Innovative Projects Realized

Employing the use of flexible engineering approaches as a bank erosion mitigation technique on the Nicola River in the Thompson Okanagan region

Rivers naturally shift and move through lateral erosion and deposition, which can cause problems for infrastructure that is built on riverbanks. Traditional engineering solutions have entirely halted lateral movement, which can have negative consequences. This research is investigating an alternative method, which uses grains that are within the grain size distribution of the riverbed, rather than the method known as riprap, which are much larger grains. This research will use a flume to model the Nicola River, alongside computer models. If successful, Kerr Wood Leidal will use the flexible engineering approach to stabilize the channel and minimize further bank erosion.

Formulating a novel goat-whey based drink and studying its nutritional and health functions – Year two

This project will create novel goat milk-based products and test their health effects in healthy adults. Interest in goat milk is increasing, mainly due to two market trends: consumers’ new taste trends for niche/ethnic products, and the perception of goat milk having added health properties. Goat milk is perceived as having intestinal anti-inflammatory effects and improved digestive properties compared to bovine milk, due to the unique functionalities of its oligosaccharides and triglycerides. However, the basis of claims is often founded on anecdotal evidence, and these health effects have not been extensively studied, particularly in adults to whom these products are marketed.
Objectives: To manipulate goat milk fractions to prepare a product matrix with nutritionally significant amounts of oligosaccharides and higher fat. This matrix will need to be acceptable to consumers, so that further studies can evaluate the mechanisms behind the health benefits. Specifically, human intervention trials will investigate physiological and biochemical markers. In particular, the development aims at highlighting the health beneficial effects of oligosaccharides and short and medium chain fatty acids on postprandial satiety and gut health markers. The research findings will be exploited to create highly functional ingredients and new products for the Canadian and export markets.

Formulating a novel goat-whey based drink and studying its nutritional and health functions

This project will create novel goat milk-based products and test their health effects in healthy adults. Interest in goat milk is increasing, mainly due to two market trends: consumers’ new taste trends for niche/ethnic products, and the perception of goat milk having added health properties. Goat milk is perceived as having intestinal anti-inflammatory effects and improved digestive properties compared to bovine milk, due to the unique functionalities of its oligosaccharides and triglycerides. However, the basis of claims is often founded on anecdotal evidence, and these health effects have not been extensively studied, particularly in adults to whom these products are marketed.
Objectives: To manipulate goat milk fractions to prepare a product matrix with nutritionally significant amounts of oligosaccharides and higher fat. This matrix will need to be acceptable to consumers, so that further studies can evaluate the mechanisms behind the health benefits. Specifically, human intervention trials will investigate physiological and biochemical markers. In particular, the development aims at highlighting the health beneficial effects of oligosaccharides and short and medium chain fatty acids on postprandial satiety and gut health markers. The research findings will be exploited to create highly functional ingredients and new products for the Canadian and export markets.

Needs assessment of challenging behaviours in children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and coping strategies from the stakeholders’ perspective

The objectives of this project are to determine the behavioural and emotional problems affecting

children with FASD and their parents/guardians and to determine the specific services and supports

this group requires to deal with the identified challenges. This information will be gathered by

telephone interviews of 100 parents/guardians and 30 clinicians.

The intern will be responsible for completing the telephone interviews of the families, clinicians and

organizing, maintaining and analyzing data obtained from these interviews. The intern will also

complete the report and other deliverables requested by the partner (PHAC), including

recommendations on how best to use the data findings and a poster presentation.

Towards creating intelligent heat stress monitoring and management solutions to safeguard health and wellness

The scientific challenge for this research project is to advance our understanding of the impacts of heat stress in heat vulnerable workers and to use this information towards the creation of intelligent heat stress monitoring and management solutions to safeguard health and wellness. Currently, our understanding of the effects of heat exposure on vulnerable individuals remains incomplete, limiting our ability to implement protective measures to optimize performance/safety during work in hot environments. Our work employing the world’s only air calorimeter (device to measure precisely whole-body heat loss) shows that government-recommended heat exposure guidelines fail to protect workers, especially older adults, against dangerous increases in core temperature during work in the heat. This is because they do not consider factors like age, chronic disease and others that can affect heat dissipation. Moreover, they do not account for factors that modify a person’s day-to-day tolerance to heat (exposure time, hydration, others). Thus, this project aims to develop thresholds for ‘high-risk’ work conditions based on ambient temperature, work intensity and duration, and biometric data which will be integrated into a first-generation ‘heat’ app and lead to the creation of a physiological monitoring system for the assessment of heat strain in heat vulnerable workers.

Development of a next-generation in vivo human gene-editing therapeutic platform – Year two

The over-arching goal of our project is to develop a robust next-generation gene-editing platform to repair the deleterious mutations that are responsible for genetic diseases such as Cystic Fibrosis and cancer. First-generation precision endonuclease technologies have been tremendous for in vitro gene disruption studies and ex vivo treatments, but there has been limited success at developing safe and effective in vivo human gene-editing therapies. To address these issues, we propose to package a highly specific RNA-guided dual nuclease technology (TevCas9), into liposomal delivery vehicles developed by Specific Biologics Inc. (SBI). By combining these technologies, we will create a powerful therapeutic platform that fulfills the target product profile for an ideal in vivo gene-editing platform. As proof-of-principal, we propose to target and repair the CFTR delta F508 mutation, a monogenetic mutation that results in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and in which >85% of CF patients carry at least one copy of the mutation. CF was chosen as our model due to the high unmet medical needs of these patients and the suitability of SBI’s proposed liposomal (lipid-based) delivery system to target cells of the respiratory mucosa through nebulization. However, following our initial studies TevCas9 will be retargeted to other clinically relevant targets.

Development of a next-generation in vivo human gene-editing therapeutic platform

The over-arching goal of our project is to develop a robust next-generation gene-editing platform to repair the deleterious mutations that are responsible for genetic diseases such as Cystic Fibrosis and cancer. First-generation precision endonuclease technologies have been tremendous for in vitro gene disruption studies and ex vivo treatments, but there has been limited success at developing safe and effective in vivo human gene-editing therapies. To address these issues, we propose to package a highly specific RNA-guided dual nuclease technology (TevCas9), into liposomal delivery vehicles developed by Specific Biologics Inc. (SBI). By combining these technologies, we will create a powerful therapeutic platform that fulfills the target product profile for an ideal in vivo gene-editing platform. As proof-of-principal, we propose to target and repair the CFTR delta F508 mutation, a monogenetic mutation that results in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and in which >85% of CF patients carry at least one copy of the mutation. CF was chosen as our model due to the high unmet medical needs of these patients and the suitability of SBI’s proposed liposomal (lipid-based) delivery system to target cells of the respiratory mucosa through nebulization. However, following our initial studies TevCas9 will be retargeted to other clinically relevant targets.

Motion and Attenuation Correction for PET/MRI

During a medical imaging exam, patient motion such as breathing, cardiac motion, and random adjustments of the head or body can affect the accuracy of the acquired images. Positron emission tomography (PET) is a powerful medical imaging technology that can detect minute amounts of an injected probe targeting specific tissue processes and diseases. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can acquire anatomical and functional images of the body, including information about patient motion. Using a hybrid positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI) system, we are developing better ways to account for motion and attenuation during a PET acquisition using simultaneously acquired MRI data. This work will establish the value of our partner organization’s existing motion correction methods for PET/MRI in various diseases and develop a new PET/MRI method that corrects for cardiac and respiratory motion.

Optimization of small-scale anaerobic digesters for on-site organic waste processing

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a microbial process where organic materials (sugars, starches, hemicellulose, etc) are broken down into renewable natural biogas and nutrient-rich biodigestate byproducts (roughly 5-10% solids in water). The performance of AD systems is heavily dependent on careful control of digester conditions, including pH, temperature, and health and proportions of the bacterial populations present, which are easily affected by varying characteristics of the waste input stream. CCI BioEnergy currently uses a large-scale AD-based system to convert municipal green bin organic compost into renewable biofuels; however, they aim to optimize low-maintenance, robust and efficient smaller-scale systems for processing at the waste source (eg. residential, commercial, and industrial organic waste producers), allowing for on-site natural gas production and use. One of the expected issues is that compared to municipal waste, on-site waste will be more variable on a day-to-day basis while also potentially lacking overall nutritional profile variety. This project aims both to characterize the performance of digester systems fed from different waste sources, with a particular focus on profiling biological diversity, and to use that information to develop bacterial inoculants to be used in site-specific AD systems to mitigate problems and differences in performance arising from varying waste compositions.

Impact de l’ajout de granulats bitumineux recyclés sur le vieillissement des enrobés

Le recyclage des enrobés bitumineux gagne en popularité. Cette procédure permet de réhabiliter les chaussées flexibles dans un esprit de développement durable. Ce projet de recherche porte sur l’influence d’ajout de granulats bitumineux recyclés (GBR) dans des enrobés neufs. Plus précisément, l’impact de l’ajout de GBR sur la rigidité et sur la résistance à fatigue à long terme sera étudié. Pour ce faire, des essais de module complexe sur des enrobés avec et sans GBR seront effectués sur des éprouvettes ayant subi un vieillissement artificiel en laboratoire. Des essais de résistance à la fatigue avec et sans GBR avant et après vieillissement seront également effectués.

Les Chimiokines : Une nouvelle approche thérapeutique pour le traitementde la douleur.

Les chimiokines sont de petites protéines solubles appartenant à la famille des cytokines dont leurs

principales fonctions sont l’attractivité et l’activation des cellules immunes. De récentes évidences

suggèrent que certains membres de cette famille, dont MCP-1, sécrété au cours de la phase

inflammatoire, ainsi que son récepteur CCR2, seraient également impliqués dans la genèse et le

maintient des douleurs chroniques. Ces protéines largement exprimées dans le système nerveux

participeraient activement à la transmission de l’information nociceptive au niveau périphérie et

modulaire. L’objectif de ce projet de recherche consistera à déterminer le rôle de l’interaction du

ligand MCP-1 à son récepteur CCR2 dans les mécanismes moléculaires, cellulaires et

électrophysiologiques conduisant à la douleur chronique de type inflammatoire. Cette compréhension

amènera à évaluer si l’inhibition pharmacologique ou génique de cette interaction représente une cible

thérapeutique potentielle pour le traitement des douleurs chroniques.

Les deux étudiants gradués seront supervisés par le Dr Stéphane Dion au sein de l’entreprise Pfizer

Inc….

Going On-line with Cognitive Rehabilitation: Testing and Implementing Web-based Goal Management Training at Clinical and Commercial Levels

Goal Management Training® (GMT) is a Baycrest cognitive intervention that has been studied extensively, applied clinically, and manualized into kits for clinicians that have been commercially available since 2012. GMT targets executive functions, a collection of higher-level abilities involved in planning, organization, strategy, and inhibition. Executive impairment can be seen in normal aging as well as in numerous neurological conditions, including dementia and traumatic brain injury (TBI). GMT is the gold-standard treatment for executive impairment worldwide. As part of further commercialization and dissemination efforts, the in-person GMT protocol has recently been translated into a web-based platform.
This project will test online GMT in groups of individuals experiencing executive impairment, including healthy aging and subjective cognitive impairment, and TBI. GMT will be deployed in real-world clinical practice to further refine the implementation protocols. We will also test the program’s commercial viability, which will be required for broad dissemination, and develop a plan to explore long-term health system-level impacts of this innovation/solution.
There is currently no widely accepted and researched online resource for people with executive impairment. The proposed research will leverage expertise of Cogniciti to fill that gap, reinforcing a partnership to provide Cogniciti clients with evidence-based cognitive training.