Innovative Projects Realized

Explore thousands of successful projects resulting from collaboration between organizations and post-secondary talent.

31620 Completed Projects

2978
AB
5221
BC
856
MB
696
NL
899
SK
9419
ON
9858
QC
98
PE
619
NB
1192
NS

Projects by Category

Translation of Scottish macrophage-associated IBD immunopathotypes in Canadian patient cohorts

Scotland and Canada are the two nations with the highest incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) world-wide and, therefore, have a big requirement for more in-depth research on its disease mechanisms to create more potent therapies. Macrophages are a type of immune cell that monitor our tissues for potential unwanted intruders and substantially contribute to tissue inflammation, making them a very common and useful target in anti-inflammatory therapies. Previous evidence based on computational analyses of a Scottish IBD cohort predicted that the nature of interaction between intestinal macrophages and the gut epithelium in IBD can identify patients that are more likely to respond to specific front-line treatments. During my placement at the University of British Columbia I will have the rare opportunity to learn a unique technique that isolates and grows both cell types from intestinal tissue which will allow me to study interaction in a biological model.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Ted Steiner

Student:

Partner:

University of Glasgow

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program:

Globalink Research Award

Microstructure Engineering of Aluminum Extrusions for the Automotive Sector

The use of aluminum alloys in automotive applications is increasing since the weight of the vehicle can be decreased. This is beneficial for both internal combustion and battery powered vehicles, to increase fuel economy and increase vehicle range, respectively. However, in general, aluminum alloys are more difficult to form and their performance during a vehicle crash may be challenging. Thus, it is necessary to understand the linkages between the production of the components and their performance. In many cases, components can be made by extrusion followed by heat treatment. The cooling conditions after extrusion and before heat treatment are important. Here, better mechanical properties are found with high cooling rates but higher cooling rates can lead to distortion of component shape which is not acceptable. The goal of this work is to develop models to predict performance based on processing conditions.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Warren Poole

Student:

Partner:

Rio Tinto Alcan (Jonquière, QC)

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing; Mining; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program:

Accelerate

Extraction de vocabulaire structuré pour l’établissement d’une politique de rétention et de contrôle de courriels 2

Le prajet consiste a extraire, a partir d’un tres grand volume de courriels, un vocabulaire structure qui pourra etre mis a profit pour l’elaboration d’une politique de retention et de controle. Plus precisement, des methodes seront developpees pour l’extraction d’un ensemble de termes pertinents puis, dans un deuxieme temps, l’ensemble des relations pertinentes dans lesquelles ces termes sont impliques. Les informations extraites serant mises en correspondance avec les concepts contenus dans une base de connaissances existante, permettant un enrichissement du vocabulaire extrait avec toutes les possibilitesd’inferences qui y sont associees.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Michel Gagnon

Student:

Partner:

Netmail Inc

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Information and cultural industries

University:

École Polytechnique de Montréal

Program:

Accelerate

TRACER 3D cultures to unravel the role of myoepithelial cells in breast cancer progression

Cancer cells can be expanded and studied alone outside of the body in two-dimensional plastic dishes. These simplistic conditions lack the genetic variation and complex signals found in human tumours that tell cancer cells to grow uncontrollably and spread throughout the body. To effectively identify the signals that fuel breast cancer spread and develop clinical therapies to stop them, scientists require new ways of growing cancer cells outside of the body. The student will receive world-class training in Canada to build innovative three-dimensional ‘mini tumour models’ that better mimic the native environment of cancer cells. By combining different cell types, they will investigate how cancer cells communicate and corrupt non-cancerous cells including neighbouring immune cells, to fuel their own growth. Using newly gained expertise, the student will establish this unique method of fabricating and analysing ‘mini-tumours’ back in the UK to sustain and develop new long-term collaborations in Canada.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Alison McGuigan

Student:

Partner:

Queen Mary, University of London

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Life Sciences (not health); Biotechnology; Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

University of Toronto

Program:

Globalink Research Award

From Rumour to Riot: Assessing the effects of verbal prejudice on desires and perceptions of intergroup contact between Muslims and non-Muslims.

Prejudice against Muslims has risen in the U.K. and Canada, threatening harmonious intergroup relations and the wellbeing of Muslims. Some politicians endorse and encourage interactions among people from diverse backgrounds, whereas others discourage this. It is currently unclear what effects this has on the desires of non-Muslims to interact with Muslims. Using Canadian politicians’ twitter statements from the 2019 election period, themes related to politicians’ statements about Muslims
will be explored. Then positive and negative messaging about Muslims from this data will inform experimental manipulations to understand their impact on people’s desires for intergroup contact. We will also examine emotion variables such as intergroup anxiety and trust. The findings will inform how politician messaging can impact intergroup relations, and the particular psychological mechanisms that account for these effects.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Becky Choma

Student:

Partner:

Queen’s University Belfast

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

Toronto Metropolitan University

Program:

Globalink Research Award

Investigating the neuroprotective potential of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) after soman exposure

Organophosphorus compounds (organophosphates) cause numerous deaths globally due to pesticide poisoning or due to their alternative use as chemical weapons. Potent organophosphates, such as soman, are highly toxic inducing paralysis, seizures, respiratory failure and death. Exposure to sub-lethal soman doses results in immediate convulsive seizures, leading to decreased blood flow in the brain and the death of brain cells. Increases in interleukin1 (IL-1), a protein that causes inflammation, are seen in the brain after soman exposure, which may contribute to cell death. Previous studies that used rodents genetically modified to stop IL1 from working show reduced death of brain cells after soman exposure, while enhancing the effects of IL-1 worsened the cell death. IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) is a drug that blocks the effects of IL-1 and this project will investigate changes in cell death and blood flow in the brain after IL-1Ra treatment post soman exposure in rodents. The postulated outcome is the use
of IL-1Ra in situations of organophosphate poisoning, which could benefit farmers, soldiers and civilians.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Jeffrey Dunn

Student:

Partner:

University of Manchester

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Calgary

Program:

Globalink Research Award

Public Engagement in Nuclear: Medicine, Mining, Meeting Climate Change Commitments

This project explores methods of engagement and communication that bridge the science, public and policy gap in respect of the nuclear ecology: medicine, mining, and meeting climate change commitments (through nuclear energy small modular reactors (SMRs)). Saskatchewan, the home of uranium mining and where scientists helped develop the world’s first cobalt-60 nuclear medicine scanning machines, is an ideal location for this inter and transdisciplinary exploration. United by complex issues (climate change, cancer/disease, nuclear science) and the geography of uranium mining, this study explores people’s attitudes, affects, perceptions and learning surrounding the nuclear ecology.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Margot Hurlbert

Student:

Partner:

Sylvia Fedoruk Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation Inc

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of Regina

Program:

Accelerate

Fraud Detection in Derivatives Market using Deep Unsupervised Anomaly Detection and NLP

In the last few years, a high increase in the interest of traders and investors towards financial instruments directly led to an important augmentation of the information received daily by exchanges. Exchange regulators, who constantly monitor markets to unveil potential infractions, traditionally perform their investigation manually and the notable growth in market activity represents an important risk of fraudulent events going unnoticed. In response to that new reality, exchanges around the globe are establishing automated surveillance systems that track market activity. In this project, we set out to design new artificial intelligence algorithms that will detect anything in the Montreal exchange’s market that seems abnormal or fraudulent in the market data and news, so that analysts can focus on these alerts. Such a system could potentially detect fraudulent cases that are currently going unnoticed, while drastically reducing human costs and validation time.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Manuel Morales;Gilles Caporossi

Student:

Partner:

Bourse de Montréal

Discipline:

Mathematics

Sector:

Finance and Insurance

University:

HEC Montréal; Université de Montréal

Program:

Accelerate

Improving diagnostics for toxoplasmosis to support public health interventions

People acquire Toxoplasma gondii infection most often by one of two routes: by consuming either bradyzoite-stage parasites from infected meat, or oocyst-stage parasites from contaminated environments. It is important to be able to identify how people become infected with this parasite, for several reasons. Firstly, because this information could be important for predicting how ill the person is likely to become after infection. Secondly, this information could be used by scientists to find out how most
people are acquiring infections in any given population. In turn, this could translate into meaningful public health policies to reduce the number of Toxoplasma infections. This laboratory project will validate a diagnostic test that identifies which route of infection a person (or animal) has been infected with. By trialing the test on animal blood samples of known infection route, the project will estimate how accurate this test is for identifying the route of Toxoplasma infection.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Christopher Fernandez-Prada

Student:

Partner:

Royal Veterinary College

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology; Aquaculture and Fishing; Life Sciences (not health)

University:

Université de Montréal

Program:

Globalink Research Award

Investigating Translational Poetics in Canadian Francophone Literatures

This project will shed new light on the interrelations between creative writing and translation in understudied contemporary Canadian Francophone works. Firstly, contemporary Francophone writer-translators of Montréal will be analysed; secondly,
interrelations between the aspects of translation in Montréal’s cityscape, soundscape and literatures will be investigated; thirdly, the process of translation will be employed as a critical tool to examine indigenous Canadian Francophone works. In addition to
examining unexplored literary works, the project will demonstrate and examine how translation can be used to facilitate integration and bridge divides in multilingual communities, how it may be used as a tool for creative writing and as a tool for the critical analysis of literature. The project will demonstrate how translation can be used to enhance interdisciplinary research.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Sherry Simon;Judith Woodsworth

Student:

Partner:

King's College London

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

Concordia University

Program:

Globalink Research Award

Mavi Mi1 Hydrokinetic Turbine Power Converter and Controller Design Review and Field Test

Mavi Innovations is pursuing a prototype demonstration of its 20kW hydrokinetic turbine for generating electricity from river and tidal currents in Fall 2013. Demonstration of this new system includes the development of a control system to govern turbine operation, and of the power electronics to manage generated power and provide electricity to the grid. The Mitacs intern will assist with the design and specification of the commercial off-the-shelf power electronics, and of the control method. The system will be modeled using the MATLAB SIMULINK dynamic modeling software package. The control method will be implemented on a microcontroller to control the speed of the turbine, allowing the collection of turbine performance data such as efficiency and power output. Field test data will be used to validate the SIMULINK model and investigate optimal power converters and control methodologies.

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Faculty Supervisor:

William Dunford

Student:

Partner:

Mavi Innovations Inc

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program:

Accelerate

How can hybrid forms of image-making invoke a shared radical imagination to respond to our climate emergency?

In the West, the arts have played a distinctive role in enabling the fiction of our current perceptions of ecology; one where human mastery of the planet has been mythologised through the production of images. These artistic myths at one level separate us from nature, while also paradoxically, seeking to establish deep, meaningful connections between the human species and planetary ecology. This fiction has evolved through the development of photography, film-making, advertising and capitalism. Addresses arts responsibility to generate new ways of imagining a response to our urgent ecological circumstance, the research advances new forms of image-making that challenge the ways we
understand and engage “Nature” (the nonhuman world). Its method will employ the host researcher’s concept of the ‘radical imagination’ as a tool that can account for diverse, nonhuman, ways of seeing the world. Expected Outcomes: This interdisciplinary project will result in a filmwork, exhibition and written research paper

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Faculty Supervisor:

Max Haiven

Student:

Partner:

University of Sunderland

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Other; Sustainability & the Environment; Public Service, Policy, and Governance

University:

Lakehead University

Program:

Globalink Research Award

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Mitacs — Return on Innovation

Mitacs is funded by the Government of Canada, the Government of Alberta, the Government of British Columbia, Research Manitoba, the Government of New Brunswick, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Government of Nova Scotia, the Government of Ontario, Innovation PEI, the Government of Quebec, the Government of Saskatchewan, and the Government of Yukon.