UBC Research News Releases

Ria Gupta always knew she wanted to spend a summer taking part in an applied research project abroad. But when the pandemic hit, the fourth-year arts student’s travel plans were suddenly stalled.

Researchers with the CERN-based ALPHA collaboration have announced the world’s first laser-based manipulation of antimatter, leveraging a made-in-Canada laser system to cool a sample of antimatter down to near absolute zero. The achievement, detailed in an article published today and featured on the cover of the journal Nature, will significantly alter the landscape of antimatter research and advance the next generation of experiments.

UBC’s Okanagan campus, located in the territory of the Syilx Okanagan Nation, is set to become the first university in Canada to offer a bachelor’s degree in Indigenous language fluency.

The Bachelor of Nsyilxcn Language Fluency (BNLF) program, created in collaboration with the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology (NVIT) and the En’owkin Centre, is designed to work closely with the community to provide a comprehensive and high-quality education in Nsyilxcn—the language spoken by members of the Syilx Okanagan Nation—and to promote new, fluent speakers with a deep understanding of the language, culture, and customs.

It started as a research project to track student mental health over an entire term at university.

Then, four weeks into the 13-week study, COVID-19 hit.

Suddenly, a group of UBC researchers and their partners had an unprecedented opportunity to learn how students were faring emotionally as a global pandemic inched closer and closer to them.

“It surprised me that 19 per cent of the students felt no emotional impact and another 54 per cent were able to manage,” said Dr. Daniel Vigo, lead author of the study published today in the British Journal of Psychiatry. “That’s 73 per cent of students who were either not impacted or were able to manage. That speaks to a very resilient student body.”

Female adult sockeye from the Fraser River are dying at significantly higher rates than their male counterparts on the journey back to their spawning grounds, finds new UBC research. For every male salmon that doesn’t make it to their natal stream, at least two, sometimes three female salmon die.

COVID-19 has been especially challenging for people living with dementia, their families and caregivers, confirms a new study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

The study uncovers the complex effects of the pandemic on more than 400 people in this community in B.C., and identifies their unique needs.

Dr. Julie Robillard, the study’s senior author and assistant professor of neurology at UBC’s faculty of medicine, discusses the biggest challenges being faced by people living with dementia and their caregivers, and shares how this work is already being used to inform services and resources in B.C.

Thursday marks one year since the World Health Organization’s declaration of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. UBC experts are available to comment on various related topics. Interviews will be conducted by phone or virtually in order to practice effective physical distancing.

For the latest updated information on UBC’s response, please visit ubc.ca. Information on the latest confirmed cases in B.C. and globally is available here.

To visit the UBC COVID-19 research website, click here.

Few marketers would recommend that clients call their products ugly — but new research from the UBC Sauder School of Business shows that when it comes to selling misshapen fruits and vegetables, labeling them as “ugly” can be a recipe for sales success.

According to a recent report, U.S. farmers throw away up to 30 per cent of their crops annually — that’s 66.5 million tons of edible produce— because of cosmetic imperfections. An earlier study found that American retailers throw away over $15 billion in edible produce a year. What’s more, 1.4 billion hectares of land and 25 per cent of the world’s fresh water are used to grow produce that will later be thrown away.

From vaccine development to building wearable infection detectors, women at UBC are making significant contributions to the COVID-19 research front.

In celebration of International Women’s Day, a few of these inspiring faculty members tell us about their work and offer advice for young women and girls considering a career in research.

Dr. Zac Hudson believes your morning cup of coffee should be strong and guilt-free.

That’s why the University of British Columbia scientist has spent the past three years creating a new fully compostable coffee pod with Surrey-based NEXE Innovations.

“Every year more than 40 billion single-use coffee pods end up in landfill. If they’re made of plastic, they could be sitting there for hundreds or thousands of years,” said Dr. Hudson, an assistant professor and Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Chemistry. “We wanted to create a compostable pod to tackle this problem – and make sure the coffee still tasted great.”

Scientists, including a researcher at the University of British Columbia, are challenging our current understanding of how galaxies form by unveiling pictures of a young galaxy in the early life of the Universe which appears surprisingly mature.

The galaxy, dubbed ALESS 073.1, appears to have all of the features expected of a much more mature galaxy and has led the team of scientists to question how it grew so fast. The research was published today in Science.

The relationship between good grades in high school and future leadership responsibilities in the workplace is stronger for men than it is for women, a new UBC study has found.

The difference is particularly striking among those who have grown up to become parents, according to the study published recently in the academic journal Social Forces. Fathers with perfect high school grades supervised more than four times as many employees, on average, as mothers with equally stellar grades (19-4). But at the lowest levels of high school GPA, fathers supervised only slightly more people than mothers (4-3).

A basic income for all is not the best policy option to effectively tackle poverty and other justice-related issues in B.C., according to an expert panel of economists whose report on the idea of a basic income guarantee was released today.

A new Centre for Indigenous Fisheries (CIF) is being launched at University of British Columbia, with Indigenous fisheries scientist, conservation biologist and Nisga’a Nation member Dr. Andrea Reid joining as Principal Investigator.

Nearly 78 per cent of children with autism have at least one mental health condition and nearly half have two mental health conditions or more, according to a new U.S. study from UBC’s department of psychology and the AJ Drexel Autism Institute at Drexel University (Pennsylvania).

The study also found mental health conditions present in 44.8 per cent of pre-school age children with autism. The scope of the issue among that age group had not previously been established using a large, population-based sample.

With the arrival of the first COVID-19 vaccines in Canada, most are eager to roll up their sleeves. But not every Canadian is feeling confident about getting the jab.

According to a recent survey conducted by Angus Reid, less than two thirds of Canadians surveyed said they would get the vaccine right away. Twenty-three per cent indicated they would prefer to wait, while 12 per cent reported they would not get vaccinated and five per cent remained unsure.

Different marginalized groups are exposed to higher cumulative air pollution in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto, according to new research from the University of British Columbia.

The study, published last week in Environmental Research Letters, shows that in Vancouver, Indigenous residents are most at risk, while the burden falls on immigrant and low-income residents in Montreal and Toronto, respectively.

The study is an illustrative analysis for 2012 and by considering how exposure to air pollution overlaps with various socio-demographics, the study reveals unique patterns of risk.

The notion that a bit of stress makes people perform better has been baked into our everyday lives. But research from UBC neuroscientist Dr. Adele Diamond suggests it might not be so good for us after all.

The study, published recently in Cerebral Cortex, found that even mild stress may harm most people’s executive functions—mental skills such as self-control, focused attention, working memory and problem solving.

Mud Bay in Surrey, B.C. is a recreational paradise. Bike riders zip down along the dike in all seasons, while walkers enjoy exploring the trails close to shore. The salt marsh—where the tide moves in and out twice a day—teems with plant and wildlife, including small fish, tiny crabs and other species that call the bay home. Up to 15 migratory bird species visit in spring and autumn, including snow geese, mallard and black-bellied plover.

Although the scenery is idyllic, it’s also in peril. Mud Bay is increasingly under threat as sea level rise pushes the salt marsh up against the dikes lining the shore—a phenomenon known as coastal squeeze. If the marsh disappears, so too will the marine life that it supports.

While much remains unknown about the impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy, emerging data from a national surveillance project reveals pregnant women with COVID-19 seem to be at greater risk of being hospitalized, being admitted to intensive care units (ICUs), and going into early labour.

It’s a peanut-filled world—or at least it can feel that way for kids with peanut allergies. But a new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia and BC Children’s Hospital gives hope to parents and kids who face real danger from exposure to peanuts.

Pathology reports on more than 50 killer whales stranded over nearly a decade in the northeast Pacific and Hawaii show that orcas face a variety of mortal threats—many stemming from human interactions.

A study analyzing the reports was published today in the journal PLOS ONE. The study findings indicate that understanding and being aware of each threat is critical for managing and conserving killer whale populations. It also presents a baseline understanding of orca health.

Scientists examining the effects of a megathrust earthquake in the Pacific Northwest say tall buildings across Metro Vancouver will experience greater shaking than currently accounted for by Canada’s national seismic hazard model.

The region lies above the Georgia sedimentary basin, which is made up of layers of glacial and river sediments sitting on top of sedimentary rock. In the event of an earthquake, it would jiggle and amplify the seismic waves, causing more intense and longer-lasting tremors. However, the amplification caused by the sedimentary basin is not explicitly accounted for in the 2015 seismic hazard model, which informs Canada’s national building code.

The Fraser River estuary in British Columbia is home to 102 species at risk of extinction. A new study says it’s not too late to save these species if action is taken now.

“There is currently no overarching plan to save them. If we don’t act quickly, many species, including species of salmon and southern resident killer whales, are likely to be functionally extinct in the next 25 years,” says senior author Tara Martin, a professor of conservation science at UBC, in a paper published today in Conservation Science and Practice.

Quarantine and isolation measures are a critical tool in curbing the spread of COVID-19. But new analysis of data from a survey of the mental health impacts of the pandemic suggests we need to pay more attention to the unintended mental health consequences of these measures.

Researchers at UBC, in collaboration with the Canadian Mental Health Association, surveyed 3,000 adults across Canada and found that mental health generally worsened with the pandemic. However, people who spent time in voluntary self-isolation or mandated quarantine were among those who felt the impacts more keenly.

Canada’s transgender youth are more supported in their identities nowadays, with more trans teens—50 per cent compared to 45 per cent five years ago—living in their felt gender full-time, finds a new survey led by UBC researchers.

The survey also revealed more transgender youth are asking their friends and families to call them by their correct names and pronouns since the previous survey. Specifically, 92 per cent have asked their fellow transgender friends to do so, and 86 per cent have asked their parents.

UBC researchers have successfully used machine learning to identify online gamblers whose betting behaviour could indicate a gambling problem.

By analyzing data from actual bets placed on the British Columbia Lottery Corporation’s (BCLC) PlayNow.com platform, an algorithm developed by the Centre for Gambling Research at UBC predicted with approximately 75-per-cent performance which players had, at some point, tried to curb their gambling by enrolling in BCLC’s Voluntary Self-Exclusion program (VSE).

As COVID-19 infections spike around the globe, with no end in sight for months, questions are beginning to arise around the long-term effects of the pandemic on our mental health and brain health.

In a new paper published this week in Trends in Neuroscience, Judy Illes, neuroethicist and professor of neurology, and her team at UBC, examine the unique neurological impacts and neuroethical challenges posed by COVID-19, especially compared to other 21st century epidemics such as SARS, H1N1 and Zika virus.

What are the main observations of the COVID-19 pandemic outlined in your paper?

For decades, scientists have predicted that a deadly pandemic would sweep the globe — but what they didn’t expect was that basic public health measures such as mask wearing and social distancing would become political flashpoints, especially in the United States.

But according to new research from the UBC Sauder School of Business, a different approach to public health messaging could help ease those tensions – and potentially save lives.

The LIGO-Virgo Collaboration, including researchers at the University of British Columbia, has confirmed 39 new gravitational wave event detections, more than quadrupling the total known gravitational wave events from 11 to 50.

The results, published in four papers on arXiv, and soon to appear in Physical Review X and other journals, were collected from the first half of the most recent LIGO-Virgo observing run, O3. The two LIGO detectors in the U.S. and the Virgo detector in Italy gathered the data from April to October 2019.

In just six months, the world’s largest randomized control trial on COVID-19 therapeutics has generated conclusive evidence on the effectiveness of repurposed drugs for the treatment of COVID-19.

Interim results from the Solidarity Therapeutics Trial, coordinated by the World Health Organization, indicate that remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir and interferon regimens appeared to have little or no effect on 28-day mortality or the in-hospital course of COVID-19 among hospitalized patients. In total, 11,266 patients across 405 hospitals were studied. The results of the trial are under review for publication in a medical journal and have been uploaded as a preprint.

If someone experiences cardiac arrest—a condition in which the heart suddenly stops beating—what’s the best way to keep that person alive?

A new study led by UBC researchers, and recently published in JAMA, compared the survival rates of two different strategies used by paramedics when treating cardiac arrests: 1) performing resuscitation at the scene, or 2) transporting the patient to hospital with resuscitation en route.

Dr. Brian Grunau, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor in UBC’s department of emergency medicine, explains why the chances of survival among patients transported to hospital are so slim.

A new study from researchers at the University of British Columbia reveals many parents are willing to accept less rigorous testing and expedited approval of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The international study, recently published in Clinical Therapeutics, surveyed more than 2,500 families from Canada, Israel, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the United States who visited 17 different emergency departments between the end of March to the end of June.

When asked if they were willing to accept less rigorous testing and faster approval of a COVID-19 vaccine, nearly half (43 per cent) of parents surveyed globally said they were willing.

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the daily lives of families everywhere.

From changes in outdoor play and physical activity to screen time and use of technology, the way children and teens spend their time looks much different than it did a year ago.

These new experiences and environments—combined with the stress of an uncertain future—affect brain health and learning, and will continue to impact the generations of young people growing up during the pandemic.

Join UBC experts from the faculty of medicine to learn more about these unique changes, how they’re impacting the brain, and how to help children and teens thrive during the pandemic.

After a short presentation by each speaker, viewers will have the opportunity to ask questions using Slido.