“To date, I primarily studied general biology, and I didn’t really have any tangible work experience related to my degree,” says Bakala. “When I first saw the Work Study posting, I wasn’t sure because the role focused on plant physiology and I didn’t think I had the necessary experience. But I was interviewed and eventually hired for the role.”
Bakala was thrilled to learn that she would be working as a Research Assistant exploring what happens to sweet cherries when irrigation is reduced after harvest—a critical question considering the dependence of agriculture on global water supplies.
Between May and August, Bakala and another student were responsible for collecting various measurements at five different orchards across the Okanagan Valley and inputting the massive amounts of data on open science platforms for graduate students to use. Bakala also spent considerable time in the lab, helping perform tests to determine things like firmness, colour and size of the cherries—all factors that could be affected when irrigation levels are altered. The project was supported by the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative, and delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of CVIA.
]]>Structural engineer Dr. Lisa Tobber, an assistant professor in the School of Engineering within UBC’s Faculty of Applied Science, wants us to consider what this scenario means for British Columbia — a seismically active region that is waiting for the “Big One” to strike, and where buildings are designed to preserve life rather than remain safe to reside after an earthquake.
“As we saw in Christchurch, a lack of resiliency has major ramifications. Buildings that aren’t required to be structurally sound after an earthquake end up getting demolished,” said Dr. Tobber.
“Here in BC, that could lead to hundreds of thousands of people who are suddenly homeless because their mid- or high-rise building isn’t safe to return to after a disaste.
]]>Now is a great season for getting cozy in cable knits and corduroy, and drinking lots of delicious hot beverages.
However, this time of year is also when assignments and classwork can begin to pile up, and the cooler weather and shorter days can feel extra draining.
The consistent cloudiness and rain of Vancouver can get me feeling pretty gloomy. The rain-driven moodiness, coupled with fewer opportunities to get out and do the things you love, can make it difficult to stay motivated and feel physically and mentally healthy.
In times like these, what helps me the most is often getting back to the basics—things I’ve consistently done that lift my mood and allow me to stay healthy.
It can feel challenging to focus on ourselves when there’s so much going on in the world, but if we’re not taking good care of ourselves, we’re less capable of supporting others.
]]>Viral infections in honey bees are becoming more intense and widespread. CVIA researchers Abigail Chapman and Dr. Alison McAfee found that virus-infected queen bees in the field have shriveled ovaries compared with healthy ones. The researchers then infected queen bees in the lab with a different virus, and noticed the same result.
A queen’s shrunken ovaries could mean fewer eggs, and so, fewer baby bees – something the researchers will investigate in future work. A smaller population would make a colony weak, affecting how much money beekeepers can make from it. Honey bees contribute an estimated $4 to $5.5 billion annually to the Canadian economy.
The researchers are in the very early stages of working on a “queen vaccine” to protect the bees. In the meantime, beekeepers are practicing COVID-style measures to prevent virus spread,
including quarantining sick colonies and sterilizing equipment. Local governments could help by subsidizing PCR tests to help beekeepers identify which colonies are sick, says Chapman.
]]>“I wanted to know: can we collect more data to control water quality to further protect public health? And is there a business case for cities to adopt smarter water monitoring technology?” asks the Assistant Professor with CVIA School of Engineering. “I think the answer is yes.”
Dr. Peleato’s questions ultimately evolved into a partnership with fellow School of Engineering Assistant Professor Dr. Anas Chaaban, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, national communications technology company TELUS and the Regional District of North Okanagan. Their collective goal is to leverage advances in wireless technology and sensors to better understand the quality of water closer to people’s taps—a unique research endeavour in the traditionally conservative field of water quality monitoring.
Dr. Peleato and Dr. Chaaban are proposing the use of economically feasible sensors throughout the water distribution system, leading from the treatment plant to the final point of distribution; the sensors will send data instantaneously through TELUS’ 5G network. “Most big cities have 5G,” says Dr. Chaaban. “It’s special because it enables massive machine-type communication; it not only connects people but also machines, sensors in our cars and the water distribution system, transportation, traffic lights, electricity—the list goes on and on. One house alone could have hundreds of sensors for different applications, so we need to be able to connect everything and transmit that data quickly to a usable platform.”
]]>The study, recently published in Modern Pathology, builds on the understanding that ovarian cancer is not a single disease, but several distinct subtypes, called histotypes.
Dr. Bashashati and his team compared ovarian cancer disease classifications made by an AI machine learning-based model against those of a team of expert gynecologic pathologists who specialize in the diagnosis of female reproductive cancers.
Using a cohort of 948 ovarian cancer tissue specimens from Vancouver General Hospital, Dr. Bashashati’s team developed a series of AI computer algorithms that can identify four histotypes of ovarian cancer with a high degree of accuracy.
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