The University of British Columbia will gain research strength in neuroscience, cancer screening, pediatrics, psychology, balance disorders and economics with the appointment and renewal of 12 UBC scholars as Canada Research Chairs.

These chairs – three new and nine renewals – are valued at $11.4 million and bring UBC’s total number of Canada Research Chairs to 175, the second largest complement of CRC appointments at any university in the country.

UBC’s chairs are among 187 federally-funded research positions awarded or renewed today, representing a total investment of $165.5 million distributed to 44 universities, research institutes and hospitals across Canada.

“The Canada Research Chairs program has helped to transform university research at UBC and across Canada,” says John Hepburn, Vice President Research and International at UBC. “Chairholders in all disciplines have conducted excellent research, creating new discoveries and generating new knowledge to improve the quality of life of Canadians.”

The federally-funded research chairs are designed to build Canada’s research capacity. An investment of $900 million will support the establishment of 2,000 Chairs at universities across the country.

Sarah Otto, a Professor of Zoology and Director of the Biodiversity Research Centre, is the new Canada Research Chair in Theoretical and Experimental Evolution. Her research uses mathematical, experimental, and genomic tools to understand evolution.

Toni Schmader, an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, is the new Canada Research Chair in Social Psychology. Her research explores the interplay between negative stereotypes, self-esteem, emotion, motivation and performance.

Sujatha Ramdorai, a Professor in the Department of Mathematics, is the new Canada Research Chair in Mathematics. Her research focuses on arithmetic, geometry and algebraic number theory.

Mark Carpenter, an Assistant Professor in the School of Human Kinetics, has been renewed as Canada Research Chair in Physical Activity and Health. His research explores the physiological and psychological factors of balance disorders and treatments for reducing the risk and impact of falls.

Samuel Aparicio, a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, has been renewed as Canada Research Chair in Molecular Oncology. A cancer expert, his research uses genetics and bioinformatics to develop and test multiple molecular event experimental models for breast and ovarian cancers.

Ivar Ekeland, jointly appointed to the departments of Mathematics and Economics, has been renewed as Canada Research Chair in Mathematical Economics. Using optimization theory and classical mechanics, he develops solutions to mathematical problems arising in economics, finance and economics modeling.

Leonard Foster, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has been renewed as Canada Research Chair in Organellar Proteomics. His research uses proteomics and cell biology to understand interactions between pathogens and their host.

Brian MacVicar, a Professor of Psychiatry, has been renewed as Canada Research Chair in Neuroscience. His research involves using a multi-photon laser scanning microscopy to examine how cells surrounding the brain’s neurons modify the activity of other neurons.

Christian Naus, a Professor of Cellular and Physiological Sciences and Director of the Life Sciences Institute, has been renewed as Canada Research Chair in Gap Junctions and Disease. His research studies the role of gap junctions in neural development and disease.

Max Cynader, a Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of the Brain Research Centre at Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI), has been renewed as the Canada Research Chair in Brain Development. His research topics include how the brain processes vision and sound at the neural and molecular level.

Bruce Vallance, an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, has been renewed as the Canada Research Chair in Pediatric Gastroenterology. His clinical studies are in the areas of inflammatory bowel disease, liver disorders and acid related disorders.

Frank Duong, an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has been renewed as the Canada Research Chair in Prokaryotic Membrane Biology. His cell biology explorations include how proteins cross and interact with cell membranes.

Related topics: research, researchers

University of British Columbia astronomer Ludovic Van Waerbeke with an international team has confirmed that the expansion of the universe is accelerating after looking at data from the largest-ever survey conducted by the Hubble Space Telescope.

The astronomers studied more than 446,000 galaxies to map the matter distribution and the expansion history of the universe. This study enabled them to observe precisely how dark matter evolved in the universe and to reconstruct a three-dimensional map of the dark matter and use this to test Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

The findings will appear in a forthcoming issue of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. The study’s lead author is Tim Schrabback, an astronomer from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

“Our results confirmed that there is an unknown source of energy in the universe which is causing the cosmic expansion to speed up, stretching the dark matter further apart exactly as predicted by Einstein’s theory,” says Van Waerbeke, an associate professor in the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy.

Einstein’s theory of general relativity predicts that space and time is a soft geometrical structure of which the shape and evolution are entirely determined by the matter within it. Scientists posit that the universe is composed of dark matter and normal matter with a third constituent called “dark energy,” which over the past two billion years has been the force behind the accelerated expansion of the universe.

“The data from our study are consistent with these predictions and show no deviation from Einstein’s theories,” says Van Waerbeke, who is also a scholar in the Cosmology and Gravity program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

In the late 1990s, Van Waerbeke pioneered weak gravitational lensing to measure the invisible web of dark matter that makes up 80 per cent of the mass of the universe. This technique is similar to taking an X-ray of the body to reveal the underlying skeleton. It allows astronomers to observe how light from distant galaxies is bent and distorted by the web of invisible dark matter as it travels toward Earth. By measuring the distortions seen in these galaxy light patterns, astronomers can then map dark matter structures.

Along with weak gravitational lensing, the study uses data from the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS), one of the most ambitious undertakings by the Hubble Space Telescope. COSMOS is a joint project of the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA involving more than 100 scientists from a dozen countries.

To generate the COSMOS survey, a camera aboard the Hubble photographed 575 slightly overlapping views of the same part of the universe. This required nearly 1,000 hours of observations, during which Hubble circled the Earth almost 600 times.

In addition to the Hubble data, the researchers used ground-based telescope data to assign distances to 194,000 of the galaxies surveyed, which was a key factor for reconstructing the three-dimensional picture of the dark matter distribution.

For additional information, visit: http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic1005.html 

- 30 -

Related topics: astronomy, astrophysics, cosmos, dark energy, dark matter, Einstein, galaxies, general relativity, space, universe

University of British Columbia President Stephen Toope announced aggressive new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets for UBC’s Vancouver campus today.  Toope made the announcement to delegates at the GLOBE 2010 conference in Vancouver, one of the world’s largest environmental conferences.

UBC has already met international targets established by the Kyoto Protocol for its core academic buildings, which required a six per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2012.  The university will now aim to:

• reduce GHGs an additional 33 per cent from 2007 levels by 2015
• reduce GHGs to 67 per cent below 2007 levels by 2020
• eliminate 100 per cent of GHGs by 2050

“We are undertaking this initiative because, as a leading research university, we believe it’s important to set ambitious standards to address the realities of climate change and show it can be done,” said Toope.  “UBC has the expertise and passion to make its commitment to sustainability a continuing reality through the integration of teaching, learning, research and operations and through innovative technologies and partnerships.”

“British Columbia has set the ambitious goal of becoming one of the greenest and cleanest economies in the world, creating new jobs and wealth for all British Columbians in a new and innovative economy,” said Premier Campbell. “By setting these targets and pursuing new and exciting projects, UBC is playing an important role in meeting that goal.”

Over the next five years, the university will achieve the initial target through a number of initiatives, including a 12 per cent reduction through the UBC Bioenergy Research and Demonstration Project in partnership with Vancouver-based Nexterra Systems Corp. and GE Water & Power.  This project will generate heat and clean electricity through biomass gasification.  The UBC-Nexterra partnership was announced by Premier Campbell on Clean Energy Day as one of the new major clean energy and technology investments in the province of British Columbia.

Energy conservation will provide an additional 10 per cent reduction. This includes a partnership with BC Hydro to monitor and optimize the energy efficiency of UBC’s academic buildings campus-wide as well as educational programs for the campus community. The measurement tools will be provided by Vancouver-based Pulse Energy.  Further reductions will take place by converting the current steam district heating system to hot water and by transitioning to a low-emission fleet.

“UBC has set a challenging course today which will require further planning, research and innovation,” said John Hepburn, VP Research and International.  “We will embark on an inclusive dialogue to explore how the university will achieve the aggressive long-term targets. This rich process is part of making UBC a Living Laboratory for British Columbia, Canada and the world.”

UBC is one of the most sustainable post-secondary campuses in the world, earning top grades in the Sustainable Endowments Institute’s College Sustainability Report Card.  UBC is the first Canadian university to announce it has achieved targets set by the Kyoto Protocol and to set bold GHG reduction targets for the future.

Related topics: GHG emissoins, Greenhouse gas, greenhouse gas emissions target, Kyoto, Stephen Toope

US President Barack Obama has nominated UBC Prof. Carl Wieman for the position of Associate Director of Science in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

White House announcement: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announces-more-key-administration-posts-32210

Wieman, a 2001Nobel Laureate joined UBC’s Faculty of Science in 2007 as professor of Physics and Director of the $12 million Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative (CWSEI) to transform the teaching of science at UBC and elsewhere. He will take an unpaid leave of absence from the university upon confirmation of his appointment by the US Senate.

Wieman came to UBC from the University of Colorado, where he won the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics and where he maintains a part-time appointment to head up an education project similar to the CWSEI.

“Carl has a passion for and profound understanding of how science education is essential for an informed and engaged society to deal with the most challenging questions of our time,” said UBC President Prof. Stephen Toope. “In just three years, his teaching and research and methods have touched more than 18,000 UBC students. His work here has attracted attention from around the world, so we are not surprised that President Obama would seek him out for this position.”

Sarah Gilbert, CWSEI Associate Director, will become Acting Director upon Senate confirmation of Wieman’s appointment.

“We are tremendously proud of how the CWSEI is improving the educational experiences of UBC students, and are firmly committed to it, so we are delighted that Sarah Gilbert will step in to advance the initiative in Carl’s absence,” said David Farrar, Provost and Vice President Academic. “We look forward to welcoming Carl back at the completion of his service in Washington.”

Related topics: Carl Wieman, Science

Members of large-scale, complex human societies have learned to play nice with strangers through the norms that are associated with market participation and world religions, and not solely due to an evolved psychology for cooperation in small groups as previously believed, according to UBC-led research.

In a paper to appear in the March 18 issue of Science, lead author Joe Henrich and a 13-member research team explore the evolutionary underpinnings of human societies. 

Fifteen years in the making, the study combines two major, comparative cross-cultural projects that examine how motivations for fairness and punishment influence economic decisions, and how these motivations relate to variables that differ across societies, such as community size, adherence to a world religion and market dependence and exchange.

“Our results contradict previous theories that humans learned to treat strangers fairly by transferring behaviour and norms developed in their actions and attitudes toward family and kin,” says Prof. Henrich, an anthropologist who holds the Canada Research Chair in Culture, Cognition and Coevolution and teaches in the UBC departments of psychology and economics.

The interdisciplinary team of anthropologists and economists conducted behavioral experiments with 2,100 respondents from 15 societies, whose communities ranged in size from 20 to 10,000 people. These small-scale societies, from Africa, North and South America, Oceania, New Guinea, and Asia, included hunter-gatherers, marine foragers, pastoralists, horticulturalists, and wage laborers.

“Our findings suggest that the evolution of societal complexity, especially as it has occurred over the last 10 millennia, involved the selective spread of those norms and institutions that best facilitated successful exchange and interaction in socioeconomic spheres well beyond local networks of durable kin and reciprocity-based relationships,” says Henrich.

The study measured participants’ motivations for fairness and their willingness to punish unfairness in interactions with an anonymous other. These experiments took the form of games played with real money where participants would give a portion of the cash to the second player, someone unknown to them. Some of the games allowed the second player or a third-party participant to pay some of their money to punish the first player for making low offers.

The findings show that people living in small communities lacking market integration or a world religion – absences that likely characterized all societies until about 10,000 years ago – display relatively little concern with fairness or punishing unfairness in transactions involving strangers or anonymous others, a pattern that makes sense given how local norms and institutions actually function in these societies.

Third-party observers, for example, from the smallest-scale, purely face-to-face, communities from Tanzania and Kenya to Amazonia and Oceania, show little willingness to pay to punish those making unfair offers.

“It’s a pattern that makes sense given how local norms and institutions actually function in these societies,” says Henrich. “Small-scale communities have local norms governing all kinds of interactions, but they often don’t have default social norms of dealing with strangers or anonymous others in monetary transactions.”

In contrast, the largest societies with the highest levels of market integration and participation in world religions show both a greater willingness to make fair offers and the most willingness to punish unfair offers.

- 30 -

Related topics: anthropology, history, human society, religion

For the first time ever, research has revealed a statistical connection between residential schools and infectious disease rates. New findings from a University of British Columbia study on at-risk Aboriginal young people in British Columbia point to alarming patterns of historical trauma, injection drug use and Hepatitis C (HCV) infection.

The findings were released by the Cedar Project—a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)-funded longitudinal study that monitors HIV and HCV among Aboriginal young people who use drugs in British Columbia.

The paper, published in the medical journal Open Medicine, reveals that young at-risk Aboriginal people in two BC cities who use injection drugs, especially females, are extremely vulnerable to HCV infection. The study looked at a group of 512 young Aboriginal people in Vancouver and Prince George. Two hundred eighty-six participants reported injection drug use when they enrolled in the study. Of those reporting using injection drug use, 59 per cent were infected with HCV.

According to the findings, major risk factors for HCV infection include daily injection drug use (2.7 times more likely to be HCV positive), having at least one parent who attended residential school (1.9 times more likely), being a young women (1.9 times more likely) and reusing syringes (2.4 times more likely).
Previous research identified a relationship between having a parent who attended residential school and was involved in the child welfare system with sexual abuse among Aboriginal young people who use drugs in British Columbia. This is the first study that reveals a statistical connection between residential schooling of parents and the rates of HCV in their children.

“These findings emphasize the importance of acknowledging the role of historical trauma in the health outcomes among Aboriginal peoples, including HCV infection and drug use,” says Chief Wayne Christian, one of the study’s investigators. “To create meaningful strategies to help improve the health outcomes of our young people we need to better understand the relationship between having a parent who attended residential school and increased risk of HCV infection. I am particularly concerned about the safety and protection of our young  women surviving on BC’s streets.”

The prevalence of HCV infection in the Aboriginal young people living in Prince George nearly mirrored the prevalence among young people using injection drugs in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, with Prince George having higher rates of prevalence and incidence.

“Given that Vancouver has consistently been described as an epicentre of the HIV and HCV epidemics in British Columbia and in Canada since the early 1980s, these findings indicate that the faces of these epidemics are changing,” says Patricia Spittal, principal investigator of the Cedar Project and an associate professor at UBC’s School of Population and Public Health. “The similar rate of Hepatitis C infections in Vancouver and Prince George is very concerning and may be a warning of a larger epidemic in the North in the future.”

The study also found that:

• Among participants who reported injection drug use, the incidence density estimate was 23 per cent: every year 23 people out of 100 will develop HCV;
• For every one-year increase in injection drug use, the likelihood of HCV positivity increased by 140 per cent;
• 62 per cent of young women who reported injecting drugs were HCV positive.

“This study confirms the devastating impact that the trauma experienced through residential schools continues to impact our young people today,” says Chief Wayne Christian of the Splatsin Secwepemc Nation. “We honour our elders who endured this trauma, and their struggle to cope and survive. However, we know that concrete strategies and resources are needed to address the multigenerational trauma that has resulted from years of abuse in residential schools.”

Our young people who use injection drugs are often coping with unresolved historical and lifetime trauma, including the impact of the residential school system, and more effective community driven interventions are needed to help them heal, says Chief Christian, who points to the urgent need for action.

“Canada’s refusal to vote in favor of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (Sept.13, 2007) is a clear sign that the residential school apology offered by Prime Minister Harper may be insincere. The time is now to take action, to do whatever it takes to create a healing environment founded on our culture and traditions. We can no longer wait for governments to do what we know to be right for our Children and Grandchildren. We must act. If we truly believe that the Children are our Future, then the Future is right now,” says Chief Christian.

The Cedar Project is a collaborative, community based research initiative that addresses HIV and hepatitis C vulnerabilities among young Aboriginal people who use illicit drugs in Vancouver, Prince George and Kamloops.

The benefits of marijuana in tempering or reversing the effects of Alzheimer’s disease have been challenged in a new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute.

The findings, published in the current issue of the journal Current Alzheimer Research, could lower expectations about the benefits of medical marijuana in combating various cognitive diseases and help redirect future research to more promising therapeutics.

Previous studies using animal models showed that HU210, a synthetic form of the compounds found in marijuana, reduced the toxicity of plaques and promoted the growth of new neurons. Those studies used rats carrying amyloid protein, the toxin that forms plaques in the brains of Alzheimer’s victims.

The new study, led by Dr. Weihong Song, Canada Research Chair in Alzheimer’s Disease and a professor of psychiatry in the UBC Faculty of Medicine, was the first to test those findings using mice carrying human genetic mutations that cause Alzheimer’s disease – widely considered to be a more accurate model for the disease in humans.

“As scientists, we begin every study hoping to be able to confirm beneficial effects of potential therapies, and we hoped to confirm this for the use of medical marijuana in treating Alzheimer’s disease,” says Song, a member of the Brain Research Centre at UBC and VCH Research Institute and Director of Townsend Family Laboratories at UBC.

“But we didn’t see any benefit at all. Instead, our study pointed to some detrimental effects.”

Over a period of several weeks, some of the Alzheimer’s-afflicted mice were given varying doses of HU210 – also known as cannabinoids – which is 100 to 800 times more potent than the marijuana compounds. Their memory was then tested.

The mice treated with HU210 did no better than untreated mice, with those given low doses of HU210 performing the worst. The researchers also found that HU210-treated mice had just as much plaque formation and the same density of neurons as the control group. The group given higher doses actually had fewer brain cells.

“Our study shows that HU210 has no biological or behavioural effect on the established Alzheimer’s disease model,” says Song, the Jack Brown and Family Professor and Chair in Alzheimer’s Disease. “More studies should be done before we place much hope in marijuana’s benefits for Alzheimer’s patients.”

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive cognitive deterioration and is the most common form of dementia.

The Alzheimer Society of Canada estimates that the disease affects close to 300,000 Canadians and accounts for two-thirds of all cases of dementia. Approximately $5.5 billion per year is spent caring for persons with Alzheimer’s and related dementias in Canada. By 2031, about 750,000 Canadians will suffer from Alzheimer’s and related dementias.

The Alzheimer’s Association in the U.S. estimates there are approximately 500,000 Americans younger than 65 with Alzheimer’s or other dementia.

The research was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Jack Brown and Family Alzheimer’s Research Foundation, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and a donation from the David Townsend Family.

Townsend Family Laboratories was established at The University of British Columbia with a donation of $7.5 million from the David Townsend Family. The research centre is dedicated to integrating the basic and clinical research for finding the underlying mechanism and novel diagnostic biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease and developing interventions to prevent and treat this devastating disease.

The UBC Faculty of Medicine provides innovative programs in the health and life sciences, teaching students at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels, and generates more than $200 million in research funding each year. In 2007/08, out of the total UBC research endeavour, 53 per cent, or $247 million, came from academic and clinical teams in the Faculty of Medicine. For more information, visit www.med.ubc.ca.  

The Brain Research Centre comprises more than 200 investigators with multidisciplinary expertise in neuroscience research ranging from the test tube, to the bedside, to industrial spin-offs. The centre is a partnership of UBC and VCH Research Institute. For more information, visit www.brain.ubc.ca.  

Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) is the research body of Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, which includes BC’s largest academic and teaching health sciences centres: VGH, UBC Hospital, and GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre. In academic partnership with the University of British Columbia, VCHRI brings innovation and discovery to patient care, advancing healthier lives in healthy communities across British Columbia, Canada, and beyond. www.vchri.ca.

Related topics: Alzheimer’s, BRC, CIHR, CRC, FoM, marijuana, research, VCHRI, Weihong Song

Opera students at the University of British Columbia travel to different countries every year to learn where the art they practise comes from. But now, with the world arriving in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics, the UBC School of Music is on a mission to showcase Canadian opera.

Harry Somers’ Louis Riel has been selected as the performance to do just that. The opera was commissioned for Canada’s Centennial in 1967 and is Canada’s most famous opera. This is only its third ever production and its western premier, and former UBC law professor Beverly McLachlin, Canada’s Chief Justice, will be part of a symposium that examines a host of issues around one of Canada’s most controversial historical figures.

“It’s an important opportunity for us to highlight Canadian opera and Canadian history and to inspire a debate on human rights and indigenous human rights,” says Nancy Hermiston, professor at UBC’s School of Music and director of Louis Riel.

The opera tells the story of Louis Riel – the founder of Manitoba, Métis leader and politician who led two rebellions against Sir John A. Macdonald’s government. The opera uses English, French and Cree to examine the controversial figure some consider a patriot and others a rebel.

The struggle between what is good for the individual compared to a nation is a major theme in the opera, as is the idea of a truthful, responsible and accountable government – issues still prevalent today.

To facilitate a dialogue about these topics, UBC Opera is holding a symposium Feb. 3 – 7 that will feature talks, panel discussions and a day of youth activities.

Symposium presenters and dates include:

• Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin
  • Feb. 3 – 7:30 p.m. Pre panel discussion address
  • Feb. 4 – 6:30 p.m. Pre show address
• Jean Teillet, aboriginal lawyer and grand niece of Louis Riel
  • Feb 3. – 7:30 p.m. Panel discussion
  • Feb. 6 – 6:30 p.m. Pre show address
• Bruce Dumont, President of Métis Nation B.C.
  • Feb 3. – 7:30 p.m. Panel discussion
• Academics from UBC, the University of Toronto and Memorial University.

Hermiston has been working with Richard Kurth, director of the UBC School of Music, Madeleine MacIvor, associate director of UBC’s First Nations House of Learning and Klisala Harrison, postdoctoral fellow at UBC School of Music to put the symposium together.

Hermiston acknowledges that Louis Riel is a challenging and moving opera, with drama, musical notes and rhythms that can be difficult to grasp.

“For a university to attempt this is really quite something,” says Hermiston, who believes the difficulty of the work reflects the struggle of Riel’s life.

One scene starts with an aggressive chorus of Saskatchewan citizens yelling for Riel’s execution. He’s on trial for treason after losing the 1885 North-West Rebellion, and in this scene Riel makes a plea for his life. During the rehearsal, everyone on stage broke down – “there wasn’t a dry eye left,” Hermiston says.

“When you’re in that opera it’s so emotionally overwhelming,” says Hermiston. The chorus members are forced to bottle up their emotions and stay in character, continuing to chant for Riel to be hanged. “It was so hard for those kids to get up and continue in their characters.”

Louis Riel is playing at UBC’s Chan Centre for Performing Arts from Feb. 4 to 7. The symposium will run Feb. 3 to 7. For performance and symposium information, visit www.ubcopera.com.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have received $10.3 million in funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) to lead and coordinate two Strategic Networks in machining and biomaterials technology.

NSERC today announced $56 million in grants for 11 Strategic Networks. The grants fund large-scale, muliti-disciplinary research projects that could significantly enhance Canada’s economy, society and environment within the next decade. There are currently 36 strategic networks across the country, including those announced today.

“We are grateful to NSERC and the Government of Canada for their continued investment in research collaborations that will generate new and immediately applicable knowledge to some of the most pressing and intriguing technological questions of our day,” said John Hepburn, UBC Vice President Research and International.

“UBC has a stellar track record of multi-disciplinary research and the addition of two new NSERC Strategic Networks hosted here will further enhance our capacity to contribute to research excellence in Canada.”

The new Strategic Networks to be hosted at UBC are:

NSERC Canadian Network for Research and Innovation in Machining Technology (CANRIMT)

Led by Yusuf Altintas, mechanical engineering professor and NSERC-P&WC Industrial Research Chair Professor in Virtual Machining, CANRIMT aims to develop the world’s most advanced Virtual Machining Technology and a state-of-the-art five-axis mezzo milling machine. The technology will enable the design and manufacturing of products without first resorting to costly physical trials and will benefit the Canadian aerospace, automotive, power generation, mould-making and automation systems industries.

The CANRIMT team will receive $5 million from NSERC and $400,000 from industry over five years. The network includes 20 researchers from seven universities in B.C., Alberta, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec. Approximately 100 engineers are expected to be trained through the network.

NSERC Biomaterials and Chemicals Strategic Network

Led by Wood Science Prof. John Kadla, the Biomaterials and Chemicals Strategic Network aims to develop technologies to better utilize lignin, one of the primary components of wood. Approximately 20 per cent of wood is dissolved as lignin when pulped. The complex biomaterial is currently used as fuel in pulp mills but has the potential to become part of carbon-fibre composites for strong and light-weight automobile parts, carbon aerogels for hydrogen storage and new bio-based polymers.

The Biomaterials and Chemicals Strategic Network will receive $5.3 million over five years and includes 16 researchers from 11 universities.

UBC already hosts two other NSERC Strategic Networks:

RES’EAU-WaterNet has received $5.2 million over five years to make technology available that ensures clean water for all Canadians. Currently, water quality in 1,700 small and rural Canadian communities can be as bad or worse than that in developing countries. (More information)

MagNet has received $4.8 million over five years to work with the automotive industry to develop knowledge to produce magnesium components that may significantly reduce the weight of vehicles and in turn reduce fuel consumption. (More information)

NSERC is a federal agency whose vision is to help make Canada a country of discoverers and innovators to the benefit of all Canadians. The agency supports some 28,000 students and postdoctoral fellows in their advanced studies. NSERC promotes discovery by funding more than 11,800 professors every year and fosters innovation by encouraging more than 1,500 Canadian companies to participate and invest in post-secondary research projects.

The NSERC announcement is available here.