91亚色 will play a leading role in a new national program supporting Canada鈥檚 first-ever Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Scientists 鈥� a program that funds early-career astronomers contributing to an international radio astronomy research initiative. 

Announced by the National Research Council Canada (NRC), the Canadian SKA Scientist Program supports future leaders in conducting cutting-edge research to explore some of the universe鈥檚 biggest mysteries. 

Fengqiu (Adam) Dong will conduct advanced research on radio pulsars in 91亚色鈥檚 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Science, as part of the Canadian SKA Scientist Program. 

Dong, currently a National Radio Astronomy Observatory Jansky Fellow at the U.S.-based Green Bank Observatory, completed his PhD at the University of British Columbia. 

Dong鈥檚 research focuses on pulsars 鈥� dense, rotating remnants of massive stars that emit rhythmic bursts of radiation. At 91亚色, he will work with mentor Paul Scholz, assistant professor in the Department of Physic and Astronomy, whose work explores pulsars, magnetars and fast radio bursts 鈥� brief, powerful flashes of radio waves from beyond our galaxy. 

Together, they will contribute to the global Square Kilometre Array (SKA) initiative over a term of three to five years. 

"I'm honoured and excited to play a role in bringing Canada to the forefront of this once-in-a-lifetime instrument,鈥� says Dong. 鈥淪KA is the future of radio astronomy for the next decade. It will revolutionize our understanding of the universe, much like the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes have done for optical and infrared astronomy." 

The SKA is an international effort to build the world鈥檚 largest radio telescope arrays, with facilities in South Africa and Australia. Once operational, the SKA Observatory (SKAO) is expected to transform understanding of the universe. Canada is one of the project鈥檚 member countries, represented by the NRC and supported through national partnerships with universities and researchers. 

鈥淭he Canadian SKA Scientists will be the future leaders in the revolutionary science that will come out of the SKA,鈥� says Scholz. 鈥淚n his role, Adam will enhance and broaden the radio astronomy expertise at 91亚色 and significantly bolster our involvement in the SKA.鈥� 

Canadian SKA Scientist participants receive mentorship from both a university-based expert and the NRC, with the goal of building a national network of researchers contributing to the SKA.  

According to NRC program lead Michael Rupen, the initiative is designed to support early-career scientists while ensuring Canadian researchers have equitable access to SKA science. Dong joins Alice Curtin, a PhD candidate at McGill University, as the first two researchers selected for the program. 

A second call for applications is expected in fall 2025, with subsequent rounds to follow annually.聽

Courtesy of Yfile

The post 91亚色 U joins elite international astronomy team to research secrets of the universe聽 appeared first on Faculty of Science.

91亚色 professors Kohitij Kar has received Ontario鈥檚 Early Researcher Award, a competitive provincial honour that supports promising early-career faculty leading innovative research.

The Early Researcher Award recognizes faculty at publicly funded Ontario institutions within their first 10 years of an academic career. It supports advancing knowledge and building strong teams of graduate and undergraduate trainees to develop future research leaders in Ontario.

Kar, a professor of biology in the Faculty of Science and Canada Research Chair in Visual Neuroscience, received the Early Researcher Award for work exploring how the brain might process sensory information differently in autistic adults, focusing on how they see and understand the world.

Kohitij Kar By combining computer simulations with brain activity studies, the team models how changes in specific brain areas might lead to autism-like behaviours, specifically by adding controlled 鈥渘oise.鈥� The findings aim to enhance diagnosis and develop more effective support strategies, reinforcing Ontario鈥檚 investment in autism services and assisting community organizations.

鈥淭here is an urgent need to develop testable computational models of the neural basis of autism, particularly the sensory differences,鈥� says Kar. 鈥淭his award is a critical boost for our project, allowing us to expand our research and accelerate the development of tools that can better understand sensory processing differences in autism. It brings us closer to real-world impact for individuals and families affected by autism.鈥�

Kar鈥檚 current project builds on his award-winning work studying visual object processing. His research appears in leading journals including Nature Neuroscience and Science. He leads a research program at 91亚色 and has earned awards such as the Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research Award. His combined expertise in neuroscience and artificial intelligence makes him well positioned to lead this innovative effort.

The achievement reflects 91亚色鈥檚 growing leadership in interdisciplinary research with real-world impact, says Amir Asif, vice-president research and innovation.

Courtesy of YFile

The post Provincial recognition for 91亚色 U early-career researchers appeared first on Faculty of Science.

With 91亚色鈥檚 new Markham Campus now open, the campus is prioritizing opportunities that demonstrate 91亚色鈥檚 leadership experiential education (EE), which is increasingly a focus in Canada鈥檚 halls of higher learning. It is doing so with innovative new programs, including two rooted in biotechnology.

鈥淭he vision for the Markham Campus from the onset was to provide our students with access to high-level experiential education opportunities,鈥� said Dan Palermo, interim deputy provost, Markham. 鈥淭his vision aligns with the broader vision of 91亚色 to expand experiential education opportunities for students across the institution.

鈥淭his is also in response to what students want as part of their academic journey, even what parents want for their children as they go to post-secondary school. And it does prepare students better for the workforce,鈥� Palermo said.

The Markham Campus offers degree programs and micro-credentials focused on EE, digital technologies and entrepreneurship. Among the courses benefiting from the campus鈥檚 focus on EE are the brand-new Communication, Social Media & Public Relations course, the Digital Technologies course and the Computer Science for Software Development course, which will all include work terms in Markham-based industries or non-profits.

The Markham Campus鈥檚 new Master of Biotechnology Management (MBM) program and Graduate Diploma in Biotechnology will also advance the University鈥檚 EE leadership, closely aligning classroom education with what the industry has said workers need.

In the case of the biotechnology programs, the course experiences were 鈥� in fact 鈥� specifically designed that way.

Jade Atallah, graduate program director of biotechnology at Markham and an assistant professor in the teaching stream in the Department of Biology; and Luz Puentes J谩come, an assistant professor in the teaching stream in the Department of Biology, developed the curricula and pedagogical approaches of the biotechnology programs after listening to the industry. 

鈥淧edagogically, we knew that experiential education must be at the centre of curricular delivery,鈥� Atallah said. 鈥淏ecause we were working with new programs, it was a relief that no retrofitting was needed. We were able to start from the ground up, where experiential education was at the centre and everything else came around it.鈥�

Indeed, the graduate biotechnology programs incorporate immersive and multimodal experiential learning such as industry workshops, industry fireside chats, participation in biotechnology conferences, industry challenge questions, interdisciplinary capstone projects and industry internships.

鈥淲e bring in industry partners to act as industry mentors, and our graduate program students work in groups as consultants and try to solve a problem posed by the industry mentor,鈥� said Puentes J谩come.

鈥淚n that way, they鈥檙e working directly in an industry context. They go through the process of figuring out a solution for this program, doing some literature search and writing a white paper. Then they鈥檒l have a final presentation in which we will bring all the industry mentors together to observe the presentations and to network with our students.鈥�

The programs are interdisciplinary. In the case of the MBM program, students integrate management training with the biotechnology portion of the course. 鈥淭his would prepare the students to, perhaps, run a biotech startup,鈥� Puentes J谩come said. For example, she said, 鈥渢hey might work toward creating a water bottle with biology, not fossil fuels.鈥�

Marisol John is a student in the Master of Biotechnology Management program and is among those who have seen the many possibilities for a biotech career available to them through the program.

 鈥淚 have learnt so much about this industry, and I鈥檓 excited to continue this process of directly engaging with real-world industry problems,鈥� she said.

John is already envisioning ways she can apply her in-class experiences.

鈥淚 have a very deep passion for agri-bio and environmental biology,鈥� John said. 鈥淐oming from a Caribbean island, Dominica 鈥� the greenest island in the Caribbean 鈥� I think this program will afford me a diverse skill set to effect positive and sustainable change in my country.鈥�

Her undergrad thesis was based on the therapeutic applications of ginger, something John hopes to expand upon. Her grandparents treated flu and upset stomachs with ginger tea, and John鈥檚 research showed it鈥檚 used for many therapeutic reasons, including pneumonia, tuberculosis and asthma. But, she said, there is limited information available on these topics.

鈥淚 am using this to drive the rest of my career,鈥� said John. 鈥淚 am learning how various biotech industries can be integrated to bridge the knowledge gap and innovatively solve problems related to crops, agricultural sustainability, food processing and diversification. The possibilities are endless.鈥�

Thanks to the experiential education opportunities provided by the new Markham Campus 鈥� like those in biotechnology 鈥� the possibilities will be endless for other students, too.

With files from Julie Carl

Courtesy of YFile

The post Markham Campus prioritizing experiential education with unique biotechnology programs appeared first on Faculty of Science.

Making chemistry courses and labs more engaging and accessing science lab spaces 鈥� regardless of physical ability 鈥� are becoming easier to accomplish, thanks to Faculty of Science initiatives sponsored by Academic Innovation Fund (AIF) grants.

In the Department of Chemistry, Tihana Mirkovic, an assistant professor, and Hovig Kouyoumdjian, an associate professor who is also the associate dean of curriculum and pedagogy, are developing modules using e-learning tool Adobe Captivate to improve students鈥� learning experiences. Meanwhile, biology professors Tamara Kelly and Paula Wilson and their colleagues 鈥� project manager Jessi Nelson, accessibility expert Ainsley Latour and educational development specialist Ashley Nahornick 鈥� are identifying and supporting improvements that make labs more accessible.

Kouyoumdjian first identified the potential of Adobe Captivate as a tool for the generation of an interactive learning environment in chemistry classes. Together with Mirkovic, the pair recognized that the laboratory experience through pre-laboratory activities in undergraduate classes could be substantially improved by leveraging the multimedia learning process that could be incorporated into modules generated in Adobe Captivate.

鈥淥ur goal is to allow students to integrate their conceptual and procedural understanding of their labs through active learning opportunities. We hope that the newly developed modules, featuring slides, videos, hotspots, 360-degree navigation, software simulations and knowledge check assessments, will provide a learning environment that motivates our students and maximizes their learning potential,鈥� Mirkovic said.

鈥淲e aim for students to stay engaged, even when the material is presented virtually,鈥� said Kouyoumdjian. 鈥淣ow, we possess an e-learning tool with an interactive component that complements the static elements of the course. It is applicable for both blended and online courses.鈥�

The pair also collaborated with an instructional designer to craft customizable templates to help with the process of repurposing and reusing the modules across various courses.鈥�

The professors have has initiated a pilot in the courses CHEM 2020 (Introductory Organic Chemistry I) and CHEM 3001 (Experimental Chemistry II) this term. 鈥淲e hope to gather valuable information from the initial student experience and feedback collected from Adobe Captivate activities and linked self-reflection surveys,鈥� Mirkovic said. During the summer, they will reflect on the pilot鈥檚 successes and explore the reusability of the created templates.

They are optimistic that the new software will contribute to student engagement, leading to increased student motivation and greater retention.

Meanwhile, the accessibility team is moving forward with its own initiative to improve 鈥� in a different way 鈥� the accessibility of biology, chemistry and physics labs for students in the Faculty.

鈥淧aula and I have directed labs, and something we come up against regularly is accommodation,鈥� said Kelly, the project lead and the Pedagogical Innovation Chair, Science Education. 鈥淪tudent Accessibility Services typically addresses lectures, but has limited expertise to support providing clear accommodations for labs.鈥�

Added Wilson: 鈥淪tudents with accessibility issues have the burden of negotiating with their professors for every lab, and it鈥檚 exhausting. Also, even if professors are eager to assist, they aren鈥檛 experts in accommodation.

鈥淚n addition, by the time faculty members get a letter about accommodating a student, it may be the second or third week of the term, which leaves no time for finding and arranging creative solutions.鈥�

The group plans to survey Faculty of Science students and faculty to learn more about needs and accommodations that work. Latour and Nelson developed a checklist of barriers to accessibility in labs and then, with Nahornick, toured first-year science laboratories with the technicians who run the labs. They looked for barriers and what was missing to make accommodation easier.

鈥淭here were a lot of things that were quick fixes, so Ashley emailed the lab managers to suggest changes to make before the start of the term,鈥� said Kelly. 鈥淭hese included the readability of signage, repairs to broken automatic doors, among other things.鈥�

The team also brought in Pamela Millett, an audiologist from the Faculty of Education, to determine what the sound issues might be for those with hearing concerns.

鈥淭here is a lot of ambient sound in labs, from fans and other equipment, that make it hard for students to hear instructions,鈥� said Nahornick. 鈥淩epairing or using their microphones is an easy fix.鈥�

The next step will be to create professional development support for instructors, technicians and teaching assistants, so they understand how to best support accessibility in labs.

Wilson said they would also like to prepare a series of recommendations for the Faculty. 鈥淪ome issues may require infrastructure changes that will require additional funding. We want to take away the鈥痯ressure鈥痮n instructors to handle this on their own by鈥痬aking changes where we can and sharing best practices,鈥� she explained. 鈥淥ur aim is to make it easier for all students to have valuable lab experiences that meet course outcomes.鈥�

Kelly added, 鈥淚f we have a clear understanding in advance about what is needed, that鈥檚 a big step. Some things must be personalized, but there are some general things we can implement for our students. Students with disabilities are often driven away from science in high school because of barriers, and we don鈥檛 want to be part of that cycle. We want to enable people.

鈥淔or a lot of students, their first experience in a lab turns them onto science. We鈥檒l lose talent if they don鈥檛 feel as if they can function in this setting.鈥�

The post Faculty of Science innovates with assist from AIF appeared first on Faculty of Science.

Associate Professor in astronomy Adam Muzzin鈥榮 successful application to use NASA鈥檚 James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to explore the depths of the universe was one of 1,600 project proposals submitted. He was also one of only 11 out of 54 applying Canadian principal investigators to receive approval, and his is the second-largest successful Canadian program in terms of time granted 鈥� 44 hours 鈥� with the telescope.

鈥淲e are very excited to receive such a big allocation on the world鈥檚 premier telescope,鈥� said Muzzin, who will be collaborating with 91亚色 graduate students Sunna Withers and Ghassan Sarrouh on the project. 鈥淛WST is the most powerful telescope of all time and is already revolutionizing how we study our universe. It was built to find the first stars and galaxies and to help us understand the origins of our universe. Our new program will explore something no one has ever been able to see before.鈥�

Muzzin鈥檚 program is entitled 鈥淛WST in Technicolor: Finding and Mapping the Most Extreme Star Forming Galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization with Medium and Narrow Bands鈥� and his team will be using JWST to search for very distant dwarf galaxies during the time when star formation was just 鈥渢urning on鈥� in the universe. It is thought that much of the star formation in the universe occurred in these dwarf galaxies.

When distant galaxies were forming stars, much of their light came out at one wavelength (so-called 鈥渆mission lines鈥�), making them very bright in specific medium and narrow bands. For the first time ever, his team will point the infrared filters of JWST, as well as of the Hubble Space Telescope, at a single piece of sky and capture a 鈥渢echnicolor鈥� dataset.

鈥淏y getting pictures in a full suite of these filters, we can identify how many such galaxies are out there and what their contribution was to the star-formation budget of the universe,鈥� said Muzzin.

Muzzin is a member of the Canadian instrument team that built the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) on JWST, and he leads one of the working groups on the large Canadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey project. Since the telescope launched into space in December 2021, he and his team have already used captured data to make exciting discoveries about stars and galaxies from the early universe.

The project includes collaborators from the University of Toronto (Canada), Kyoto University (Japan), University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), University of Copenhagen (Denmark), St. Mary鈥檚 University (Canada), Columbia University (USA), Tufts University (USA), Space Telescope Science Institute (USA), and NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics (Canada).

The post Professor awarded access to NASA鈥檚 James Webb Space Telescope appeared first on Faculty of Science.

A 91亚色 research team is collaborating with Inkbox, a Toronto-based startup that uses semi-permanent tattoo technology, to better understand the science behind their revolutionary tattoo technology. The science could support the development of semi-permanent tattoos with different colours.  in January 2022 for U.S. $65 million.

Chris Caputo is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Metal-Free Materials for Catalysis. His research focuses on developing greener and more sustainable chemistry by eliminating the need to use expensive and toxic transition metals.

In 2015, Caputo met the Inkbox CEO and co-founder, Tyler Handley, and later became the company鈥檚 director of research and development before joining 91亚色, where he continued to work with the company to develop their technology with the help of 91亚色鈥檚 Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation (VPRI).

Inkbox鈥檚 revolutionary technology is different than a normal tattoo because it is a fruit-based extract that stains the epidermis layer of skin instead of being injected into the dermis layer, allowing the dyed skin to slough over time and enable the disappearance of the tattoo.

鈥淲e really wanted to understand the mechanism of how and why this fruit extract turns your skin dark blue when applied, so we could take that development a step further towards new colours,鈥� says Caputo. 鈥淥ur research at 91亚色 has been fundamental to identifying the chemistry behind the process of developing new colours and helping Inkbox expand their R&D pipeline.鈥�

Caputo was able to hire a team of researchers, one of which is now employed at Inkbox, and avail of the University鈥檚 state-of-the-art synthetic chemistry wet lab.

鈥淎 collaboration with Chris鈥檚 group, funded by Mitacs and NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada) Collaborative Research & Development grants, has allowed Inkbox to do molecular-level research that would otherwise have been impossible with the budget of a startup company,鈥� said Ian Mallov, manager, Formulation & Regulatory Affairs at Inkbox Tattoos.

鈥淲e were dealing with a blank canvas because nobody in the world has ever looked at this challenge before. It鈥檚 been a wonderful and exploratory project where we could take the time to refine our hypothesis and reach our goal towards achieving different colours,鈥� said Caputo.

To date, Inkbox has filed several patents on the research undertaken through this collaboration. Caputo continues to collaborate with Inkbox and a small team of researchers, led by Sanjay Manhas, Charley Garrard and Nico Bonanno, who are currently working on projects at 91亚色. With the new Bic acquisition, Inkbox can expand its revolutionary technology to broader markets with new offerings.

鈥淐hris has guided this research toward developing new tattoo ink dyes and understanding the mechanism of action of the current active dye. This has contributed significant value in terms of intellectual property for the company,鈥� said Mallov.

Caputo鈥檚 research, which includes developing efficient synthetic strategies, is supporting sustainability for Inkbox by finding ways to significantly reduce waste materials and energy needed to produce new dyes. This work supports the University鈥檚 goals in elevating 91亚色鈥檚 contributions to the United Nation鈥檚 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically SDG 12 which calls for sustainably managing natural resources, reducing and managing waste better, and promoting sustainable lifestyles and company practices.

The experience has been particularly eye-opening for Caputo and his team about the possibility of modifying molecules and manipulating dyes to support sustainability for other commercial products.

鈥淲e鈥檝e potentially unlocked new properties for a natural product by taking a systematic synthetic chemistry approach. It has made me think about what other naturally occurring feedstocks we can apply this to for the generation of more sustainable dyes in the future,鈥� said Caputo.

The post A collaboration with a 91亚色 researcher is changing the 鈥榝orever鈥� of tattoos appeared first on Faculty of Science.