Building on my recent archival research, my Mitacs project explores the ways early 20th century discourses of betterment and progress, such as eugenics, in southern Ontario were unevenly entwined within rural domestic science educational institutions and connected to cultural histories and legacies of colonialism that diminished and disappeared young women who did not fit the […]

The research in the Foulkes Lab is focused on the regulation of circadian rhythms and environmental effects on specific gene products. The project I will be contributing to aims to investigate the role of environment, specifically light, on the evolution of cryptochromes and photolyases. Photolyases are proteins that are involved in repairing DNA, and the […]

Antimony is classified as a strategic element due to its high relevance for many military and technical applications, e.g. its use in fire suppressants and lead-acid batteries. Canada has currently no operational mine to produce antimony and about 90% of the world production originates from China and east Asia. This project will develop a geophysical […]

Treatments generating ablation and coagulation of tissues by applying lasers, microwaves, radiofrequency currents or focused ultrasound have many advantages over scalpel-based and other mechanistic surgical methods. These advantages have consequently motivated the clinical application of the various ablation techniques in a myriad of medical specialities, such as oncology, electrophysiology, and ophthalmology. Despite these advances, most […]

Enacting complex behaviours, such as locomotion, involves network-wide integration of information at the level of the nervous system. This understanding highlights the need for appropriate technologies to monitor the global dynamics of neurons in these networks. However, previous studies employing model organisms have been limited to low resolution imaging, few neurons and/or immobilized specimens. In […]

A novel class of DHODH inhibitors called tetrahydroindazoles was recently identified in the group of professor Sonia Lain through screening of a commercially available chemical library for activators of p53. The hit compound HZ00 is able to slow tumor cell growth in culture, an effect which was reversed upon supplementation with uridine, and had little […]

Oxidative stress and inflammation can cause neuron degeneration and lead to mental disorders such as Alzheimer’s Disease. Dementia is debilitating and poses economic burden to the patients, families, and society. Currently, no curative drugs have been developed to treat dementia. This study will be elucidating the mechanism of action and examining the anti-oxidative and therapeutic […]

Color has been a central issue in the digital imaging device industry. Customers want more vivid and natural color presented on imaging devices such as displays, printers, and cameras. Among various colors in the display system, skin color is the most critical references since it has the most perceptive impact on human visual system and […]

Modern pesticides have revolutionized agriculture. However, growing concerns with pest resistance, environmental run-off, and a lack of capacity to deal with abiotic stresses associated with drought or extreme heat (critical issues with regards to climate change) demand new solutions. Suncor has developed new plant immune aids that address these challenges by fortifying the immunity of […]

Modern pesticides have revolutionized agriculture. However, growing concerns with pest resistance, environmental run-off, and a lack of capacity to deal with abiotic stresses associated with drought or extreme heat (critical issues with regards to climate change) demand new solutions. Suncor has developed new plant immune aids that address these challenges by fortifying the immunity of […]

Building a high throughput vacuum chamber for our group’s transient grading spectroscopy (TGS) project, which uses picosecond, ultrasonic laster acoustics to probe the sub-surface, thermo-elastic properties of materials. We are particularly interested to study the thermal diffusivity of material under irradiation, which requires probe depths of single microns conducted in vacuum. Our current chamber is […]

Quantum efficiency (QE) test equipment becomes abundantly important in numerous applications such as solar cells devices, charge-coupled devices (CCD), photodetectors, both in visible range and in infra-red (IR) spectral range. Although QE tests are becoming prevalent, every application has specific requirements to the excitation source, photovoltaic devices or instrument geometries. Sciencetech Inc. is a global […]