Backgrounder

August 4, 2010

Projects Funded In Kingston

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.

Queen’s University

Establishing a Queen’s Geo Computation and Analysis Laboratory (GCAL) for population health and disease modeling
Improving pandemic preparedness
Lead researcher: Dr. Dongmei Chen
Provincial funding: $100,883
Researchers affected: 35

Dr. Dongmei Chen of Queen’s University is using geographic information systems, remote sensing, spatial analysis and geocomputation techniques to analyze, model and predict the spread of infectious diseases and their impact on population health. Her goal is to improve our ability to respond to future disease outbreaks.

Gender differences in sexuality
Developing treatments for reproductive issues
Lead researcher: Dr. Meredith Chivers
Provincial funding: $91,572
Researchers affected: 12

Dr. Meredith Chivers, a Queen’s University psychologist, studies gender differences in sexual response and functioning. Her goals are to learn more about gender differences, in order to develop treatments for sexual problems including reproductive issues.

Forest-tundra dynamics in a changing climate
Understanding how ecosystems respond to climate change
Lead researcher: Dr. Ryan Danby
Provincial funding: $104,000
Researchers affected: 8

Queen’s University ecologist Dr. Ryan Danby is combining field experiments with computer-based mapping to track past and current climate–tree line relationships. What he discovers about how the tree line has moved will improve our ability to forecast future change, and help guide long-term sustainable natural resource management and land-use planning.

Structure-based design and screening against the calpain proteases
Developing drugs to lessen damage done by heart attacks and strokes
Lead researcher: Dr. Peter Davies
Provincial funding: $49,130
Researchers affected: 12

Calpains are enzymes essential to cell growth and movement, but during heart attacks or strokes, calpain activity increases, causing irreparable tissue damage. Queen’s University biochemist Dr. Peter Davies is leading a team of researchers who are looking for inhibitors for calpains. Their findings could lead to new drugs that would reduce the damage done by heart attacks and strokes.

Discriminating detectors for dark matter
Exploring the origins of the universe
Lead researcher: Dr. Philippe Di Stefano
Provincial funding: $185,102
Researchers affected: 8

Understanding dark matter is key to understanding the origins of our universe and how the world as we know it came to be. At Queen’s University, Dr. Philippe Di Stefano is leading a team of researchers who are building an optical cryostat to study weakly interacting massive particles, the leading candidates for the building blocks of dark matter.

Targeting ischemic depolarization in acute stroke
Devising new strategies for treating strokes
Lead researcher: Dr. Albert Jin
Provincial funding: $142,000
Researchers affected: 10

Clot-busting medication is often successful if administered within three hours of a stroke, but that window of opportunity is often missed. Queen’s University researcher Dr. Albert Jin wants to understand how brain damage occurs in the first crucial hours after a stroke and, based on this knowledge, to devise new strategies for treatment that are not time sensitive.

Paleolimnological approaches to environmental issues
A new approach to the problem of environmental sustainability
Lead researcher: Dr. John Smol
Provincial funding: $50,000
Researchers affected: 30

Queen’s University’s Dr. John Smol is a world leader in paleolimnology, which uses information from lake sediments to track the effects of humans and nature on aquatic ecosystems. He is exploring environmental issues that include acid rain, contaminant transport and other lake and river management challenges – work that will lead to cleaner water, a healthier environment and a better understanding of climate change.

Control of cell surface channel density by potassium as a novel mechanism for hERG regulation
Developing new strategies to fight disease
Lead researcher: Dr. Shetuan Zhang
Provincial funding: $200,000
Researchers affected: 15

Queen’s University’s Dr. Shetuan Zhang is studying potassium levels in the blood and their relationship to heart arrest. His findings could lead to new strategies for regulating potassium channels to fight various diseases, including cardiac arrhythmias, and could lead to improved health care and quality of life for Ontarians.

Royal Military College

Controlled plant growth chamber for phytoextraction research using Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP)-contaminated soils
Using plants to clean up contaminated land sites
Lead researcher: Dr. Barbara Zeeb
Provincial funding: $47,841
Researchers affected: 1

At the Royal Military College, Dr. Barbara Zeeb is developing the biotechnology of “phytoextraction,” a science that uses plants to remove persistent organic pollutants (POPs) like PCBs and DDT from soil. With thousands of POP-contaminated sites across the country, this alternative clean-up strategy could save municipalities and businesses hundreds of millions of dollars a year.