Innovative Projects Realized

Explore thousands of successful projects resulting from collaboration between organizations and post-secondary talent.

13270 Completed Projects

1072
AB
2795
BC
430
MB
106
NF
348
SK
4184
ON
2671
QC
43
PE
209
NB
474
NS

Projects by Category

10%
Computer science
9%
Engineering
1%
Engineering - biomedical
4%
Engineering - chemical / biological

Harm reduction-based programming and services for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) in a novel clinical care setting: the opportunities and challenges for clinicians, clients, donors and fundraisers

Substance use significantly impacts the health and health care of many people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV), especially those dealing with additional medical, psychosocial, and economic complications. The need for comprehensive care for this population is particularly important given the current opioid overdose crisis in Canada. In response, harm reduction (HR) services (e.g., supervised injection, naloxone training, etc.) have been implemented to reduce drug-related deaths and harms. However, such services are typically not provided within hospitals/outpatient programs. Little is known about how HR services in these contexts may affect clinical care providers, complex service users, or broader organizational operations. This project provides a unique opportunity to examine the impacts of introducing HR services in a clinical care setting. The Casey House Foundation, supports a small community-based hospital which provides in/outpatient care to PLHIV with complex needs. This research will investigate the opportunities and challenges of implementing HR services from various unique perspectives (i.e., physicians, clinical and foundation staff, clients, donors) and collaboratively create a framework for evaluating these services. The foundation supports HR interventions to optimize safety and retain clients in care, and wishes to introduce these services in ways that also increase collaboration, expand clinical expertise, and engage donor support.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Carol Janice Strike

Student:

Katherine Rudzinski

Partner:

Casey House

Discipline:

Epidemiology / Public health and policy

Sector:

Health care and social assistance

University:

University of Toronto

Program:

Elevate

Complementary and competitive interactions between wild and managed bees

A diversity of native bee species inhabit agricultural and urban landscapes and can be more effective pollinators than the widely employed European honey bee. However, honey and wild bee communities often overlap, which means these bees compete for the same floral resources. Studies of competition between wild and managed pollinators are limited due to methodological constraints. This restricts our ability to predict how pollination and bee diversity will be affected by changes in pollinator community composition. The overall objective of this project is to assess the influence of honey bee density on native bee diversity and pollination across agricultural and urban systems. First, I will determine the optimal number of native and managed bees for crop pollination and production in apple agroecosystems, using an innovative pollination measurement technique and bee diversity experiments. Second, I will assess the effect of honey bee overpopulation on native bee diversity in urban settings, using bee diversity surveys conducted before and after an influx of honey bees to the Island of Montréal. The results of this work will provide the empirical data needed to create alternative crop pollination plans, and form evidence-based beekeeping regulations that are supportive of wild pollinator conservation in crops and cities.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Carly Ziter

Student:

Gail MacInnis

Partner:

Bayer CropScience Canada

Discipline:

Biology

Sector:

Life sciences

University:

Concordia University

Program:

Elevate

Effects of a Virtual Reality Exercise Program on Sleep Quality in Assisted Living Residents

Older adults are the largest growing segment of the Canadian population. Almost 40% of men and 59% of women aged 65 to 79 years experience sleep disturbances. Non-pharmacological interventions, such as educational programs and exercise, can improve quality of life of older individuals by enhancing sleep quality. Although strong evidence suggests that virtual reality (VR) programs are effective for improving mood, memory, and cognitive performance, little is known about the effect of VR exercises on sleep quality. This project aims to (i) understand the association between sleep quality, quality of life, cognitive performance, and function capacity in assisted living residents and (ii) quantify the effects of a VR exercise program on the treatment of sleep disorders. Sleep quality, quality of life, cognitive performance, and functional capacity will be assessed before and after a VR exercise program through subjective (questionnaires) and objective (wearable devices) instruments. The expected benefits of this project to the partner organization are the increase in quality of life of assisted living residents and the decrease in operational costs associated with sleep medication and staffing. For instance, a previous study has shown that a non-pharmacological intervention was efficient in decreasing by 29% the costs of sedative prescriptions.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Marc Poulin

Student:

Renata L. Kruger

Partner:

Brenda Strafford Foundation

Discipline:

Pharmacy / Pharmacology

Sector:

Health care and social assistance

University:

University of Calgary

Program:

Elevate

Understanding the impact of changes to blood donation deferral screening and criteria for men who have sex with men

Available evidence suggests that up to 71% of individuals will require blood or blood products at some point in their lives. To meet this demand, Canadian Blood Services estimates that approximately 100,000 new donors are required annually. However, current blood donation guidelines in Canada require a 3-month deferral period for men who have sex with men (MSM) due to the elevated incidence of HIV in this population, guidelines many see as discriminatory. Given the the improvement in HIV testing technology in recent years, re-evaluation of these guidelines would optimize donor eligibility. The proposed project will examine attitudes to revised donation guidelines among the general population and blood users, using a bilingual, representative national survey and semi-structured interviews with blood users. This will provide a better understanding of how moving towards gender-blind, behaviour-based screening of potential donors, and the inclusion of sensitive questions in the screening questionnaire, may affect donation rates and therefore the sufficiency of blood and blood products in Canada. This research will allow the partner organization, the Community-Based Research Centre for Gay Men’s Health, who have been studying the issue for several years, to develop recommendations for Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec regarding screening and deferral criteria.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Nathan Lachowsky

Student:

Karyn Fulcher

Partner:

Community-Based Research Centre

Discipline:

Epidemiology / Public health and policy

Sector:

Life sciences

University:

University of Victoria

Program:

Elevate

Automated Multi-Factor Medium Optimization of Human Hematopoietic Stem Cell Expansion Using Design of Experiments

This project aims to support ExCellThera’s current clinical trial (ECT-001) to improve blood stem cell transplantation outcomes for patients suffering from a host of blood malignancies. A critical aspect of developing clinical therapies using stem cells involves accurate and robust control of stem cell behavior in controlled laboratory conditions. Cell growth conditions (media) should mimic the native environment of the cell of interest. With the correct media composition, blood stem cells will expand in number and can be directed to produce a functional cell type(s) of interest, such as antibody-producing B-cells or oxygen-carrying erythrocytes. The expansion and production of functional blood cells is a critical step to enhancing existing bone marrow transplants, and for developing new, targeted therapies. We anticipate that an engineered blood stem cell graft can be tuned to meet the clinical needs of specific diseases in a precise manner.To optimize media composition, we propose developing a high-throughput, automated platform capable of preparing and analyzing large numbers of culture conditions in a programmable manner. This platform will allow us to identify, in an automated and efficient manner, significant positive conditions to expand blood stem cells, or produce specific cell types for therapeutic applications.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Peter Zandstra;Fabio Rossi

Student:

Andrew Hagner

Partner:

ExCellThera

Discipline:

Engineering - biomedical

Sector:

Life sciences

University:

University of British Columbia

Program:

Elevate

Luminescent lanthanide nanoparticles-a new generation oligonucleotide fluorescentlabel

The global oligonucleotide synthesis market size is expected to grow USD 3.9 billion by 2025. Therefore the demand for an efficient and sensitive oligonucleotide label for their detection, purification and delivery is on continuous rise. The current labels used in oligonucleotide detection have several serious drawbacks that limit their sensitivity. In the proposed project we plan to employ lanthanide-doped upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) as a label due to their unique upconversion property, which will offer remarkable sensitivity when compared to current fluorophores. These nano labels significantly expand the options for the design of luminescence based diagnostic assays and theranostic methods development. Once this product is developed the host company will be able to sell them in the nucleic acid labeling market for research purpose. MITACS elevate research funding will be a vehicle to accomplish this work. The postdoctoral fellow will learn in depth about the oligonucleotide synthesis, labeling and industrial marketing strategies.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Paul Piunno

Student:

Vishal Sopanrao Kale

Partner:

ACGT Corporation

Discipline:

Chemistry

Sector:

Life sciences

University:

University of Toronto

Program:

Elevate

Expanding the Applicability of Inductively Coupled Plasma Tandem Mass Spectrometry in Clinical and Semiconductor Industries

This internship aims at advancing the use of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) for the analysis of clinical samples (including whole blood) and of materials used by the semiconductor industry during their manufacturing process. The complexity of biological samples indeed limits the broad use of conventional inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) for their analysis. For instance, the measurement of a very small concentration of manganese in whole blood is highly skewed due to the presence of a huge concentration of iron. However, ICPMS/MS allows the accurate measurement of the Mn concentration directly in whole blood, without sample pretreatment. An extremely small quantity of impurities must be measured in the high-purity chemicals used in the manufacturing of semiconductors, as any impurity can affect the performance of semiconductors. ICPMS/MS has great potential for decreasing the smallest quantity of impurity that can be measured (called detection limit), thereby allowing the semiconductor industry to improve their purification procedures. During this project, the intern will research instrument conditions that improve detection limits and develop methods for the analysis of clinical and semiconductor samples to benefit PerkinElmer’s customers and thereby substantially increase PerkinElmer’s competitiveness in the ICPMS/MS market.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Diane Beauchemin

Student:

Ram P Lamsal

Partner:

PerkinElmer Inc

Discipline:

Chemistry

Sector:

Life sciences

University:

Queen's University

Program:

Elevate

Advancing biomonitoring eDNA practices. The case of PCR inhibition and implications on eDNA detections

Conventional biomonitoring methods based on capture and observations can be difficult, destructive of habitat, stressful for the organisms, inefficient, and expensive. Living organisms shed DNA into the environment (eDNA) and this signal can be detected using molecular methods. eDNA allows species detection without physical observation or capture. The non-invasive nature of eDNA is essential for revealing elusive and invasive species. Despite the advantages and growing applications of eDNA for biomonitoring, there are still uncertainties to be addressed before its acquisition by industry and regulators acceptance. Our project aims to compare conventional biomonitoring methods with eDNA to detect target species in both lentic and lotic ecosystems. We will approach PCR inhibition, a recurrent issue on environmental samples than can generate false positive results. We will explore alternatives to identify, assess and overcome inhibition in eDNA surveys. With a better understanding of the influence of PCR inhibition on eDNA detection sensitivity and efficiency, this project will advance the accuracy of eDNA in biomonitoring programs. Performing accurate molecular tests on environmental samples, rather than deploying time-consuming and labour-intensive methods, is valuable to the environmental industry to complement conventional approaches or overcome their limitations, overall improving environmental assessment and management decisions.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Robert Hanner

Student:

Tzitziki Loeza Quintana

Partner:

SLR

Discipline:

Biology

Sector:

Life sciences

University:

University of Guelph

Program:

Elevate

Nanocomposites as Multifunctional Structure for Space Radiation Shielding

During interplanetary travels, space radiations are always crucial to spacecraft design due to their extreme hazards to human beings and electronics. Conventional materials, such as aluminum and other heavy metals, have been widely used on spacecraft. The cost of launching overweighed items to space is still high even reusable rockets are available now. Reducing weight of shielding structures on spacecraft will largely benefit future space missions. Nanocomposites with extreme low density but high radiation shielding properties are proposed in this project. Their porous structure is suitable to craft functions from other nanomaterials into the nanocomposite by advanced technologies. High radiation shielding effectiveness, mechanical strength, thermal properties and low outgassing will be achieved by this innovative nanocomposite. The prototype of this state-of-art space radiation shielding material will lead the company to be more competitive and further height in value.

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Faculty Supervisor:

John Tze Wei Yeow;Ning Jiang

Student:

Siyuan Chen;Zheng Zhou

Partner:

ARTsensing Inc

Discipline:

Engineering - computer / electrical

Sector:

Aerospace and defense

University:

University of Waterloo

Program:

Accelerate

Masters Athlete Screening Study (MASS) – Part 2 (5-year evaluation)

Masters athletes (>35 years) are a rapidly growing population that participate in a variety of sports. While exercise has tremendous health benefits, there is a small absolute risk of a heart attack and sudden death during exercise. Prevention strategies, such as heart screening aim to identify heart disease that may serve as a trigger for fatal adverse events. This will be the first prospective longitudinal study in Canada examining the effectiveness of heart screening in Masters athletes. Participants will be screened every year for five years using a modified version of the American Heart Association recommendations, resting electrocardiogram, Framingham Risk Score, and a lifestyle, physical activity and psychosocial questionnaire. At present, there is a scarcity of evidence pertaining to heart risk evaluation and screening in Masters athletes. This study will allow the partner organization to gain a better understanding of the cardiovascular risk in Masters athletes and will provide an evidence-based recommendation on whether screening effectively detects heart disease in a reasonable, cost-effective fashion.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Darren Warburton

Student:

Barbara Morrison

Partner:

VGH and UBC Foundation

Discipline:

Medicine

Sector:

Arts, entertainment and recreation

University:

University of British Columbia

Program:

Accelerate

Connections Design in New Double Wythe Insulated Wall Panel Containing Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC)

Ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) double wythe panels are commonly used in building envelopes, however, the connections between panels have not been investigated properly. Several design connections will be designed and tested in association with the industrial partner to determine the feasibility of the designs. The project will investigate the structural behaviour and strength of different connections through experimental means. The connections of UHPC double wythe panels will be tested under various conditions to gather data in order to establish the efficiency of the panel connections. A parametric and analytical study will also be conducted to aid in producing design equations. This project will aid the industrial partner to promote the use of UHPC double wythe panels in the precast industry and establish a completed design guideline to benefit the construction sector.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Amir Fam

Student:

Andy John Prejs;Akram Rasheed Jawdhari

Partner:

Canadian Precast Prestressed Concrete Institute

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Construction and infrastructure

University:

Queen's University

Program:

Accelerate

Investigating multi-task learning in semantic parsing

Current research in semantic parsing suffers from lack of annotated data, which is hard to acquire. In this project, we aim at tackling the problem of converting natural language utterances to SQL language (Text-to-SQL) on complex databases in a low-resource environment. More specifically, we focus on the research of how multi-task learning (MTL) can help in this task. We will first identify the related natural language processing (NLP) tasks that can contribute to improving the performance of semantic parsing. Additionally, we will explore the methods of bridging multiple NLP tasks, and justify by empirical results what are the better methods for knowledge transferring. We want to push the state-of-the-art on the existing benchmarks on semantic parsing, and eventually, we hope this project could result in a successful product. The product will then help RBC reduce the analysts’ workload so that they can provide better services. Furthermore, the potential publications in this domain would also contribute to the overall research leadership that Canada maintains in AI.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Osmar Zaiane;Lili Mou

Student:

Chenyang Huang

Partner:

Borealis AI

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Information and communications technologies

University:

University of Alberta

Program:

Accelerate

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