Innovative Projects Realized

Creative Knowledge Translation and Visual Communication Design for The UBC – Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research (UBC-CeMCOR)

The proposed project aims to improve the communication of scientific research data by using creative knowledge translation strategies and redesigning CeMCOR’s website. By visualizing complex information, creating engaging materials, and enhancing the website’s user experience, CeMCOR can effectively share their findings with a wider audience. This will increase awareness of women’s health issues, establish CeMCOR as a reliable source of information, and attract more users to their resources. Ultimately, the project will help CeMCOR bridge the gap between research and practice, benefiting both the organization and the broader community by promoting informed decision-making and advancing women’s health.

Synthesis and characterization of a new generation of bone-targeting anti-cancer prodrugs

Bone cancers are very hard to treat because of poor blood flow in the bones and drugs to treat bone cancers need to be given at high doses and are often limited by side effects. This project will develop new “prodrugs” designed to target and attach to bones and release a potent anti-cancer drug, regorafenib, directly in the bone tumor. Regorafenib has shown to be active in treating bone cancers, but its use and dose are severely limited by skin and liver side effects. This prodrug will allow more drug to get to the tumor and greatly reduce the exposure to other tissues thus increasing efficacy and mitigating side effects. The technology we develop will be applicable to a whole class of anti-tumor agents.

Quantifying Sprinting Profiles with Wrist-worn Technology

This research project aims to make the Force-Velocity and Power-Velocity Sprinting Profiles more accessible to all athletes. These profiles measure an athlete’s explosive force and speed abilities and can help coaches and medical professionals develop a training program that is tailored to an athlete’s needs. Currently, only elite athletes have access to this tool, but this project seeks to evaluate the validity of using a sport watch with GPS to measure these profiles. By developing signal processing methods to evaluate these profiles accurately, this project will make them available to any athlete who wants to track their training and fatigue status. This will be a significant benefit to the partner organization by democratizing access to this valuable tool.

Currently, Sport Insight is primarily a service company. For the company to expand, one major objective is to utilize its extensive experience in product development for clients to develop and market its own line of products. With the wearable technology market growing rapidly and predicted to grow to over $1.6 billion over the next five years, this project will be a first step for Sport Insight in developing products for this market, with additional steps planned for the near future.

Understanding the Case for Policies to Support a Just Transition to a More Plant-Based Food System in Canada

A great deal of research supports the conclusion that a transition to a more plant-based food system in Canada would greatly help to improve health and environmental outcomes. Canadians for Responsible Food Policy [CRFP] is considering continuing or beginning to advocate for several concrete policies to support such a transition in Canada. This project will help CRFP to analyze both
1. How emerging research, policy developments, and events bear on the general case for policies to support a just transition to a more plant-based food system of the kind that CRFP is considering, and
2. The likely impacts of various specific versions of these policies, including their particular health, environmental, economic, and other social outcomes, and the consequent case in favour of, and potential problems with, these specific policies.
This will enable CRFP to determine what versions of the policies it is considering will maximize potential benefits and minimize potential problems.

Enabling Automatic Pipeline Leak Detection

Hifi Engineering is currently monitoring nearly 3,000 km of pipeline using Fiber-Optic Cables placed along their length. Tiny scratches, called Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBG), are inscribed into the fiber every 25m. Since the optical length of the fiber depends on the surrounding pressure, these gratings allow the fiber-optic cable to be used as a series of microphones, one for each grating. Hifi Engineering currently uses a series of threshold-based alarms, each of which triggers an assessment by a human operator, to detect alarm conditions. They are actively developing machine-learning based methods to automate this process as much as possible. This project will improve several of the fundamental signal processing steps used to reconstruct the sounds present at each of the detectors. This will provide the later leak detection algorithms with better data, hence increasing the reliability and accuracy of the system.

Unveiling the Rift: Exploring the Chasms in Modern Software Development Quality Assurance

Software quality is a complex challenge that includes security, reliability, correctness, and maintainability. Existing tools fall short in effectively identifying, monitoring, and prioritizing quality issues. This research project aims to bridge these gaps by developing a comprehensive solution. By addressing these limitations, it will enhance productivity, reduce risks, streamline software development, and increase project success. Failed software projects incur significant financial losses, making quality control crucial. This research contributes by providing a tailored approach, improving efficiency, and increasing software development success. Overall, it seeks to offer a better way to identify and address diverse quality issues, prioritize effectively, integrate project management, and customize solutions for better outcomes.

Complex Microscopy

The proposed project is to combine digital holographic microscopy (DHM) and interferometric scattering microscopy (iSCAT), which can be separated into two sub-tasks. The first one is introducing reconstruction holographic algorithm to iSCAT image analysis, realizing real-time particle 3D tracking. Tracking objects along the optical axis in iSCAT is commonly done by comparing the shape of its interferogram with a pre-recorded calibration table. With the adoption of field reconstruction algorithms, the same result can be obtained with a calibration-free procedure, without the need for pre-knowledge of the sample. This is especially relevant in the biological context, where evolving samples are observed over longer periods of time. The second task is to add off-axis DHM channel to the existing iSCAT-TIRF setup. The extra channel will allow for more informative measurements to be performed simultaneously, which is possible to obtain the complex properties of the sample, i.e., refractive index.

Novel corrosion and wear resistant self-lubricating hybrid coating

Our research project aims to develop an advanced coating solution for the tire molding industry to address the problem of rubber sticking to mold and vent surfaces during the tire curing process. Currently available solutions are costly, have a limited lifespan, and cause interruptions in the manufacturing process. We propose to use an electroless composite coating composed of three components, which offers excellent resistance to galling, corrosion, and wear. This coating can be applied to different surfaces with minimal preparation and ensures uniform coverage, preventing rubber adhesion. By implementing this coating, we can improve the efficiency of the tire molding process and reduce production disruptions. This research project will benefit our partner organization, Michelin Canada, as well as the wider mold industry by providing a cost-effective and long-lasting solution to the adhesion problem.

From Management to Adaptation: An organizational learning approach to strategic renewal of the environmental management function at The City of Calgary

This study looks at how organizational learning can be applied to enhance the relationships between human organizations and the environment. A team of environmental management professionals at The City of Calgary will work with the intern/researcher to design and test the effectiveness of an organizational learning tool. The tool will be applied to explore principles of complexity and self-organization in the context of The City of Calgary’s interactions with its environment, and will look at how organizing from the bottom up can complement The City’s existing systems-based environmental management approach. A multi-phased organizational learning exercise will be applied to identify intuitive knowledge and experience gained by individuals at the operation level of The City as they do their jobs, and to feed this knowledge forward into the institution. The study will investigate how the learning program contributes to developing the capacity of The City to self-organize and adapt to its environment.

Calibration Of The Heston Model

Traditionally, the Heston model has been calibrated using a combination of least squares, options inference and gradient
methods. However, a new calibration technique has recently been developed based on the explicit solution and stochastic
calculus techniques. This new method could greatly simplify and improve the accuracy of the process. The explicit price solution
and the filter used in the calibration problem mentioned above are found to be key for an explicit solution to the Markowitz
problem for one Heston stock and one bond.
In this project, we will focus on self-calibration, where we will only use the stock path itself to calibrate the model, i.e. no option
data will be used. This involves calculations of some parameters and a filtering problem for the remainder. The goals are: 1)
Evaluate various filters for the calibration process. 2) Compare our calibration method to others in the literature. 3) Investigate
improvements to the calibration by including option data observations.

Développement territorial intégré dans l’Est de Montréal: rôles, capacités d’action et potentiels de collaboration entre les Tables de quartier et les services d’urbanisme

Le projet de recherche partenarial vise à outiller les Tables de quartier de l’Est de Montréal face à des enjeux générés par des grands projets d’aménagement et d’infrastructure dans le cadre des investissements gouvernementaux. L’approche de recherche action est mobilisée pour assurer un accompagnement scientifique des coalitions d’acteurs de la société civile qui s’organisent sur le territoire. S’appuyant sur une meilleure compréhension des rôles et capacités d’action respectives des Tables de quartier et des services d’urbanisme face aux promoteurs privés, le projet de recherche vise ultimement à renforcer l’agentivité des Tables de quartier pour maximiser les retombées positives envers leurs communautés en promouvant l’équité territoriale en matière de services et aménités urbaines tout en favorisant la transition écologique dans les activités de production.

Investigating the mechanisms of Parkinson’s Disease

More than 100,000 Canadians are affected by Parkinson’s disease which affects the brain. It can disrupt the daily
lives of patients as they find it challenging to walk, talk and express themselves. Current therapies to treat
Parkinson’s disease provide symptomatic relief and are not effective. A protein called alpha synuclein is known
to promote brain cell degeneration by forming glue-like toxic aggregates. However, the mechanisms that lead to
the formation of alpha-synuclein protein aggregates is not clearly understood. My research uses a combination of
computational modeling, chemistry, biochemistry and cell culture based studies to identify new molecules that can
prevent the aggregation of alpha-synuclein protein aggregates and reduce their toxicity to brain cells. It is
anticipated that my research will lead to the development of novel class of molecules that can be used to study
the mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease and discover innovative treatment strategies.