Innovations Realized

Natural products for Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) pest management

Spotted Wing Drosophila is an aggressive invasive pest that is high research and management priority for the BC and Canadian berry and small fruit industry. Spotted Wing Drosophila can substantially reduce crop yields despite heavy uses of chemical insecticides, which in some cases can be harmful to the environment and human health. Botanical extracts from plants and insecticidal microbes that are naturally toxic to insects have great potential to provide enviromentally-friendly options for growers to manage Spotted Wing Drosophila. The proposed research will evaluate botanical extracts from the Neem tree, Azadirachta indica, and from the Pongamia pinnata (Karanja) tree, and plant and soil associated microbial isolates for insecticidal and pest repellent effects in collaboration with Terramera Inc. We will evaluate oil extracts from these trees, specifically Neem and Karanaja oil, and screen microbial isolates for their compatibility with Spotted Wing Drosophila biological control agents, including Bacillus thuringiensis. We will determine the specific effects of these natural products, including their lethal and sub-lethal effects, on Spotted Wing Drosophila in the lab, greenhouse and field.

Impact of garlic supplementation and Residual Feed Intake profile on the occurrence of liver abscesses in feedlots

Feed efficient finishing cattle with none or less severe cases of liver abscesses (LA) will improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the beef industry. The antimicrobial properties of garlic have not been evaluated towards mitigating the severity of LA. Studies evaluating the association between feed efficiency and LA and the integration of emerging feeding strategies such as garlic supplementation are sparse. This project will evaluate the relationship between garlic supplementation strategies and residual feed intake (RFI) profiles on the severity of LA in finishing cattle. The project will recruit approximately 200 feedlot steers for the 2-yr project where each steer will be assigned to 1 of 4 garlic-supplementation groups. Individual feed and supplement intake will be measured while the RFI profile of each steer will be calculated. The finished steers will be harvested at an approved facility where LA scores will be collected by an expert assessor. This project will determine the associations between performance and LA scores.

Development of a handheld water quality monitoring platform incorporating a low-cost electrochemical sensors array

Multi-parameter monitoring of water quality parameters in resource-limited and sparsely populated areas is a major challenge. A fully-integrated sensing platform with high-accuracy, efficiency and lower cost is, thus, crucial for continued water safety. In this project, we will developed a handheld water quality monitoring system with pH, total chlorine; temperature, and water hardness sensors for drinking and recreational water monitoring. The sensors will be made on low-cost, replaceable cartridge-based platform, controlled by a custom-designed printed circuit board (PCB) connected to a smartphone App. The cost of the sensors will be <$4 and the cost of readout system and application software will be <$50. This one-of-its-kind and fully-integrated water quality monitoring system will be user-friendly, cost-effective, offering real-time sensing capability in remote areas. The platform technology will help diversify EBPI’s current portfolio of water quality test products, allowing for expansion into new commercial areas.

Milk spectral signature of transition success or failure

A successful transition to lactation is of high importance in dairy production as this period affects the entire productive life of a dairy cow. Poor transition are often associated with clinical or subclinical diseases. The objective is to assess whether milk components are associated with a poor or good cow transition. Emphasis is put on milk components other than the ones routinely measured in monthly milk samples. The spectral signatures of milk from cows analyzed through infrared spectroscopy are therefore assembled. Potentially relevant features are extracted from the spectral signature and associations are determined with the Transition Cow Index as an indicator of a successful transition. This study will contribute to generate a metabolic profiling tool for cows in early lactation through routine testing using infrared spectroscopy.

Assessing and managing acoustic disturbance to bowhead whales in the Canadian Arctic

Scientists of WCS Canada have obtained funding through the Canada Nature Fund for Aquatic Species at Risk (CNFASAR) to conduct a collaborative project focusing on bowhead whale research in the Canadian Arctic. The proposed postdoctoral project is a main part of the CNFASAR project and aims to assess how bowhead whales react to underwater noise so that risks from human activities, particularly ship-related, can be managed effectively. This project will examine how whales respond to different levels and types of ship noise and naturally occurring noise through an experiment where sound recordings are played underwater to whales fitted with a tag that records sound and movement. The tag records what the whale hears and also can be used to reconstruct a 3D path of each whale’s movement. This can be used to measure how a whale changes its behaviour in response to noise, and the noise level associated with a change in behaviour can be estimated.

The development of a smart, fast and reliable engineering design software package for applications in structural and geotechnical engineering design

This research proposes to develop and implement innovative algorithms required to build a software package that will help engineers achieve designs that properly balance reliability and cost. The resulting risk-based design is challenging because it is computationally very time consuming, involving both sophisticated numerical models of the structure being designed, and also Monte Carlo simulations in order to estimate its reliability. Algorithms which speed up the numerical modeling using advanced computer hardware are essential to assessing the reliability of a particular design. Added to this is the problem of finding optimal designs which take design and construction costs into account. Risked based design methodologies will be developed to identify the best potential designs, along with their cost and
reliability, so that the engineer can make an informed decision regarding the optimal design.

Predicting physiological activity using sensor networks

In Canada, 35% of injuries occur during participation in sports or exercise (Billette, 2011). Sports-related injuries costs the Canadian healthcare system $1.5 billion annually (Parachute, 2015). Injury prevention in sports is of paramount to the athlete, coaches, team management, and health team. Overtraining and fatigue are common causes for injury in sports. Training load is an important factor to optimize athlete performance and minimize risk of injury. While accelerations measured with sensors attached to the chest have been used to calculate training load, this approach does not specifically capture motion of the lower body, so cannot adequately capture training load in sporting activities with significant arm motions (such as swimming) or predominant leg motions (such as cycling). The objective of this research project is to develop an algorithm for predicting training load that can be used in a variety of sports.

Developing a visual analytics system for predicting AKI and identifying its risk factors among hospitalized patients

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is defined as a sudden loss of kidney function over a short period of time. It is one of the most common clinical events in hospitalized patients. AKI can lead to a lower chance of survival and prolonged hospital stays. Therefore, early detection and diagnosis of AKI allows for simple management plans to be used to lower the length and severity of AKI and its associated mortality. The main goal of this project is to identify the patients who are at high risk of developing AKI by analyzing patient medical history data using advanced computational techniques. AKI is associated with estimated health care costs of more than $200 million in Canada annually. Therefore, successful implementation of this project will result in a substantive healthcare cost savings.

Development of a platform for the passive transdermal delivery of macromolecules possessing a wide range of physicochemical properties

The goal of this project is to develop patches which are able to deliver a variety of large molecules through the skin. To date, patches developed for delivery tend to fall under a “lock-and-key” model, where one material will only be able to hold/deliver one drug. Furthermore, the drugs delivered are limited to small molecules in small doses, limiting the types of drugs that can be delivered through patches. Patches which are capable of delivering larger molecules often require additional encumbersome applicators or electric devices, which are less feasible in practical application for patients. We wish to develop a plug-and-play platform to allow for the delivery of these larger molecules in therapeutic dosages, to enable more effective delivery of a number of different drugs, without needing to re-invent the wheel every time the drug payload is changed. These systems could feasibly replace the need for subcutaneous injections and constant oral administrations of certain medications, to improve the medication experience for patients everywhere.

Eng/aging and HIV: Knowledge Exchange Between Administrative Data Project and Aging Individuals with HIV/AIDS in British Columbia

To an unprecedented degree in the history of HIV/AIDS, people with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) are aging largely owing to the success of treatment. As a relatively new phenomenon, research on HIV/AIDS and aging is only just emerging, and remains largely epidemiological in focus. One leading epidemiological study called COAST comes from the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, a world-renowned HIV/AIDS research organization. COAST assembles administrative epidemiological data to examine aging PLHIV health trends in B.C. Missing in this research is the knowledge and experience of those being studied who actually live the challenges of aging with HIV. Canada-wide there has been a push in health research for an ethical practice that emphasizes collaboration amongst those directly affected by a health issue and researchers (e.g. CIHR 2019).

My research will engage aging PLHIV with COAST, leveraging their perspectives and lived experiences to identify community-relevant research questions and answer them using COAST data. This project stands to enrich the knowledge produced by COAST scientists, improve the inclusivity of their professional networks, and enhance the management and contribution of the COAST study itself. It is established that “patient-oriented research” improves healthcare, and this project will improve health services and health outcomes for PLHIV.

Edge Streaming for 360-degree Videos

360-degree video streaming is one key element of many Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) applications. The computing and networking demands pose great challenges for mobile devices and mobile networks, especially if a mobile device is the video source. The deployment of mobile edge computing offloads computing and networking demands on mobile devices and alleviates bandwidth demand in mobile networks. This project proposes a new streaming mechanism for 360-degree videos for AR/VR applications by leveraging the advantages of edge computing and Software Defined Networking (SDN, a new networking paradigm for Quality-of-Service guarantee). The new mechanism will effectively reduce computing and networking demand on mobile devices and the stress in mobile networks. The success development of this project will reduce the operation costs of AR/VR applications for service providers and enhance the Quality-of-Experience for users. The research findings will inspire design of resource-efficient and highly-responsive immersive AR/VR applications in mobile networks.

Monitoring and Suppression of Smallmouth Bass in Cultus Lake, BC

The goal of the project is to mitigate the impacts to valuable salmonids from invasive smallmouth bass (SMB) in Cultus Lake through suppression and monitoring. The project will benefit both the sport fishing industry and endangered species, by suppressing predation from SMB and controlling further imbalances in predator-prey relationships. We will use methods such as nest destruction, gut content analysis, and acoustic telemetry to learn about the fish’s ecology and the most effective way to suppress the population. The partner organization (Pacific Salmon Foundation) aims to support conservation, restoration, and enhancement of Pacific salmon and their ecosystems, so by helping suppress the bass population, they will be directly addressing goals in their strategic plan.