Agricultural practises in the North American prairies have intensified in the last several decades to increase food production, resulting in the drainage of up to 70% of prairie wetlands in some areas. Not surprisingly agricultural intensification is associated with the loss of biodiversity. Our research aims to assess whether retaining wetlands in agro-ecosystems can mitigate […]

Le projet consiste en un stage de recherche en biologie synthétique, un domaine scientifique émergeant reliant biologie et ingénierie afin de construire ou modifier des systèmes biologiques dans le but de répondre à certaines problématiques. Les maladies infectieuses sont des causes de pertes économiques majeures à l’échelle du globe, entre autres dans l’industrie agroalimentaire. Le […]

Previous studies in dairy cow nutritional management during the calving transition mainly focused on how to improve milk production after calving, yet gut function and health during this critical period is largely unknown. Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2), a 33-amino acid peptide secreted by enteroendocrine L-cells of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), has been reported to increase small […]

Among Drosophila species, volatile organic compounds are key for host- and mate-finding behaviour. Recently, it was discovered that a single olfactory receptor channel (Or69a) in D. melanogaster that is tuned to both host odours and sex pheromones (Lebreton et al. 2017). Phylogenic analysis suggests this receptor is conserved across all Drosophila species; however, Or69a is […]

Depuis les dernières années, les punaises de la famille des Pentatomidae posent de plus en plus de problèmes dans la culture du pois au Québec. Bien que la présence de ces dernières sur les plants ne provoque pas de pertes de rendement significatives, elles contaminent toutefois les récoltes. Leur ressemblance au pois, quant à la […]

Universities across Canada are facing a mental health crisis with an increasing number of students reporting anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts. This is of special concern in first-year undergraduate students. First year university students will be asked to use an electronic platform which encompasses three pillars of health (nutrition, fitness and awareness) for 12 weeks. […]

Plant-based beverages are inappropriate alternatives to bovine milk, due to lower protein content and not sufficient amount of essential amino acids. To produce nutritionally complete plant-based beverage with high overall acceptability, the technological interventions and fortification techniques need to be developed. Oat is one of the promising raw material for preparation of functional plant-based milk […]

The proposed project aims to address several challenges that the nursery robots made by AIS Inc. is grappling with. The project tasks are divided into two subprojects: 1) optimizing the electrical and control systems for the AIS robots, and 2) designing a multi-agent system to allow collaboration among the robots. The first subproject consists of […]

Des microorganismes se retrouvent dans la sève d’érable au moment de la récolte et ont un lien avec la qualité du sirop, mais on ne comprend pas encore ce qui fait varier les populations de microorganismes d’un endroit à l’autre et en cours de récolte. Le projet de recherche consiste à identifier les microorganismes qui […]

Automated harvesting of horticultural produce is an opportunity for Canadian farmers to improve the quality of yield, reduce labour costs, and increase revenues. The research project will focus on the design and development of soft pneumatically-driven robotic grippers that conform to the natural shape of delicate produce, such as mushrooms, in an effort to minimize […]