Innovative Projects Realized

Développement d’un test d’efficacité et identification de biomarqueur permettant d’évaluer la capacité du lait maternel à prévenir l’entérocolite nécrosante

L’entérocolite nécrosante (NEC) est la plus commune et la plus meurtrière des maladies inflammatoires de l’intestin. Elle affecte 5 à 10 % des enfants prématurés ayant un poids inférieur à 1500 g. Le lait maternel constitue l’approche la plus efficace pour prévenir ou traiter la NEC. En effet, il a été montré que l’alimentation avec du lait maternel réduit de trois à dix fois le risque de NEC chez les prématurés nourris au lait maternel comparativement à ceux nourris au lait maternisé. Le lait maternel contient plusieurs éléments susceptibles d’expliquer sa capacité à prévenir la NEC. En effet, il contient plusieurs éléments (molécules bioactives) qui favorisent la survie des cellules humaines de l’intestin. Ces facteurs préviennent l’inflammation ce qui empêche le développement de la NEC. Ce projet vise à élaborer un test d’efficacité permettant de prédire la capacité des lots de lait maternel produits par Héma-Québec à prévenir l’apparition de l’inflammation.

Origin and geochemistry of the Upper Cambrian slope carbonates of the Martin Point reference section in western Newfoundland

The proposed investigation will combine the petrographic and geochemical techniques to better understand the geochemistry of the Martin Point slope carbonates in comparison with their modern biotic and abiotic counterparts to evaluate the degree of preservation of primary geochemical, a cornerstone of building reliable interpretations. This work is beneficial from a planning and costing exercise to the partner and provides further contribution to body of work for the country as a whole.

Mesurer l’impact socio-économique d’initiatives en éducation financière dans un pays en voie de développement : Méthodologies proposées

De nombreuses ONGs implantent des plans éducatifs dans des pays en voie de développement. Habituellement, des indicateurs de l’atteinte des objectifs sont proposés afin d’évaluer les retombées directes du projet. Mais qu’en est-il des retombées indirectes auprès des populations impliquées dans le projet? Comment utilisent-elles les nouveaux apprentissages dans les autres domaines de leur vie? Comment évaluer ces retombées indirectes lorsque des participants adultes ne savent pas lire ni écrire? L’objectif général du projet est de fournir un répertoire de méthodologies qui peuvent être appliquées dans des populations émergentes afin d’évaluer des retombées indirectes d’une formation. Nous effectuerons une recension des écrits afin de sélectionner les textes qui peuvent nous être utiles. À ce répertoire, nous ajouterons les méthodologies que la chercheure et les doctorants ont utilisées dans le cadre de divers projets internationaux.

Investigation du potentiel des argiles témiscabitibiennes dans la confectionde ciments écologiques destinés au remblayage minier

Le remblai minier en pâte cimenté (RMPC) est une pratique courante ayant de multiples avantages prouvés.
Toutefois, le remblayage par RMPC est, désormais, confronté à diverses problématiques liées aux liants utilisés
pour assurer sa cohésion : il s’agit surtout de leurs coûts, du caractère polluant de leurs procédés de fabrication
et des coûts additionnels pour leur transport. La recherche de sources locales de ciments écologiques et ayant
des coûts abordables pour le RMPC s’avère une solution pertinente afin de rendre l’opération de remblayage plus
économique et écologique. Dans ce sens la valorisation des argiles de la région d ’Abitibi-Témiscamingue, en tant
que source de ciments à empreinte carbone réduite s’avère une alternative prometteuse. Ce projet vise, donc, à
évaluer le potentiel des argiles témiscabitibiennes en tant qu’additif pour la formulation d’un nouveau remblai
minier en pâte écologique.

Enhancement of Canine Adipose Tissue-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Immune-Modulatory Properties and In Vivo Feasibility Testing in Elbow Dysplasia Patients

Osteoarthritis is a major cause of disability in dogs. Today, the therapeutic role of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) as a potential treatment for immune and inflammatory disorders is well-defined. We are interested in exploring the immune-modulatory property of canine MSCs with the aim of exploiting it as a potential therapy in dogs with Elbow Dysplasia. This foundational work will support future funding applications to conduct a randomized clinical trial (RCT) to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment. This project will provide a baseline for a long-term research program to discover new drugs and/or cell-based products that can develop novel treatment strategies to help osteoarthritis patients.

Sustainable Community Development in London, Ontario

The student intern will compile a report on the best practices available to developers for inclusion in a sustainable community development project. Additionally, the student intern will conduct a cost-benefit analysis as well as a feasibility analysis in order to determine the feasibility of the creation of a sustainable neighbourhood in London, Ontario. The best practice report, cost-benefit analysis, and feasibility analysis will be used in conjunction with the suggestions of the student intern in order for Sifton Properties Limited to determine which researched practices to include in the design of their sustainable community development project.

Climate Change Adaption for Masonry Material, Construction and Design

Climate change is having an affect all aspects of everyday life. In some regions, climate change could also have a negative impact on buildings. To help cope with these expected issues, we will be reviewing the Canadian masonry design standards in order to identify specific aspects of masonry construction that need special attention in their design to ensure our buildings continue to be durable as the local climate in various regions across the country changes. This project will bring together a developing masonry researcher, the expertise of the Canada Masonry Design Centre (CMDC), and staff from the CSA Group to study and report on the necessary changes. This project will benefit the CMDC by promoting the use of masonry construction, and the CSA Group will be able to use the final report to aid in the development of the next updates to the Canadian masonry design standards.

Hospital Acquired infection rates in Acute Care Centers

Audits of rural acute center in Maidstone and Turtleford to determine true rates of hospital acquired infections; Audits of hospital acquired infections in North Battleford, Meadow Lake and Lloydminster, to validate present reporting procedure and provide recommendations based on collected data. These data will be assessed and analyzed. This will provide a good opportunity for standard program planning, implementation and provide a yard stick for program evaluation as well as the development of policy within prairie North Health Region for the control of hospital acquired infections

Extraction of alternative biomarkers from a functional description of homeostasis

Type II diabetes affects around 9% of the North-American population. While it may be reversed by a change of life style and diet, it can cause irrepairable damage if left untreated. Tests that involve taking multiple blood samples are usually administered to find out if a subject has, or is at risk of developing, type II diabetes. We will develop an alternative test that relies on data from a wearable patch that estimates the blood sugar level continuously as the subjects go about their daily business. Three interns will develop the software to parse blood glucose data and extract the information we need to assess a subject’s blood sugar regulation. This work will strengthen the reputation of Klick Health as a leader in health tech innovation and, potentially, lead to the filing and commercialization of a patent on extracting early warning signs for type II diabetes from easily obtained data.

Safe and Effective Enclosure for Electric Baseboard Heaters

Vent & Cover wants to develop in conjunction with UBC and UWO, an enclosure that can slip over electric baseboard heaters and create a safe-to-touch exterior while still allowing the heater to heat the room safely and effectively. The project will have 2 major components, the first of which is to develop an efficient thermal design that redistributes the heat safely. The second component is to determine the optimal material to compliment the design and maintain the objective of a safe-to-touch exterior. At the conclusion of the project, Vent & Cover intends to patent the enclosure and develop new markets in both Canada and the US through direct and distributor sales. In addition, Vent & Cover wants to be the leader in reducing burns to vulnerable individuals as well as accidental fires through the development of this safety enclosure for electric baseboard heaters.

WP 1.1.7 – High Speed and SPIC Packaging and Signal Integrity

The intent of this project is to address the high-speed electronic and photonic packaging portion of a silicon photonic transceiver solution that will explore new and innovative metro reach terabit optical modems.
Packaging is of utmost concern with regard to achievable optical modem performance and eventual costs. Ciena’s optical transceiver performance and cost will be defined by the quality of the packaging solution and the integrity of the signals from electrical dies, to silicon photonic, to module, then board interconnect. Packaging and signal integrity constraints have to be considered very early in the design and cannot be considered as an afterthought after the system has been architected and the chips are well in the design process.

In this project we would like to explore new and innovative packaging techniques for integration of electrical high bandwidth ICs and photonic ICs. The following will be explored very early in the architecture phase of the design:
• Micro ball
• 3D integration using TSV or TGV
• Interposer and MCM
• Power plane and signal integrity for high speed/high power CMOS chips
• Silicon photonic integrated circuit packaging

Chemical and biological characterization of the non-tetrahydrocannabinoid profiles of medicinal plants

We propose to perform detailed studies that characterize chemically and biologically and the unaltered ancestral plant species of the Cannabis genus. Chemically, these studies will provide the chemotype profiles for each parental species for a spectrum of non-tetrahydrocannabinoid compounds. Biologically, these studies will provide the pharmacological profiles for each parental species. These data will enable the development of medical cannabis and cannabinoids (the right drug and the right dose) that can then be used for clinical trials (the right person/disease) to ultimately identify the therapeutic role of cannabinoid based pharmaceutics in disease management (the right time).