Innovative Projects Realized

Functional investigation of the human knee

The knee is the joint that is the most affected by sport trauma and osteoarthritis and a lack of proper models significantly affects our ability to make appropriate diagnosis and propose effective treatment. This research project with Frederic Marin from the University of Technology in Compiegne, France, aims to develop a mathematical model to analyse data collected on human participants who performed different knee exercises. Using the data collected from two populations, young healthy subjects and healthy seniors, a model will be developed by Olivia Lougheed, as 3rd biomedical engineering student at the University of Waterloo. This model will take into consideration the anatomy of the knee as well as the orientation of the knee. TO BE CONT’D

Évaluation de la qualité de vie au travail des employés de commerce de détail spécialisé en produits et services pour les animaux

Avec ses 63 magasins à travers le Québec et plus de 720 employés, Mondou se place au premier rang des leaders canadiens dans la distribution de produits, de services et d’accessoires dédiés au bien-être et à la santé des animaux de compagnie. Afin d’assurer la santé et le bien-être de ses employés, la direction a mis en place différentes pratiques de qualité de vie au travail (QVT) qui sont essentiellement appliquées au siège social. Elle souhaiterait les appliquer aussi dans les magasins et au centre de distribution, mais les caractéristiques du travail et l’environnement de travail à ces endroits semblent représenter un défi à relever. Cette recherche vise à déterminer les pratiques de QVT efficaces et applicables dans le contexte des commerces de détail et en particulier, celui des magasins.

Cycle de sondage de l’engagement chez Videotron: Comment soutenir les gestionnaires pour passer à l’action avec leurs équipes?

Le mandat sera:
o D’analyser les données d’engagement (sondages et actions entreprises par les gestionnaires quant à l’engagement de leurs employés)
o De rencontrer des gestionnaires pour identifier et comprendre les freins, défis et enjeux auxquels ils font face, ainsi que leur point de vue quant au passage à l’action et le suivi en continu.
o De faire un diagnostic organisationnel
o De faire des recommandations sur les meilleures pratiques de l’engagement et de la mobilisation et sur comment soutenir les gestionnaires pour passer à l’action avec leurs équipes.
Ma participation permettra d’apporter une nouvelle perspective et un point de vue plus riche à la problématique de l’organisation. Elle permettra également de mettre de l’avant les meilleures pratiques du domaine et les faire partager à l’entreprise. TO BE CONT’D

Communicating Credentials: Building blockchain solutions for university degree verification

Document fraud is increasing and undermining the integrity of high quality education in Canada. With over 100,000 fake diplomas sold in the USA every year and legitimate universities incurring significant expenses protecting their intellectual property rights together with negative reputational spill-overs for legitimate universities, blockchain-based platforms, a technology in which transactions that are agreed to be correct are recorded, through a process of agreement, in a series of connected blocks by a process that only allows writing each entry a single time and does not allow further editing or deletion of each entry, will be investigated to determine the best platform, structure and design to ensure that a working prototype of a blockchain-based application will allow students to prove to other schools, universities, and employers, anywhere in the world, of their current and correct credentials and qualifications.

Recherche-création en « Storytelling immersif » : interfacetangible de réalité mixte pour environnements partagés (sharedenvironments)

Situé dans les domaines du Storytelling immersif et du design expérientiel cette recherche consiste en la transposition d’un projet artistique existant pour un environnement de réalité mixte. L’environnement sera partagé, plusieurs personnes participeront à l’expérience esthétique VR de l’oeuvre qui sera une nouvelle version du parcours créatif de Michel Lemieux et Victor Pilon. Dans ce contexte, cette recherche vise à mieux saisir le mouvement des individus ainsi que de donner aux participants des indices haptiques.

Modeling Oxygen Behaviour in Point-of-Care pO2 Devices

A mathematical model is to be developed that describes how oxygen can move in a point-of-care blood

gas sensor. The sensor measures the partial pressure of oxygen in a blood sample. Oxygen can move

throughout the cartridge by diffusing through the various materials that make up the cartridge. The

extent to which the oxygen can diffuse depends on the properties of the materials that make up the

cartridge. Porous materials will allow the oxygen to move more freely, whereas materials with little

porous structure will block the oxygen. The mathematical model will be developed using fundamental

concepts in chemical engineering, leading to a model that consists of a number of equations that

describe how concentrations change both in time, and by location. Special solution strategies will be

used to solve the equations, and we will also work to simplify the equations to make them easier to

solve and apply. In addition to developing a mathematical model, the project wil….

Valorisation de l’extrait de Camerise pour le secteur des cosmétiques

Le camerisier pousse naturellement dans les forêts boréales du nord de l’Europe et d’Asie. Importé récemment en Amérique du Nord il est relativement nouveau au Canada. Son fruit, la camerise est utilisée, au Japon en médecine traditionnelle pour ses propriétés anti-âge ou son rôle dans la prévention des maladies cardiaques et intestinales. Les études sur l’activité biologique de la camerise issues des variétés Russe et Japonaise ont démontré un potentiel anti-inflammatoire et antioxydant important. Ces activités peuvent être attribuées à sa composition riche en composés bioactifs. Toutefois, la majorité des travaux rapportés dans la littérature porte sur l’utilisation agroalimentaire et non cosmétique des extraits. Dans le cadre de ce projet, les partenaires souhaitent valoriser un extrait de camerise cultivé au Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean pour le secteur des cosmétiques. Le profil phytochimique des extraits ainsi que ses activités antioxydantes et anti-inflammatoires pour une application topique seront évaluer.

DNA Isolation, Stretching and Tethering from Whole-Blood for Super-Resolution Imaging

Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) are small chromosomal fragments found in trace amounts within our blood and are usually produced through various physiological processes such as cellular secretion, apoptosis or necrosis. Levels of cfDNA have been shown to significantly increase during the onset, growth and metastasis stages of various cancers, making them a potential biomarker in liquid biopsies for the evaluation of different treatments and prognosis of cancer patients. During my visit to Toulouse, France, I will learn how to use a technique recently developed by our collaborators for the simultaneous isolation, stretching and immobilization of cfDNA from whole blood. Through a combination of capillary forces and micro-contact printing, this simple two-step technique will allow me to pattern individual DNA molecules in a reproducible manner at McMaster University. TO BE CONT’D

Modeling the effect of environmental factors and animal-dispersed woody plants on the spatial distribution of new Iberian forests

Seed dispersal by vertebrates such as birds and rodents have been investigated extensively in Mediterranean vegetation over recent decades. Seed dispersal, at long and short distances, allow plants to colonize vacant habitats and trigger dynamic processes that increase new pioneer woody plants in the Mediterranean region. Despite that the seed dispersal by vertebrates has been studied for long in Mediterranean forests, the contribution to the assembly of these new forests by vertebrates is also still largely unknown. The main goal of my research internship is to help understand the association between environmental factors (e.g. climate, topography, and landscape) and the colonization of the new Iberian forests by animal-dispersed woody plants. Understanding this forest system (interaction between animal disperser – new Iberian forests) allows to improve strategies for the forest biodiversity conservation in Spain and to mitigate the problems of global and climate change.

Characterize structure and intracellular interactions within engineered human pseudoislets.

This proposed research builds on my current PhD thesis research, where I have characterized and validated a micro-tissue engineering platform that can be used to efficiently generate pancreatic islet-cell clusters (“pseudoislets”) that have significantly increased insulin secretion capacity, and superior capacity to reverse diabetes in animal studies. These findings have suggested a strong therapeutic prospect for my engineered pseudoislets in the treatment of type 1 diabetes through clinical islet transplantation. The proposed research focuses on characterizing my engineered pseudoislets structurally as well as physiologically, and comparing them to normal human islets. Taking advantage of state-of-the-art imaging technology at University of Oxford and my micro-tissue engineering expertise, I will reveal the cellular architecture of pseudoislets and their cell communication networks. TO BE CONT’D

Assessing the role of small-scale structures in controlling auriferous fluid flow: Nadaleen trend, Yukon.

Carlin-type gold deposits (CTGDs) are large, high-grade gold deposits named after the world renowned occurrences in Nevada. Despite their economic importance, agreement on how they formed is still lacking. We are undertaking an integrated geological and geochemical study of CTGDs in the Nadaleen trend, Yukon, to better define the hydrological regime that controlled their formation. The proposed Mitac internship will form part of the overall study – performing detailed analysis of small scale features that were potential fluid flow pathways for hot gold-bearing hydrothermal fluids. This work, combined with previous work studying the deposit geology and architecture, will be used as a framework to collect samples for future laboratory analysis. Ultimately, the data and samples collected by the intern will provide the partner organization with an improved understanding of how the deposits formed and this will benefit future exploration for CTGDs.

Night shift work and multiple cancer sites: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Shift work is an increasingly prevalent work pattern worldwide. It’s estimated that anywhere from 10-25% of workers are shift workers in European and North American countries. Within the past few decades, night shift work has been linked to an increased risk for numerous types of cancer, including breast, prostate, and ovarian cancer. However, due to differences in studies, the complete picture of how night work may increase cancer risk is still unclear, especially with less common types of cancer. The goal of this research project is to conduct a thorough review of the evidence, using advanced statistical techniques, to ascertain how night shift work is related to multiple types of cancer. This includes looking at differences in sex, quality of the studies, differences in countries, and commonality of the cancer type. TO BE CONT’D