Seasonal influenza causes significant mortality and morbidity worldwide, and we are currently unprepared to mitigate a fatal pandemic outbreak like the 1918 Spanish Flu. A proven influenza antiviral target is the M2 viroporin, or viral ion channel. Amantadine, an M2 inhibitor was an effective antiviral for 20 years. However, current influenza antivirals are increasingly ineffective […]

In 2022, over 4.5 billion doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines were produced to combat a devastating pandemic. The above vaccines contain messenger RNA (“mRNA”) trapped inside lipid nanoparticles (“LNPs”), which are globules with a diameter of a few billionths of a meter, composed of fatty substances called lipids. A crucial type […]

Metro Vancouver’s new Zero Emissions Innovation Centre’s (ZEIC) mandate is to catalyse, accelerate, and scale climate action innovation across Metro Vancouver through program delivery, impact investing, granting, partnerships, capacity building, and research. With the urgency and importance of city-led climate action rapidly increasing, and the impacts of a changing climate being directly experienced by communities […]

The objectives of this research project are to deepen understanding of the cognitive underpinnings of engagement in games, especially in the context of multiplayer games. The research will be leveraged by our organization in future research projects and commercial productions.

In rock engineering practice there is often insufficient time, schedule, and computational/expert resources to investigate complex rock mass phenomena in detail. The large amount of multivariate data that characterizes complex rock mass behaviour creates the ideal conditions to use machine learning. Machine learning allows for the use of all relevant data and can inform the […]

There is growing public interest in the therapeutic use of mushrooms that contain a psychoactive ingredient called psilocybin. There are two categories of psilocybin available for clinical use right now. Natural psilocybin, which is extracted from the mushroom, and synthetically derived psilocybin-like compounds. Synthetic psilocybin is more commonly used in clinical trials because companies producing […]

In 2021, over 2.2 billion doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines were produced to combat a truly devastating pandemic. Such medications represent the fastest vaccines ever to be developed, with some of the highest efficiencies reported. The above vaccines contain messenger RNA (“mRNA”) trapped inside lipid nanoparticles (“LNPs”), which are globules composed of […]

Indigenous youth may face a number of barriers to accessing sexual health services due to accessibility and stigma. This study seeks to identify intersectional barriers that Indigenous youth may face when accessing sexual health services. This study will be done with mixed methods through statistical analysis and Indigenous community co-designed interviews.

This project aims to develop lignocellulosic nanomaterials from Canada’s rich forest fibers for packaging applications. With the banning of single use plastic, more and more paper-based packaging products are developed. However, most of the paper-based packaging products do not have satisfied water-resistant performance. To enhance such performance, lamination using plastic or coating with toxic coating […]

Urban black-tailed deer in Esquimalt BC have increased in number, leading to their perception as pests and posing risks to residents through traffic accidents. Lethal removal programs (i.e., culling) are unethical and based on little scientific evidence. We seek to use more humane methods of population control by reducing deer birth rate using birth-control vaccines. […]

This project is to enable groups of people to better brainstorm decisions in which people can have divergent opinions. Building on ValueCharts that lets people input their utility, we will build a tool that lets decision makers explore the space of the expressed opinion to see where there are differences and whether they matter to […]

A new method to determine whether wildlife are present in certain habitats has been developed that involves collecting environmental samples (water, soil, air) and testing them in a laboratory for the presence of cells and tissue that have been shed by wildlife into their environment. These cells and tissue can include hair, saliva, skin cells, […]