Innovative Projects Realized

Perspectives of high-resolution 3D reconstruction for automated mapping of cytoarchitectonic human brain areas

The human brain can be subdivided into structural regions based on the organization of neuronal cells. To identify these regions, postmortem human brains are cut into thin histological slices, scanned using light-microscopic scanners, and analyzed by neuroscientists. However, established analysis methods are time and labour intensive and do not scale to the large amounts of acquired image data. This motivates the ongoing development of Deep Learning methods to automatically identify brain regions from microscopic images.
Analysis of individual 2D images is not always sufficient to identify brain regions, as some relevant tissue properties can only be recovered from 3D context. Recent work on 3D brain reconstruction at cellular resolution now enables Deep Learning methods to exploit 3D context information for improved brain region classification. This project will investigate how 3D reconstructed brain tissue can benefit Deep Learning-based classification of brain regions and thus lay the foundation for next-generation brain mapping techniques.

Effect of Saccharomyces boulardii CNCM I-745 in the prevention gluten immunopathology.

The only treatment for celiac disease (CeD) is a strict gluten-free diet, which is very difficult to follow. Despite following gluten-free diet, many celiacs experience ongoing inflammation and symptoms, highlighting the need for additional therapies. We have shown that celiacs have an altered composition of bacteria in their gut, and this leads to defective bacterial breakdown of the essential amino acid tryptophan. Normally, these products of tryptophan digestion signal through the aryl hydrocarbon receptor to modulate inflammation. But, decreased production of these tryptophan molecules by gut bacteria in celiacs may contribute to inflammation, and is a pathway that could be targeted therapeutically. We also found that the probiotic Saccharomyces boulardii can activate the AhR pathway, suggesting this well characterized probiotic could be of therapeutic interest in CeD. In this proposal we will investigate the preclinical effectiveness of Saccharomyces boulardii administration using a celiac-prone mouse model that carries HLA-DQ8, one of the 2 genes necessary for development of CeD.

Assistance tools to build taxonomy of skills and to search for experts

In many applications, we need to find the right person with the required expertise (skills) for some task. To enable this, it is necessary to extract and organize the skills of different persons in a taxonomy. This project aims at developing a taxonomy of skills for the National Bank of Canada. Currently, a small taxonomy has been created manually by experts, but it is far from being complete. Many skills and their variants are missing. The project will construct tools to extract skills from the profiles of the employees. New skills extracted are used to complement the manually created taxonomy. The taxonomy of skills will be used later for expert search – to find the appropriate persons for a task.

Improved Brazing Processes for Attaching Sintered Carbide Tiles to Steel

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Hydrogen Injection System Evaluation

Adding hydrogen to the intake stream in a commercial truck diesel engine can reduce the vehicle’s CO2 emissions. Combining hydrogen available from industrial waste processes with a low cost and robust fuelling system offers a near-term, economically attractive approach to reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from commercial trucking. To support the development of this technology, SFU and Hydra Energy are partnering to investigate the performance and longevity of hydrogen fuel injection hardware. The work will make use of existing facilities at SFU to evaluate the performance of new, in-service, and end-of-life fuel injectors. The findings from this study will help to guide the development of new control strategies that can account for changes in hydrogen fuelling quantity over the life of the injection systems.

Expositions professionnelles aux émanations de moteurs diesel dans un port

Les expositions aux émanations de moteur diesel (EMD) sont omniprésentes et les chauffeurs de véhicules diesels constituent des groupes à risques au regard des fréquences et des intensités d‘expositions. Plusieurs méthodes ont été proposées pour évaluer l’exposition professionnelle aux EMD mais peu d’études comparatives sont disponibles et aucun consensus ne semble émerger. Le projet proposé permettra de tester plusieurs méthodes et permettra à l’association des employeurs maritime de documenter l’exposition de certains de ses travailleurs aux EMD.

Development of Low-Cost, Compact Optical O2 and CO2 Gas Sensors for Portable Metabolic Analyzers

The measurement of O2 consumption (V ?O2, V ?O2 max) and CO2 production (V ?CO2) is important in the health assessment. The goal of this research is to develop inexpensive optical technologies adapted from off-the-shelf components to reduce the cost and improve the performance of metabolic analyzers. VO2 Master, which is our sole partner organization, is a for-profit Vernon-based technology company that manufactures an innovative face-worn metabolic analyzer. The key challenge to be addressed is that commercially available O2 and CO2 sensors (currently integrated into VO2 Master’s analyzer) are not designed to operate under low flow volumes associated with the company’s patented gas sampling technology. Optical sensors will be explored to realize dual gas detection in a compact form factor that is amenable to the flow volumes of VO2 Master’s face-worn analyzer, opening up the potential for both improved performance and lower cost.

Spatial dynamics of sound beams in echolocating bats

This proposal uses advanced techniques in sound recording and analysis, statistics, and scientific computing to measure how
echolocating bats adjust signal strength and the spatial geometry of their sonar beam to aid in auditory perception. A second but
related project will compare vocalizations of young bats at different developmental stages and measure developmental changes in
their sonar beam. By participating in the Mitacs Globalink Research Award program, I will learn cutting edge methods in physical
acoustics and digital signal processing that will enable me to conduct world class research. In collaboration with my host
supervisor at the University of Southern Denmark, I will learn advanced techniques in acoustic recording, sound measurement,
and signal analyses using a 12-channel microphone array to measure source levels and reconstruct source positions over time
using time-of-arrival differences for each microphone. In addition to enhancing my theoretical and programming skills, this
internship will allow me to transfer new knowledge and practical skills in biological acoustics to my home lab in Canada. An
expected outcome of the internship is one or more collaborative peer-reviewed publications between the host and home labs.

Immunotherapeutic targeting of CD133 in adult brain tumors and understanding tumor microenvironment in Glioblastoma

Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive adult brain tumor, and in spite of standard of care (SOC) with radiation therapy and chemotherapy with temozolomide tumor re-growth (or recurrence) and patient relapse are inevitable. There is compelling evidence that suggests SOC can debulk the tumor but cells endowed with treatment-resistant properties (e.g. expressing the protein marker CD133) could escape such therapies and initiate tumor relapse. Brain metastases (BM) are the most common and fatal brain tumors, and current SOC does not extend survival past 12 months. We identified BM cells to also express high levels of CD133, whose expression correlates with disease progression, recurrence, chemo- and radio-resistance and overall poor prognosis. We propose to test immune cells called NK /T cells with a synthetic protein that binds to CD133, allowing these NK/T cells to recognize CD133 on tumor cells and destroy them. In-house in vitro and in vivo GBM and BM patient-derived models will be used to test novel constructs supplied from our industry partner Century Therapeutics (CD133- CARNK/T). On the other hand, we will explore GBM tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) by performing integrative multiomics of primary and recurrent patient-matched GBMs including RNA seq, sciRNA seq and proteomics.

Modelling Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) in Precision Cut Lung Slices (continuation)

As researchers strive to reduce the number of animals used in their research, many are turning to precision cut
lung slices (PCLS), thin organ slices prepared from fully developed mouse lungs. They represent a “mini-model”
that closely resembles the original organ in both anatomical structure and rich cellular environment. Despite the
increasing interest, no commercial system exists to provide a easy introduction to this technique that currently
requires lots of resources and expertise to perfect. With this project, we strive to provide researcher with a turnkey
solution for PCLS experiments by standardizing the technique and providing both instrumentation, software and
all experimental protocols to perform PCLS experiments from start to finish. We will then use this new platform
to compare outcomes of LPS induced ARDS, a model of interest for COVID-19 research when studying whole
mice and PCLS.

Development of a Natural Language Processing algorithm for the topic and novelty identification of scientific articles

Currently the selection of peer reviewers is a secret process entirely controlled by journal editors. This introduces significant biases into the process that fosters an environment that contravenes every aspect of equity, diversity and inclusivity, inhibits novel ideas and suppresses creativity which is just bad for science as a whole. Furthermore, research is most often published behind paywalls, making taxpayer funded research inaccessible to the average Canadian. Peer Premier is leading the charge to democratize scientific dissemination. We are using Artificial Intelligence, specifically the field of Natural Language Processing to match appropriate reviewers to papers requiring peer review. This will remove biases, increase peer review transparency and increase the quality, novelty and diversity of science. Providing a professional, certified peer review in a transparent manner will negate the requirement of having to publish the paper behind paywalls and scientific authors will be free to post their professionally peer-reviewed paper making it free to all Canadians who funded their research.

Development of femtosecond/picosecond laser and sample delivery for PIRL-DIVE-MS to enable spatial imaging of tissue and earliest possible detection of disease

Picosecond InfraRed Laser (PIRL) technology has finally realized the long-held promise of the laser to achieve the fundamental (single cell) limit to minimally invasive surgery – with the unexpected benefit of scar free healing. The very process of laser cutting involves the selective excitation of natural occurring water inside tissue to drive molecules into the gas phase in the form of an ablation plume. The cutting process occurs so fast that all the constituents within the tissue are injected into the gas phase perfectly intact, perfect for detection of biomolecules at the highest possible sensitivity and speed using Mass Spectrometers (MS) or charged particle detectors. This research promises to revolutionize medicine by enabling scar free surgery at the single cell limit of accuracy with complete biodiagnostics to guide surgery for optimal recovery of function and detect diseases from microbiopsies of tissue at the earliest possible stage.