Table 1: Edward W. Piché, M.Sc. (Physics)
The New Air Quality Health Index: AQHI
No summary available
Table 2: David C. Evans, Ph.D., Associate Curator of Vertebrate Palaeontology, Royal Ontario Museum; Assistant Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, U of T
What’s New With Dinosaurs?
New fossil discoveries have the potential to drastically change our perception of the history of life. David Evans’ research focuses on the evolution, biogeography, and palaeobiology of plant-eating dinosaurs and their role in Late Cretaceous ecosystems. His specialty is duckbilled dinosaurs, and his research has led to a better understanding of the evolution and function of their bizarre head crests. Active in searching for and collecting vertebrate fossils, he has done field expeditions
in southern Alberta, the high arctic, and South Africa. Current fieldwork is focussed in the Milk River region of southern Alberta, an area with some of the province’s oldest dinosaur-bearing sediments, and the potential to reveal new dinosaur species and
improve our knowledge of a poorly known time in Cretaceous dinosaur evolution. David is working to build the dinosaur research program at the Royal Ontario Museum, where his most recent discovery – in the depths of the ROM collections – was the massive 27 meter long skeleton of a Barosaurus, nicknamed ‘Gordo’, now on display in the new Temerty Dinosaur Galleries at the ROM.
Table 3: Hadi Mahabadi, Vice President and Director of the Xerox Research Centre of Canada
Nanotechnology: Big Business From Small Science
Instrumental in managing the development and successful commercialization of many breakthrough materials technologies, Hadi Mahabadi has taken an active role in developing Canada’s innovation and S&T commercialization strategy. He played a major leadership role in developing a nanotechnology based product called Emulsion Aggregation (EA) Toner for Xerox, and led the development of the Printed Organic
Electronics technology. POE enables low cost, light and flexible organic/polymer thin film transistors (OTFTs) for application in low cost and flexible display, low cost RFID tags, sensors, solar cells, and low cost and low energy usage lighting. The materials technology required is demanding – and nanotechnology-based.
Hadi spearheaded a partnership with the National Institute of Nanotechnology (NINT), which includes some unique Intellectual Property arrangements between Xerox Corporation and NINT. This relationship will allow both Xerox and NINT to expand development and commercialization of their nanotechnology efforts. Selected as a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada and International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, he has served as Secretary and Chairperson of the Macromolecular Science and Engineering Division of the Chemical Institute of Canada.
Table 4: Greg F. Naterer, Ph.D., P.Eng., FCSME, Canada Research Chair in Advanced Energy Systems, UOIT
All Aboard the Hydrogen Train!
A professor of Mechanical Engineering and Canada Research Chair in Advanced Energy Systems at UOIT, Dr. Greg Naterer’s research includes the design of energy systems, hydrogen technologies and heat transfer. He leads a 23-member multidisciplinary research team, involving Atomic Energy of Canada, Argonne National Laboratory, U.S., and other partners including universities across Ontario and abroad to design a copper-chlorine cycle for producing hydrogen from nuclear
energy. The project aims to combine steam with intermediate copper and chlorine compounds in a sequence of steps to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The Cu-Cl thermochemical cycle could eventually be linked with Canada’s nuclear reactors to achieve higher efficiencies, lower environmental impact and lower costs of hydrogen production than any other conventional technology. Other related hydrogen projects are also underway, including a hydrogen train for Ontario. A Fellow of
the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME) and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, his most recent book, Entropy Based Design of Fluids Engineering Systems, will appear this year.
Table 5: Jay Ingram, Host and Producer, Daily Planet, Discovery Channel Canada
The News of Science / The Science of News
How does science make the headlines? What are the barriers? What draws an audience? Jay Ingram, the founding host of Discovery Channel's daily science show, Daily Planet, knows how science gets on the front page and makes the top of the news – or doesn’t. Before Daily Planet, Jay was the host of CBC radio's Quirks and Quarks for 12 years. He has written for the Toronto Star and Owl magazine and has
written nine books, with two more on the way. He has received several awards acknowledging his contributions to the public awareness of science, and is the recipient of four honorary doctorates.
Table 6: Mehran Anvari, M.B., B.S., Ph.D., FRCSC, FACS,
Chair, Minimally Invasive Surgery and Surgical Innovation, Professor, Department of Surgery, McMaster University
Remote Surgery: The Cutting Edge
In 2003, Dr. Mehran Anvari established the world’s first telerobotic surgical service linking St. Joseph’s Healthcare and a distant community hospital. He has since performed 22 remote telerobotic surgeries. That work was recognized by the Government of Canada with the Gold Medal of Distinction and by the Government of Ontario with the Diamond Award for Innovation in Technology. Professor of Surgery and Chair in Minimally Invasive Surgery and Surgical Innovation, Mehran is the Founding Director of the McMaster Institute for Surgical Invention, Innovation and Education. He completed his medical training in Britain at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and his surgical residency training in Canada at McMaster University. After three years in Adelaide, Australia, he returned to Hamilton
and established his academic and clinical practice. Mehran was the Chief Scientific Officer for the NEEMO 7 & 9 projects, a joint collaboration between CMAS, the Canadian Space Agency and NASA, which tested the ability of new robotic and telesurgical technology to allow non-physicians to perform assisted surgery in a contained environment that simulates conditions in space.
Table 7: Ken Davey, OC, FRSC, Distinguished Research Professor of Biology Emeritus, York University
Why are there so many Insects? And why are they so small?
Insects are the dominant life form on the planet. They have penetrated every environment with the exception of the deep sea, and exhibit a remarkable diversity of life styles. Ken Davey researched some of the reasons for this dominance for more than 50 years. Born in Chatham, graduated BSc and MSc from UWO, PhD from Cambridge, he returned to Cambridge for five years after a year at U of T. He returned to Canada to become Director of the Institute of Parasitology at McGill, and
after 11 years moved to York, where for more than 25 years he balanced a career as an administrator with an active program of personal research dealing with the hormones that control growth and development in insects and parasitic worms. Although he closed his lab in 2001, he continues to think and write about insects and about ethics in science.
Table 8: Spencer C. H. Barrett, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Evolutionary Genetics, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, U of T
Natural Selection: It’s The Law
Evolutionary biology is under threat because of scientific illiteracy and the activities of the “religious right”. Spencer Barrett believes confusion about the precise scientific meaning of the word “theory” often contributes to public misunderstanding of evolution. He contends that the “Theory of Natural Selection” is better described as “The Law of Natural Selection”.
An evolutionary biologist, Spencer Barrett’s research focuses on the evolutionary mechanisms responsible for transitions in plant mating systems. Using genetic markers and field experiments, his research group has demonstrated the role of natural selection and genetic drift in causing evolutionary change in the wild. Elected to the Royal Society of Canada (1998) and the Royal Society of London (2004), he is the team leader of the large (~1800 students) first-year biology class at University
of Toronto, where he uses evolutionary principles as the cornerstone for understanding modern biology. As the geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky said: “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”.
Spencer holds a Canada Research Chair in Evolutionary Genetics in the
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Table 9: John Challis, Professor, Departments of Physiology, Medicine, and Obstetrics and Gynaecology, U of T; Affiliate Scientist, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute
How Pregnancy Predicts Lifelong Health
Born in Cambridge, England, John Challis received his PhD from the University of Cambridge. His research has taken him to the University of California, San Diego, Harvard Medical School, the University of Oxford, McGill and the University of Western Ontario. A long-standing leader in his field, Dr. Challis was the first Scientific
Director of the Lawson Research Institute, and Vice-President, Research at St. Joseph's Health Centre, London, Ontario. He was the Founding Director of the Medical Research Council Group in Fetal and Neonatal Health and Development, and was Vice-President, Research and Associate Provost of the University of Toronto. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Ontario Science Centre, Governing Council of the University of Toronto, and on the Boards of the John Patrick Lectureship (University of Western Ontario), the Liggins Institute (University
of Auckland) and the Ontario Health Research Alliance (OHRA). An active researcher, and recipient of numerous international awards and lectureships, his research has uncovered fundamental processes contributing to both pre-term birth and birth at term.
Table 10: Lucia Gagliese, Ph.D., C.Psych., CIHR New Investigator, School of Kinesiology and Health Science, York University; Senior Scientist, Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care, Ontario Cancer Institute, University Health Network; Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine, U of T
“At My Age...” Living With Cancer Pain Across the Adult Lifespan
While people of all ages get cancer, it is most common in those over sixty. Pain is an almost universal symptom of cancer and it has a profound impact on psychological, physical, social and spiritual wellbeing. Lucia Gagliese’s research is beginning to identify the unique challenges faced by cancer patients of different ages as they adjust to ongoing pain. Dr. Gagliese completed a PhD in clinical psychology at McGill University and a postdoctoral fellowship in anaesthesia and pain management at the Toronto General Hospital. Her current research, funded by CIHR and the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance, addresses pain in people with advanced cancer receiving palliative care and in patients undergoing surgical management of prostate and breast cancer. She is also a member of research teams focusing on depression in cancer patients, the impact of pain and chronic illness on spouse caregivers and marital satisfaction, the correlates of a “good death”, pain management in older patients following hip fracture, and the relationship of pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbance in older people with osteoarthritis.
Table 11: Jacqueline Sharp, MRM
Carbon Capture and Storage
Public awareness of climate change has increased dramatically over the past several years, leaving many wondering how to reconcile the growth in Canada’s oil and gas sector with the need to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While a portfolio of options will be required to address the problem, one particularly promising technology for Canada is carbon capture and storage (CCS). With decades of experience using comparable technologies in the oil industry, CCS has the realistic potential to provide significant GHG emission reductions in Canada and internationally. Jacqueline Sharp led the first study of the Canadian public’s attitudes toward CCS, and has also investigated business, environmental, and social stakeholder opinions and preferences regarding the use of CCS with Ontario’s coal-fuelled power plants. She is a Senior Research Associate with Vancouver’s MK Jaccard and associates, an economic consulting firm specializing in energy and climate change policy. Jacqueline received her Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University and her Master of Resource and Environmental Management from Simon Fraser University.
Table 12: R. J. Dwayne Miller, Director of the Institute for Optical Sciences; Professor of Chemistry and Physics, U of T
Trip the (Atomic) Light Fantastic
Dwayne Miller is one of the first people in the world to watch atoms dance. After research on photophysics and photochemistry at semiconductor surfaces, which is now helping researchers attain the highest possible conversion efficiency from solar cells, he moved on to biological systems. That work tries to understand how chemical bonds are related to biological functions – and then to what could be called
“Molecular Movies”. By increasing the flux or effective “brightness” of ultra-short electron pulses by a factor of 1,000 over previous technology, he and his group were able literally to watch atoms move in real time during structural changes by pinging electrons off the atoms – effectively creating a molecular movie camera. His research – recognized by a range of honours and awards – is leading us into a new
“Light Age” of technology.
Table 13: Patrick B. Hall, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, York University
Black Holes, White Dwarfs, Grey Matter
Astrophysicists are in the business of uncovering strange goings-on in our universe, framing them as puzzles and then figuring them out. We’ve already solved many puzzles: we know the ultimate natural fate of the Sun (to become a white dwarf); we know the age of the universe (about 13.7 billion years); we know what happens when matter is compressed to such a density that not even light can escape (you get a
black hole). And yet many other puzzles remain: What is the nature of dark matter? What is the ultimate natural fate of the Universe? How common are habitable planets? Researchers don’t have all the answers, but they’re having fun figuring them out. After undergraduate study of physics and astronomy at Berkeley, Dr.Hall did graduate work in astronomy at the University of Arizona. His postdoctoral work took him from the University of Toronto, the P. Universidad Catolica de Chile in Santiago de Chile and Princeton. At York University, he studies quasars, which form when matter spirals into supermassive black holes.
Table 14: Norman Yan, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Biology, York University
Invasive Species in the Great Lakes Basin
Norman Yan’s goal is to understand the impacts of anthropogenic stressors on plankton, what he calls the “little living lawnmowers” of lakes. Yan received his undergraduate and MSc training at the University of Toronto, then joined the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE) for 25 years of research on threats to Ontario’s lakes. He secured his PhD in zoology from the University of Guelph during an educational leave. In 2000 Yan joined York University, structuring a formal research
partnership with the MOE to foster understanding on factors threatening Ontario’s lakes. Yan has authored 150 publications, a body of work that has been recognized with awards of excellence from both governments and his fellow aquatic scientists. Yan believes that introduction of non-native species is one of the worst current threats to Ontario’s lakes, perhaps the worst threat to his little lawnmowers since acid rain.
Table 15: Leesa K. Fawcett, Ph.D., Associate Professor in Environmental Studies, BSc (Honours) Marine Biology and Oceanography, University of Guelph; MES Environmental Thought & Biological Conservation, Environmental Studies, York University
Animals’R Us: Relationships Between Humans
and Other Animals
Human-animal relationships is Leesa Fawcett’s research area, and her current project, Thinking About Animal Minds” (funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) is an exploration of animal consciousness, culture and tool use, focussing on natural history narratives (scientific and otherwise). Her intellectual work is rooted in her commitment to environmental and social justice and the belief that biology and philosophy are always entwined. Her interdisciplinary, feminist research crosses over between human ecology,
biological conservation, environmental and sustainability education, and environmental philosophy. Originally trained in marine biology and oceanography, Leesa worked as a field biologist for ten years. She did her Master’s degree in environmental thought and education (with a thesis on anthropomorphism and bears), and her doctoral research in a bat lab, studying (human) ecology, conservation, and children and nature. She has co-authored two books, numerous articles and is presently a member of WWF’s scientific advisory committee on the
Endangered Species Recovery Fund for Canada.
Table 16: Stephen Scherer, Ph.D., Senior Scientist and Professor, Hospital for Sick Children and U of T
Nature and Nurture: How They Go Together in Health and Disease
Stephen Scherer, one of the world’s top genetic researchers, is perhaps best known for his co-discovery of the most common type of genetic variation in the human genome – so-called copy number variations of DNA and genes. Most recently, his lab and collaborators discovered just such a copy number variation that appears to cause at least some cases of autism. Dr. Scherer’s lab – one of the busiest in Canada – has also collaborated (with Craig Venter of the U.S.) on the decoding of
chromosome seven and helped generate the first genetic sequence of an individual. Dr. Scherer has published more than 240 peer-reviewed papers and has received a host of honours, including the prestigious Steacie Prize in the Natural Sciences, Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholarship.
Table 17: Chandler Davis, Ph.D. (Harvard), Professor Emeritus, Department of Mathematics, U of T
Is Geometry Part of Mathematics?
Some have said geometry is all of mathematics, but others consider it only a part, even an unimportant part. Some have said geometry is understood with the visual brain, unlike algebra and logic, but others have said all mathematics is understood with the visual centres. Some have said the ancients held geometry in high esteem for being ruled by pure thought, but others have said the ancients valued
geometry especially for its concrete practicality. These views can't all be right.
Chandler Davis has been in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Toronto since 1962 and is now Professor Emeritus. He has been Editor-in-Chief of The Mathematical Intelligencer since 1991. He co-edited "The Geometric Vein" (1981), "Reflections and Projections" (2007), and "The Shape of Content" (creative writing about mathematics;forthcoming).
Table 18: Mario Ostrowski, M.D., Clinical Sciences Division, U of T
Will There Ever Be an AIDS Vaccine?
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV infects one person in the world every six seconds and is responsible for considerable global morbidity and mortality today. Currently, there is no effective vaccine on the horizon. Dr. Mario Ostrowski awakens every morning with two nagging questions; 1) Why can't our immune systems get rid of the virus if we get infected? and 2) Can we design an effective vaccine against HIV? Dr. Ostrowski's research investigates how HIV can escape the body's immune defenses, and how the virus cripples the immune system. In addition, his team is developing new ways of designing vaccines against this lethal virus. Graduating from University of Western Ontario medical school, he went on to complete residencies in pathology, internal medicine and infectious diseases. He held a position of visiting scientist at the NIH prior to coming to University of Toronto. He is part of a team of primary investigators whose work is defined as translational research, where patients are directly involved with trying to solve the puzzle of HIV. Because of the scope of the problem, his laboratory collaborates extensively with clinicians caring for HIV, and investigators at many centers including UCSF and the NIH.
Table 19: Ian Burton, Ph.D., FRCS, Professor Emeritus, U of T, Scientist Emeritus, Meteorological Service of Canada
Living with Climate Change: How to Adapt and Thrive with the Inevitable
Environmental risks, in particular, natural hazards, with a focus on practical management and policy requirements, are the subjects of Ian’s research. This knowledge is highly relevant to the current need to adapt to climate change. The strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, no matter how aggressively pursued, cannot restrain climate change over the next several decades. Mitigate we might; adapt we must. Ian has been working on climate change adaptation for the past decade. He has served as a consultant to the World Bank and several United
Nations agencies, including the Secretariat of the Climate Convention. He is a co-author of the forthcoming National Assessment on Climate Change: From Impacts to Adaptation, and is co-chair of the recently announced Ontario Expert Advisory Group on Adaptation. He was a Lead Author (among many) of the recent 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which shared the Nobel
Prize for Peace with Al Gore in November 2007.
Table 20: Debora Barnett Foster, Professor, Director, Graduate Program in Molecular Science, Ryerson University
Gastrointestinal Pathogens: Bugs in Your Belly
Dr. Barnett Foster is a Professor of Biochemistry and the Director of the Graduate Program in Molecular Science at Ryerson University. She is also a Research Consultant with the Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute and a graduate faculty member with the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on gastrointestinal pathogens and the molecular structures that mediate interaction between pathogens and host cells. Recent work in her lab has focused on the impact of ingestion stress on virulence and results show that these stresses significantly enhance several critical virulence properties including bacterial-host adhesion, bacterial mobility, toxin production and even antibiotic resistance. She is currently using DNA microarray and real time PCR technology to investigate changes in gene expression after stress. Results of this research may provide new molecular targets for the development of antimicrobial therapies.
Table 21: Allison B. Sekuler, Associate Vice President, Research, McMaster University; Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience; Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour
The Amazing, Changing, Aging Brain
Canada is aging faster now than at any time in recent history. Despite the importance of this demographic shift in all areas of life, we are only beginning to understand the full impact of healthy aging on brain function and behaviour. Sekuler and her colleagues in the Vision and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at McMaster University have used behavioural and neuroimaging techniques to help reshape our view of aging and the brain, examining how aging affects vision, attention, and neural processing. For example, Sekuler and her colleagues have shown that changes in the properties of older brains reduce performance in some cases, but actually enhance performance in others. They also have shown that older brains are tremendously plastic, capable of recruiting new brain areas to perform tasks, and able to learn complex, novel tasks. Sekuler was named one of “Canada’s Leaders of Tomorrow” in 2004, and she is recognized as an international leader in aging and vision research. Her findings have been highlighted in the popular media around the world, as well as in scientific journals such as Science.
Table 22: Sheila K. Singh, Scientist, McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute; Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Division of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Health Sciences
Cancer Stem Cells in Brain Tumours
Dr. Sheila Singh is a pediatric neurosurgeon and scientist appointed to the Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute at McMaster University. It was while Dr. Singh was in medical school that two little boys with brain tumours—both named Christopher—sowed the first seeds of her interest in research. Both were five years old and treated with the best current therapies. One flourished. The other died. Singh says the boy who died left her a legacy of questions: Why should two small boys with the same disease fare so differently? What is different about each individual’s tumour? She now spends her life looking for the molecular and genetic answers to these questions. She’s discovered an abnormal stem cell—the brain tumour initiating cell (BTIC)—that may drive the formation of brain tumours. It’s the first isolation of cancer stem cells in the central nervous system—a discovery with important implications for understanding how brain tumours start. Most important to Singh’s research is the idea that only a small population of cancer stem cells, and not every cell in a brain tumour, is capable of generating and propagating the tumour. Current approaches to brain tumours focus on every cell in the tumour rather than on the rare tumour stem cell, and this may explain the poor response of brain tumours to current treatments. Future therapies that target the BTIC could better halt the growth and propagation of tumours. Singh and her team will continue to search for better surface markers for the BTIC, making it possible to isolate the cell even more specifically and easily. Her work will offer insight into patient prognosis, as patients with a higher proportion of BTICs may have a shorter survival and worse prognosis. Her studies will form the basis for future trials of therapy directed against the BTIC.
Table 23: Suzanne Fortier, Ph.D., President, NSERC
Implementing Canada’s New Science and Technology Policy
How does Canada deal with issues of science and technology? How can we keep abreast of the pace of scientific development elsewhere, while building our own capacity in the sciences? Among the people best positioned to answer questions like those is Suzanne Fortier, PhD, the president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. Dr. Fortier, a crystallographer by training, specialized in the development of mathematical and artificial intelligence ways of determining
protein structures. Recognized for leadership in devising novel techniques – dubbed crystallographic data mining – her work allowed researchers to gain new insights from the large and growing databases that correlate the structure of crystals to their properties. As an active researcher, she was a member of the Protein Engineering Network of Centres of Excellence (PENCE), the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent
Systems (IRIS) and Communications and Information Technology Ontario (CITO). Amongst her many honours was an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia (2006) in recognition of her combined scientific achievements and administrative gifts, which reflect her lifelong commitment to the power of learning as a means of enhancing quality of life.
Table 24: Rickey Yada, Professor, Department of Food Science, University of Guelph; Canada Research Chair, Food Protein Structure; Scientific Director, Advanced Foods and Materials Network
Food: More Than Just Nutrients
Food, glorious food: it’s one of the joys of life. But is it the taste? The texture? The colour? Why do we like what we like? And can food keep body and soul together in other ways than simply satisfying the inner man? Can it be the vehicle for medicines as well as nutrients? Scientific Director of the Advanced Foods and Materials Network (AFMNet) at the University of Guelph, Canada’s national food and biomaterials research network, Rick Yada and his colleagues are charged
with discovering new ideas and developing new biology-based technologies. A national initiative, AFMNet brings together researchers in various disciplines such as food science, biochemistry, engineering, health, law and society who are focused on innovative aspects of food and biomaterials. It supports research and facilitates commercialization within the core theme areas of the Science and Engineering of Foods and Bio-materials; Food Bioactives and Health Outcomes; and Regulation,
Policy and Consumer Health. A Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology, Yada is a Fellow of the International Academy, International Union of Food Science and Technology.
