Innovative Projects Realized

Determination of appropriate time of start of follow-up to ascertain depressive disorder outcomes in youths and adolescents of pregnant people with or without depressive disorders

Prevalence of major depressive disorders have been on the rise over the last few decades. Depression is an important public health problem that touch pregnant people. Depression during pregnancy has been associated with many negative outcomes, such as cognitive impairment and childhood psychopathology in the offspring. Many pregnant women take antidepressants, such as Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which cross the placenta into the foetus or are present in milk while breastfeeding. Few studies focused on the long-term effect of SSRI. One of the main limitations is the unavailability of large databases with long enough follow-up time in order to detect these effects. In fact, it is unclear when the time of the follow-up should start. This project aims to address these limitations using large databases with long follow-ups in order to evaluate the association between depression and SSRIs use in pregnancy and children/adolescents’ depression. This project aims to fill in the gaps present in the literature due to methodological constraints through an international collaboration. The objective is to compare results between the Danish and Quebecois populations, to evaluate how the effect of the exposure varies across populations, databases, and to obtain robust conclusions.

Illégalismes et production urbaine aux Philippines

Le projet de doctorat porte sur les liens entre illégalité et développement urbain aux Philippines. De manière à mener le terrain adéquatement aux Philippines (à l’hiver 2025), une session de recherche à Turin en Italie sera entreprise durant l’automne 2024. Cette session a pour but de me former aux sujets reliant illégalité et ville que ce soit d’un point de vue théorique ou méthodologique. Plus encore, cette session me permettra de rencontrer divers experts en la matière ainsi que de m’aider à rédiger les premières parties de la thèse de doctorat.

Conversational Business Analyst

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Consistent Colourings of Polytopes Facets

The project I will be working on involves colouring the faces or facets of regular symmetric polytopes (generalizations of polygons and polyhedrons) and how colourings change under automorphism transformations like reflections and rotations. I intend to develop as comprehensive an understand as possible of these colourings

Ingram and Indian River Restoration Project

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Internship at the Helmholtz Institute for renewable energy

Fast cell encapsulation for antibody discovery

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Urban Heat Island Investigation: An Extreme Gradient Boosting Approach to Unravelling Nexus Between Satellite Surface Temperature and Ground-Level Ambient Air Temperature

The proposed research project focuses on studying the urban heat island effect, which is a phenomenon where urban areas experience higher temperatures in urban areas than their surroundings. This effect can impact public health, energy usage, and urban planning. The research will use advanced analysis techniques to understand how different factors like building characteristics and vegetation type influence temperature variations in cities. Specifically, the project will be conducted in Calgary, utilizing its diverse urban features as a case study. The expected benefits for the partner organization, which includes the City of Calgary, involve gaining valuable insights that can help in developing strategies to manage heat effectively within the city. This could lead to better urban planning and improved public health by mitigating the effects of excessive heat. Additionally, the research aims to create a model that can be applied to other cities, which means the findings could have a broader impact beyond just Calgary.

Prince Rupert Baseline Food Asset Assessment

The purpose of this research is to conduct a baseline assessment of the food system in Prince Rupert, BC. This will be accomplished through the inventory and analysis of local food assets. Defined as the local food infrastructure that maintains food secure communities, food assets include grocery stores, community gardens, student nutrition programs, and food banks. Information on how many food assets are present, what type they are, where they are, who is using them, and what the gaps are will help city planners create policies aimed at strengthening the local food system. This will benefit the City of Prince Rupert as they have stated their intent to develop a local food strategy that will increase their ability to withstand disruptions to their food supply caused by climate change events that affect transportation routes and cut off supply lines.

Antiviral Activity of the Proprietary Samples

Blue-O Technology Inc has developed proprietary samples that have demonstrated antiviral activity against HIV-1 and influenza. Blue-O Technology Inc has purified these proprietary samples to isolate different subunit components. These subunit components will be used by the intern determine which components have anti-HIV or anti-influenza activity. Initial experiments will be undertaken in cell culture systems to determine which subunits contain antiviral activity and what dose should be used for each sample. The final testing will be undertaken in mouse models of HIV-1 and influenza infection to determine if the samples can treat viral infection

Efficient vibration isolation for a cryogen-free dilution refrigerator

Quantum experiments and technologies often require temperatures as low as one-hundredth of a degree above absolute zero. “Cryogen-free dilution refrigerators” are advanced instruments to reach and maintain such temperatures simply and economically. However, they come with the price of significant vibrations – mechanical noise that can be detrimental for many applications. The low-temperature community explored different approaches to mitigate vibrations, but these solutions were usually highly specialized, not economical, and never left the research lab of universities. This project aims at developing a comprehensive, efficient, and economical solution for the broad market of cryogen-free dilution refrigerators. For this purpose, we will also implement and characterize novel vibration isolation systems – including one that is already operating for a superfluid dark matter detector at the University of Alberta.

Advancing Therapeutic Nanotechnologies: Quantitative Insights into mRNA-Lipid Nanoparticles

Leveraging the groundbreaking research of Dr. Sabrina Leslie and her team, this project represents a significant stride towards mastering the analysis of mRNA within Lipid Nanoparticles (LNP). Building upon our novel findings, published in ACS Nano (2021), which introduced the first quantitative imaging technique for RNA-LNP formulations, we aim to precisely quantify mRNA molecules in LNPs. Our prior work, achieving single-particle resolution in measuring RNA-cargo loading and particle dynamics, sets the stage for this venture. We’re now focusing on mRNA-LNP complexes, more challenging due to their size and the larger mRNA they contain, which are crucial for next-generation vaccine formulations like those in COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer–BioNTech and Moderna.

Over the next four months, with the expertise of two postdoctoral researchers, our goal is to refine detection and quantification methods to meet pharmaceutical industry demands. This project promises to elevate our analytical capabilities, allowing for scale-up to production levels and enabling us to serve more clients. It’s a pivotal step towards enhancing mRNA vaccine and therapeutic development, demonstrating our commitment to innovation and responsiveness to the pharmaceutical sector’s evolving needs.