Re-establishing salmonid populations to areas historically occupied has substantial potential for conservation gains, however, such interventions also risk negatively impacting native resident stocks. An on-going reintroduction of anadromous sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) to Skaha Lake, British Columbia is succeeding, with large numbers returning to spawn. However, a recent genetic study detected strong evidence of hybridization […]

Treatments that involve activating a patient’s own immune system, immunotherapies, are becoming important cancer therapies. Unfortunately, doctors don’t always know the best way to combine these therapies to best treat patients and the current tools they have to evaluate treatment success don’t work well for immunotherapies. Molecular imaging, particularly magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or positron […]

The collection of bacteria and archaea in an ecosystem is termed the microbiome. This microbiome is critically important to the structure and function of essentially any ecosystem, providing many ecosystem services, such as growth promotion, nutrient turnover, and impacts on organismal health. The vast majority of these organisms, however, are unknown to science for a […]

Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) is a key species in the ecology of the upper Bay of Fundy, Canada, that provides food to numerous predators and scavengers. Each year, Alewife migrate into freshwater systems to spawn in lakes. Dams and fishways often impede the migration of Alewife, which can have detrimental effects on Alewife populations, as well […]

Prostate biopsies can be difficult to interpret using standard pathology techniques. Because cancer can be fatal, the development of technologies providing complementary information could improve current pathology practice resulting in improved patient outcome. Raman micro-spectroscopy is a molecular imaging technique using backscattered light following tissue laser excitation to indicate whether or not prostate samples contain […]

While trees are regularly maintained to prevent damage from branches to power lines, power outages caused by vegetation still occur, and these outages are more common in some areas of London than in others. This work will correlate tree species-specific growth rates, tree species distribution maps, and topographical maps with the frequency of vegetation-related power […]

Echinacea is a popular medicinal herb with a global market of ?$1 billion. While numerous Echinacea products are already available, variable plant chemistry and genetics leads to inconsistent product quality. In an effort to develop “chemically customized” varieties for herbal products and supplements, Amway Canada has partnered with researchers at the University of Ottawa and […]

Common scab is a world-wide potato disease that is responsible for important economic losses. The control of the disease is difficult and soil fumigation is often the only approach available. In Atlantic Canada, crop losses associated with common scab are economically important and the disease has been progressing in severity. Therefore, Dr. Filion, in association […]

Dams can be problematic for fishes, particularly those that migrate. In order to help fish move around dams, fisheries managers may construct fishways (aka “fish ladders”). However, these structures do not always function properly, often because they were built only to pass trout and salmon and are thus inappropriate for other species. This project aims […]

Most red blood cells (RBCs) are stored from 1-6 °C in an additive solution of saline, adenine, glucose, and mannitol for up to 42 days. Cryopreservation of RBCs at -80 ºC in 40% glycerol can prolong their shelf life to at least ten years; however, the process to remove glycerol prior to transfusion is time-consuming […]

Juvenile Pacific Salmon survival in the Salish Sea has declined dramatically since the 1980s. Our work is part of the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project (SSMSP), an initiative which seeks to understand this decline. We have been developing an economical, small vessel-based method to study how juvenile Chinook Salmon use their habitat in more detail […]

UBC and Microsoft intend to collaborate on an applied research project where 3D models of the brain will be used to create an interactive Holographic lecture using Microsoft’s new augmented reality device, the HoloLens. The will form the basis for a lesson or “HoloLecture,” and will feature new interactions to take advantage of the HoloLens’s […]