Tag: VP Research and Innovation

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CERIS names new director

Adnan Türegün has been appointed as the new director of CERIS – The Ontario Metropolis Centre, located at York University. His appointment is part of the transformation of CERIS, which will focus on multi-partner knowledge exchange.

Türegün is a sociologist with a BA from Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey; a master’s degree from Cumhuriyet University in Sivas, Turkey; and a doctorate from Carleton University in Ottawa. He is an adjunct AdnanTuregunresearch professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the School of Social Work at Carleton University.

Adnan Türegün

Türegün has been working in the area of immigration and settlement in various capacities since 1999. His research focuses on: 1) immigrant economic integration, particularly, access to regulated professions and trades; 2) the historical development of the Canadian settlement service sector; and 3) professionalization of settlement work. He has taught and published widely, also taking on editorial and administrative responsibilities in this area.

Before joining CERIS, Türegün was the executive director of Carleton University’s Centre for International Migration and Settlement Studies and its predecessor, the Research Resource Division for Refugees, for eight years. He has served on numerous advisory bodies and consulted governments at different levels of jurisdiction.

CERIS is a partnership of Toronto-area universities (Ryerson, Toronto and York) and three major community organizations – Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, Social Planning Toronto and United Way Toronto – with participation from all levels of government. The partnership serves both as a network of researchers, practitioners and policymakers, and as a dynamic knowledge exchange hub in the field of immigration and settlement.

Luin Goldring, the former director of CERIS at York, and Valerie Preston, the York University member of the CERIS board, are enthusiastic about this appointment. “Dr. Türegün brings a wealth of experience to this position,” says Goldring. “The CERIS board is confident that under his leadership, CERIS will flourish and innovate in the process of supporting knowledge exchange for academic and non-academic researchers, community workers and policy makers in the field of immigration and settlement.”

For more information, visit the CERIS website, which is in the process of being updated to reflect the changes.

York researcher identifies world’s 20,000th bee species

An article published this month by York University researcher Sheila Dumesh describes 21 new kinds of bees, pushing the world’s total known bee species past the 20,000 mark.

The article, “Revision of the rare Mesoamerican bee genus Mexalictus (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) with the description of 21 new species”, published in the journal Zootaxa, identifies the bees as belonging to the genus CtenioschelusMexalictus, which are mostly found in cloud forests and other damp habitats at high altitudes from southern Arizona to Panama.

Ctenioschelus

“Most of them are very rare – known from only a handful of specimens or less, sometimes only one,” says Dumesh. “Because their habitats are often imperilled from deforestation and climate change, finding them before they become extinct is a race against time.”

When the word “bee” is mentioned, most people think of honey bees and bumble bees, or honey, stings and complicated social lives. But, of the 20,000 bee species now known, less than 10 are honey bees, while there are more than 250 species of bumble bee. Most of the remaining 19,700-plus species live solitary lives in holes in the ground or in hollow twigs, and many of them cannot sting. “The 21 Euglossanew species described are likely solitary bees that nest in the ground, but they are so rare that their nests have never been discovered, even after several field trips to find them,” says Dumesh.

Euglossa

Cataloguing the world’s bees is an enormous task that has involved hundreds of researchers since the beginning of taxonomy – the science that aims to document all living things on our planet. York University’s bee lab has now described more than 90 species of bees collectively, while more than 100 undescribed species are currently being worked on. However, within the York University bee museum there are tens of thousands of specimens from all over the world which remain unstudied and there is a good chance there will be many more undescribed species among them.

Bees are the most important pollinators on the planet; this is true for agricultural crops as well as wild plants, Mexalictus raavosays Professor Laurence Packer, Dumesh’s supervisor and York bee lab leader. Without bees, our diets would be more restricted; nuts, berries and coffee would all be in shorter supply and thus more expensive.

Mexalictus raavo

“Many bees are declining in numbers and honey bees and their beekeepers continue to suffer devastating losses,” says Packer, after whom one of the new species is named. “But there are almost 20,000 other species of bee and these often pollinate our crops while honey bees get the credit. Documenting what these wild bee species are and what they do, as well as understanding their role in agriculture and our planet’s Euherbstiaoverall ecology is all extremely important.”

Euherbstia

Dumesh’s work was undertaken for her MSc degree in York University’s Department of Biology and involved collaborations with collectors and museums throughout North and Central America.

To view a photo gallery of some of the bees studied within the York bee lab, including several of the bees described in Dumesh’s paper, click here.

Regular exercise leads to better energy distribution in muscle

Looking to boost energy levels and stave off degeneration of aging muscle? Add workouts to your daily routine to become more energetic and perform day-to-day activities better, say York University muscle health researchers.

“Our recent study shows that exercise leads to expansion of the mitochondrial network and, as a result, energy is DavidHooddistributed to muscle in a more effective manner,” says Professor David Hood from the School of Kinesiology & Health Science in the Faculty of Health.

David Hood

On the other hand, the research shows that mitochondria become smaller or more fragmented when the muscle is not used – due to aging, for example – which leads to cellular damage and degeneration of muscle cells.

The study, “Expression of Mitochondrial Fission and Fusion Regulation Proteins in Skeletal Muscle During Chronic Use and Disuse”, assesses the effects of aging on mitochondrial morphology and has been accepted for publication by the peer-reviewed journal Muscle and Nerve.

Led by Hood, director of the Muscle Health Research Centre at York, the study was conducted by his graduate students Sobia Iqbal, Olga Ostojic, Kaustabh Singh and Anna-Maria Joseph.

The findings indicate that the proteins involved in maintaining the size and shape of mitochondria are also regulated by exercise, or lack thereof. According to the researchers, this can have important implications for energy production in muscle, the benefits of exercise and the consequences of chronic inactivity on our health.

The research received support from a Natural Science & Engineering Research Council of Canada grant.

Psychology prof co-lead in $1.8 million government funded program

York University psychology Professor Jonathan Weiss is one of the co-leads in a research program that was recently awarded $1.8 million over three years from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s Health System Research Fund.

The program, Health Care Access Research in Developmental Disabilities (H-CARDD), aims to enhance the overall health and wellbeing of individuals with developmental disabilities through improved health-care policy and services.

H-CARDD is directed by Yona Lunsky from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the Institute for Clinical JonathanWeissSmallerImageEvaluative Sciences and the University of Toronto. Weiss, the Chair in Autism Spectrum Disorders Treatment and Care Research in York’s Faculty of Health, is a member of the program’s core team, which includes scientists, clinicians and policymakers from across Ontario.

Jonathan Weiss

Individuals with developmental disabilities are one of the most vulnerable and marginalized populations when it comes to accessing healthcare. The goal of H-CARDD is to reduce disparities in health outcomes of Ontarians with developmental disabilities.

Four vulnerable subgroups will be examined over the next three years. The four subgroups are as follows:

  • Aging Adults with co-leads Lynn Martin of Lakehead University and Hélène Ouellette-Kuntz of Queen’s University
  • Women with co-leads Virginie Cobigo of the University of Ottawa and Simone Vigod of Women’s College Hospital.
  • Youth Transitioning to Adult Services with Weiss and Barry Isaacs of Surrey Place Centre
  • Individuals with “Dual Diagnosis” with Rob Balogh of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and Elizabeth Lin of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Researchers already know that youth with developmental disabilities visit emergency rooms more often than others and have higher rates of psychiatric hospitalization than youth without disabilities. What is needed is more research at the individual and system level on the factors that lead to these high rates and that is what Weiss and Isaacs will be doing.

Young people with developmental disabilities have difficulty in transitioning into adult health care services. For those who need mental health services, it is even more difficult especially with an already difficult to navigate health-care system. That can lead to a worsening of issues.

“Understanding patterns of service use as adolescents with developmental disabilities transition into adulthood can help us to identify barriers and gaps in the health service system,” says Weiss. “Doing so can lead to improved primary care and addressing problems before they become severe.”

H-CARDD’s program of research will provide new information that profiles vulnerable developmental disability subgroups and will translate research into action by facilitating the uptake of evidence-based practices in primary and emergency care.

H-CARDD’s partners include the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Surrey Place Centre, the University of Toronto, the University of Ottawa, Queen’s University, York University, Lakehead University, Sunnybrook Hospital, and Women’s College Hospital.

For more information about the H-CARDD program, contact Julie Klein-Geltink, H-CARDD manager, at julie.kleingeltink@camh.ca.

Lassonde professor wins best paper award at national conference

A paper produced by a  professor  in York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering recently won one of three best paper awards in the recent CANCAM 2013 conference organized by the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering.

GeorgeZhuLassondeThe paper “Deformed Carbon Nanotube Junction and its Effect on Electrical Conductivity of Carbon Nanotube Nanocomposites” was presented by George Zhu (left), a professor in Lassonde’s Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering.

The paper develops a new model to explain the mechanism of tunneling resistance at the carbon nanotube crossed junction in a percolating network formed by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) that are homogeneously dispersed in polymers. By dispersing the CNTs into the electrically insulator – polymer, the electrical conductivity of the nanocomposite can be tailored while improving its mechanical properties simultaneously to create a multi-functional smart material. The potential application of this type of new material includes:

  • Self-structural health monitoring of aerospace structures (the electrical conductivity is proportional to applied stress).
  • Attenuation of lightning strike experienced by aircraft in while in flight.
  • Use in the next generation lightweight electronics enclosures capable of electromagnetic interference shielding for spacecraft.
  • Dissipation of static electricity accumulation in lightweight structure of aircraft and/or spacecraft made of polymer composites.
  • A new type of conductive polymers for commercial and consumer electronics such as cellphones.

CANCAM is organized by the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering once every two years and attracts engineers, applied mathematicians and scientists to a its program. It provides an international forum for communicating recent and projected advances in all fields of applied mechanics.

Professor Emeritus Jean-Gabriel Castel awarded France’s highest honour

Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Emeritus Jean-Gabriel Castel has added another prestigious decoration to the long list of awards he has received for service to France, Canada and the French community, and for contributions to legal education and the legal profession.

castel_storyimageJean-Gabriel Castel

On Bastille Day (July 14), French President François Hollande promoted Castel to Officier de l’Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur (Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour). The order is the highest decoration in France and is divided into five degrees: chevalier (knight), officier (officer), commandeur (commander), grand officier (grand officer) and grand croix (grand cross).

The promotion to Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour recognizes Castel’s continuous support of French language and culture and the development of relations between France and Canada at all levels. In addition, Castel holds other decorations from France’s Ordre national du Mérite and Ordre des Palmes Académiques, and is an associate member of the Académie du Var.

Castel, who was a professor of French and Canadian law at Osgoode from 1959 until his retirement in 1999, has reached great heights in his lifetime and is recognized for many achievements, including:

  • his service in the French Resistance during World War II for which he received several military decorations;
  • his presidency of the French War Veterans from Ontario and Manitoba for 25 years;
  • a role as an elected representative of the French people in Canada (he was elected three times to the Assembly of the French Abroad in Paris);
  • his presidency of the Private International Law Committee of the Office of Revision of the Civil Code, drafting the part of the code dealing with conflict of laws along with numerous books and publications;
  • the creation of the French school Bishop de Charbonnel in Toronto;
  • his role – with Judge Lacoursiere and R. Roy McMurtry when he was Ontario’s Attorney General – in making Ontario law and courts bilingual (for which he received the Order of Ontario);
  • a 27-year history as the editor-in-chief of the Canadian Bar Review, which – with the support of his friend Louis St. Laurent – Castel transformed into a bilingual review (for which he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada); and
  • his contribution to the development of public and private international law (for which an annual lecture in his honour was created at Glendon College several years ago, and he received the Mundell and Read medals).

The author of numerous books, including the celebrated three-volume treatise Canadian Conflict of Laws, Castel earned degrees at the universities of Paris, Michigan and Harvard. He was on the Faculty of Law at McGill University (1954 to 1959) before moving to York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School.

Castel is also a Queen’s Counsel in Ontario, a member of the Royal Society of Canada and a Distinguished Research Professor at York University.

Inked in: York prof to launch first digital archive of memorial tattoos

Death leaves an indelible mark on the hearts of those left behind, and an increasing number of individuals are choosing to make that loss visible by commissioning tattoos honouring their deceased loved ones.

davidsonNow, York University sociology Professor Deborah Davidson (right), along with a cross-disciplinary team of researchers, plans to capture these images – and the stories behind each act of remembrance – as part of a new project funded by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to build the framework for the world’s first comprehensive public archive of memorial tattoos.

“Memorial tattoos both embody memory and serve as a kind of translator of memory into a language readable by others – a way to hold and share memories,” says Davidson. “To date, I have not found a digital or physical archive of memorial tattoos and their contextualizing narratives, so such an archive will be significant because it will serve as a cultural heritage site, acknowledging important memories and sharing them publicly, and provide scholars with a digital database of memorial tattoos and narratives for analysis.”

Davidson says the archive will not just be an academic tool, but will also serve as a place to foster new relationships between academics and individuals with memorial tattoos, along with tattoo artists and community groups. In addition, it will offer users the option to become a part of the project by uploading their own images and stories.

Having already collected dozens of stories and photos for earlier research, Davidson is now in the process of crowd-sourcing more potential contributors. Moving from memorializing the deceased to a broader definition of memorialization, Davidson and her team are looking for potential participation from persons with “tattoos in remembrance or honour of a person, place, animal, relationship, event or transition within the life course.”

With a goal of 500 images and stories to start, Davidson says this archive is just the first phase of a larger international, interdisciplinary collaboration, comprised of social science, humanities, electronic library science and computer science scholars at York University and the University of Toronto, the University of Bath and Plymouth University in the U.K., and Monash University in Australia.

“Our project is directed at both the co-production and mobilization of knowledge. The archive will provide a rich source of data for researchers engaged in a broad span of work, including in memorialization, memory and visual narrative and computer-assisted data collection methods. The importance and contributions of this project lie precisely within the intersections between the public and the private, providing a valuable resource for the collection and sharing of memorial tattoos and the stories that are embedded within.”

To find out more about contributing to Davidson’s project, e-mail yorktattooarchive@gmail.com  

Talk on diabetes and current treatments by Canadian and Korean researchers

As part of a one-day symposium bringing Korean and Canadian diabetes researchers together, two experts will talk about the latest news and treatments for the disease.

Sung-WooParkThe lecture, “Understanding Diabetes and Treatments”, will take place Friday, Aug. 2, from 5:30 to 6:30pm, 105 Life Science Building, Keele campus. Everyone is welcome to attend this free public lecture. RSVP by July 30 to ckd@yorku.ca.

Sung-Woo Park

University of Sungkyunkwan Professor Sung-Woo Park of the Korean Diabetes Association and Kangbuk Samsung Hospital will join University of British Columbia Professor Brian Rodrigues of the Canadian Diabetes Brian RodriguesAssociation to go over the causes, symptoms and current available treatments for diabetes.

Brian Rodrigues

Park is the president of the Korean Association for the Patient with Diabetes and former board director of the Korean Diabetes Association. Rodrigues is the former board director and chair of the National Research Council of the Canadian Diabetes Association.

During the day, the Canada-Korea Diabetes Research Initiative Symposium will feature Park chairing the first session GarySweeneyof the afternoon, followed by York biology Professor Gary Sweeney of the Faculty of Science chairing the second session.

Gary Sweeney

“The main focus of the symposium is to disseminate knowledge, engage new partners and learn more about current research activities in diabetes at both Korean and Canadian Institutions,” says Sweeney. “It represents an outstanding opportunity to share information resulting from research activities and findings in the area of mechanistic and translational studies in diabetes.”

Six speakers in all will discuss various aspects of diabetes.

Minna Woo of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University Health Network/Mount Sinai Hospital, will talk about dissecting the signaling pathways that control inflammation and metabolism in diabetes.

Myungshik Lee of the Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea, will look at how autophagy deficiency in insulin target tissues leads to protection from obesity and insulin resistance.

Tony Lam of the Banting & Best Diabete Centre, University of Toronto, will examine glucagon and insulin signaling in the brain.

Gary Lopaschuk of the University of Alberta will discuss the contribution of diabetes and obesity to heart failure.

Minho Shong of the Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea, will talk about mitochondrial dysfunction in metabolic diseases.

Zayna Khayat of the International Centre for Health Innovation at the Ivey School of Business, London, Ont., will look at the end of the road in value capture from diabetes innovations: uptake by patients, practitioners and health systems.

For more information, contact ckd@yorku.ca.

Four York researchers awarded more than $2.3 million from CIHR

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research has awarded more than $2.3 million in funding to four York researchers.

John Douglas Crawford, Canada Research Chair in Visual-Motor Neuroscience and Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health, will receive more than $ 1 million over five years to study how visual signals are processed, stored and JohnDouglasCrawfordconverted into neural commands for three-dimensional eye and head movements. This study will help provide insight into how the brain is affected by diseases and disorders of the nervous system.

John Douglas Crawford

Tara Haas, a professor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science and member of York’s Muscle Health Research Centre together with co-investigator Emilie Roudier (PhD), a research associate in the Faculty of Health, will receive $391,008 over four years to examine the blood vessel networks within fat and muscle, and how they are affected by a long-term high fat diet. Loss of blood vessels, which supply oxygen and nutrients to each organ, is thought to occur in obesity, which may contribute to an increased risk of poor health outcomes. Haas and Roudier’s TaraHaasinvestigations will provide knowledge of how a high fat diet leads to loss of blood vessels and new insight into ways in which these negative outcomes may be reversed. These findings may have potential clinical implications for treatment of obesity-associated complications that are linked to diabetes.

Tara Haas

Christine Kurtz Landy, a professor in the School of Nursing, Faculty of Health, will receive $380,324 over four years, to study the ongoing development of safe and effective strategies to address the high rates of woman who opt for repeated births by caesarean section (C-section) in Canada. Repeated births by C-section can lead to increased risks to maternal and newborn health and increased costs to the health care system. Kurtz Landy’s study will examine the factors pregnant women who have had a previous C-section consider when deciding on delivery method and examine issues maternity care providers consider in counselling pregnant women on method of delivery. Her research will also examine the circumstances under which pregnant women with a previous C-section would choose a trial of labour over an elective repeat C-section and vice versa, and the circumstances under which maternity care providers would counsel women to choose a trial of labour over an elective repeat C-section and vice versa.

David Hood, a professor and Canada Research Chair in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science and director of the Muscle Health Research Centre, will receive $589,685 over five years to examine how exercise can improve musculoskeletal health during the aging process. His research will examine the reasons for the reduced mitochondrial content and function in aging muscle. Mitochondria are tiny organelles that are responsible for energy production in all cells, but they can also be responsible for the synthesis of harmful reactive oxygen species which cause muscle cell death, when they do not function well. david_hoodWEB copySuch is the case in aging muscle. Hood’s research will also examine how exercise can attenuate this mitochondrial dysfunction and improve muscle health as people age.

David Hood

“These grants reflect York’s growing strength in health and life sciences research,” said Robert Haché, York’s vice-president research & innovation. “Our researchers are making excellent contributions to both scientific and public policy research in these areas, as they seek to improve the health of individuals, across the globe.”

For more information on the CIHR Operating Grant Competition results, visit the Canadian Institutes of Health Research website.

NSERC’s vice-president hosts community engagement forum

NSERC Vice-President of Research Grants & Scholarships Isabelle Blain will be at York Wednesday to discuss and seek input and feedback on the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) programs and policies.

RobertHacheThe visit will take place July 10, from 10am to 1pm, at 519, Kaneff Tower, Keele campus.

Robert Haché

NSERC has begun a series of community engagement visits to provide university researchers, students and other stakeholders an opportunity to learn more about some recent program and policy developments. These visits will also serve as a platform for NSERC and the community to engage in discussions on programs and policies and seek more information from some of NSERC’s grants and scholarships experts with opportunities for questions from participants.

“This forum provides the York community with an opportunity to contribute to an important discussion about NSERC’s programs and policies,” said Robert Haché, York’s vice-president research & innovation. “Students, staff and faculty are welcome to attend.”

Some of the topics that will be discussed will include:

  • Common CV & new Research Portal
  • Harmonization of the Canada Graduate Scholarships
  • Five-Year Evaluation of the Discovery Grants Program
  • Changes to the Post Doctorate Fellowships Timelines
  • Allocation of Discovery Grants Budget Among Evaluation Groups

To RSVP for the session, e-mail connect@nserc-crsng.gc.ca.