Innovative Projects Realized

Engagement and Long-term Outcomes in Opioid Agonist Treatment in the Rapid Access Addiction Care Clinic Setting in British Columbia’s Fraser Health Authority

British Columbia’s Fraser Health Authority (FHA) faces challenges of lacking linkages to provincial administrative data to monitor long-term outcomes among their OAT clients. This one-year Mitacs Accelerate initiative will be undertaken in collaboration with FHA using both provincial administrative data held by the trainee’s supervisor and FHA’s summarized statistics data to characterize the client base and long-term outcomes of RAAC clients, addressing critical gaps in FHA’s internal monitoring and evaluation capabilities. This is the first project directed towards OAT long-term outcomes in RAAC clients in FHA. Collaboration with provincial administrative data can broaden the extension of follow-up of clients who transfer treatment to other HAs, thereby improving the capacity to expand upon current limitations regarding client follow-up. The findings have the potential to shape and improve FHA’s policy framework, ensuring it better aligns with real-world applications. The insights provide an in-depth understanding of RAAC clinics, facilitating the development of strategies to address existing challenges, which enhances the utilization of RAAC and improves clients’ health outcomes.

Bridging the Gap: Leveraging community-academic partnerships to improve evidence-based psychological interventions for diverse communities

The Ontario Structured Psychotherapy program (OSP) provides centralized access to mental health services and was developed as a stepped-care model, which allows clients to be matched to the appropriate level of service for them. However, resources are limited for in-depth analysis and the experiences of clients and clinicians remain relatively unknown in these early stages. The purpose of this project is to: a) examine whether systemic and structural barriers to uptake and engagement vary by sociodemographic and intersectional characteristics; and b) explore factors that influence barriers to engagement from a client and clinician perspective, particularly for diverse populations in the Brampton, Halton, and Mississauga (BHM) regions. As part of this one-year foundational study, 20 clinician and 14 client participants will be recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews. Additionally, data will be analysed from over 1700 clients enrolled in the OSP-BHM program. Results of this project can inform ways in which the OSP-BHM program can be adapted to better serve diverse communities and reduce the disparities in mental health care. Benefits include increased research collaboration, capacity building, and enhanced student training. Social benefits resulting from this project focus on expanding access to mental health, particularly for diverse and historically marginalized populations.

Novel Specific Coagulant/Flocculant Pairs for Mineral Tailings Treatment

Water management and treatment of mineral tailings and oil sands tailings are becoming critical challenges for the sustainable development of natural resources exploration. Reclamation of these tailings is challenging due to a solid phase composed mainly by very fine particles and many other chemicals. With these characteristics, the tailings form a very stable colloidal system and needs to be stored in open ponds. If left untreated, these tailings take decades to settle the recovery of water and large areas occupied by the tailing’s ponds. Coagulation and flocculation have been used to promote the sedimentation of these particles and enable the separation of released water and solid sediments. Duo to its complex composition, there is no mature technology capable of effectively treating tailings and completely eliminating the use of tailings ponds. This project aims to develop an innovative method that selectively bridge the fine particles suspended in tailings, forming aggregates with low water retention, precipitating at the bottom of the pond. We plan to synthesize novel targeted flocculation systems whereby a bifunctional coagulant adheres in patches to the negatively charged tailings particles, followed by a specific cross-linking with the flocculant, which will be composed by a functionalized natural or synthetic polymer with high molecular weight.

Rôles des enzymes PP2A-B56 aux centrosomes durant la mitose

Ce projet sera mené à Montréal par M. Léo Millot lors de son stage de Master de l’Université Aix-Marseille. M. Millot intégrera l’équipe dirigée par Vincent Archambault à l’Institut de Recherche en Immunologie et en Cancérologie de l’Université de Montréal. Ce laboratoire se spécialise dans les mécanismes qui contrôlent la division cellulaire. Le projet visera à comprendre les rôles d’enzymes PP2A-B56 dans le fonctionnement des centrosomes qui fonctionnent dans la mitose. Notre hypothèse est que les enzymes PP2A-B56 contrôlent l’activité des centrosomes en modifiant certaines de leurs protéines. Une combinaison d’approches génétiques, biochimiques et microscopiques sera utilisée avec la mouche drosophile comme modèle. Les mécanismes de la mitose étant fortement similaires entre espèces animales, les résultats obtenus permettront de mieux comprendre les cellules humaines. Les connaissances acquises pourraient servir à entrevoir de nouvelles thérapies contre les cancers. Le projet permettra de développer les liens entre le laboratoire d’accueil et l’équipe dirigée par le co-superviseur Pr. Frédéric André du Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Marseille. Le projet fournira au candidat stagiaire Léo Millot la formation et les bases scientifiques nécessaires pour son projet de doctorat qui sera initié au laboratoire du Pr Archambault à Montréal au terme du stage.

Developing an Ergonomic Risk Assessment Tool and Work Rotation Plan

The overall objective of this project is to reduce ergonomic risk and the potential for workplace injury across the entire production facility. Repetition, force and posture are factors that can lead to fatigue and injury among workers in a manufacturing setting. By developing an ergonomic demands and risk assessment tool based on current research, the risk associated with each workstation in the facility will be quantified, and recommendations to reduce or eliminate risk of potential injury will be provided. Job rotation schedules will also be proposed that utilize the data from the ergonomic assessments to vary the type of physical demands that worker are exposed to in different areas within the facility. This will reduce the chance of workplace injuries and hopefully increase worker satisfaction.

Une plate-forme interactive pour l’analyse des données génétiques et climatiques

Advancements in DNA sequencing technology throughout the 1980s triggered a transformative shift in evolutionary biology. This groundbreaking period led to the emergence of the field of phylogeography, introduced by John Avise and colleagues just over three decades ago. This highly integrative discipline delves into the intricate connections between xthe history of Earth, ecology, and the diversification of life forms. Phylogeography entails tracing the geographic patterns of the evolution of species, where new species originate from common ancestors, by studying their migrations across different regions.

The goal of this project is to develop and implement an innovative, open-source software platform that stands out for analyzing phylogenetic trees based on phylogeographic processes. This user-friendly tool will be accessible to the scientific community, complemented by a comprehensive guide and various datasets. Its capabilities will empower researchers to address scientific inquiries, such as comprehending the correlation between genetic makeup, geographical distributions of species, and climatic parameters.

The platform will encompass a species mapping feature, a graph generator, and an interactive analysis tool, constituting the core components of the dashboard. The new webpage or the new application will be deployed on an institutional server, enabling simultaneous interaction by multiple users.

Autonomous Landing and Recharging of Indoor UAVs

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are expected to carry out tasks of increased complexity, expanding in indoor environments such as warehouses and healthcare settings. However, indoor environments impose unique challenges to UAVs as the enclosed space is relatively small and safety is crucial for people working in the same space. Furthermore, the unavailability of GPS leads to the reliance of onboard sensors, and the performance is influenced by environmental factors such as lighting. The development of an autonomous landing system for indoor UAVs with required safety and efficiency is a high priority research topic. The primary objective of the proposed research project is to develop a comprehensive landing and recharging station for indoor UAVs. The system will enhance UAV endurance and usability for various indoor applications, facilitating continuous UAV operations without human interventions. A battery recharge and monitoring system will also be developed, including a docking method to align the UAV for contact-based recharging and to ensure efficient, fast and safe recharge of UAV batteries. Two interns are planned for the proposed project: one focuses on the investigation and development of autonomous landing control and the other on development of a recharging station for indoor UAVs.

Prediction des retards et de la performance de ponctualite aux arrivees et departs de YUL Aeroport International Montreal-Trudeau

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Design ethical AI systems for nautical crime database

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing accounts for as much as 26 million tonnes of fish each year, with a value ranging from $10 to $23 billion USD. Despite its significance, there is a notable lack of comprehensive international databases on nautical crimes, including illegal fishing. This gap presents a significant challenge for effectively monitoring and addressing these activities. Advanced machine learning models and large language models (LLMs) are powerful tools for creating a database. However, their use in this context particularly requires extra attention due to its close relation to legal matters and human rights. Our research aims to construct efficient systems to create a nautical crime database while upholding AI ethics and ensuring transparency throughout the process. Our projects are divided into two themes: (1) exploring efficient models to filter relevant articles from web search results and (2) building a system to accurately extract information from the relevant articles.

AMH, predictive tool of ovarian response to a superovulation treatment in the cow

In dairy cows, future generations are created by embryo transfer techniques, which entail a superovulation treatment followed by fertilization in the field or in the laboratory. Due to enormous pressure exerted by breeders, cows are now superovulated very young, even before puberty and thereafter are superovulated routinely. Despite improvements in this technique, there is still variability in the ovarian response to treatment and loss of ovarian response after the 5th or 6th superovulation treatment. This project aims to predict ovarian response in pre-pubescent and in adult cows that are undergoing repeated superovulation treatments using an endocrine anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) assay. We will determine whether this assay could also predict the loss of ovarian response to treatment. Companies such as Boviteq face these problems every day and would directly benefit from the results of this study.

Senior Smart Health Monitoring System

The population of Canadians aged 85 and older is rapidly increasing, with over 861,000 people in this age group recorded in the 2021 Census, more than double the figure from 2001. The number of seniors aged 85+ continues to rise and could triple by 2046, reaching 2.5 million. Additionally, over 9,500 centenarians now live in Canada, a 16% increase since 2016. The increase in longevity, particularly among those aged 85 and older, often correlates with a rise in chronic conditions and health-related challenges, making continuous health monitoring essential for maintaining quality of life. With the objective of monitoring and improving the health, quality of life, and well-being of seniors, their families and communities, this project proposes a Senior Smart Health Monitoring system. The system has two primary components: a wristband, to be worn by people in need of care, for real-time health data collection and a set of cellphone apps/software for data management and monitoring. Additionally, the product will offer features such as video and audio surveillance, GPS tracking, and emergency SOS calls.

Inductively heated methane pyrolysis

The partner organization intends to decarbonize it’s Canadian lime kilns. One option is to switch to biogenic sources worldwide, although doing so will still result in CO2 emissions. A preferred option is to switch to hydrogen, because it is clean and results in higher kiln efficiency. The technology described in this proposal would advance these efforts by using methane from the existing carbon infrastructure and converting it into hydrogen and solid carbon.

Methane pyrolysis is a CO2-free method of producing hydrogen. Being an endothermic process, energy input is necessary, and emission-free energy is needed to keep the process CO2-free. Using clean electricity is one strategy, however resistive heaters have drawbacks such as high costs and poor heat efficiency. This proposal suggests the use of inductive heaters to heat catalyst to produce clean energy. Additionally, in order to avoid the manage the carbon that deactivates traditional solid catalysts, mechanical carbon removal at moderate temperatures will be employed.