Innovative Projects Realized

Examining the Roles of Mouse Immune Cells in Liver Regeneration

The mammalian liver is known for its regenerative property, capable of fully restoring mass and function after injury. However, when this process is in disarray, chronic liver diseases occur, for which the current solution is liver transplantation. Transplantation remains an imperfect solution as the supply is limited and rejection can happen. Today, 25% of patients waiting for transplantation die before a liver becomes available. This study aims to describe a regenerating liver at the cellular level to explore the alternatives to liver transplantation. By removing part of the liver and observing how different cells change as the liver regrows, we will identify the key players in this process thereby offering therapeutic strategies in supplementing these cells to treat liver diseases.

An Intelligent UAV System for Power Line and Utility Condition Assessment

This research project will develop an intelligent UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) system, which is capable of autonomous navigation, for the inspection of power lines and utility. The automated inspection is based on the technologies of computer vision and artificial intelligence. The UAV flies autonomously over the infrastructure capturing the images with high-definition RGB camera and thermal camera. The acquired image data are processed with algorithms powered by artificial intelligence for the condition assessment of the infrastructure. The derived information provides a solid evidence to support the decision making in asset management and maintenance. The surveillance and monitoring with the intelligent UAV system will assure a reliable power transmission and distribution.

Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) Magnetometry for Geophysical Exploration of Canadian Lakes

This project aims to develop a prototype and workflow for the efficient and effective use of an unmanned surface vessel (USV) for magnetic data acquisition in Canadian lakes (9% of Canadian territory). Specifically, the USV will be used to tow either a floating or submerged sensor system consisting of multiple magnetometers in a gradiometer configuration. The main goal is to enable magnetic mapping of lakes at unprecedented spatial resolution with applications ranging from infrastructure localization, archaeological prospection, unexploded ordnances detection to mineral exploration. This research will expand Sumac Geomatics’ expertise in aerial mapping and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle magnetometry to address new regions of interest in Canadian lakes. It complements bathymetric mapping and surveying and advances the field of marine surveying using state-of-the-art equipment and data processing strategies.

Directing Development of Next-Generation Spectrally-Controlled Plant Growth

Plants are an essential part of our day-to-day lives. They provide us oxygen to breathe through photosynthesis, food and drugs for human health and well-being in addition to many materials and products for everyday use across Canadian society. For plants, light is a central to their growth, development and survival, rendering our understanding of how light can be harnessed to enhance plant growth and productivity for human benefit of importance. With climate change putting pressure on agricultural production, and greenhouse produce valued at $1.34 billion Canadian dollars per annum (2016), there is a pressing need for new innovations to propel horticultural produce production forward. Using an array of plant types (some having all their genes and some missing genes) this project will use the latest molecular technologies to understand how G2V Optics programmable-spectra lighting technology can be employed to help plants grow better using less energy.

Development of human recombinant GOT–polymer bioconjugates for the treatment of ischemic stroke

Glutamate, the most widespread excitatory neuromediator in the brain, plays an important role in learning and memory functions. At very high cerebral concentrations it is likely to cause pathological effects (nerve cell death), such as those encountered in ischemic stroke. To reduce the toxic concentrations of glutamate in the brain, several approaches have been developed. Unfortunately, despite the relative effectiveness of some treatments, several adverse side-effects have been reported. In this project we will develop a treatment that takes advantage of a rapid and perfectly natural physiological event that consists in causing an efflux of glutamate from the brain to the peripheral blood. To achieve this, we will administer an enzyme, naturally present in the human body, which will degrade blood glutamate and decrease its blood concentrations. This decrease should lead to the migration of cerebral glutamate to the blood and consequently the reduction of its toxic levels in the brain. To prolong the effect of the enzyme, we will graft a polymer on its surface. This will allow us to decrease the frequency of injection of our treatment (from a few hours to several weeks). To be continued…

Conducting a Pilot Study of Effective Smoking Cessation Treatment Interventions for Individuals with Severe Mental Illness Who are Homeless or Vulnerably Housed

The intern will be assisting in the implementation of a research project that is intended to assess the effectiveness of two different smoking reduction/cessation interventions within a population of people with serious mental illness who are vulnerably housed or homeless. The partner agency, the Canadian Mental Health Association Ottawa Branch, is interested in the study, due to the high proportion of the organization’s clients who smoke tobacco, demonstrate nicotine dependency, and express a desire to reduce or cease smoking. At the conclusion of the study, presentations on the findings of the research project will be made by the principle investigator to staff, managers, board of directors, and clients of the partner organization, and highlights of findings will be incorporated into the organization’s annual report. If found to be effective, the approach studied in the present project could be replicated by the partner organization, allowing them to better serve their clients.

Building on Assets and Strengthening Roots: A Netnography of Development, Implementation, and Effects of a Cross-Border, Online Biliteracy Curriculum

This innovative investigation into cross-border, online biliteracy curriculum is a timely response to Canada’s two major future challenge areas, namely, how to leverage emerging technologies to benefit Canadians and what knowledge to produce for Canada to thrive in an interconnected, evolving global landscape. Led by experienced researchers in the areas of cross-border literacy curriculum and online literacy learning programs, the current project seeks to develop and implement a cross-border, online biliteracy curriculum to build on the respective linguistic and cultural strengths of Heritage Language Learners in Canada and Chinese Mandarin Language Learners in China and create a social networking space for them to navigate multiple linguistic and cultural worlds. The project is also designed to investigate the effects of this asset-oriented biliteracy curriculum upon learners’ literacy and identity options (i.e., possibilities for learners to acquire receptive and expressive literacy skills and form notions of self in and through these literacies).

Preservation and Recovery of the Proteome: A Clue to Investigate Ancient and Archived Samples

Proteins make up a large part of every organism, comprising a significant portion of teeth, hair, bone, tissue, and horn. The composition of proteins is highly variable, and these differences cause the physical differences between, species, populations, and individuals and give rise to many of the pathologies that can affect organisms. Studying proteins and their differences can elucidate species identity, relationships between individuals, and characteristics of disease. Expanding this examination to include aged and ancient specimens can extend these investigations through time, giving insights into dynamic change and evolution. Understanding the effects of degradation on the quality and quantity of ancient samples is key to obtaining sufficient proteins. This study will compare and optimize various methods for the extraction and preparation of proteins for proteomic analysis of ancient bone, tissue, hair and blood residue through a range of ages. In addition to these ancient samples, archived biomedical specimens will also be analyzed. These biomedical specimens will also vary in age and manner of preservation. The proteomic analysis of the biomedical specimens could assist in understanding disease and its inheritance to be continued…

Étude computationnelle sur l’Interface solide-solide entre différents électrolytes solides pour le développement de nouvelles batteries Li-ion

Mon projet consiste à explorer l’interface entre électrode et électrolyte solide pour le développement des batteries lithium-ion tout solide en utilisant la DFT (chimie computationnelle). La batterie aux ions lithium est le système de stockage d’énergie le plus prometteur qui puisse être couplé aux énergies renouvelables. Néanmoins, la présence de solvants inflammables dans l’électrolyte liquide dans ces batteries n’est pas sécuritaire. Les électrolytes solides (ES) sont l’alternative la plus intéressante aux électrolytes liquides car ils sont très stables à haute température. Cependant, ils possèdent une conductivité trop basse du lithium et surtout de nombreux problèmes à l’interface avec la majorité des électrodes. J’ai l’intention d’utiliser la DFT pour simuler l’interface entre une électrode et un ES afin de trouver la cause de cette instabilité. Le calcul DFT est un outil indispensable qui va aussi me permettre de couvrir une large gamme de matériaux et de trouver le couple électrode/ES le plus stable possible à tester en batterie.

Mechanisms of the relationship between ageing and dementia.

As our population ages, the burden of dementia is growing. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia; currently we do not have any disease-modifying treatments for AD. There is motivation to better understand the mechanisms of AD development and expression to control the burden of disease.

Frailty is related to neuropathological features of AD (i.e. plaques and tangles) and clinical dementia. Frailty and AD-type dementia share many risk factors and clinical features. We aim to to understand the relationship between neuropathological changes in AD and dementia expression, by taking frailty into account.

To accomplish this, we will examine how the relationship between traditional AD neuropathology and cognition differs over levels of frailty, investigate whether combining neuropathological markers could improve our understanding of this relationship, and observe how cognition and frailty change over time in relation to each other and neuropathology.
This approach creates opportunity for new prevention and treatment of dementia.

Caractérisation du rôle de la protéine précoce immédiate 1 dans l’intégration chromosomique des herpèsvirus humains de type 6A/B

L’herpèsvirus humain 6B (HHV-6B), virus de la roséole, infecte près de 95% de la population avant l’âge de deux ans. Il est connu qu’HHV-6B intègre son matériel génétique aux télomères de la cellule qu’il infecte, régions des chromosomes qui contrôlent la durée de vie des cellules. Il est anticipé qu’une insertion d’HHV-6B à cet endroit affecterait la multiplication des cellules à long terme. Le mécanisme de l’intégration d’HHV-6B est à ce jour pas connu. HHV-6B possède une protéine, IE1, exprimée très tôt suite à son infection. Des études de notre laboratoire démontrent que lorsque IE1 est absente, HHV-6B s’intègre beaucoup moins, suggérant que cette protéine favorise l’insertion du virus dans les chromosomes humains. Ainsi, nous étudierons le rôle d’IE1 et son importance dans l’intégration chromosomique. Les résultats obtenus permettront d’avancer nos connaissances sur le rôle d’IE1 dans l’intégration chromosomique d’HHV-6B et, contribuera à l’avancement des conséquences biologiques et médicales rattachées.

Soil organic matter stability in two typical agroforestry systems in central Alberta, Canada

Having more stable soil organic matter (SOM) in a land use systems means that less CO2 maybe emitted per unit area of land when the land is subject to an increasing temperature (global warming). The objectives of the project are two-fold: 1) to analyze short-term biological SOM stability in hedgerow and shelterbelt agroforestry systems, and 2) to characterize the SOM in these same samples using thermal analysis techniques during ramped combustion. We predict that the SOM in the forested area should be more thermally stable than that in the herbland, while it is less stable in the surface than in the subsurface layer. We also predict that the SOM in the hedgerow system may be less easily decomposed than that in the shelterbelt system. The expected output will give us insight into the carbon stability difference in different agroforestry systems as well as under different land covers. TO BE CONT’D