Innovative Projects Realized

Resistant Starch Prebiotic Effects in Chronic Kidney Disease (ReSPECKD) study – Year two

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is associated with a reduced quality of life and an increased risk of kidney failure, cardiovascular events, and all-cause mortality. The goal of this project is to investigate whether the consumption of resistant potato starch (RPS) in addition to current standard care for CKD will reduce uremic toxins and symptoms by altering gut microbiota in patients with CKD. Strategies to reduce the production of these toxins by the gut microbiome in patients with CKD are highly desirable because they may lead to reduced symptoms and delay the onset of dialysis. A clinical trial will be conducted at the partner’s site, the Chronic Disease Innovation Centre (CDIC), to investigate the impact of RSP consumption on gut microbiota and whether these changes impact the concentrations of uremic toxins and uremic symptoms in patients with CKD. Delaying the onset of dialysis in a patient by 6 months has the potential to save upwards of $30,000 in healthcare expenditures. CDIC works with the Manitoba Renal Program which oversees the care of patients with CKD in Manitoba. The Elevate Fellow will support the start up and completion of the clinical trial at CDIC.

Resistant Starch Prebiotic Effects in Chronic Kidney Disease (ReSPECKD) study

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is associated with a reduced quality of life and an increased risk of kidney failure, cardiovascular events, and all-cause mortality. The goal of this project is to investigate whether the consumption of resistant potato starch (RPS) in addition to current standard care for CKD will reduce uremic toxins and symptoms by altering gut microbiota in patients with CKD. Strategies to reduce the production of these toxins by the gut microbiome in patients with CKD are highly desirable because they may lead to reduced symptoms and delay the onset of dialysis. A clinical trial will be conducted at the partner’s site, the Chronic Disease Innovation Centre (CDIC), to investigate the impact of RSP consumption on gut microbiota and whether these changes impact the concentrations of uremic toxins and uremic symptoms in patients with CKD. Delaying the onset of dialysis in a patient by 6 months has the potential to save upwards of $30,000 in healthcare expenditures. CDIC works with the Manitoba Renal Program which oversees the care of patients with CKD in Manitoba. The Elevate Fellow will support the start up and completion of the clinical trial at CDIC.

Modification d’une embouteilleuse automatisée, amélioration de l’utilisation des ressources énergétiques et desrésidus d’une micro-brasserie

Les Brasseurs de la Mauricie est une micro brasserie qui existe depuis près de quatre ans. L’entreprise brasse

présentement sous licence à Laval chez AMB (Au Maître Brasseur). Cette année, l’entreprise procèdera à

l’installation d’une nouvelle brasserie dans le secteur industriel de Trois-Rivières. L’entreprise espère limiter au

maximum les investissements de départ afin de réduire les emprunts et permettre un remboursement plus

rapide de ces derniers. Elle veut aussi faire un choix judicieux lors de l’achat de leurs équipements de façon à

économiser de l’énergie à long terme lors de leur utilisation.

Partie 1 :

Cette partie consiste à apporter les modifications nécessaires à une embouteilleuse à bière usagée Meheen

(ancienne génération) afin de permettre une meilleure purge de CO2 et l’embouteillage des trois formats de

bouteille (341ml-500ml-750ml). Le projet permettrait à l’entreprise d’économiser un minimum de 25000$. De

plus, l’amélioration de la flexibilité de la machine permettrait de sauver temps et argent supplémentaire.

Partie 2 :

Cette partie vise à optimiser…..TOBECONTINUED

Automated Multi-Factor Medium Optimization of Human Hematopoietic Stem Cell Expansion Using Design of Experiments

This project aims to support ExCellThera’s current clinical trial (ECT-001) to improve blood stem cell transplantation outcomes for patients suffering from a host of blood malignancies. A critical aspect of developing clinical therapies using stem cells involves accurate and robust control of stem cell behavior in controlled laboratory conditions. Cell growth conditions (media) should mimic the native environment of the cell of interest. With the correct media composition, blood stem cells will expand in number and can be directed to produce a functional cell type(s) of interest, such as antibody-producing B-cells or oxygen-carrying erythrocytes. The expansion and production of functional blood cells is a critical step to enhancing existing bone marrow transplants, and for developing new, targeted therapies. We anticipate that an engineered blood stem cell graft can be tuned to meet the clinical needs of specific diseases in a precise manner.

To optimize media composition, we propose developing a high-throughput, automated platform capable of preparing and analyzing large numbers of culture conditions in a programmable manner. This platform will allow us to identify, in an automated and efficient manner, significant positive conditions to expand blood stem cells, or produce specific cell types for therapeutic applications.

Understanding the impact of changes to blood donation deferral screening and criteria for men who have sex with men – Year two

Available evidence suggests that up to 71% of individuals will require blood or blood products at some point in their lives. To meet this demand, Canadian Blood Services estimates that approximately 100,000 new donors are required annually. However, current blood donation guidelines in Canada require a 3-month deferral period for men who have sex with men (MSM) due to the elevated incidence of HIV in this population, guidelines many see as discriminatory. Given the the improvement in HIV testing technology in recent years, re-evaluation of these guidelines would optimize donor eligibility. The proposed project will examine attitudes to revised donation guidelines among the general population and blood users, using a bilingual, representative national survey and semi-structured interviews with blood users. This will provide a better understanding of how moving towards gender-blind, behaviour-based screening of potential donors, and the inclusion of sensitive questions in the screening questionnaire, may affect donation rates and therefore the sufficiency of blood and blood products in Canada. This research will allow the partner organization, the Community-Based Research Centre for Gay Men’s Health, who have been studying the issue for several years, to develop recommendations for Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec regarding screening and deferral criteria.

Understanding the impact of changes to blood donation deferral screening and criteria for men who have sex with men

Available evidence suggests that up to 71% of individuals will require blood or blood products at some point in their lives. To meet this demand, Canadian Blood Services estimates that approximately 100,000 new donors are required annually. However, current blood donation guidelines in Canada require a 3-month deferral period for men who have sex with men (MSM) due to the elevated incidence of HIV in this population, guidelines many see as discriminatory. Given the the improvement in HIV testing technology in recent years, re-evaluation of these guidelines would optimize donor eligibility. The proposed project will examine attitudes to revised donation guidelines among the general population and blood users, using a bilingual, representative national survey and semi-structured interviews with blood users. This will provide a better understanding of how moving towards gender-blind, behaviour-based screening of potential donors, and the inclusion of sensitive questions in the screening questionnaire, may affect donation rates and therefore the sufficiency of blood and blood products in Canada. This research will allow the partner organization, the Community-Based Research Centre for Gay Men’s Health, who have been studying the issue for several years, to develop recommendations for Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec regarding screening and deferral criteria.

AccessiBelt – Car Seatbelt for Users with Limited Hand Dexterity

Our hand function can be affected by different diseases and disorders, such as arthritis and neurological injuries. Having limited hand function will immensely affect our life and will make everyday simple tasks challenging. There are about 1 million Canadians who reported struggling with daily activities due to this limitation. One task that is challenging for a person with limited hand function is buckling and unbuckling a car seatbelt. Car seatbelts are life-saving devices and are crucial for the protection of passengers in a car. Creating an accessible device such as AccessiBelt will allow individuals with limited hand function to easily and independently buckle and unbuckle their car seatbelt, and will thus improve their overall quality of life. Rick Hansen Institute aims to improve the life of individuals with spinal cord injuries, and partnering with them will contribute to this mission.

Design, testing and optimization of a new energy exchanger

More than 30% of the energy used in Canada is directed to control the indoor comfort

conditions and to provide an adequate supply of conditioned ventilation air for buildings. For

commercial buildings, 20 to 50% of the energy used may be used to condition outdoor

ventilation supply air to maintain comfort conditions. Using commercially available energy

wheels, heat and moisture exchange between the supply ventilation air and the exhaust air

can reclaim 80% of the waste energy in the exhaust air; however, it may be not cost effective

for retrofitting existing buildings because the supply and exhaust air ducts are not side-byside.

The purpose of this project is to design, test and optimize a new run-around,

membrane energy exchanger (RAMEE) system for buildings that will transfer heat and

moisture between remote supply and exhaust ducts. This novel RAMEE system is expected

to be cost effective in both new and retrofit applications.

Over-The-Air (OTA) Testing System For 5G Wireless Devices – Year two

Over the air (OTA) test is the standard procedure for wireless devices to verify the transceiver and antennas performance together in specified conditions. Any wireless device such as tablets, phones and laptop must go under OTA testing. Furthermore, regulatory organizations require OTA testing before the wireless device being certified.
Due to the time-consuming procedure of OTA testing, currently manufacturers and vendors limit themselves to a small sample of devices for testing. However, in 5G, the next wireless revolution, that needs 10-20 times more transceiver path than 4G, the OTA testing for sample products is not sufficient and each device has to be tested.
This project focuses on solutions for testing these devices with a proprietary mass production compatible OTA techniques.
DVTest company is extremely interested in the viability of these technologies because it opens up product development opportunities in the growing 5G marketplace and PCB fault detection.

Over-The-Air (OTA) Testing System For 5G Wireless Devices

Over the air (OTA) test is the standard procedure for wireless devices to verify the transceiver and antennas performance together in specified conditions. Any wireless device such as tablets, phones and laptop must go under OTA testing. Furthermore, regulatory organizations require OTA testing before the wireless device being certified.
Due to the time-consuming procedure of OTA testing, currently manufacturers and vendors limit themselves to a small sample of devices for testing. However, in 5G, the next wireless revolution, that needs 10-20 times more transceiver path than 4G, the OTA testing for sample products is not sufficient and each device has to be tested.
This project focuses on solutions for testing these devices with a proprietary mass production compatible OTA techniques.
DVTest company is extremely interested in the viability of these technologies because it opens up product development opportunities in the growing 5G marketplace and PCB fault detection.

Development of a highly accurate machine learning algorithm constrained by well-log data and its application in Lithological classification

The drilling success rate is the most important goal for any oil/gas company. For a start-up company, any failure in drilling will be a disaster. To this end, the Petro-Lin Energy Corp. wishes that through the combination of mature hydrocarbon prediction techniques and new research results such as machine learning, the success rate of hydrocarbon prediction, the theoretical basis for well placement can be provided in Roncott oil-field, which will improve the success rate in drilling. The University of Calgary is one of Canada’s top research institutes, especially in the areas of exploration geophysics, seismic data processing and petroleum engineering. On the other hand, Petro-Lin Energy Corp. will collaborate with researchers from University of Calgary to access the most up-to-date research results and the most advanced technology available in precise well placement, so that the drilling success rate can be improved to reduced drilling cost and environment impact, and it can effectively save the partner’s research cost. In addition, through the two-year project, the intern will receive hands-on industry problem and other training activities.

Effects of a Virtual Reality Exercise Program on Sleep Quality in Assisted Living Residents

Older adults are the largest growing segment of the Canadian population. Almost 40% of men and 59% of women aged 65 to 79 years experience sleep disturbances. Non-pharmacological interventions, such as educational programs and exercise, can improve quality of life of older individuals by enhancing sleep quality. Although strong evidence suggests that virtual reality (VR) programs are effective for improving mood, memory, and cognitive performance, little is known about the effect of VR exercises on sleep quality. This project aims to (i) understand the association between sleep quality, quality of life, cognitive performance, and function capacity in assisted living residents and (ii) quantify the effects of a VR exercise program on the treatment of sleep disorders. Sleep quality, quality of life, cognitive performance, and functional capacity will be assessed before and after a VR exercise program through subjective (questionnaires) and objective (wearable devices) instruments. The expected benefits of this project to the partner organization are the increase in quality of life of assisted living residents and the decrease in operational costs associated with sleep medication and staffing. For instance, a previous study has shown that a non-pharmacological intervention was efficient in decreasing by 29% the costs of sedative prescriptions.