Backgrounder

August 4, 2010

Projects Funded In Guelph

Through the ORF – Research Infrastructure program , the government is investing close to $18 million in research infrastructure projects at universities and research hospitals across the province. This investment will support 104 projects and more than 1,300 researchers at 14 institutions in 11 cities across the province.

University of Guelph

Research facility on women's health and wellbeing
Exploring the relationship between abuse and cancer
Lead researcher: Dr. Paula Barata
Provincial funding: $85,460
Researchers affected: 1

Women with a history of abuse are more likely to develop cervical cancer than other women. This surprising connection is being explored by University of Guelph social psychologist Dr. Paula Barata. She believes that this relationship can be explained by understanding both the effects of stress on the body and the effects of stress on women's behaviour.

Integrated environmental geochemistry and biogeochemistry laboratory
Learning more about how to reduce carbon emissions
Lead researcher: Dr. Christian Blodau
Provincial funding: $179,656
Researchers affected: 20

Carbon sequestration is the scientific term for the process of removing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in soil and sediments, thereby mitigating carbon emissions and slowing climate change. At the University of Guelph Dr. Christian Blodau is working to identify factors that accelerate or slow sequestration – information that is crucial for our ability to sustain our aquatic ecosystems.

A high performance computer facility to support research into the genealogical and physiological basis of multivariate trait variation and evolution
Advancing evolutionary biology
Lead Researcher: Dr. Cortland Griswold
Provincial funding: $126,866
Researchers affected: 3

Why are some people more susceptible to heart disease than others? Why do some types of cows produce more milk? Very different questions, but the answer to both may be discovered by modeling the genetic and physiological basis of multivariate traits (traits that are composed of more than one character). That is what evolutionary biologist Dr. Cortland Griswold is doing in a new high performance computer lab at the University of Guelph. This work will advance the field of evolutionary biology and help us understand the genetic basis of adaptation.

Ecological studies of wildlife reservoirs of emerging zoonotic diseases
Protecting humans from emerging wildlife diseases
Lead researcher: Dr. Claire Jardine
Provincial funding: $87,209
Researchers affected: 1

At the University of Guelph, Dr. Claire Jardine is combining field and laboratory research methods to study diseases in wildlife. Her goal is to develop strategies that will prevent these diseases from making the jump to humans.

Integrative Neurophysiology Laboratory
Advancing our knowledge of how the brain functions
Lead researcher: Dr. Frederic Laberge
Provincial funding: $124,571
Researchers affected: 1

Dr. Frederic Laberge is a University of Guelph comparative neurobiologist who studies brain anatomy. His research could lead to the development of a new generation of self-learning robots, as well as to new treatments for human brain disorders, including addiction, phobia, depression and schizophrenia.

Single-crystal X-ray diffractometer
Putting molecules together to make new materials
Lead researcher: Dr. Dmitriy Soldatov
Provincial funding: $165,694
Researchers affected: 1

Dr. Dmitriy Soldatov’s is a supramolecular chemist at the University of Guelph, who studies how molecules come together to make new materials with superior characteristics and performance. Dr. Soldatov particularly hopes to develop materials with applications for energy, biomedicine and food.

The Guelph spectrometer for internal conversion electrons
Understanding the structure of the atomic nucleus
Lead researcher: Dr. Carl Svensson
Provincial funding: $124,854
Researchers affected: 5

Dr. Carl Svensson at the University of Guelph is studying the forces that hold the nuclei of all atoms together. His goal is to deepen our understanding of nuclear structure and how it influences the synthesis of the chemical elements in the explosions of stars. His work will lead to new developments in the state-of-the-art digital electronics, and will benefit sectors including nuclear medicine and environmental monitoring.

Peat resources, boreal ecosystem health and terrestrial carbon cycling under a changing climate
Protecting Ontario’s peatlands
Lead researcher: Dr. Merritt Turetsky
Provincial funding: $176,453
Researchers affected: 28

Peatlands are important for carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and industrial extraction in Canada. At the University of Guelph, Dr. Merritt Turetsky is investigating how peatlands and permafrost soils function and respond to environmental change, and is contributing to the development of new tools for the sustainable management of these ecosystems.

Microbiological evaluation of emerging bacterial diseases (CFI # 209762)
Reducing the transmission of bacterial diseases
Lead researcher: Dr. Scott Weese
Provincial funding: $122,258
Researchers affected: 1

Zoonotic diseases like rabies – diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans – are a growing public health threat. Both newly emerging and well established diseases have the potential to significantly impact human health. University of Guelph veterinary internist Dr. Scott Weese is studying selected zoonotic diseases, to better identify why and how they occur, and investigate ways to reduce human illness.

Multi-species comparative cancer genetics
Developing better cancer treatments by cross-species comparisons
Lead researcher: Dr. Geoffrey Wood
Provincial funding: $117,954
Researchers affected: 5

University of Guelph cancer pathobiologist Dr. Geoffrey Wood is studying naturally occurring cancers in dogs and mouse models of cancer, focusing on two forms – prostate cancer and osteosarcoma (bone cancer). His goals are to gain a better understanding of these cancers in humans and dogs and to develop novel therapies by comparing genetic changes across multiple species.

Infrastructure for the Study of Oncogenic Betaretroviruses
Developing a treatment for lung cancer in people who have never smoked
Lead researcher: Dr. Sarah Wootton
Provincial funding: $120,711
Researchers affected: 8

Not all lung cancer cases occur in smokers or former smokers. In fact, approximately 25 per cent of lung cancer cases worldwide are not attributable to tobacco use. Bronchioloalveolar carcinoma is a non-invasive lung tumour more commonly found in non-smokers, women and the Asian population. By studying a virus that causes a similar form of lung cancer in sheep and goats, University of Guelph pathobiologist Dr. Sarah Wootton hopes to find a way to better treat this disease.