The goal of this Mitacs research proposal study is to develop and apply experimental methodology for transdermal delivery of bone-targeting peptide hormone drugs. We aim to deliver these compounds using an appropriate hydrophilic-hydrophobic Diffusimax liposomal drug delivery cream base to anatomically superficial bone, at the sites of stress fractures (also known as “shin-splints”) in order […]

Fast pyrolysis followed by hydrodeoxygenation upgrading is the most popular way to produce bio-oil from biomass. A two-step process can be combined together as hydropyrolysis treatment. This approach usually involves continuous hydrogen flow and high operation pressure (15~100 atm), resulting in significantly increased capital and operational costs. Compared to hydrogen, which is not naturally available […]

China has experienced a rapid process of urban growth and its housing market has expanded greatly in the past 30 years. It is evident that urban housing consumption and overall housing quality have been elevated significantly in China. Yet, the improvement in housing provision is clearly not shared equally among all residents in Chinese cities. […]

This project studies efficient online optimization algorithms for large-scale data transfer among data centers in a geographically-distributed cloud system, as well as their SDN (Software Defined Networking)-facilitated implementation. Big data analytics, content distribution, and various web applications (social networking, search engine) have become dominating applications on today’s cloud platforms. Moving bulk volumes of data from […]

Too many people drive cars for commuting to work. If people used more active and sustainable transportation options this would reduce the impact on the environment and likely increase people’s physical activity and well-being. Our project partner Sustainable Alberta Association (SAA) is a not for profit organization that organize a Canadian annual wide competition called […]

The knowledge and skills of long-term employees are vital to the success of any business. When they leave, retire or are no longer available to perform their functions new employees are hired to take on their job functions. Somehow the skills of the departing long-term employees have to be transferred to the newly hired. The […]

This project aims to provide much needed evidence to service providers and program managers working in the field of early childhood development (ECD). Early childhood programs are required to provide evidence of tangible outcomes to validate the impacts of their programs. Organizations, though, do not always have the knowledge, resources, or capacity to support such […]

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is caused by an immune attack on the nerve and muscles junctions and manifests as severe and sometimes life threatening muscle weakness. A number of effective immune modifying medications are available for MG. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) – a fraction of blood harvested from thousands of donors and containing high concentration of immunoglobulins, […]

Canada owns the largest heavy oil and bitumen reserves in the world. Unfortunately, extracting these hydrocarbons is difficult due to their high viscosity. Currently, the most popular strategy is to heat the bitumen using steam, but steam injection can be inefficient and is not suitable for all reservoirs. Radio frequency heating offers a flexible and […]

Black carbon (BC), generated from incomplete combustion of carbonaceous fuels, is one of the two major airborne pollutants that drive climate change and degrade regional air quality. With a warming potential second to CO2, BC contributes the most uncertainty to climate modeling due to its short retention time in the atmosphere and poorly understood mixing, […]

Laure Aymé is a PhD student focusing her research on a plant protein family involved in lipid biosynthesis and important for oil accumulation and biotechnological purposes. Laure recently published an article describing the function and localization of a protein inserted in two distinct cellular compartment membranes, a rather unique situation with few available data. During […]

Global population growth, urbanization and changing climate patterns have increased the demand for potable water, wastewater reuse and value recovery from wastewater, and treatment of industrial process water. Population growth also results in increased demand for the shipping of goods by ocean freight, with the associated risk of the transport of unwanted marine life from […]