Innovative Projects Realized

Mechanism Determination of the Effects of Pancratistatin on Cancerous Mitochondrial Membranes

Pancratistatin (PST) has been shown to selectively eliminate human cancer cells, but has not been used extensively in clinical trials due to its low availability in nature. Recently, different forms of PST have been synthesized and have demonstrated anti-cancer activity. These synthesized PST molecules have been tested on prostate, pancreatic, osteosarcoma and colorectal cancer cells. However, the mechanism in which PST actually eliminated cancer cells is unknown. The goal of this research project is to understand how PST operates as an anti-cancer agent in order to heighten its potential. In order to determine this mechanism, scattering techniques such as small angle neutron scattering and small angle X-ray scattering. These techniques can extract structural information in regards to how PST interacts with cancerous cells, more specifically, how PST interacts with the cancerous cell membrane. Also, molecular dynamics studies will be used to simulate the effects of PST on cancerous cell membranes. Molecular dynamics is simply a computer simulation method that allows the movements of molecules to be studied. To start the research project, the molecular dynamics study will be used to get a general idea of how PST should operate on cancerous cells. “TO BE CONT’D”

Contrôle d’un bras robotique d’assistance par suivi du regard et vision intelligente

Aujourd’hui, les avancées de la robotique permettent aux personnes atteintes de trouble musculo-squelettique de s’équiper d’un bras d’assistance, habituellement placé sur leur fauteuil motorisé, qu’ils peuvent contrôler via une manette spécialement calibrée à leur niveau de force musculaire. Il a été démontré que ces bras robotiques sont bénéfiques à l’autonomie et à l’habileté de ces personnes, notamment pour accomplir des tâches primordiales du quotidien, telles que se nourrir seul.
Cependant, certains problèmes techniques perdurent, en particulier : 1. Le temps pour réaliser les manœuvres à l’aide du bras est toujours élevé pour les personnes atteintes, et ce en raison de leur trouble musculo-squelettique. 2. Le contrôle à l’aide de manettes demande un haut niveau de dextérité, souvent difficile à atteindre par ces personnes. 3. Le temps d’adaptation à cette technologie est souvent trop long et demande beaucoup d’efforts, ce qui se traduit par un taux de rejet encore élevé chez les bénéficiaires. “TO BE CONT’D”

Narco-cinéma mexicain et corps féminins: un paradigme patriarcal revisité

Mon projet de recherche porte sur la représentation des personnages féminins dans le narco-cinéma mexicain, un sous-genre de cinéma populaire qui thématise la vie des narcotrafiquants. Le narco-cinéma est consommé par des millions de personnes provenant des classes populaires mexicaines et états-uniennes, et a conséquemment un impact considérable sur l’imaginaire de ces classes. Je cherche à dégager les grandes tendances de ce cinéma en termes de personnages féminins à l’aide d’une grille d’analyse portant sur différentes composantes de la représentation féminine (le temps que chaque personnage féminin passe à l’écran et son temps de parole, les plans de caméra utilisés pour présenter les femmes aux spectateurs, le vocabulaire le plus fréquent que les personnages masculins emploient pour désigner les personnages féminins, etc.). L’identification de ces tendances permettra de mieux comprendre la communauté mexicaine, importante au Québec, et de prévenir la reproduction de certains comportements genrés au sein des familles mexicaines.

Data mining and personalized recommendation for an online luxury fashion retailer

The September is an online luxury retailer. In this research project, we are going to design and implement a personalized recommender system to enhance customers’ online shopping experiences. The past transaction data and browsing history as well as the demographic information of customers will be analyzed to identify the purchasing patterns, shopping trends and user behaviors. Based on these mined patterns and generated user profiles, recommendations will be made to individual customers using state-of-the-art recommendation algorithms. Through the built recommender system, the shopping experiences of the September’s customers can be greatly enhanced, and potentially it could help the company attract new customers and retain existing customers.

Les afflictions et la guérison spirituelle en Côte d’Ivoire urbaine

Cette recherche porte sur les formes d’urbanité invisibles, la guérison spirituelle et les imaginaires de l’urbain dans la métropole d’Abidjan en Côte d’Ivoire. Au travers d’une perspective ouverte à la diversité des pratiques religieuses (animistes, chrétiennes et musulmanes) et des représentations culturelles des citadin.e.s sur les afflictions, la guérison et la santé présentes dans cette ville, cette étude analyse le caractère particulier et polymorphique des formes d’urbanité et de l’imaginaire de l’urbain à Abidjan. Cette recherche se base sur des recherches ethnographiques fondées sur l’observation participante conduites durant 25 mois en Côte d’Ivoire en 2016-2018 auprès de citadin.e.s et de guérisseurs de différentes confessions religieuses. Il est attendu de ce projet de recherche qu’il pose un nouveau regard sur les relations entre la spiritualité, la guérison et la santé et propose un cadre conceptuel original pour appréhender les contextes de pluralisme magico-religieux et thérapeutiques en milieux urbains postcoloniaux.

Développement de techniques analytiques de pointe pour l’analyse d’éléments traces dans des solutions concentrées à base de lithium

Nemaska Lithium Inc. est une compagnie québécoise innovatrice qui prévoit devenir un producteur important d’hydroxyde de lithium de haute pureté (grade batterie) sur le marché mondiale. Nemaska Lithium a développé un procédé de fabrication de l’hydroxyde de lithium de haute pureté en utilisant l’électrolyse membranaire, une méthode très sensible aux impuretés dans la solution initiale. Ces impuretés ont un impact direct sur la durée de vie et la performance de la cellule de l’électrolyse membranaire et la pureté du produit. De plus, l’entreprise désire proposer au marché de l’hydroxyde de lithium un produit qui sera de qualité supérieure par rapport aux produits existants. Pour y arriver, Nemaska doit utiliser des méthodes analytiques très précises, robustes et fiables.

Assessing the context of agroecological farming and enabling agroecological transitions in SC, Brazil

The industrial agri-food system is a major contributor to global environmental and social problems. One alternative with the potential to jointly address these issues is agroecology, defined as the application of ecological principles to the design of agricultural systems in a way that respects diverse local contexts. Yet farmers’ uptake of agroecological management practices has remained relatively low.

Using Santa Catarina, Brazil as a case study, I will investigate the factors that enable and constrain different farms when transitioning from industrial to agroecological management. While the research will be grounded in Brazil, the diversity found in this large agricultural nation allows for broad conclusions to be drawn about how and to what extent agroecology can be supported in other contexts. These insights will allow policymakers to build an enabling environment that better facilitates transitions toward a more sustainable, healthy, and just global food system.

Bitopic A1 Adenosine Receptor Ligands as Cardioprotective Agents

Adenosine is a naturally occurring molecule that is found in many living systems that can be used as to slow rapid heartbeat and other ailments. Its efficient use as a medication depends on adenosine receptors present on many tissues within the human body. This family of receptors consist of four subtypes with the A1AR subtype being an important therapeutic target known to stimulate protective effects in heart tissue. However, adenosine can have unfavourable side effects. Hence, this project is concerned with the synthesis of chemical derivatives that mimic the activity of adenosine while minimizing or eliminating the deleterious side effects. One fragment of these targeted ‘drug-like’ molecules of interest are identical to adenosine and are linked to a different molecular fragment that is responsible for its desired biological activity and pharmacological effect. This current project aims to further understand the structure-activity relationships of a prototypical compound already prepared in our laboratories and to identify more ‘drug-like’ derivatives.

Ionization instabilities in partially magnetized plasmas

Plasma is a gas of charged particles which is the most common state of the matter in the visible universe. It is also widely used in laboratory and industry for numerous practical applications such as plasma processing devices, spacecraft thrusters, and future fusion reactors. Therefore physics of plasmas addresses a number of fundamental problems such as solar and space activity, solar dynamo, astrophysical jet as well as many applied technology problems. The objective of this project is to study and explain the mechanisms of turbulent low-frequency behavior of Hall effect thrusters, a class of plasma devices used for both electric propulsion in space and for satellite orbit keeping. One of the characteristics of Hall thruster is the presence of turbulence and structures that cause anomalous transport and greatly affect their efficiency. We will involve methods of analytical and computational analysis to address the nature of structures and learn how to control them. This research is not only of great practical importance but also addresses fundamental problems of plasma physics and plasma turbulence.

Elucidating the degradation pathway of Ibuprofen

Ibuprofen is at the top of the World Health Organizations listing of essential medicines. As such, Ibuprofen is commonly consumed in nearly all countries. Considering Ibuprofen is poorly degraded by the human metabolism, wastewater tends to be a significant source of Ibuprofen in the environment. Concern has arisen over the past decade due to Ibuprofens endocrine disruption capabilities on fish and potential toxicity. To understand how Ibuprofen is degraded, the ipfFABDE proteins thought to be involved in its degradation need to be purified. This will be achieved by producing large amounts of the enzymes in a suitable host such as E. coli. Pilot studies can then be conducted to determine what factors are needed for the activity of these enzymes. Knowing what enzymes are used, how fast they act and what genes make these proteins allows governments to monitor environmental areas more closely for the effects of Ibuprofen contamination.

Wild Blueberry/European blueberry Molecular Responses to Floral Diseases

The wild blueberry is an important crop in the Canadian Atlantic provinces with 140 million kg of fruit being produced in 2016 with a farm gate value of $155 million. However, gray mold disease caused by Botrytis cinerea can cause substantial damage with 20% crop losses being reported. This study seeks to the genes and natural compounds including phenolic compounds produced in wild and European blueberry plants that provide resistance to this fungal organism. Outcomes from this study will include the generation of critical, basic knowledge on mechanisms conferring disease resistance in blueberries, and new technologies that will negate the need for blanket applications of disease control products to blueberry fields. When completed, this research is anticipated to benefit over 2000 producers by improving berry yields, production sustainability and global competitiveness. This study will also provide the student with an opportunity to gain new knowledge and skills that is presently not available elsewhere in Canada.

Natural Language Interface for Ad Hoc Queries in Analytics

The main aim of this project is to design a database that provides a simplified way for individuals without the technical background to query information from the database. Such a database will operate on natural language, where the user asks the database a question about information retrieval and it presents the user with suitable answers. A database of this format aids users who are unfamiliar with scripting and database management languages, such as SQL, to use it seamlessly without the need for any prior training.