The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the whole world by the spread of a new respiratory virus (SARS-CoV-2), posing a significant burden on the society and the health system. Rapid and selective detection of pathogens, like SARS-CoV-2 virus, in clinical samples, food, water and the environment at large is crucial in diagnosis and breakout prevention. Conventional […]

Coastal temperate rainforests hold a high biodiversity of living organisms, including many fungal species. The diversity of fungi remain poorly described in forests of BC. In the proposed study, we will document these species and improve our understanding of ecosystem complexity by gathering essential baseline information on fungal communities. This will be useful for applied […]

Using simplified language understandable to a layperson; provide a general, one-paragraph description of the proposed research project to be undertaken by the intern(s) as well as the expected benefit to the partner organization. (100 – 150 words) 7 Fathoms Seaweed Skincare (7FSS) is a small business that has developed products which incorporate an extract of […]

Climate change has been a top concern of Canadians for the past several years. Canada is among the 3 top global CO2 emitters per capita. Our goal is to develop and commercialize a cheaper solar energy harvesting system to help Canada decarbonize its economy. Silicon has the most mature technology in the photovoltaic market. Silicon […]

Mental illnesses, particularly depression, is one of the leading causes of global disease burden. In addition to reducing the quality of life of patients and their relatives, it costs billions of dollars annually to the Canadian economy. Unfortunately, current antidepressant drugs are barely satisfactory and have numerous side-effects. The goal of this project is to […]

Two pharmaceutical products for the treatment of neurological diseases developed by Neuractas Therapeutics require fine tuning to enhance their solubility, bioavailability and stability towards relative humidity. Extensive experimental research will be carried out to improve the polymorphic distribution of the products by high through-put crystallization to improve the solubility of one of the products. In […]

Mine tailings pose significant environmental risks due to their poor mechanical and chemical stability. This project aims to implement a novel nature-based procedure to improve stability of mine tailings using indigenous microorganisms with biocementation properties. Microorganisms capable of surviving in the tailings environment will be discovered that precipitate calcium carbonate. These organisms will be used […]

Fast-charging Li-ion batteries have great potential for electricity storage from renewables, frequency regulation, and peak shaving in large-scale grid applications. The Li-ion batteries must have a fast response, high rate performance, high power capability, and low cost to meet this increasing demand for grid applications. This project between Dr. Jian Liu’s group at the University […]

Quantum computing (QC) is expected to deliver the next leap in information technology, with anticipated impacts as significant as the development of silicon integrated circuits and the Internet. Photonic QC provides the advantage of a scalable platform based on silicon manufacturing. Industry has recognized the potential of a purely photonic approach, as being pursued by […]

Patients in the US and Canada have been suffering from overcrowding and long wait times in emergency departments, along with poor health conditions. In order to provide guidelines for nurses, medical directives can request certain diagnostic tests during triage, which speeds up the process by providing test results to the physician when making the initial […]

This project will focus on the design, fabrication and testing of an annular array-based histotripsy transducer that will improve the combined ultrasound imaging and therapy endoscopic device currently in development at Daxsonics. Histotripsy is a method of focusing high intensity ultrasound waves to liquify tissue and is a promising new method of accurately removing tumors […]

Venture capital X (VCX) is about to launch a new product: Sustainability-Linked Loan (SLL). These new sustainability-linked financial products represent an interesting opportunity both for lenders and borrowers. To incentivize borrowers to achieve predetermined sustainability objectives, VCX offers reduced interest rates on loans; however, these SLL are contingent on borrowers meeting predetermined sustainability targets. Because […]