Backgrounder

August 17, 2009

Early Researcher Awards

Ontario is providing $11.5 million to support 82 emerging researchers and their teams at 21 institutions across Ontario. Each lead researcher will receive $140,000 through the Early Researcher Awards program.

The University of Western Ontario

Enabling the Nano-Age World
Lead researcher: Dr. Lyudmila Goncharova
Number of researchers benefiting: 6

The invention of the transistor came from exploring interface-related phenomena. This innovation generated the multi-trillion dollar integrated circuit industry and enhanced the digital age. Similarly, nanotechnology is poised to advance fundamental research to investigate nanoparticle design. Applications range from electronics to biomedical aspects such as gene delivery and biomedical imaging. Dr. Goncharova’s research team will explore novel bulk properties of oxide materials to address related interface issues at the atomic scale. At the same time, Dr. Goncharova’s group will develop model surfaces with controlled biological activity for specific biomedical functions. This fundamental research will help unlock the potential Ontario has to enable the nano-age world.

Birdsong as an Indicator of Genetic Diversity and Local Adaptation
Lead researcher: Dr. Elizabeth  Macdougall-Shackleton
Number of researchers benefiting: 6

Why has the number of songbirds on inhabited continents declined alarmingly over recent decades? Dr. MacDougall-Shackleton and her team are helping us find out. They are studying the role of mate selection and infectious disease on genetic diversity in wild songbird populations within a variety of Ontario geographical areas. Birds that sing local-sounding songs tend to be more similar genetically to the local population, and also more resistant to infection by local parasites than their counterparts whose songs sound less local. Dr. MacDougall-Shackleton will study whether variation in song affects mate selection and reflects genetic differences among populations. Her understanding of the factors that promote genetic variation will add to the world’s knowledge of evolutionary and conservation biology

Meteorite Impact Craters on the Earth and Moon: Exploration Strategies and Techniques
Lead researcher: Dr. Gordon Richard Osinski
Number of researchers benefiting: 7

Impact cratering is a fundamental geological process that affects all solid planetary bodies and has played an important role throughout Earth’s history, shaping the geological landscape and affecting the evolution of life. Meteorite impacts are destructive, catastrophic events. However, they can also produce positive effects, such as the generation of economically-viable mineral and hydrocarbon deposits, the formation of sedimentary basins that can preserve evidence of climate change, and providing “windows” into the deep subsurface. Dr. Osinski’s research will explore the beneficial effects of impact events and develop strategies and techniques in partnership with Canadian industry, for their exploration.

Insect Low Temperature Performance in an Era of Climate Change
Lead researcher: Dr. Brent J. Sinclair
Number of researchers benefiting: 7

Low temperature may be one of the key factors limiting insect populations in temperate regions. A change in winter conditions, as predicted by climate change models, may therefore have a substantial effect on populations of both pest and beneficial insects, with consequences for agriculture, forestry and conservation. Dr. Sinclair’s research will take an integrative approach to understanding insect responses to changing winter conditions, investigating the mechanisms responsible for insect success and failure, and putting these into a broader ecological context.

Image Based 3D Modeling from Multiple Cameras
Lead researcher: Dr. Olga  Veksler
Number of researchers benefiting: 4

Automatic extraction of the three-dimensional shape of objects is a critical step in a wide variety of applications such as quality control in manufacturing, bio-medical engineering (computer-assisted diagnosis, surgery planning), and special effects in the entertainment industry. Currently, most commercial 3D shape acquisition systems use expensive specialized equipment. An alternative is to extract 3D shapes from image data acquired with cameras. Traditionally, such image-based methods have been unreliable. Dr. Veksler and her research team plan to combine several factors offering an excellent opportunity to improve image-based 3D modeling: the availability of inexpensive cameras, the new generation of fast personal computers, and recent progress in computational algorithms.

Computer-Aided Design for Managing the Complexity of Multi-Domain Microsystems
Lead researcher: Dr. Anestis  Dounavis
Number of researchers benefiting: 4

The design of microsystems requires knowledge of multiple engineering principals such as electronics, mechanics, and optics. Currently, computer aided design tools have difficulty addressing the multidisciplinary nature and computational complexity of modern microsystems and are one of the major bottlenecks in designs. Dr. Dounavis’s proposed research will develop advanced modeling and simulation algorithms to reduce the computational complexity of microsystems and create an integrated computer-aided design environment for mixed-signal multi-domain microsystems.

Use of Auditory Feedback During Speech Production
Lead researcher: Dr. David Wesley Purcell
Number of researchers benefiting: 4

We use the sound of our own voices to help us speak accurately. Dr. Purcell is determining how the brain makes ongoing use of speech sounds by introducing real-time auditory errors and measuring how our speech changes to compensate. He is also studying the role of the auditory nervous system in processing this auditory feedback. These findings may lead to improved treatments for people with speech and hearing problems as well as better designs for cochlear implants.

A Nanoinjection AFM Probe for Controlled and Site-targeted Nanomedicine on Single Cells
Lead researcher: Dr. Jun  Yang
Number of researchers benefiting: 4

Nanotechnology has been leading a revolution in life science and health care, as demonstrated by newly developed tools or techniques in nanoscales. Control and manipulation at the cellular and subcellular level has always been a challenge. Dr. Yang’s team will develop a nanoscale probe that enables the probing, imaging and detecting of living cells, and the delivery or extraction of molecules into, or from, deep-lying cells. This technique will open a new avenue of nanodiagnosis, nanosurgery and nano-therapeutics at the single cell level. It will have tremendous applications in DNA transfection, drug discovery, gene therapies, and stem cell research and therapies.

Mechanisms of Cell Death in the Brain
Lead researcher: Dr. Sean P. Cregan
Number of researchers benefiting: 3

Cell death contributes to the loss of brain function in stroke and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease. Dr. Cregan’s research program is focused on identifying the molecules that trigger cell death in the brain and determining how they are activated and function. These cell death regulating factors will be attractive targets for the development of therapies to promote cell survival and maintain brain function in individuals affected by these neurodegenerative conditions.

Understanding and Boosting Anticancer T Cell Responses: An Important Step Towards Developing Effective Tumour vaccines
Lead researcher: Dr. S.M. Mansour  Haeryfar
Number of researchers benefiting: 3

Although radiation and chemotherapy are widely used in treating cancer, they do not selectively target malignant cells, and have adverse and often intolerable side-effects. Novel treatments that can eliminate cancer cells while sparing normal cells are urgently needed. T cells are an important component of the body’s own defence mechanisms to fight cancer. Dr. Haeryfar’s research will reveal why only a limited number of T cell clones can respond to cancer efficiently, and will test the beneficial effects of certain immune-enhancing lipid molecules in boosting all tumour-reactive T cells.

Emerging Childhood Vulnerability to Depression: Biological, Emotional, and Cognitive Pathways
Lead researcher: Dr. Elizabeth Patricia Hayden
Number of researchers benefiting: 4

Depression is a widespread, chronic disorder with great costs to society. Identifying vulnerability markers is critical, since early identification can lead to cost-effective prevention strategies. Dr. Hayden will use longitudinal methods to examine early childhood depression vulnerability. Specifically, she will examine whether genes, hormones, emotional traits, and cognitive styles predispose children to depression. Dr. Hayden and her team will also examine whether contextual factors, including parenting and life events, exacerbate childhood vulnerability. This research will assist in preventing depression and increase Ontario’s international stature in this area of research.

Preventing Suicide Among Older Adults: Enhancing Resiliency, Reducing Risk, and Translating Knowledge to Practice
Lead researcher: Dr. Marnin J. Heisel
Number of researchers benefiting: 4

Older adults have high rates of suicide. Dr. Heisel’s research will involve designing assessment tools to enhance detection of risk and protective factors, testing a model of psychological resiliency to suicide risk, testing a psychotherapy adapted for older adults, and developing and evaluating knowledge translation tools to move research into clinical practice. Members of the research team will actively contribute to these projects, developing content and methodological expertise to become Ontario’s next generation of prevention researchers.

The Neurobiology of Nicotine Addiction
Lead researcher: Dr. Steven R. Laviolette
Number of researchers benefiting: 4

Addiction to nicotine remains a persistent threat to the health and welfare of Ontario. Dr. Laviolette’s research examines the precise regions of the brain that control how nicotine is perceived as a rewarding stimulus, leading to dependence and nicotine craving. Dr. Laviolette and his research team will use recordings of neuronal activity within the brain to examine how nicotine interacts with brain reward centres, and more importantly how continued exposure to nicotine may induce alterations in these brain pathways leading to chronic nicotine addiction and dependence.

Advances in the Design of Cancer Targeted Molecular Imaging Probes
Lead researcher: Dr. Leonard George Luyt
Number of researchers benefiting: 6

Early tumour detection and treatment can increase a person’s chances of surviving cancer. Molecular imaging using isotope-based modalities allows for a non-invasive diagnosis of cancer in its early stages, and could help determine the biochemical properties of a tumour before and during treatment. Dr. Luyt’s focus is on the development of an entirely new class of metal-organic radiopharmaceuticals that the medical profession can one day use as molecular imaging agents to target receptors on tumour cell surfaces at a very early stage of the disease.