Many individuals with cleft palate have hypernasal speech, which affects speech intelligibility and acceptability and is socially stigmatizing. The proposed studies relate to the assessment and the behavioural modification of oral-nasal balance in speech. The first study will test a new assessment procedure for hypernasality and other oral-nasal balance disorders which will aid clinicians in […]

Much is still unknown about the early Earth environment. In this study we are exploring the Archean Eon (4.0-2.5 billion years ago) through micron scale measurements of multiple sulfur isotopes on 3.5 billion year old fluid inclusions from Western Australia. Different bacteria reflect unique environments, which they occupy and some species have been linked to […]

Our brain is controlled by two systems: excitatory systems and inhibitory systems. The balance between these two systems is essential for normal brain functions. Our lab has found that glutamate, a key neurotransmitter in excitatory systems, can act at GABAAR, a key receptor in inhibitory system, and improve GABAAR’s function. This is a novel form […]

The present project consists of developing new catalysts for the epoxidation of natural products. Those catalysts will be titanium and molybdenum, two well known metals for this reaction, on well defined porous silica supports. Solid catalysts are favoured in industries because they are easy to produce at low cost and easy to separate from the […]

diseases, there are a number of different serotypes that can cause infection. The vaccine is often targeted towards one or some of the serotypes. There is accumulating evidence that when serotype-specific vaccines are used, other non-vaccine serotypes may gain a competitive advantage and spread in larger magnitudes. This has raised the concern of serotype replacement […]

This project examines the work of Wu Yi-fang, the only female delegate from China and one of the four women to sign the United Nations Charter in 1945 at the San Francisco Conference. Eight women were present at San Francisco as official delegates from seven different countries, making significant contributions to the UN Charter. But […]

The three-dimensional (3D) structure of the genome is known to play an important role in the regulatory activities of a cell. The genome itself may be vast (~3.2 billion nucleotides), but only a small fraction (approximately 1.5%) encodes for proteins. In the last decade, non-coding regions of the genome have been shown to produce molecules […]

Enzymes are becoming important industrial catalysts, especially for “green” manufacturing. As a consequence, much interest currently exists in identifying ways to optimize the catalytic properties of enzymes to make the manufacturing process more efficient. One way to do this is to create many variants of the original enzyme, each differing slightly in structure, and then […]

Although it is commonly accepted that the videogame was invented in North America, it gained many of the elements we associate with contemporary games, such as narrative and graphical fidelity, via Japan. The purpose of this research is to develop a sense of the ways that Japanese independent videogame developers conceive of and utilize narrative […]

This has been a proposal for myself, Stephen Collins, to participate in the FASESP – BG Brazil Research Centre for Gas Innovation project. If awarded via the Mitacs Globalink program, I will be presented the opportunity to work alongside the research staff of The University of Sao Paulo, as well as members of other academic […]

Chez les plantes à fleurs, la reproduction sexuée fait intervenir une cellule mobile, le tube pollinique, sorte de « spermatozoïde végétal », qui doit se déplacer jusqu’à un ovule pour le féconder. Pour l’assister dans cette tâche, l’ovule sécrète de petites molécules attractives que le tube pollinique perçoit grâce à des récepteurs. Bien que ce […]

Harvesting energy from renewable resources, such as wind and ocean waves, is an important issue facing our world today. With the increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, there is a need to move away from nonrenewable resources and to find new methods for capturing energy. Wind turbines operate most efficiently within a narrow […]