Innovative Projects Realized

Évaluation des politiques de Santé Publique à Montréal (2014-2024) : Impact sur le Secteur Privé, la Société et les Disparités en Santé.

Le projet Évaluation des politiques de Santé Publique à Montréal (2014-2024) : Impact sur le Secteur Privé, la Société et les Disparités en Santé analyse les effets des politiques de santé publique sur Montréal, particulièrement leurs répercussions sur le secteur privé, la société et les inégalités en santé. Il explore comment ces politiques influencent les entreprises locales, qui s’adaptent aux nouvelles réglementations de santé, avec des implications pour la santé des employés. Le projet évalue également si ces politiques ont amélioré la qualité de vie, l’accès aux soins et la prévention des maladies chroniques pour l’ensemble des citoyens montréalais.

Un axe important du projet est l’étude des disparités en santé, notamment entre les groupes socio-économiques et les communautés vulnérables, comme les immigrants et les populations à faible revenu. Grâce à une approche comparative et des données précises, cette recherche offre aux décideurs des recommandations pour combler les inégalités et optimiser les futures politiques de santé. Elle vise également à enrichir la compréhension des meilleures pratiques en santé publique au Canada, tout en renforçant la résilience sociale et économique de Montréal dans la gestion des crises sanitaires.

Hypoxia tolerance of salmonids above and below culverts

The overall focus of this study is to assess the hypoxia tolerance of salmonids above and below culverts, which are human-made structures that allow water to flow under roads. However, poorly designed culverts can cause habitat fragmentation and negatively impact water temperature and oxygen levels. Gespe’gewa’gi Institute of Natural Understanding (GINU) is creating a robust, long-term dataset that monitors culverts for various biological and environmental parameters among rivers within the Restigouche watershed, providing an opportunity for a two-eyed-seeing approach that focuses on the physiological response of native fish to thermal and hypoxic stress. Our objective is to establish a baseline assessment of the hypoxia tolerance of salmonids across ten study sites located above and below culverts within the Restigouche Watershed. We will achieve this objective by measuring the hypoxia tolerance by conducting hypoxia challenge tests (HCT). These insights will elucidate the relative hypoxia tolerance among sites, influenced by physiological adaptations and plasticity in response to changing conditions. This research offers insight into fish’s resilience and adaptability to environmental change by investigating physiological and behavioural responses to hypoxic stressors.

Identifying and addressing gaps in services for traumatic brain injury survivors in the Interior Health Authority region of British Columbia

Survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI) face challenges in obtaining integrated care that appropriately meets their needs. This is due, in part, to the nuanced and intersecting factors making TBI a complex clinical issue, but also to the siloed and uncoordinated service provision across public and community-based healthcare organizations. To address this challenge, the aim of this project is to use asset mapping to outline existing contact with, and coordination between, organizations serving TBI survivors in the area of British Columbia served by the Interior Health Authority (IH). In an effort to better understand the importance of context in the nature of the support services that are offered, we will draw from four sample areas / communities representing different characteristics of the IH region: i) urban; ii) regional/hub; iii) rural/remote; and iv) Indigenous community. By this means, we will identify opportunities to implement best practice recommendations and thereby optimize the continuum of care for TBI survivors.

Privacy-Preserving Human Activity Recognition for Healthcare using Large Vision-Language Models

This project will develop privacy-preserving human activity recognition algorithms for healthcare, especially senior care and remote patient monitoring. We will develop algorithms in three areas: 1) Video-based high-performance and fast pose estimation algorithms running in the sensor. 2) Advanced stick-figure-based action recognition methods that run in the cloud. 3) Stick-figure-based large vision and language model (VLM) methods in the cloud. The developed algorithms will be implemented into the industry partner’s product, which will benefit seniors and patients in Canada and around the world.

BSI- Coppella

The project aims to improve the sexual health and wellbeing of older women living in Fraser Health Authority’s (FHA) assisted living communities. With nearly 70% of residents being women aged 65 and older, there is a gap in addressing their sexual health needs, including preventing sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs). Current practices lack tracking of STBBI rates in these settings, and societal stigma often neglects older adults’ sexual health needs. This project, supported by Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) funding and in partnership with the Women’s Health Research Institute (WHRI), seeks to bridge these gaps through integrated knowledge translation. By collaborating with FHA leaders and researchers, the project aims to develop strategies and policies that not only support older women’s sexual health but also integrate these principles into assisted living community care practices. The ultimate goal is to enhance overall health outcomes and quality of life for older women in FHA’s assisted living residences.

Application of organic acids for improved soybean performance

Adverse growing conditions as a result of unpredictable changes in climate results in millions of dollars in crop and yield loss each year to Canadian farmers. Thus, the ability to improve crop performance under stress conditions is a major challenge. Improved plant performance, especially during the seedling stage of plant development, can be supported by the use of conventional NPK fertilizers that can have a negative impact on surrounding agricultural ecology if not applied properly. The proposed MITACS Accelerate project will support research and bridge relations between industry and scientists at the University of Manitoba to investigate the effect of organic acids on improved plant performance from the earliest stages of seedling establishment. We will be studying the mode of action of MX3, an all natural organic acid seed treatment, globally using a combination of large scale microbiome and RNA sequencing coupled with comprehensive bioinformatics approaches and agronomic studies. The impact of this work has broad application to crops grown in Canada and will lead to a deeper understanding of molecular events critical for plant establishment and performance.

My Heart Coach – a nested pre-/post-, multi-methods study

Patients with cardiovascular disease benefit from participating in cardiac rehabilitation which have been traditionally offered in-person. Patients find these to be challenging to attend and may not complete the
programs if they enroll. Providing cardiac rehabilitation as an online program is a promising solution. My Heart Coach is an online web-based multimedia program for cardiac rehabilitation. Against the context of a feasibility study, a nested study will be done to look for: (1) measures that can predict program usage of 12 weeks and (2) barriers and facilitators that may impact program usage. This multimethods study will use a combination of surveys, clinical data, and patient interviews to obtain data for analysis.

Testing the efficacy of seaweed extracts to enhance plant performance for mine reclamation

As the world attempts to transition into a low-carbon economy, the mining sector is becoming increasingly important in meeting the promises of the Paris Climate Agreement. Despite their importance in providing critical minerals, mining activity severely impacts the environment, particularly the soil ecosystem. Therefore, large-scale rehabilitation efforts that are resilient to climate change are undertaken. Seaweed extracts (SWE) have emerged as a strong contender for their low carbon footprint, carbon capture capabilities, and multimodal action that enhances plant and soil function. A large body of research demonstrates SWE’s effectiveness in improving plant and soil health. However, their application in mine reclamation remains paltry. Our project seeks to remedy this shortcoming by employing a two-phase experiment that examines the effectiveness of the SWE on plant survival and growth. We have partnered with Ocean Regenerative Aquaculture to investigate the efficacy of their SWE on plant performance in the reclamation domain.

Defining core competencies in pharmacology education and implementation through an Advanced Pharmacology Training – Leadership, Education And Development of Skills (APT-LEADS) training program

This research project focuses on improving pharmacology education in Canada and beyond through a research partnership with the the Canadian Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (CSPT), a national not-for-profit?charitable organization that fosters educational and research excellence in pharmacology. The project will focus on defining and developing educational resources that would be made available to all pharmacology educators at no cost. The educational resources would focus on the essential aspects of pharmacology that should be known by all. The resources will be tailored to the needs of the students and for the first time focus on incorporating principles of equity, diversity, inclusivity, and decolonization (EDID) in pharmacology education and research. Finally, to enhance the success of Canadian pharmacology trainees (with respect to their future careers in industry, government or as an academic or clinical scientist), we will design, implement and evaluate an advanced pharmacology training program.

Impacts of Climate Change on Convective Storms in the Canadian Prairies using Numerical and Statistical Downscaling Techniques

Convective storms bring heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, and sometimes hail, posing significant risks to cities, farms, and infrastructure. These intense storms are especially common in Canada’s Prairies during the summer and are becoming more severe with climate change. To better predict these storms, we need detailed climate models because convective storms usually happen over small areas (between 10 to 100 kilometres across). However, the typical global climate models cover much larger areas (about 200 kilometres across), making it hard to accurately capture these storms. To solve this problem, this project improves the level of detail and accuracy of these models down to about 10 kilometres using advanced techniques. This improvement will help preserve essential characteristics of rainfall accurately in our predictions. By using multiple climate models, we can also understand how certain we are about these projections. This research is crucial for designing infrastructure in Canadian regions prone to flooding from convective storms, aiming to reduce the damage from these increasingly intense weather events.

Élaboration d’un modèle de gestion et de fonctionnement d’une plateforme logistique alimentaire mutualisée

Ce projet de recherche-action, en collaboration avec la municipalité de Roquemaure (MR) et la Société d’aide au développement des collectivités (SADC) d’Abitibi-Ouest (AO), vise à développer un modèle de gestion et de fonctionnement d’une plateforme logistique mutualisée pour coordonner le transport des denrées alimentaires aux citoyens et aux citoyennes de MR et à travers le territoire de l’AO. À la fin du projet, MR disposera d’un modèle de mise en œuvre d’un processus de mutualisation et d’outils d’aide à la décision, applicables à son plan de développement d’une communauté nourricière. La SADCAO disposera de son côté, d’une démarche rigoureuse de mise en œuvre d’un processus de mutualisation réussi et pérenne et d’un modèle de gestion et de fonctionnement, applicable à d’autres PDCN sur le territoire, voire à d’autres secteurs d’activités qu’elle soutient. Le modèle développé pourra également servir d’une base solide au développement d’un pôle logistique alimentaire régional, tel que souhaité par cette organisation partenaire.

Développement d’électrodes multiplexes pour la détection de drogues d’abus en 2 minutes

On estime que 31,9 millions de Nord-Américains (11,7 %) sont des “utilisateurs” d’au moins une sorte de drogue illicite et que jusqu’à 8 % des conducteurs conduisent sous l’effet d’une de ces drogues. D’ailleurs, selon une étude récente, 43,6% des conducteurs mortellement blessés en 2016 ont été testés positifs aux drogues. Le marché mondial des tests de dépistage de drogues illicites était de 5,8 milliards USD en 2020 et devrait atteindre 10.7 milliards USD d’ici 2030. Une des principales limitations liées à l’expansion de ces marchés demeure toutefois que les tests actuellement en usage sont des technologies archaïques à flux latéral. Ces derniers sont relativement encombrants, requièrent une manipulation longue (>10 min) et complexe par l’utilisateur, et sont peu fiable. Le laboratoire du Prof. Vallée-Bélisle à l’Université de Montréal a récemment développé un capteur de THC électrochimique à base d’ADN qui utilise des anticorps déjà approuvés par l’industrie et qui affiche des limites de détection inférieures aux dispositifs actuellement commercialisés. Le principal avantage de cette technologie est qu’elle fournit une lecture numérique en moins de 2 minutes directement dans quelques microlitres de salive. Le projet proposé en collaboration avec la compagnie Montréalaise Anasens et le Dr Thibaut Babin, permettra de développer une électrode multiplex (5 tests simultanés) pour la détection quantitative de cinq drogues d’abus dans un petit échantillon de salive en moins de 2 minutes.