From there, the western honey bee (Apis mellifera) expanded independently into Africa and Europe creating seven separate geographically and genetically distinct evolutionary lineages traceable back to Western Asia.

The western honey bee is used for crop pollination and honey production throughout most of the world, and has a remarkable capacity for surviving in vastly different environments – from tropical rainforest, to arid environments, to temperate regions with cold winters. It is native to Africa, Europe and Asia, and was recently believed to have originated in Africa.

The research team sequenced 251 genomes from 18 subspecies from the honey bee’s native range and used this data to reconstruct the origin and pattern of dispersal of honey bees. The team found that an Asian origin – likely western Asia – was strongly supported by the genetic data.

“As one of the world’s most important pollinators, it’s essential to know the origin of the western honey bee to understand its evolution, genetics and how it adapted as it spread,” says corresponding author Professor����of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Science.

The study also highlights that the bee genome has several “hot spots” that allowed honey bees to adapt to new geographic areas. While the bee genome has more than 12,000 genes, only 145 of them had repeated signatures of adaptation associated with the formation of all major honey bee lineages found today.

“Our research suggests that a core-set of genes allowed the honey bee to adapt to a diverse set of environmental conditions across its native range by regulating worker and colony behaviour,” says 91��ɫ PhD student Kathleen Dogantzis of the Faculty of Science, who led the research.

To learn more, watch these videos:  and .

This adaptation also allowed for the development of some 27 different subspecies of honey bees.

“It’s important to understand how locally adapted subspecies and colony-level selection on worker bees, contributes to the fitness and diversity of managed colonies,” says Dogantzis.

The sequencing of these bees also led to the discovery of two distinct lineages, one in Egypt and another in Madagascar.

The researchers hope their study finally lays to the rest the question of where the western honey bee came from so future research can further explore how they adapted to different climates and geographic areas.

The paper,��“,” was published today in the journal��.

The post Where did western honey bees come from? New research finds the sweet spot appeared first on Research & Innovation.

According to Douglas, there is something wrong with the way the pharmaceutical industry researches and develops drugs. Of the roughly 7,000 currently identified rare diseases, he says, only about 570 treatments have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat about 11 per cent of those rare diseases. As a result, millions of patients around the world go untreated. Some of the challenges facing research and development in this space are scientific and technical; however, there are also a number of critical issues that are thwarting more rapid development of drugs that are more associated with social, economic and political factors that have come to characterize the current innovation paradigm within the pharmaceutical industry.

This presentation will argue that the current model of pharmaceutical innovation alone will not deliver the quantity of products needed to address the unmet needs faced by rare disease patients, nor at a price point that is sustainable for health-care systems. As a consequence, radical transformations are needed across the pharmaceutical research, development and deployment life cycle that stand to offer alternative, supplementary and hopefully transformative pathways to a greater number of increasingly accessible treatments. Douglas will explain how principles of social innovation have been developed and deployed in other sectors and how those principles can be applied in the pharmaceutical sector. He will briefly introduce social innovation and its key features before demonstrating what he calls “social pharmaceutical innovation,” why it is important and how he hopes to foster it. 

Douglas’s presentation is part of a larger international collaborative project called “Social Pharmaceutical Innovation for Unmet Medical Needs,” with partners from the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), Mines ParisTech at the Université PSL (France) and Utrecht University (Netherlands). The Canadian component of the study is funded through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and more information about the project can be found at .

Now in its 28th year, the STS Research Seminar Series features seminars on a wide range of STS-related topics. Sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology Studies and co-ordinated by its members, the series has hosted over 500 speakers from Canada and around the world.

All events in the series will run on Tuesdays from 12:30 to 2 p.m. They are all free and open to the public, with no registration required. They will be delivered via Zoom in the fall term, with the winter term to be determined. To receive a Zoom link for this event and others in the series, contact Conor Douglas, seminar series co-ordinator, at��cd512@yorku.ca.

The post STS Seminar Series looks at social pharmaceutical innovation for rare diseases appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The YSSA program provides awards of $10,000 to high-achieving, passionate science students entering the Faculty of Science. Half of the award is an entrance scholarship and the other half pays for a summer research position following the first year of study. The research opportunity has proven to be a positive experience for everyone involved, supervisors and students alike.

“I consider training them an investment for the future,” said chemistry Professor��Sergey Krylov, who accepted three YSSA students into his lab this past summer. “Not only did these students learn a lot, but they also contributed significantly to the research projects in which they were involved. I’d be happy to take new students through this program next summer. I’d be even more happy to have the same students return to the lab and apply their knowledge from their first summer. That would be a ‘return on investment.’”

One of the students in Krylov’s lab was Ailiya Rizwan, who went on to receive second prize for her oral presentation, “Single-cell analysis of cell population heterogeneity using CRRC for the development of chemoresistance biomarkers,” at the Faculty of Science’s .

YSSA recipients Ethan Sooklal, Claire Del Zotto and Elizaveta Yakubovskaya also swept up half of the awards for poster presentations at the NSERC Summer Research Conference.

Sooklal’s summer research focused on using fungus to investigate the interactions and localization of three major proteins involved in driving the circadian rhythm in eukaryotes. For him, the best parts of the research position were experiencing the research process and learning new skills outside of the classroom.

“I really enjoyed the process of working on the research project, seeing its progression, gathering the results and sharing them with my peers at the end of the summer,” said Sooklal.��“This experience, above all, strengthened my laboratory techniques and skills.��It also gave me the opportunity to learn outside a classroom setting, which was not only refreshing, but also much more impactful.”

His supervisors, biology Professor Patricia Lakin-Thomas and PhD student Rosa Eskandari, also touted the program as an opportunity for the lab to recruit an enthusiastic and highly competent student assistant. In fact, Sooklal has been offered the opportunity to continue working with them as a  student in the fall and winter terms. 

“Ethan distinguished himself in our lab by his fantastic work, excellent laboratory style, tremendous help and neat results,” said Eskandari.

Yakubovskaya, one of the other poster presentation winners, was among three YSSA students working with Professor��Andrew Skelton��in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics this summer. Her research project involved creating evidence-based modules to help first-year students build their study skills – specifically time-management – to the level necessary to succeed in university math.

“I really enjoyed how this research project broadened my understanding of education as a field and as a science,” she said. “The experience gave me an opportunity to practise and refine skills that I had developed in first year. Specifically, this project helped me improve my research and science communication skills.”

Skelton was impressed by Yakubovskaya and the other YSSA students and he felt they made important contributions to his team’s research.

“I was continually floored by the high calibre of these students and the substantial impact they had on our project,” he said. “I strongly believe that the project would not have been successful without their contributions.”

The program is now into its fourth year with another cohort of YSSA students just beginning their studies at 91��ɫ Science. More information about the YSSA program is available on �ٳ����Faculty of Science website.

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With a scarcity of COVID-19 vaccines in many African countries and the rise of new variants of concern, �ٳ����Africa-Canada Artificial Intelligence and Data Innovation Consortium��(ACADIC) is playing a pivotal role in providing locally nuanced analysis of data to inform public health decision making, as well as vaccination rollout strategies.

The interdisciplinary consortium is directed by 91��ɫ Professor  from the Faculty of Science. Also serving on the executive committee from 91��ɫ are: Distinguished Research Professor , director of the  in the Faculty of Science and ACADIC co-president; Professor James Orbinski, director of the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research and ACADIC executive committee member; and LA&PS Associate Professor , associate director of the  and ACADIC executive committee member. ACADIC brings together an interdisciplinary team of data scientists, epidemiologists, physicists, mathematicians and software engineers, as well as AI, disaster and emergency management, clinical public health, citizen science and community engagement experts. It is leveraging big data and AI-based techniques in nine African countries, with experts from 11 different countries – Botswana, Cameroon, Canada, Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

These techniques help identify and analyze emergent COVID-19 hotspots and outbreaks, and develop strategic, highly targeted and staged delivery plans for vaccines to priority areas. The team is also using ongoing monitoring to enhance COVID-19 testing to ensure public health interventions are equitable and effective.

Half of the world’s doses of vaccines have been secured by a handful of economically developed countries, but most African nations have received very few and continue to prepare and test their vaccination campaigns for when sufficient vaccine doses are made available.

A defining challenge is to develop local strategies that will reduce the number of COVID-19 cases, even as variants of concern circulate amidst a dearth of vaccines.

Some areas of focus for 91��ɫ researchers involved in ACADIC include:

• making big data and AI actionable for real-time delivery of reliable and comprehensive information to predict the spread and impact of an epidermic, and to guide governmental policies and best practice in an epidemic;
• the role of big data and AI in understanding and intervening in pandemics;
• big data, AI and COVID-19 in Africa;
• �ٳ����;
• vaccine acceptance/hesitancy across Africa;
• incorporating AI and mathematical modelling for smart vaccination rollout in vaccine-limited regions;
• clinical public health practices in epidemics and pandemics;
• intervention systems in disasters and health emergencies;
• disease dynamics and modelling;
• transferring lessons learned from mass vaccination simulation to Africa;
• disease modelling and simulation in refugee camps in Africa; and
• use of AI to model economic impacts of COVID-19 in Africa.

The post How artificial intelligence and big data are fighting COVID-19 in Africa appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Research led by��, Canada Research Chair and assistant professor of Earth and space science at Lassonde School of Engineering and research scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, uses multiple lines of evidence to show that smectites, a common type of clay, can explain all of the observations, putting the Mars lake theory on ice.

"Since being first reported as bodies of water, the scientific community has shown skepticism about the lake hypothesis and recent publications questioned if it was even possible to have liquid water," said Smith. Papers in 2018 and 2021 demonstrated that the amount of salt and heat required to thaw ice at the bottom of the polar cap was much more than Mars provides, and recent evidence showing these radar detections are much more widespread – to places even harder to thaw ice – put the idea further into question.

The research team, which includes researchers from the University of Arizona, Cornell, Purdue and Tulane universities, used experimental and modelling work to demonstrate that smectites can better explain the radar observations made by the MARSIS instrument aboard the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter. Further, they found spectral evidence that smectites are present at the edges of the south polar cap.

“Smectites are very abundant on Mars, covering about half the planet, especially in the Southern Hemisphere," said Smith. “That knowledge, along with the radar properties of smectites at cryogenic temperatures, points to them being the most likely explanation to the riddle."

Experiments done at 91��ɫ measured the radar characteristics of hydrated smectites at room temperature and cryogenic temperatures. The radar characteristics in question are two numbers that represent the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant. Both numbers are important for fully characterizing a material, but the 2018 study used modelling that included only the real part of the dielectric value, leaving out certain classes of materials from being considered – namely clays.

Once the experimental measurements were completed, data was evaluated using code. It was in these simulations that researchers found that frozen clays have numbers big enough to make the reflections.

Smectites��are a class of clay that is formed when basalt (the volcanic rock that comprises most of Mars' surface) breaks down chemically in the presence of liquid water.

"Detecting possible clay minerals in and below the south polar ice cap is important because it tells us that the ice includes sediments that have interacted with water sometime in the past, either in the ice cap or before the ice was there,” said Briony Horgan, co-author and associate professor in Earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences at Purdue University. “So, while our work shows that there may not be liquid water and an associated habitable environment for life under the cap today, it does tell us about water that existed in this area in the past."

To support this new hypothesis, Smith conducted experiments in his lab with equipment designed for measuring dielectric values. To simulate the conditions beneath Mars' south polar cap as best as possible, his team froze the clays to -50 C and measured them again, something that had never been done before. Smith adds that the infrared absorptions attributable to these minerals are present in south polar orbital visible-near infrared reflectance spectra. Because these minerals are both present at the south pole and can cause the reflections, the team believes this to be a more viable scenario than the presence of liquid water. No salt or heat is required.

“We used our lab measurements of clay minerals as the input for a radar reflection model and found that the results of the model matched very well with the real, observed data,” said Dan Lalich, postdoctoral researcher at the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science at Cornell University and second author on the study. “While it's disappointing that liquid water might not actually be present below the ice today, this is still a cool observation that might help us learn more about conditions on ancient Mars.”

"We analyzed the MARSIS radar data and identified observations with high-power values at the base of the south polar layered deposits, both in the proposed lake region and elsewhere," said Jenny Whitten, co-author and planetary scientist in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Tulane University.

"The first reason the bright reflectors cannot be water is because some of them continue from underground onto the surface. If that is the case, then we should see springs, which we don't," said Stefano Nerozzi, postdoctoral Fellow in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and Department of Geosciences at the University of Arizona and co-author. "Not only that, but multiple reflectors are stacked on top of each other, and some are even found right in the middle of the polar cap. If this were water, this would be physically impossible."

Putting the results in perspective, Smith says the answer is clear.

“Now, we have the trifecta. One, we measured dielectric properties of materials that are known to exist on over 50 per cent of Mars' surface and found them to have very high values. Two, we modelled how those numbers would respond in Mars' south-polar conditions and found them to match the radar observations well. Three, we demonstrated that these minerals are at the south pole. Because the liquid water theory required incredible amounts of heat, which is six to eight times more than Mars provides, and more salt than Mars has, it was already implausible," he said. "Now, the clays can explain the observations with absolutely no qualifiers or asterisks.”

The post 91��ɫ U planetary scientist puts Mars lake theory on ice with new study that offers alternate explanation appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The researchers say this finding resembles other examples of social media misinformation ranging from the initial phase of vaccine rollout to the 2021 Capitol riot in the United States.

Countries with high social media use leading to off-line political action prior to the pandemic, as surveyed before the pandemic by V-Dem (a database from the University of Gothenburg), showed the strongest trend toward a high R₀ – an indicator of how many secondary infections one infected individual is likely to cause – and a faster initial spread of the virus. For example, Canada when compared to the United States had a lower level of social media use leading to off-line action and a lower R₀. A set of multiple factors, including social media, could explain the different outcomes between the two countries, although the findings do not imply causation.

“What we found was surprising, that the use of social media to organize off-line action tended to be associated with a higher spread rate of COVID-19. This highlights the need to consider the dynamic role that social media plays in epidemics,” says Assistant Professor����of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Science, who led the research with University of British Columbia Postdoctoral Fellow Edward Tekwa.

The research team examined national level demographic, disease, economic, habtat, health, social and environmental characteristics that existed before the pandemic across 58 countries, including Ghana, Canada and the United States. They broke those characteristics down into covariates and analyzed which ones had the strongest associations with vulnerability to the virus before government interventions were put in place.

“The world has changed to modify R₀. Social media, for example, could help rather than hurt now that we have more reliable information to pass around. But some of the factors identified in our research have not changed and could be informative for the current and future pandemics,” says Tekwa.

Kong and Tekwa found a country with an intermediate number of youth (between the ages of 20 and 34), an intermediate GINI inequality factor (the amount of income inequality across a population), and a population that primarily lives in cities of more than one million people were three additional factors with the strongest relationship to the rate of spread.

“We found that with a lower youth population, the spreading was very low, while a country with an intermediate level of youth population had the highest rate of spreading of COVID-19,” says Kong of the Department of Mathematics & Statistics. “Interestingly, we found that as the youth population increases, it was associated with a lower number of cases, rather than a higher number.”

Pollution, temperature, and humidity did not have a strong relationship with R₀. The overall goal was to find baseline epidemiological differences across countries, shape future COVID-19 research, and better understand infectious disease transmission.

What’s Next?

“Different countries have different characteristics that predispose them to greater vulnerability,” says Kong. “When we are looking to compare COVID-19 progression among countries, we need to take into account those pre-existing country characteristics. The reason being is that if you just do a simple analysis the result will be misleading.”

Understanding the initial phase will help account for pre-existing, intrinsic differences, as regions try to identify their own best management strategy going forward. Kong says they are already using this data to inform policymakers in Africa about which communities are most vulnerable.

�ճ������was published today in the journal��PLOS ONE.

Media Contact:

Sandra McLean, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 416-272-6317,��sandramc@yorku.ca

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Sometime in autumn 2023, a parachute will deposit a canister that will land in a Utah desert. Inside it will be rock samples from an asteroid called Bennu, with an orbit mostly situated between Earth and Mars. This operation has a lot to do with 91��ɫ’s expertise and leadership in space science and engineering.

Bennu, roughly the height of a skyscraper at 500 metres in diameter, is interesting in many ways. For one thing, it poses a disarmingly real threat to us. It orbits close to Earth every six years and many space scientists believe there’s a small chance it could strike our planet in the next century.

This aside, Bennu has a deeper value. It could contain clues about the origin of the solar system – including our planet and every living being on it. (As Joni Mitchell put it so aptly in her song Woodstock, “We are stardust…”)

The rock samples are being brought to us courtesy of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and by the technical expertise of 91��ɫ’s Michael Daly, a professor of Earth and Space Sciences in the Lassonde School of Engineering.

Daly, director of 91��ɫ’s Centre for Earth and Space Science, has been working with the Canadian Space Agency since 2008 on developing the OSIRIS REx Laser Altimeter, an instrument to map the surface of Bennu.

“I developed the concept for the instrument, a very early part of the design. I put the plan together for analyzing the data and how we were going to observe the asteroid to capture the scientific information we required,” he explains.

Daly, 91��ɫ Research Chair in Planetary Science, and his colleagues had to consider a multitude of challenges. Can you get there easily? Does the asteroid spin slowly enough that you could touch down and collect a sample? Can you get the sample back?

Thanks to Daly’s mapping, the team discovered that Bennu has a very rocky surface and the researchers were able to locate a smooth area, the size of a few parking spaces, where the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft could sample.

The plan worked. The spacecraft extracted samples and is soon to make its way back to Earth. Daly is thrilled. Even though the bumpy surface threw a temporary wrench into their plans, “these surprises are valuable because you’ve learned something unexpected,” he says.

Daly is one of a growing community of scholars at 91��ɫ that focuses on every aspect of space and how it all came to be. This work has contributed to an increasing buzz among space experts around the world.

“91��ɫ is very strong in space. I don’t think there’s any rival in Canada,” says Canada Research Chair in Planetary Science and Lassonde Professor Isaac Smith, who joined 91��ɫ in 2018, having come from the renowned Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona.

Smith was surprised by the reaction from friends when he first arrived in Toronto. “My neighbours asked what I did for a living. I told them I’m a planetary scientist at 91��ɫ… they didn’t even know the University had a space program.”

After earning his master’s in physics, Smith toured the American west where he became fascinated by geology, rock formations and deserts. He then applied that interest to the planet closest to us: Mars.

“Mars has always been part of humankind’s fascination. We grew more interested when the first telescopes made people wonder if there might be water and even life, in some form.”

While life has not been found, the idea of it continues to tantalize scientists.

“Mars’ geology is remarkably similar to our planet. I could take a picture of the Utah desert, and find another picture from a rover on Mars, and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”

But Smith isn’t focused on the ages-old question of life on Mars. Instead, he wants to understand how the planet was born, how it has evolved. He believes this has a lot to do with ice.

“The story of Mars is incomplete if you don’t talk about ice. There’s ice all over the planet. In the past, it was water, and this shaped many of the landforms – giant canyons and glaciers, created 100 million years ago. The ice and water are important in the formation of Mars. I want to understand more,” he explains.

91��ɫ Research Chair in Space Exploration Professor John Moores is also fascinated with planets. A professor in Earth and Space Science Engineering at Lassonde, he says the focus of his research group is to use what they learn in planetary science to support space missions.

Moores has a special interest in the red planet – especially the mysterious presence of methane. The gas was detected by Curiosity, the NASA rover that has been on Mars since 2012. Methane is produced by numerous natural, biological processes on Earth – from fossil fuels to cow flatulence. “We understand why it’s present on Earth, but we don’t expect it on Mars. To understand why it’s there, we need more data,” says Moores.

As much as Mars, Bennu, Earth and the ever-expanding universe is a mystery, there’s one force that unifies it all: dark matter. Professor Sean Tulin believes it’s at the root of, well, everything.

“Dark matter is the biggest missing piece of the puzzle we have in astrophysics,” says Tulin, assistant professor of physics and astronomy and Canada Research Chair in Particle Physics and Cosmology. “It’s easy to think, ‘There’s this mysterious substance in space that doesn’t impact what we do.’ But it provides the cosmic foundation for the entire structure in the universe, all the galaxies, and how they’re organized and how they form.

“Think of a birthday cake,” he suggests. “The regular matter – the planets and the stars – are the frosting but the dark matter’s the cake.”

Tulin uses mathematical calculations to investigate the properties of dark matter, then shares his ideas and predictions with astronomers to test them.

“The universe is about 14 billion years old. For about 10 billion of those years, it was dominated by dark matter. If we want to understand what the universe looks like, we have to understand the properties of dark matter. We still don’t. We can’t see it with telescopes. It’s a huge challenge to try to figure this out.”

And why is all this research so valuable?

Tulin says “We can use space as a laboratory for understanding the fundamental properties of nature.”

Smith explains “I’m motivated to share what I learn with students and the public. Helping them feel that wonder and amazement energizes me to learn and share more, do more research.”

Daly elaborates “Space exploration helps us to put ourselves in context in the universe. We’re part of something much bigger than Earth. And if we don’t explore space, I think we lose some of our basic humanity.”

Moores agrees. “By studying ancient environments on other planets we are able to get a better idea of how life originated on our own world, and how our own planetary systems, such as the climate, will change over time. This new knowledge about these wonders will expand our conception of what’s possible and how we fit into this vast cosmic dance.”

To learn more about Daly, visit his . For more on Tulin, see his . To learn about Smith’s work, visit his . For more on Moores, visit his .

To learn more about Research & Innovation at 91��ɫ, follow us at ; watch our new , which profiles current research strengths and areas of opportunity, such as Artificial Intelligence and Indigenous futurities; and see the snapshot infographic, a glimpse of the year’s successes.

Paul Fraumeni is an award-winning freelance writer, who has specialized in covering university research for more than 20 years. To learn more, visit his .

The post Exploring a universe of mysteries: Four scientists consider how we fit into the ‘vast cosmic dance’ appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Researchers at 91��ɫ are on the frontlines of discovery, tackling issues of paramount importance and on a global scale. Case in point: Biologist��Chun Peng, 91��ɫ Research Chair in Women’s Reproductive Health, undertook a comprehensive study that looked at the impact of sex and age in incidence, clinical features and outcomes of COVID-19 in Canada. Her PhD student, Jacob O’Brien, conducted data analyses; her summer student, Keven Du, also contributed to the study.

The research trio discovered that females are less likely to contract COVID-19; and they have lower COVID-19 incidence, hospitalization, ICU admission, and fatality rates in Canada. Compared with postmenopausal females, females in childbearing years have a greater sex difference in incident rate and symptom manifestation. “The findings of our study suggest that estrogens may play a role in reducing COVID-19 incidence and in the development of symptoms, especially those related to increased survival,” Peng says.

This research was published in the Journal of Ovarian Research (2020). The two students were funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Peng’s areas of expertise are female reproduction and women’s reproductive health. The long-term goal for her research program at 91��ɫ is to understand the regulation of female reproduction and the mechanisms underlying the development of ovarian cancer and preeclampsia – a dangerous complication during pregnancy that involves high blood pressure and damage to organ systems, notably the kidneys and/or liver. Peng’s research will enhance the overall understanding of female reproductive health and therapeutic targets for ovarian cancer.

Research world scrambling to find answers to key questions around the virus

It would be an understatement to say the need to gain an understanding of COVID-19 is pressing. The virus is new, having swept the globe only last year, and the research world is still grappling with the fundamental questions about its nature, like: How, exactly, does it spread? How can we prevent the spread? Who is most vulnerable?

Research team used Statistics Canada data

Peng’s team analyzed COVID-19 data from Statistics Canada up to July 2020, with the objective of finding out if estrogens played a role.

Initially, when they looked at the data, it showed that females were most likely to get COVID-19. However, the team dug deeper and discovered that when they took the high-risk groups – specifically, health-care workers, long-term care residences and some daycares – out of the mix and analyzed separately, they discovered that females between the ages of 20 and 70 had a lower incidence rate.

Next, Peng’s research team focused on two age groups:

1. Women between 20 and 49 years of age; and
2. Postmenopausal females 60+ years.

They found a significant decrease in the incidence rate among females of reproductive age, when compared to males in the same age group. That lower incident rate continued for women in the 60s and 70s compared to men in the same age bracket but to a lesser degree. However, females 80-plus were more likely to get COVID-19 than men.

Women in reproductive years less likely to catch the virus

Peng explains the significance of these findings: “Our findings tell us that if men and women were both equally exposed to COVID-19, women under 80 years of age would be less likely to be infected – especially for those in the reproductive years. This suggests that estrogens may play a role in reducing COVID-19 incidence for women during these years, between puberty and menopause, since they have much higher circulating estrogens than men.”

The research team also found that female patients have lower hospitalization and ICU (intensive care unit) rates. These sex-based differences, however, are observed in both the reproductive age and postmenopausal groups.

“Although estrogens may play a role in reducing COVID-19 incidence, it is unlikely that they play a major role in reducing the severity of COVID-19 once someone gets it,” Peng warns.

This research also determined that symptoms vary between the sexes, and females had lower fatality rates than males.

Future studies are warranted to confirm the protective effects of estrogens against COVID-19, Peng emphasizes.

To learn more about Peng, visit the Peng lab,  To read the article, visit the Journal of Ovarian Research .

To learn more about Research & Innovation at 91��ɫ, follow us at ; watch our new , which profiles current research strengths and areas of opportunity, such as Artificial Intelligence and Indigenous futurities; and see the snapshot infographic, a glimpse of the year’s successes.

By Megan Mueller, senior manager, Research Communications, Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, 91��ɫ, muellerm@yorku.ca

The post Females in reproductive years less likely to contract COVID-19, finds new research on the role of estrogen appeared first on Research & Innovation.

“91��ɫ’s Top 30 Under 30 is a community of changemakers,” says Julie Lafford, executive director, Alumni Engagement. “Driven by passion, they create positive change and are outstanding representatives of the university, reflecting the high calibre of 91��ɫ alumni.”

91��ɫ alumni take the education, skills and support they receive at 91��ɫ and develop a strong sense of purpose, a desire to create positive change, and a long-standing commitment to the public good. Those qualities are all evident in the young alumni selected.

“I am proud to know that my work with Fix the 6ix was recognized by 91��ɫ,” says Deanna Lentini (BSc ’16), a physiotherapist and founder of Fix the 6ix, a thriving volunteer organization that gives back to the community and gives students opportunities to build their leadership skills. “It shows that little ideas with a lot of heart can do big things.”

Representing every Faculty at the University, these alumni are leaders working and volunteering in a variety of fields, from health and sustainability to the arts and business, and work to bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges.

“To create positive change in the world, the action starts at the local level,” says Miranda Baksh (BES ’17, MES ’19), founder and CEO of the Community Climate Council (CCC), a not-for-profit organization advocating for local climate action through enhancing climate literacy and political advocacy. “Positive change can occur when a community feels empowered and increases climate literacy and political advocacy. I hope that through our work I can keep inspiring youth, especially from underrepresented and marginalized communities, to use their voices for positive change."

For more information on the 2021 Top 30 Changemakers Under 30, visit the website.

The 2021 Top 30 Changemakers Under 30 are:

• Ajith Thiyagalingam, BA '15, JD '18, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, Osgoode Hall Law School
• Alexandra Lutchman, BA '14, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
• Aurangzeb Khandwala, BA '18, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
• Bailey Francis, BA '19, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
• Basia Pozin, BBA '17, Schulich School of Business
• Bo Cheng, BSC '17, MMAI '20, Science, Schulich School of Business
• Christine Edith Ntouba Dikongué, BA '14, Glendon
• Dani Roche, BDES '13, School of Arts, Media, Performance & Design
• David (Xiaoyu) Wang, MSCM '20, Schulich School of Business
• David Marrello, BBA '15, Schulich School of Business
• Deanna Lentini, BSC '16, Health
• Eunice Kays, BA '17, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
• Farzia Khan, BA '17, Lassonde School of Engineering
• Giancarlo Sessa, BBA '19, Schulich School of Business
• Iman Mohamed, BA '14, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
• Isabella Akaliza, BA '20, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
• Jillian Lynch, BA '19, Health
• Krystal Abotossaway, BHRM '13, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
• Larissa Crawford, BA '18, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
• Luke Reece, BA '15, School of Arts, Media, Performance & Design
• Maneesha Gupta, JD '17, Osgoode Hall Law School
• Matthew Ravida, BCOM '18, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
• Mikhaela Gray Beerman, BA '14, MED '18, Glendon, Education
• Miranda Baksh,��BES ‘17, MES '19, Environmental & Urban Change
• Nicole Doray, IBA '17, MES '19, Glendon, Environmental & Urban Change
• Prakash Amarasooriya, BSC '15, Health
• Rana Nasrazadani, BA '20, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
• Rowena Tam, BA '17, School of Arts, Media, Performance & Design
• Shant Joshi, BFA '17, School of Arts, Media, Performance & Design
• Shaquille Omari, BA '15, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies

Courtesy of YFile.

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Mosquitoes (specifically,��Aedes aegypti)��carry a variety of pathogens causing diseases including Zika, Yellow Fever, Chikungunya and Dengue Fever – the latter being the most widespread disease in humans infecting more than 500 million people every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

91��ɫ graduate student David Rocco, supervised by Faculty of Science biology Professor Jean-Paul Paluzzi, led a team of researchers that included academics from Brazil’s São Paulo State University, in some groundbreaking research in this area.

Aedes aegypti, a vector of several tropical diseases including Yellow Fever

Traditional research has focused on female mosquitoes (they bite), but this group of researchers took an unconventional approach by studying males (they don’t bite). What the team discovered led them to conclude that influencing male fertility (by decreasing sperm yield) could possibly, one day, lead to the development of novel approaches and the improvement of existing pest control strategies aimed at lessening the burden of these medically important vectors of disease.

The compelling results of this research, which funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, were published in��Frontiers in Physiology��(2019).

Rocco sits down with��Brainstorm��to discuss his work.

Q:��Tell us about your work in the Paluzzi lab.

A:��My research in the Paluzzi lab looks at vectors of disease – ticks, mites, mosquitoes predominantly. The driving notion behind it is: If we could better understand mosquito biology, then it could possibly help design targets for pest control research.

In biology, there are two main systems that function to regulate the body: the nervous system and the endocrine system, which are hormones. In this way, humans and mosquitoes are quite similar.

We’re essentially asking: By targeting different aspects of biology, including hormones, can we design novel pest control strategies or identify novel targets? Can we design something that will target this [some specific] hormone in this [some specific] species of mosquito and thereby reduce transmission?

Q:��What were your objectives?

A:��My research focused on a specific glycoprotein hormone in the mosquito: GPA2/GPB5. Hormones are often named after what they do in the body, but we don’t yet know what this one does. My objective was to determine what this hormone does in mosquitoes to better understand its function.

I was looking for where the receptor is for this hormone. Receptors are activated by specific hormones, released through the bloodstream, similar to a lock and key. So, I looked at the location of the receptor to learn more about the hormone.

Q:��Is this original research?

A:��The male mosquito reproductive system is very understudied. That said, most research in this area is about releasing sterilized males (whose sperm is not functioning) into the wild. If you breed thousands of sterilized males and you release them into the wild, then they will compete with other males to mate with a female. If a female mates with a sterilized male, then she won’t reproduce since her eggs won’t be fertilized. So effectively, you’ll reduce the population.

My work adds to this body of research.

Q:��What were your key findings?

I was able to determine that the hormone GPA2/GPB5 was making sperm; its function was spermatogenesis. More specifically, it helps to make the flagella, the whip-like tail at the end of the sperm. To date, we had no idea how mosquito spermatogenesis was regulated – how sperm is made, controlled by things like the nervous system.

So, when I found out that this receptor plays a role in regulating the development of sperm, that was a really exciting find. The next question is: Could this hormone be used in the future? Could it be a target to sterilize males?

Q:��How could this new knowledge inform policy or pest control strategies in the future?

A:��We don’t make policy or draft strategy. In the lab, we provide the research, the evidence. Others, perhaps with Level 3 Containment facilities, can build on what we’ve done. [This refers to the biosafety level of labs required to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed facility. The highest level is 4.] These facilities could go online, read our research paper and be able to follow up with any implications, applications and strategies for pest control.

Q:��What is the current best practice to control mosquitoes?

A:��Bed nets, sleeping with a large net over your bed. The approach is limited. You still get bit, you still get disease transmission.

Q: Could this research have a global impact in that it could inform future efforts to eradicate��Dengue Fever��or other deadly viruses? ��

A:��Yes, this species transmits at least four viruses. Zika’s not even the most prevalent or deadly. The prevalent diseases, especially in South America, are Yellow Fever, Chikungunya and Dengue Fever. The number of reported cases of Dengue in 2018 alone, was over half a million according to WHO.

To date, this particular mosquito that transmits these diseases has not established itself in Canada, but could it? With global climate change creating warmer and more humid environments, these populations could migrate.

My research could also be applied to other species of mosquitoes, such as the ones in Ontario that are transmitting West Nile, or to ticks, spreading Lyme Disease and more – any other vectors of disease.

Q:��How has 91��ɫ supported your work?

A:��91��ɫ has funded almost all of my research. If it weren’t for 91��ɫ, I would not have been able to undertake this work.

To read the article, titled “,” visit �ٳ����. To visit Paluzzi’s lab, go��. To see his Faculty profile page, visit �ٳ����.��

To learn more about Research & Innovation at 91��ɫ, follow us at��; watch our new��, which profiles current research strengths and areas of opportunity, such as Artificial Intelligence and Indigenous futurities; and see �ٳ����, a glimpse of the year’s successes.

By Megan Mueller, senior manager, Research Communications, Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, 91��ɫ,��muellerm@yorku.ca

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