TNBC patient population with a single therapeutic agent. Therefore, […]

The tidal marshes of the Fraser River Estuary support numerous species, including juvenile salmon, and offer benefits to nearby communities. To counteract marsh losses, over 100 tidal marshes have been constructed in the estuary from the 1980s to present. Yet after 40 years, key knowledge gaps still limit our confidence in their ability to support […]

Immunotoxins (ITs) are representing a subset of antibody drug conjugates where the synthetic toxin is replaced by a bacterial protein toxin. Major drawback is related to the immunogenicity of the protein not allowing repeated application. Consequently targeted human cytolytic fusion proteins (hCFPs) have been developed to replace the foreign protein toxin by a human apoptosis […]

The partner organization MetaMixis Inc. is attempting to use biocatalytic ways to process lignin, the second most abundant biopolymer on earth, with microbiology methods to transform lignin into fine chemicals in useful quantities within a reasonable time frame. The process and end products need to be fully characterized using analytical tools to ensure the efficiency. […]

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide with approximately 8 million deaths in 2010. Most cancer treatments lack specificity and affect the whole body, with toxic effects on both cancerous and normal cells. Although new therapies are emerging, targeting cancer cells is a challenge because of the lack of specific markers on […]

The Takeda Pharmaceutical Company has recently developed a new drug to reduce the level of RNA processing that takes place within a cell. This project will look at the molecular effects of this drug at different doses in order to obtain an understanding of how cellular biology changes when RNA processing is suppressed with increasing […]

Quantum technology is advancing rapidly, particularly Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) systems. With their increasing accessibility and industry interest, there’s a need to measure their performance, especially in the presence of non-Markovian noise. Currently, error correction methods are in development, and information on Quantum Processing Unit (QPU) performance is scarce. Our research addresses this by […]

Infectious diseases in animals can cause many problems such as impacting the economy, harming wildlife and the environment, food security, and even making people sick (zoonoses). Because of issues like pollution, climate change, and agricultural intensification, we expect these diseases to happen more often and to be worse over time. So, it is very important […]