Spotted Wing Drosophila is an aggressive invasive pest that is high research and management priority for the BC and Canadian berry and small fruit industry. Spotted Wing Drosophila can substantially reduce crop yields despite heavy uses of chemical insecticides, which in some cases can be harmful to the environment and human health. Botanical extracts from […]

NORAM Engineering and Constructors have a technology called salt splitting. This technology is used to produce caustic soda and sulfuric acid. However, the presence of fluoride in this technology can cause the breakdown of the coating on the titanium anode, which can cause premature anode failure. As replacing these titanium anodes can incur significant costs, […]

This project is a collaboration between Triptech Engineering and Software Services LTD and Laboratory for Alternative Energy Conversion (LAEC) at SFU to develop data analytics solutions for PEM fuel cell industry. The fuel cell industry is suffering from component/system failure and coping with analysis of tremendous amounts of data. Knowledge extraction from this complex data […]

Many small insects and creatures utilize reversible adhesion to vertically scale up walls and surfaces. The adhesion mechanisms are reliant on the tip geometry of highly dense fibrillar arrays as opposed to surface chemistry. The arrays can switch between high strength and completely non-adhering states. I will be investigating the role of array aspect ratio […]

Diabetes mellitus, a common metabolic disorder, exhibits neuropathic complications that can eventually lead to disabling pain (Todorovic 2015). This is attributed to hyperglycemia/high glucose resulting in neuronal hyperexcitability (Todorovic 2015). Importantly, diabetes-evoked neuronal hyperexcitability and neurotoxicity can be caused by alterations in voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) expression (Hong, Morrow et al. 2004), resulting in changes […]

Diabetes mellitus, a common metabolic disorder, exhibits neuropathic complications that can eventually lead to disabling pain (Todorovic 2015). This is attributed to hyperglycemia/high glucose resulting in neuronal hyperexcitability (Todorovic 2015). Importantly, diabetes-evoked neuronal hyperexcitability and neurotoxicity can be caused by alterations in voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) expression (Hong, Morrow et al. 2004), resulting in changes […]

Wearable body sensors are groundbreaking in that they allow for continuous and unobtrusive physiological measurements. The promise is that someday soon, smartphones will monitor our bodily state and thus prevent all kinds of wellbeing implications: acute physiological issues like stroke or heart attack; less acute but still serious illness, such as chronic illnesses caused by […]

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a complication of diabetes which is the most common cause of vision loss among people with diabetes. DR damages and alters the structure of the capillary network (microvasculature) in the retina, a light-sensitive tissue that lines the back of the eye and is responsible for vision. Clinicians can analyze the microvasculature […]

Traditionally, forest plantation management practices in Central America have revolved around clear-cut management and the use of a single, exotic tree species. While these practices simplify the management and planning of plantations, they often leave much to be desired when considering overall environmental impacts. The goal of this study is to determine how a tropical […]

The August 2014 tailings dam breach at the Mount Polley Mine, BC severely disturbed downstream forest ecosystems through erosion and tailings deposition. The impacted area presents an opportunity to research using ecosystem legacies (ecosystem components that survive a disturbance) to rehabilitate disturbed areas. A field trial at Mount Polley is testing seedling establishment and soil […]

The risks related to Tailing Storage Facilities (TSF) failure are increasingly manifesting as financially material and impactful. My goal during this Globalink funded project is to identify the current tools that institutional mining investors are using to evaluate risk exposure associated with TSF. The overarching objective is to identify whether tailings dam safety is considered […]