Tech Talks
A special feature of this year's WORLDiscoveries (TM) Research Showcase are 15 minute overviews of each of the themes called Tech Talks given by leading researchers.
12:00 noon - Ravi Menon, CRC in Functional and Molecular Imaging
Radio Frequency Coils for Ultra-high Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging
12:45 pm - Elizabeth Gillies, CRC in Biomaterials Synthesis
From Molecules to Materials: Improving Human Health
1:30 pm - Jason Gerhard, CRC in Geoenvironmental Restoration Engineering
Brownfield Restoration: Addressing the Industrial Pollution of Urban Environments
2:15 pm - Peter Brown, Director, Centre for Planetary & Space Exploration
The Danger to Telecommunications Satellites from Meteoroids
Ravi Menon, CRC in Functional and Molecular Imaging
Radio Frequency Coils for Ultra-high Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Ravi Menon, a Scientist at Western's Robarts Research Institute, has helped develop a special variation of magnetic resonance imaging, which is able to measure the changes in blood flow and oxygenation that accompany neural activity in the brain, called fMRI, where the "f" stands for functional. The technique allows MRI to make maps of brain activation in response to all kinds of things including thoughts, sensory inputs such as sound, and noxious substances such as cocaine, thus allowing scientists to study, for instance, addiction, our response to economic reward, or how we recognize our mother.
The changes in blood flow and oxygenation being measured by the fMRI take several seconds to occur, while the electrical and chemical changes occur in a few thousandths of a second. Therefore Dr. Menon and his colleagues are now looking at ways to use MRI to study these almost instantaneous changes that are more directly related to cell function.
This ability to image molecular signalling in the human brain is revolutionizing how neuroscientists, neurologists, and psychologists study the human brain.
Elizabeth Gillies, CRC in Biomaterials Synthesis
From Molecules to Materials: Improving Human Health
Elizabeth Gillies is developing exciting new biomaterials that can be used for all kinds of medical tasks such as delivering drugs to therapeutic targets, replacing and stimulating the growth of tissues and imaging disease processes.
As a Canada Research Chair Gillies has developed a research program that involves the use of organic and polymer chemistry approaches to prepare new biomaterials with "custom-designed" properties and biological functions that are not accessible in currently available materials.
Gillies is working on assemblies of molecules - polymer assemblies - that can interact with cells and viruses and release therapeutics at specified locations in the body. She is also preparing new molecules that are capable of selectively disrupting the membranes of bacterial cells, thereby serving as potential new antibiotics. In addition, Gillies and her colleagues are working in collaboration with medical imaging experts to develop new contrast agents for imaging and diagnosing specific diseases and biological processes.
Jason Gerhard, CRC in Geoenvironmental Restoration Engineering
Brownfield Restoration: Addressing the Industrial Pollution of Urban Environments
Jason Gerhard is developing a wide array of practical and cost-effective technologies and strategies for eliminating hazardous chemicals in the soil.
As the Canada Research Chair in Geoenvironmental Restoration Engineering, Gerhard recreates the environment of a toxic site in his lab, and then runs a number of tests to see which strategies work best. This helps him understand the complex ways different chemicals interact during the restoration process. The results of these experiments are fed into a computer that is loaded with special software created by Gerhad's research group. This software allows the researchers to simulate all manner of contaminated sites, and to try out a wide variety of treatments. That way, when it comes to tackle the problem in the real world, it can be done efficiently and with the most modern and cost-effective techniques.
Restoring contaminated industrial sites is critical to Canadians' health and Canada's sustainability. Gerhard's research will reduce the health risks of these sites, and the financial liability associated with them.
Peter Brown, Director, Centre for Planetary & Space Exploration
The Danger to Telecommunications Satellites from Meteoroids
Peter Brown studies smaller meteors, called meteoroids or meteorites, which shower the earth from outer space. Now that we have sophisticated radar and satellite systems, and have even sent spacecraft to visit these bodies in space, our understanding is beginning to grow.
As the holder of a Canada Research Chair, Brown investigates the origins and physical features of meteors. He develops computer models of how they might be distributed throughout the solar system. Brown uses radar, sound, and satellite data to document actual examples of meteors arriving on earth.
This research will provide more reliable estimates of the number of meteors travelling near the earth that might be large enough to be seen by telescope. The Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar is one such project, in collaboration with NASA-MSFC/JSC, which addresses the origin and evolution of meteoroids by directly measuring their current locations in the solar system. This work is important for spacecraft impact hazard assessment (Shuttle, ISS, deep-space etc.)
Join us on Friday February 5th, 2010 at the London Convention Centre from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. Welcome and official remarks at 11:00 am by Dr. Amit Chakma, President of The University of Western Ontario, with networking luncheon to follow.