Innovative Projects Realized

Long-Term Prevention of Catheter Infections using Chemical Coatings

Infections acquired through long-term catheter use are a major problem for nearly 20% of all patients. This project seeks to apply Econous Systems’ anti-fouling MEG-OH coating to biomedical plastic catheters to see if they prevent the 3 most common microbes: E. coli, C. Albicans and S. Aureus, from growing. This will initially involve in vitro testing using a flow-through model to simulate blood flow, monitoring first static and then dynamic microbe growth using fluorescence microscopy. In vivo testing will follow using rats as a preclinical model.

Élaboration d’un programme de suivi des ouvrages de gestion des eaux de ruissellement du bassin versant du lac Saint-Charles à Québec

Le lac Saint-Charles est le principal réservoir d’eau potable pour 300 000 citoyens de la ville de Québec. Le développement résidentiel et routier important dans son bassin versant affectent la qualité de son eau. Pour contrer cette situation, plusieurs ouvrages de gestion des eaux de ruissellement ont été mis en place au cours des dernières années : marais épurateurs, fossés végétalisés, bassins de rétention, etc. La performance réelle de ces ouvrages reste cependant méconnue. Dans une optique d’implantation de mesures supplémentaires sur le bassin, il est essentiel de démontrer l’efficacité de celles déjà en place. Pour y arriver, l’APEL et l’INRS-ETE, en collaboration avec la Ville de Québec et Polytechnique Montréal, entendent élaborer un programme de suivi rigoureux des performances de plusieurs de ces ouvrages en place.

Micelles de copolymères à blocs, synthèse et caractérisation

Le projet de recherche à entreprendre repose sur la chimie des polymères. Il s’agit d’une recherche qui se penche sur les polymères de nanoparticules. Ces polymères, portant des groupements fonctionnels précis, peuvent réagir avec des acides donnés. La fonctionnalité des produits de ces réactions comporte des caractéristiques intéressantes qui feront l’objet de l’étude. Plus précisément, ces molécules permettent le ciblage actif dans le domaine de la médecine. En effet, l’acide d’intérêt permet de réagir avec des groupements spécifiques sur les cellules cancéreuses. D’un autre côté, cet acide peut aussi réagir avec d’autres types de ligands tout aussi intéressants pour le ciblage actif.
Le projet inclut la synthèse des polymères et des nanoparticules ainsi que leur caractérisation.

Mastering Light

The manipulation of light has been a key driving factor in human progress since the beginning of our species. Each industrial advance in the world has successively become more and more dependent on the manipulation of light and concomitant advances in our understanding of related phenomena: advances and discoveries in electricity, electromagnetic technology, wireless communications, lasers, and computers have all been driven by new understandings regarding the nature of light and what it is possible to do with it. The main focus of this project is to attract the best new researchers and inventors in metamaterials science and offer them opportunities to carry out basic research and development in light manipulation. The work will span different areas of applications, including: Absorption enhancement of solar cells using metamaterials; Light emission enhancement for light emitting diodes (LED); Developments of optical filters based on metamaterials; Improvements of medical diagnostics using metamaterials.

Simulation of Transient Over-Voltages for Overhead Transmission Lines via Electromagnetic Transients Programs

The candidate will utilize his knowledge and experience in transmission line modelling to implement test cases required for the Transient Over-Voltage studies. The simulations will be performed using well-known computer packages available at BC Hydro and Power labs at UBC as well as programs written by the candidate to implement the recently developed line model in his PhD work. Simulation results will be compared with the simulations previously performed by BC Hydro. In case of agreement between these results, BC Hydro will be able to use the confirmed data and standards to design and set protective devises to moderate the effect of transient over-voltages on the overhead transmission lines existing in the province of British Columbia.

Chitosan-derivatives as a platform for drug and protein delivery

Triozan™ is a safe, biodegradable and biocompatible hydrophilic and highly quaternized biopolymer with advantageous physicochemical properties that enables an efficient encapsulation and protection of drug molecules against degradation while simultaneously maintaining therapeutic integrity. We propose to encapsulate three drug candidates into nanogels formed from Triozan to enhance their therapeutic application and overcome multiple barriers such as multi-drug resistance phenomenon present in bacteria and in cancer cells as well as biological barriers such as the hematoencephalic barrier

Evaluation and analysis of citizen science golden eagle migration data collected by the Rocky Mountain Eagle Research Foundation, Mount Lorette, Alberta 1993-2016

The goal of this project is to evaluate the data quality of the citizen science Golden Eagle count data collected by the Rocky Mountain Eagle Research Foundation and to determine the population trend over 25 years. Since 1993 they have collected data, consisting of daily raptor migration counts in the Fall and Spring seasons. It is vital to determine the usefulness of the citizen science data, check and evaluate its quality and determine whether available datasets are suitable for further research or not.

Second generation BMP2 for dental surgical applications

The intern will be producing a therapeutic protein, i.e. ‘biologic’ (BMP2) using mutated

bacterial plasmids as the bio-factory. The intern will create a sequence of DNA to be

transformed into E. coli cells (BL21). The cells will be grown up in the lab, and studied for

enhanced clinical efficacy. Proteins will be affinity purified and the resulting BMP2 variants

will be tested in lab bioactivity assays. With a more potent mutant BMP2, our partner will be

able to increase the number of successful implantation and reconstruction services they offer

as a smaller physical quantity of BMP2 will reduce illicit adverse immune events.

Feasibility Assessment and Development of Knowledge, Technology, and Tools for Reliable Hydrogen Injection into Natural Gas Delivery Systems

To reduce their carbon footprint, FortisBC Energy Inc. is investigating the possibility of injecting hydrogen into their natural gas distribution network. Prior to adopting this change, a comprehensive feasibility assessment and development of tools to support the hydrogen injection is required. This includes investigating the effects of hydrogen on existing gas distribution infrastructure, end-user appliances and equipment. Successful execution of the project will enhance FortisBC’s sustainable energy portfolio and support the pursuit and implementation of green technologies.

Process & Place: A study of heritage value in building deconstruction and material reuse

The proposed study expands on my ongoing research into the intersection of heritage conservation and the generation of architectural waste. Specifically, it understands the relationship between building demolition and heritage conservation to be both technically and conceptually linked. With this, the study addresses the “crisis of accumulation” both of heritage sites (Harrison, 2013) and growing landfills (Gregson & Crang, 2015) by exploring building deconstruction and material reuse. While this is a relatively unexplored field in Canada, practices are being developed in Belgium through both private and public institutions with growing infrastructural supports for these processes. The proposed study will explore the potential for re-used materials to not only achieve ecologically sustainable goals, but to communicate a sense of cultural continuity. This will take place in conjunction with an internship at the deconstruction and design collective, Rotor in Brussels, Belgium and with guidance from Dr. Stephanie Van de Voorde at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and professor Susan Ross at Carleton University.

Selective association of organic ligands to nucleic acids

Spectral library of urban materials