Innovative Projects Realized

Salmon Early Marine Survival Research Program: Phase 2

Salmon are inarguably one of the most culturally, ecologically, and economically important fish in British Columbia, however, their stocks have been declining since the 1990’s. The Cohen Commission of Enquiry expert panel emphasized that juvenile mortality during the first months at sea was the most likely cause of fishery declines. This Mitacs project represents Phase 2 of a research initiative addressing the role of ocean conditions in the early marine survival of juvenile salmon. In partnership with the Hakai Institute the interns on this project will investigate the connection between physical and chemical conditions, plankton productivity and juvenile salmon health and survival. Phase 2 will continue research into the critical section of the salmon migration route through the Discovery Island and Johnstone Strait, but will also use the knowledge gained during Phase 1 to advance understanding of the migration habitat experienced by juvenile salmon across the coast of British Columbia, focussing on the food web support mechanisms. Using the Hakai Institute’s state of the art experimental facilities we will explicitly test the impact of ocean conditions on salmon food webs and the early marine survival of juvenile salmon.

Integrative Multi-Omics to identify Therapeutic Targets for COPD

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a common illness that affects millions of Canadians, yet there are no effective therapies to treat it. Genes play a role in COPD development, and our proposal aims at identifying those genes in lung tissue that cause the disease. The Providence Airway Centre is very committed at helping COPD patients in Canada and worldwide. The proposed studies with Drs. Ma’en Obeidat and Maxwell Libbrecht will use publicly available genetic datasets to enable us to identify disease genes and then develop potential new biomarker and therapeutic treatments for COPD.

Assessment of fire and Mountain-Pine Beetle-induced impacts to Chinook Salmon habitat in the Nicola and Bonaparte Watersheds

Recent severe forest fire activity and loss of vegetation from Mountain Pine Beetle has resulted in impacts to river channel stability and Chinook salmon habitat in several key sub-catchments of the Thompson River Watershed. Interest exists in conducting remedial work to improve and restore salmon habitat in several locations, but risk of ongoing channel instability from forest cover change continues. This project aims to determine which parts of Guichon Creek and the Bonaparte River are most at risk of ongoing instability, and the timescale over which the system is likely to recover as hillslopes revegetate and stabilize. A field and modeling approach will be taken to estimate locations at high risk of ongoing instability, and recovery times at these locations. This work will help protect Chinook salmon habitat in the Thompson River watershed, the only Chinook population still considered stable.

Towards an energy performance-driven space organization

This project investigates a new perspective on the intersections of architectural form generation, sustainability, building performance simulation and computation, and is meant to research an energy performance-driven building space organization method in the preliminary design phase.
It will enquiry clear design questions, and present results using a visualization method that addresses the problem for both architect and engineer. Accompanying with computer algorithmic form generation, it will facilitate the designers with more solutions scientifically, efficiently and economically.

Preventing medication errors in patients with low kidney function.

Patients with low kidney function need to take certain medications at a lower dose because their kidneys cannot filter the medication as well from the body. Taking medications at a high dose may be harmful to a patient and lead sometimes to death. The aim of my research is to help reduce medication errors in patients with low kidney function. I will do this by conducting several large studies to determine optimal medication dosing for patients with low kidney function. I will also do preparatory research to launch an educational intervention designed to help family doctors reduce the rate of medication errors in patients with low kidney function. Our research will provide high-quality results that will contribute to improving the management of patients with chronic kidney disease in Ontario and Canada which are currently on the rise.

Understanding the role and regulation of follicular fluid miRNAs in ovarian function and polycystic ovarian syndrome. 1

The polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), a multi-factorial heterogeneous syndrome with complex pathologies, affects up to 10% of women of reproductive age and accounts for 75% of anovulatory infertility. PCOS is associated with follicle growth arrest at the early antral stage, chronic anovulation, minimal granulosa cell proliferation, hyperthecosis with hyperandrogenemia, and insulin resistance. The proposed research is to improve our understanding on the complex regulatory mechanisms involved in the control of follicular growth and to gain insights in their dysregulation in the pathogenesis of PCOS.

The proposed studies will show, for the first time, if and how the ovarian exosome dynamics and chemerin-mediated immune modulation by androgen and intra-ovarian regulators control preantral/early antral follicle growth and how these regulatory mechanisms may be compromised in PCOS. Information gained will assist in the development of novel therapeutics for this complex syndrome.

Building Data-Driven Permanent Real-Time Full Wellbore Flow Monitoring Using Hybrid Distributed Fibre-Optic Simultaneous Vibration and Temperature Sensing Technology

In this project, we develop a framework to use the data from fiber sensing technologies to smart monitoring of Oil and Gas Reservoirs. The project involves extensive lab experiments simulating different monitoring conditions. Different configurations for installation of sensing equipment will be examined. The optimum location of tubing will be also determined. Signal processing methods will be used to extract useful information from the raw fiber-sensed data. Through experiments, we will record and analyze the relationship of fiber-sensed signals and the flow conditions. Machine learning algorithms will aid us to better understand such relationship and to predict the conditions at an actual field reservoir.

An online gauge for process analysis in the pulp industry: Integrating spectroscopic and physical measures of pulp quality to predict fitness for purpose

To sustain its leadership in the world marketplace, the Canadian pulp industry must continue to increase pulp quality, while it improves manufacturing efficiency, reduces energy consumption and decreases impact on the environment. Properties of a manufactured pulp vary with production parameters and characteristics of the feedstock. To produce pulps of the highest quality at lowest cost, a manufacturing process must continually optimize its conditions to fit the feedstock. This requires real-time process-analysis methods that measure the pulp in a production stream and predict its fitness for final purpose. Conventional wet-chemical methods now in use do not offer the possibility for real-time assessment. Work in our laboratory has shown that spectroscopic measurements, when fused with physical data on fibre characteristics, can accurately predict the properties of a finished paper product from the instantaneous measure of an in-process pulp. We propose to bring our spectroscopic methods to the production line, together with a machine learning approach to data processing that integrates spectroscopic information with known production parameters and real-time measures of fibre properties to realize an industry hardened, fully automated, online gauge of pulp and final-product paper quality attributes for deployment in a working pulp mill.

Extractable polysaccharides from sugar maple bark

This project aim to valorize sugar maple bark that is normally generated as residues in high volume from forest-based industry in Canada. Sugar maple bark, which is rich in polysaccharides will be extracted and subsequently dried to produce polysaccharide powder. Such obtained powder will be explored for its potential as functional food ingredients, mainly in development of natural food products. One of the applications could be the enrichment of substandard maple syrup with the addition of polysaccharides from sugar maple bark. Post-doctoral fellow will actively involve in developing the method for extracting bioactive polysaccharides from forest waste, optimising the drying method, and study the bioactivity of the final product. The partner organization (Gestion VEM Inc.) will develop new expertise and knowledge in the field of valorization of forest biomass to develop natural functional food ingredient that will be benefitted by Canadian consumers in the near future.

Development of fisheries production metrics for offsets in Great Lakes wetlands

Since 1868, the Canadian government has enforced legislation to protect fishes and their habitats. In 2012, amendments to the Fisheries Act shifted legislation from the protection of fish habitat to the protection of fisheries productivity. The Act requires that proposed development projects include plans to mitigate negative impacts to fisheries productivity. In the event that impacts cannot be fully mitigated, the net loss of fisheries productivity must be negated using offsets – actions that would increase productivity elsewhere. Quantifying the impacts of development on fisheries productivity remains a challenge. It also represents an opportunity for government, industry, and academia to collaboratively develop tools that measure productivity to assess the impact, mitigation, and offsetting of development projects. This project will develop such tools using an offset project, the restoration of Big Island Wetland by Ontario Power Generation, as an example. These tools will allow OPG and other organizations to meet their legal obligation of protecting fisheries productivity while maintaining economic productivity.

Design, fabrication and production of high aspect ratio diamond AFM probes

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is one of the most widely used imaging tools by the researchers and industries to view and characterize tiny objects. This tool uses a very tiny and sharp probe to scan or feel the surface of the specimens and then it produces a topography image of the scanned surfaces. Since the probe is in a direct contact with these surfaces it wears off and becomes dull frequently. A more durable probe is desired to overcome this challenge, however at the current time more durable probes that are fabricated from diamond are very expensive and non practical, this research project aims to solve this problem.

Energy Storage Based Electric Vehicle Charging System – Integration to Grid

Proliferation of electric vehicles indicates the need for a large number of Fast-Charging station that can charge the EV battery within 10 to 15 minutes in contrast to the slow charging process which takes several hours. The fast charging stations themselves will be supplied from the host utility grid and consequently can impose significant burden on the electricity infrastructure. Green Cheetah Fast-Charging Technology provides provisions to minimize or eliminate the impact of fast-charging station on the grid. This proposal is to research and develop supplementary capability for Green Cheetah station to assist the host utility when the station capacity is not fully utilized for EV charging. The main objective of the proposal is to enhance the supervisory control structure and local controllers of the station with algorithm that can exploit the existing power hardware for assisting the grid that supplies the station.