June 3, 2024
The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of National Revenue, on behalf of the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health, announced more than $92 million in funding through the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) to support 165 Canadian-led research projects through two initiatives: the 2023 International Joint Initiative for Research in Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, and the 2023 Exploration competition.
A total of 15 UBC-led projects were awarded a combined total of $9.60 million through the two competitions.
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2023 International Joint Initiative for Research in Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation
Canada led the international joint initiative with an investment of $60 million to support 32 international interdisciplinary research projects, involving 424 researchers from 45 countries. These three-year projects focus on designing and implementing adaptation and mitigation strategies for vulnerable groups. These groups are currently the most impacted by climate change effects, because of their physical and socio-economic vulnerability. The initiative is also the result of a collaboration with research funders from Brazil, Germany, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, who together contributed a total of more than $30 million in additional funding to the research projects.
UBC-led projects
Four UBC-led projects were awarded a combined $6.86 million.
Community Water Systems: Climate vulnerabilities and resilience opportunities
Nominated Principal Investigator: Mohseni, Madjid (Chemical and Biological Engineering)
Co-Principal Investigators: Ese, Anders (The Oslo School of Architecture and Design), Linden, Karl (University of Colorado Boulder), Thomas, Evan (University of Colorado Boulder)
Co-Applicants: Bergby, Synne (Urban-A) de Almeida, Bernardo (Urban-A) Kathuni, Styvers (Millennium Water Alliance) Kellett, Ronald (School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture - The University of British Columbia) Larsen, Janike (Oslo School of Architecture and Design) Lien, Ida (Urban-A) Lokman, Kees (School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture - The University of British Columbia) Maleki, Keyvan (RESEAU Centre for Mobilizing Innovation) McSorley, Brian (OXFAM) Muthike, Denis (University of Colorado Boulder) Swei, Omar (Civil Engineering - The University of British Columbia)
International Co-funding Partners: National Science Foundation, The Research Council of Norway
Research Summary
More than two billion people live in countries experiencing high water stress. By 2050, that figure may reach 3.2 billion. Changing climates affect water security for daily needs, livelihoods and culture (Risk #7) and increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather like floods and fires which can disrupt critical infrastructure like roadways and pipelines necessary to provide water for peoples’ wellbeing (Risk #3).
While initiatives by our collaborators and others develop technologies to address immediate water risks, there is no framework to assess future climate vulnerabilities of non-professionalized water systems. To address this gap, we will use data-driven vulnerability assessments to inform mitigation and adaptation strategies. Our research objectives include describing:
- the systems that ensure water security,
- the climate vulnerabilities in those systems, and
- the opportunities for creating and maintaining climate-resilient water systems.
We will support our partner communities in Turkana, Kenya; Nile region, South Sudan; Varanger, Norway; and Indigenous communities in Alaska and Western Canada to develop their Water Security Action Plan and to
- map their water systems and its climate vulnerabilities, and
- implement and evaluate interventions that augment their water systems’ resilience.
Further, we will create a Global Water Resilience Toolkit to inform policymakers at the regional and local levels to advance similar Water Security Actions Plans with vulnerable groups elsewhere so that our approach can be scaled for the 3.2 billion people who may face water insecurity by 2050.
Understanding that water security is a trans-disciplinary challenge spanning health, livelihoods, security, culture and science, our diverse team includes engineers, landscape architects, policymakers, local NGOs and Indigenous knowledge-holders, including four Co-PIs from Canada, Norway and the USA, five academic and three non-academic Co-Applicants, and five implementing partners. Our team has a track record applying context-specific approaches to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) at our research sites, informed by trust-built partnerships with our community and local implementing partners. We will rely on our Performance Metrics, Management, and Results Framework to track and evaluate our findings, EDI practices, partnership strategies, and the effectiveness of our contributions to local and global policy and practice.
Co-developing Decision Support System for Coastal Mangrovebased Socio-ecological Systems in Eastern and Western Africa (CoastMan)
Nominated Principal Investigator: Sunderland, Terence (Forest and Conservation Sciences)
Co-Principal Investigators: Morel, Alexandra (University of Dundee) van Blerk, Lorraine (University of Dundee) Zeleke, Belachew (Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research NIBIO)
Co-Applicants: Aheto, Denis (Centre for Coastal Management - ACECoR, University of Cape Coast) Alem, Habtamu (Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research NIBIO) Alemu, Diress (Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research) Bayr, Ulrike (Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research NIBIO) Debella-Gilo, Misganu (NMBU) Jilala, Zawadi (CBO Community Based Organisation) Rizzi, Jonathan (NIBIO - Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research) Salim, Suleiman (Community Forest Management Agreement/Area for Mtambwe Kusini and Shumba Mjini Shehia-Pemba, Zanzibar) Seki, Hamidu (Mkwawa University College of Education) Shirima, Deo (Sokoine University of Agriculture) Sumaila, U. Rashid (Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries / School of Public Policy and Global Affairs - The University of British Columbia)
International Co-funding Partners: The Research Council of Norway, UK Research and Innovation
Research Summary
Coastal Mangroves in Eastern and Western Africa offer coastal communities much-needed ecosystem services and protection against key climate change risks, including risks to low-lying coastal-ecological systems, risks to terrestrial and ocean ecosystems, and as a result, risks to food security. Coastal communities are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts because of
- their location being highly exposed to sea level rise and erosion,
- poor socio-economic conditions, and
- their high dependence on mangrove ecosystems. Coastal Mangroves however are highly threatened both by anthropogenic and climate change pressures.
The main objective of the project (CoastMan) is co-production and uptake of a Multi-Criteria Decision Support System (DSS) that provides vulnerable communities and decision-makers a knowledge-based decision-making capacity for the restoration and conservation of socio-ecological systems. An interdisciplinary and trans-sectoral team is established from researchers and stakeholders from across three continents (America, Europe, and Africa), in partnership with vulnerable groups to co-develop and uptake a DSS to promote mitigation and strategies that enhance the adaptive capacities of the mangrove socio-ecological systems in Eastern and Western Africa. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from extensive field research in coastal Tanzania and Ghana, extensive literature, and remote sensing, the project will
- co-develop dynamic maps of drivers and risks of mangrove habitat loss,
- support locally-led social-ecological and climate resilience through coordinated management of mangrove resources,
- co-develop sustainable livelihood strategies for coastal communities,
- co-design a novel multicriteria framework for mangrove restoration and conservation, and
- co-develop a novel DSS for mangrove socio-ecological systems.
We devised a co-production and dissemination strategy so that project outputs will assist in identifying mitigation strategies and enhancing adaptive capacities of the frontline coastal communities, including building their capacity needs in designing climate actions such as restoration and conservation of mangrove ecosystems. Furthermore, the project will lead to improved knowledge and capacity of partner institutions through supporting early career researchers and promoting strengthened collaboration between partners and vulnerable coastal mangrove-dependent communities.
Addressing Intersecting Crises: Climate, Housing, and Compounding Health Vulnerabilities for Senior Tenants
Nominated Principal Investigator: Yoon, Liv (Kinesiology)
Co-Principal Investigators: Arefin, Mohammed (Geography - The University of British Columbia) Hernandez, Diana (Columbia University) Klein, Naomi (Geography / Centre for Climate Justice - The University of British Columbia) Koch, Sarah (Barcelona Institute for Global Health ISGlobal) Masuda, Jeff (University of Victoria) Pratt, Geraldine (Geography - The University of British Columbia) Triguero-Mas, Margarita (Barcelona Institute for Global health ISGlobal)
Co-Applicants: Bigger, Patrick (Tides Center) Furmanek, Jeannie ( South Vancouver Neighbourhood House) Parks, Robbie (University Mailman School of Public Health) Sakamoto, Andrew ( Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre)
Reserach Summary
In cities around the world, the uneven impacts of climate change-induced extreme events such as heatwaves and wildfires are acutely felt indoors. Research on indoor environmental quality is emerging but often overlooks the social, political, and legal determinants of the built environment and health. An important co-determinant of health is housing. In many cities, housing is increasingly unaffordable and unfit for a changing climate. Tenants are left sacrificing safety for affordability because the buildings least prepared for climate change are often the most affordable. Tenants have little control over their units and cannot easily access adaptation measures. Senior tenants who are low-income, disabled, and/or racialized are particularly vulnerable – compounding their compromised physiological response to environmental threats. Governments have introduced programs to increase access to cooling (e.g., retrofits, free air conditioners). But if not accompanied by proper tenant protections, these initiatives could lead to displacement or rent hikes, meaning that adaptation and mitigation efforts could create unintended negative and inequitable outcomes for health and living standards.
We strategically combine the insights of environmental health and climate justice to study the indoor environments of senior tenants’ homes and foster equitable climate action. This requires interdisciplinary and trans-sectoral research to measure and create livable thresholds, prototype justice-based interventions, monitor implications of new climate policies on housing, and support community-based climate resilience measures. In Barcelona, New York City, and Vancouver – three major coastal urban centres facing the intersecting crises of climate and housing – we will pursue four initiatives:
- measure indoor environmental quality and its impact on health;
- implement and evaluate in-building communal ‘climate safe’ rooms;
- monitor the unintended outcomes of climate adaptation and mitigation policies on tenancy;
- identify mechanisms that may lead to climate-related rent increases or displacement.
Together, these initiatives provide environmental, health, and social data to 1) inform public discourse that propels adaptation and mitigation efforts without displacing or disempowering senior tenants, and 2) safeguard the right to secure, high-quality housing in the context of climate change especially for those facing environmental and social injustices.
Agroecological Transitions for Climate Adaptation and Mitigation
Nominated Principal Investigator: Wittman, Hannah (Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability / Land and Food Systems)
Co-Principal Investigators: Mancano Fernandes, Bernardo (Sao Paulo State University UNESP) Raghavan Sathyan, Archana (Kerala Agricultural University) Seufert, Verena (University of Hohenheim)
Co-Applicants: Coca, Estevan (São Paulo State University) Kernecker, Maria (Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research) Sansolo, Davis (São Paulo State University UNESP) Smukler, Sean (Land and Food Systems - The University of British Columbia)
International Co-funding Partners: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation), Sao Paulo Research Foundation
Research Summary
Globally, agriculture covers 40% of the earth’s surface and food systems are responsible for one-third of humanity’s contribution to global climate change. Yet, smallholder and subsistence farmers are among the most vulnerable to climate change, with extreme weather events and related food price volatility affecting livelihoods, biodiversity, and food security at multiple scales.
This project builds on transdisciplinary research on agroecological transitions in vulnerable farming communities in Canada, Germany, India and Brazil. We will examine the influence of agroecological networks (farming organizations, institutional actors, and consumer groups) in promoting the perennialization of agriculture to support climate adaptation (improving resilience in livelihoods and food security) and mitigation (increasing carbon sequestration).
Perennialization of agriculture integrates annual and perennial crops and trees into the same farming system. Compared to annual cropping systems which currently dominate global agriculture and markets, perennial crops show promise for climate adaptation and mitigation because of their contributions to carbon sequestration in tree biomass and soil organic carbon, and their buffering effects against soil degradation, drought, and other forms of extreme weather and climate variability.
From a social wellbeing perspective, agroforestry and other diversified perennial systems offer opportunities to adapt to climate change and escape poverty traps, including higher and more stable farm incomes, balanced agricultural labour across growing seasons, improved working conditions compared to more input-intensive forms of agriculture and improved nutrition and health.
Using a participatory action research approach, this project will use a novel methodology to test the relationships between personal, political, and practical leverage points driving the adoption of agroforestry and other practices supporting agricultural perennialization. We will sample farms and organizations in each case study across a diversification gradient from low-diversity farming systems to perennial and agroforestry-based management systems. We will then use qualitative and quantitative methods to assess climate resilience outcomes and estimate the potential of scaling adoption of perennial and agroforestry practices. A cross-case synthesis will take local institutional, environmental, and relational contexts into account to inform decision-making.
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NFRF Exploration Stream
The NFRF Exploration stream supports projects that bring disciplines together to reach beyond traditional disciplinary or common interdisciplinary approaches by research teams. Researchers are encouraged to undertake research that would defy current paradigms; bring disciplines together in unexpected ways and from bold, innovative perspectives; and have the potential to be disruptive or deliver game-changing impacts. This year, $33 million was awarded to 133 research projects.
UBC-led Projects
Eleven UBC-led projects were awarded a combined $2.75m
- Baada, Jemima Nomunume (Geography)
Using gender transformative agroecology for climate change adaptation among smallholders in Ghana and Rwanda
Co-Principal Investigator: Dusenge, Mirindi Eric (Mount Allison University)
Co-Applicant: Luginaah, Isaac (Western University); kpienbaareh, Daniel (Illinois State); Nsabimana, Donat (University of Rwanda); Soliku, Ophelia (Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies)
Research Summary
Smallholder farmers, many of whom are women, contribute about a third of global food supply. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), over sixty percent of the population are smallholder farmers. Climate change risks are highest in SSA, and smallholders are the most threatened because their farming is rainfed. Women in SSA are particularly affected due to sociocultural factors that affect their access to agricultural resources. In Rwanda and Ghana, climate change is causing hunger in farming households due to intense droughts and heatwaves, which are projected to rise in the next few decades. These climate threats are exacerbated by limited adaptive strategies. This proposed interdisciplinary comparative project aims to develop a sustainable gender transformative climate change adaptation framework for improving food security in climate-affected smallholder farming systems in Rwanda and Ghana. The specific objectives of the project are:
To assess gendered differences in farmers’ Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and integrate them into local farming methods through participatory training on agroecology and gender transformative/equitable strategies.
To evaluate the impacts of various agroecological practices on crop yield and health.
To examine the effects of diverse agroecological farming practices on the resilience of crops to dry spells and heatwaves.
This project will use theoretical concepts from feminist political ecology to achieve research goals. We will use participatory research that engages women and men farmers in knowledge co-production and mobilization. We will also use a gender transformative approach rooted in sustainable, climate-adaptive smallholder farming. Our interdisciplinary research team is well positioned to achieve the project's objectives within a two-year timeframe as it has expertise in gender/feminist-based analyses, social theory, and quantitative and qualitative methods. Our findings will be shared with academic, policy and practitioner communities through journal articles, conference papers, workshops and outreach programs in Rwanda and Ghana.
Overall, this interdisciplinary project will introduce smallholder farmers from four sample districts in two SSA countries, Rwanda and Ghana, to farming practices that can help them adapt to a changing climate in gender equitable ways. The project findings will also provide insights on agroecological practices that enable crops to deal with heatwaves versus dry spells.
- Byers, Michael (Political Sciences)
Coordination challenges on-and-around the Moon
Co-Principal Investigator: Boley, Aaron (Physics & Astronomy)
Research Summary
NASA expects 22 lunar missions by 2026, most in the south polar region. Due to proximity, "operators will face challenges never faced before."
NASA identifies a need for diplomacy and policy development to address coordination challenges with landings, surface operations, radio-frequency interference, and human heritage. It calls for "hybrid technical-policy design work" - before accidents or disputes occur.
The Canadian Space Agency is a partner in NASA's Artemis program and funding Canadarm3 for a lunar orbital station, as well as a rover. In 2024, a Canadian will fly around the Moon.
The proposed project involves interdisciplinary research essential to the success of these programs. Some coordination policy decisions have been made, but require critical testing. For example, NASA proposes "safety zones" to "put the international community on notice that any entry into these areas could cause harmful interference, thus triggering the notice and consultation requirements of Article IX [of the Outer Space Treaty]."
Questions we will ask include:
Are safety zones the only viable coordination option? We will explore alternatives, carefully considering the lunar environment and challenges in space domain awareness.
Can safety zones include consideration of "trans-boundary" effects? We will assess whether dust lofting could interfere with activities beyond a zone, and whether the "due regard" obligation in the Outer Space Treaty should be interpreted in light of international environmental law, including the precautionary principle.
Could safety zones be analogous to "staking claims", as on terrestrial frontiers before mining law? Can we identify a path to rules acceptable to all states active on the Moon?
Other coordination challenges could arise in lunar orbits, Lagrange Points, lunar transfer orbits, and for radio astronomy on the lunar far side.
We will establish sub-projects led by early career scholars and hold all-team workshops with government, industry, and civil society stakeholders. Research output will focus on policy-oriented articles in high-impact peer-reviewed science journals.
The PI and co-PI have a record of building interdisciplinary teams, addressing grand challenges, and delivering cutting-edge research and actionable policy recommendations.
The proposed work will assist CSA, other departments, industry and civil society, to ensure scientifically-informed, safe and sustainable coordination on-and-around the Moon.
- Dahmen, Joseph (School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture)
Modular mycelium composting toilet
Co-Applicant: Moraes, Christopher (McGill); Hallam, Steven (Microbiology and Immunology)
Research Summary
Objectives of the Proposed Research Project
This innovative interdisciplinary project will apply advances in microbiology, mycology and design to create a modular composting toilet. The waterless toilet will utilize designer microbes and mycelium biocomposjtes to convert human waste to valuable soil products. It will offer an ecologically sound alternative for portable chemical toilets, providing a sustainable waste management solution in locations where access to infrastructure is difficult or costly. Combining biodegradable mycelium biocomposites, which are grown rather than manufactured, with engineered microbial communities, has the potential to significantly reduce the amount of time required to convert solid human waste to valuable soil products, contributing to a nutrient cycle that will safely enrich local ecosystems.
Novelty of Research Approach
The proposed interdisciplinary project will engage in novel research in three different areas:
It is a novel application of mycelium biocomposites. These materials, which consist of fungal root structures grown on waste cellulose from the agricultural and forestry sectors, have attracted significant research interest in the past decade as sustainable alternatives to petroleum-derived rigid polystyrene foams. The project will contribute new insights on applications that capitalize on the thermal resistance and biodegradability of these materials.
The project will also contribute new insights in the field of microbiology, providing information on microbe-fungal interactions as well as mixed microbial communities involved in lignocellulosic and waste stream biomass decomposition.
The research will also contribute valuable research on the circular economy through agricultural waste upcycling and point-source treatment of human waste. It upcycles cellulosic byproducts of the forestry and agricultural sectors, adding value to products that might otherwise be considered waste.
Expected Significance
Centralized wastewater treatment plants are capital intensive and account for three percent of global energy demand. The proposed low-cost modular toilet will eliminate the need for energy and chemical inputs, while creating valuable soils that contribute to healthy ecosystems. The high-risk high reward interdisciplinary project has potential to positively impact remote communities across Canada, as well as 2.3 billion people who lack access to adequate sanitation globally.
- Fairbairn, Nadia (Medicine)
Evaluating Longitudinal Evidence for using health incentiVes to Address and Treat Opioid Use Disorder Effectively (The ELEVATE Study)
Co-Principal Investigator: Richardson, Lindsey (Sociology)
Co-Applicant: Dennis, Brittany (Medicine); Bach, Paxton (Medicine); Fleury, Mathew (Simon Fraser University); Ibrahim, Mohamed (Social Work); Jaffe, Kaitlyn (University of Massachusetts Amherst); Johnson, Cheyenne (BC Centre on Substance Use/ Nursing); Socias, Maria Eugenia (BC Centre on Substance Use/ Medicine); Nolan, Seonaid (Medicine)
Research Summary
Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a chronic but treatable medical condition. While opioid agonist treatment has long been the gold standard, retention remains low, with only 16% of individuals being retained after one year in British Columbia. While addressing socio-economic factors that impact the ability to engage in care and adhere to treatment is critical to increasing long-term retention rates, efforts to do in Canada remain largely unsuccessful, as seen by the ongoing overdose epidemic that continues to claim the lives of 20 Canadians daily. However, a unique and urgent opportunity exists to determine the impact of offering incentivized treatment to some of the people most at risk of overdose.
Incentivized treatment is a therapeutic approach that promotes desired behavioural change through positive reinforcement such as cash payments. While considerable evidence supports it as an impactful method for improving engagement and reducing substance use, offering it as part of treatment planning has never been attempted in Canada.
With this funding, we will seek to understand how socioeconomic factors can be mitigated through a health care model that incorporates health incentives into treatment planning. The study will involve offering up to $20 daily to people with severe OUD who are affected by structural vulnerabilities that put them at high risk of overdose. To receive payments, they must engage with an individually tailored treatment plan that is aligned with their personal goals.
Such incentivized treatment planning has never been attempted before and seriously challenges current paradigms. The study will enhance the understanding of the highly complex issues of substance use disorder treatment and social determinants of health and will bring together various disciplines in novel ways. If the study finds there is promise in this planning method, the health impacts could be far-reaching in the midst of one of the worst public health crises ever experienced in Canada. Indeed, it has the potential to contribute to a shift in the treatment model of care for the large and unique community of people who use drugs and presents a critical opportunity to make progress on this hitherto intractable issue. Regardless of the outcome of the study, it will certainly advance current knowledge in significant ways and will transform conventional thinking on the treatment of substance use disorders.
- Ford, Nancy (Dentistry)
Effects of e-cigarettes on respiratory and oral health
Co-Applicants: Laronde, Denise (Dentistry); Bertram, Allan (Chemistry)
Research Summary
The use of e-cigarettes has rapidly increased particularly among Canadian adolescents and young adults, with an estimated 20% of those aged 15-24 having tried e-cigarettes. Across North America, clinical cases of e-cigarette or vaping associated lung injuries (EVALI) have been reported, with serious health outcomes including hospitalization and death. Diagnosis for these patients included chest radiographs and CT (computed tomography) scans showing reduced lung function, airway obstruction, and gas trapping. EVALI has been linked to hazardous ingredients in e-cigarettes such as nicotine, vitamin E acetate, and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
The goal of this project is to investigate the impact of e-cigarette use on respiratory and oral health. We will characterize commercially available vaping fluids (with/without nicotine) to determine the chemical composition of the fluid and vapour, and identify what chemicals are deposited into lung and oral tissues. We will also investigate the properties of the aerosols generated under different vaping conditions. To assess health outcomes, we will expose mice to the two vaping fluids or air (control) and use micro-CT scans to non-invasively monitor changes in lung structure and function over a 6-month exposure period. From the images, we will identify regions of air trapping, airway blockages, and measure lung function. The mice will undergo head CT to investigate anatomical changes in bone in the nasal passages, bone loss as a marker of periodontal disease, and histological assessment of the soft tissue to identify precancerous lesions.
The novelty of this research is the unique combination of chemical and aerosol analysis of vaping fluids with the use of in vivo mouse models to non-invasively monitor over an extended timeframe the changes (if any) to the respiratory system and the oral cavity. Performing the chemical and aerosol studies of vaping fluids alongside the in vivo mouse exposure model will allow for enhanced understanding of the interaction between the chemical and biological systems. We believe these in vivo studies coupled with chemical analysis of vaping fluids are critical for evaluation of vaping products for safety. The impact of this research will be an increased understanding of the ingredients in commercially available e-cigarette fluids and their impact on respiratory and oral health, which would lead to improved product labeling and vital evidence-informed regulation by Health Canada.
- Gsponer, Joerg (Biochemistry/Michael Smith Laboratories)
Out of time: Combining AI, Statistical Physics and Biochemistry to Develop In-silico techniques for molecular scale simulation of nucleation events
Co-Principal Investigator: Sinclair, Chad (Materials Engineering)
Research Summary
Many complex organic and inorganic systems have the ability to self-organize and form condensed phases that give rise to emergent properties. Spectacular examples of phase transitions include biomineralization in our body, formation of biomolecular condensates in cells and the creation of impurity phases in alloys during precipitation hardening. Our understanding of the molecular details of the rare events, such as nucleation, that initiate many of these transitions is still very limited. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been used extensively in biochemistry, physics and material sciences to help us understand phase transitions at the microscopic level. Unfortunately, systems of interest are often multicomponent in nature, resulting in complex phase spaces that need to be explored. Moreover, atomistic MD simulations are restricted to the microsecond time scale, which is far from the millisecond or longer time scales of most relevant phase transitions.
Objective: By developing new parallel-in-time integration (PITI) methods and machine learning (ML)-based approaches in collective variable identification, we aim to establish a cross-disciplinary approach that allows for atomic-level characterization of rare events that initiate phase transitions of relevance to biochemistry and materials science.
High Risk: PITI and ML-based collective variable identification methods have shown encouraging results for simple systems, but need to be developed and tested to fully understand their limits and suitability for the investigation of rare events triggering phase transitions. However, these methods open up exciting avenues that we believe to enable breakthroughs in the molecular characterization of the complex phenomena we are interested in.
High Reward: As practitioners working on solving applied problems directly related to human health (e.g, treatment of neurodegenerative diseases) and sustainable development and circular economy (e.g recycling of aluminum alloys), we see the tools developed here as being an essential and missing ingredient needed to accelerate, through predictive modelling, development of new therapeutics and technologies that will impact human life and the environment.
Interdisciplinarity: Conceptual and methodological challenges in our approach require cross-disciplinary teamwork from an erudite group of experts in biochemistry, metallurgy, statistical mechanics and machine learning.
- Harten, Julia Gabriele (School of Community and Regional Planning / School of Public Policy and Global Affairs)
Opening the Approvals Black Box: Leveraging Large Language Models and City Council Public Records to Understand Housing Supply
Co-Principal Investigator: Thrampoulidis, Christos (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Research Summary
Housing affordability is one of the most pressing issues of our time. Numerous efforts have been made to uncover the root causes and address the crisis, yet meaningful change remains elusive. We propose to investigate the housing development approvals process. As housing is tied to land, which in cities is scarce and contested, local governments set up approval processes to ensure that new developments meet community interests. In practice, however, these often become highly political, lengthy negotiations where it is unclear whether what gets approved truly serves the public good.
To open the development approvals black box, we propose leveraging recent breakthroughs in AI, particularly Large Language Models (LLMs), to analyze public records of city council meetings. City council meetings, where housing development decisions are made, are documented in text and video. This data is publicly available but effectively inaccessible due to its large volume and unstructured nature. We propose a computational pipeline that uses LLMs in partnership with human researchers with the goal to identify the key ingredients for successful development applications. To do this, we automate the parsing of Vancouver city council meeting minutes and machine-assisted transcription of video records and identify segments pertaining to housing development decision-making. Then, we employ LLMs for topic modeling to identify patterns, e.g., in the makeup of development proposals or arguments made at public hearings. Finally, we utilize LLMs for conversation-level classification to uncover key players via the analysis of power relationships, revealed in speakers' linguistic style.
By democratizing development approvals, this work has the potential to revolutionize housing supply. More broadly, it will help unlock the power of LLMs for social science research. Text data in social science is ubiquitous, but previously its labor-intensive analysis was limiting its use. LLMs have demonstrated impressive results in processing such data, but raise concerns with regards to cost barriers, transparency, their sensitivity to prompt engineering, and challenges in handling domain-specific terminology or noisy data. By subjecting LLMs to the rigorous test of applying them to a complex, real-world domain, we push the boundaries of their application spectrum and develop solutions that address their limitations.
- Holmes-Cerfon, Miranda (Mathematics)
Disordered Lattices: Mathematical Pathways to Engineering New Materials
Co-Principal Investigator: Clare, Adam (Mechanical Engineering)
Research Summary
This project will create the design tools to realise lattice materials of the future. It will exploit a combination of disorder, and physically-motivated optimisation methods, to create materials with enhanced physical properties for use across a range of engineering problems, such as in transport, healthcare and future energy systems.
Traditional approaches to lattice creation involve designing a unit cell that is repeated to create a macroscale material. Yet, periodic lattices result in a limited range of properties and are often prone to catastrophic failure under modest defect formation. On the other hand, the addition of disorder to a lattice, has been shown to improve its resilience, increase the isotropy of its response, and offer a larger design space of achievable properties. Indeed, biological materials, such as bone, shell, beak, and wood, have evolved to be intrinsically disordered, and they perform well in variable conditions. This provides a fantastic opportunity to create enhanced materials by exploiting intrinsic disorder.
The PIs aim to address this opportunity by combining their complementary areas of expertise, applied mathematics and materials engineering, to design, build, and test an array of disordered materials, including strut-based systems, minimal-surface-based systems, materials with surface residing features, and multimaterial lattices. They will build computational methods to realize disorder at varying scales in these systems, by appealing to the physics of disordered systems (e.g. interacting heterogeneous particles, coarsening foams), and then to tune their properties while preserving disorder, using e.g. Monte Carlo methods or dynamic objective functions, which mimic the varying conditions found in nature. They will manufacture lattices of interest using additive manufacturing techniques, then evaluate their properties. They will draw upon a network of collaborators to perform advanced acoustic, mechanical and electromagnetic analysis, and then update the design process based on the physical performance of manufactured materials.
The project will create both a new methodology for creating materials with disorder, and an efficient design protocol including supporting software for creating targeted materials, which will be widely distributed. By combining disparate approaches, it will build both foundational ideas and practical technology that will enable the next generation of materials design.
- Kuo, Calvin (School of Biomedical Engineering)
The Role of Risk-Taking and Exploration in Motor Learning for Children
Co-Applicant: Zwicker, Jill (Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy / BC Children's Hospital); Blouin, Jean-Sébastien (Kinesiology)
Research Summary
The human brain dedicates substantial resources to sensing our environment and issuing motor commands to interact with our surroundings. However, while the concept of movement is simple, the functional implementation of movement generation is anything but. To produce coordinated and smooth movements, the brain must learn efficient movement representations starting from infancy. Unfortunately, an estimated 400,000 school-aged children are diagnosed with developmental coordination disorder (DCD), a broad disorder characterized by a child’s difficulty with motor coordination and movement. DCD is currently diagnosed primarily through observations of movements in standardized motor coordination tests (e.g. Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency), but its etiology remains unknown. One theory implicates internal model deficits, whereby the internal representations used by the brain to predict how muscle activations produce movements are impaired. Thus, current diagnostic tools are effectively probing these internal models to identify deficits.
We propose to shift this focus by investigating deficits in the motor learning process that generate internal models. We will study motor learning using a reinforcement learning paradigm which is characterized by a trade-off between exploitation of learned movements and exploration of new sensorimotor associations. We hypothesize that pubescent children use risk-taking behaviors as a mechanism to quickly explore new associations in a rapidly changing physical body, and that those with DCD exhibit risk aversion resulting in reduced motor reinforcement. These hypotheses will be tested using unique human-in-the-loop robotic balance platforms to alter the physical laws of natural human movement, combined with domain expertise in clinical DCD, behavioral risk-taking, and computational reinforcement learning. These findings will provide an early diagnostic tool for DCD that relies on observations of the motor learning process rather than the learned movements, and more broadly illuminate behavioral mechanisms of motor learning that suggest controlled risk-taking as an intervention to promote motor learning and recovery.
Finally, we will also investigate sex effects on sensorimotor learning. Sex effects on risk tolerance could have implications on the willingness to explore new sensorimotor associations and the age at which children enter puberty and undergo rapid physical changes is sex dependent.
- Vu, Ly (Pharmaceutical Sciences)
Decoding cell fate regulatory networks through single cell omics and modelling approaches
Co-Principal Investigator: Park, Yongjin (Statistics)
Research Summary
Dysregulation of gene expression programs drives malignant transformation and cancer progression. Large-scale genetic screening efforts have been made to identify frequent mutations in cancer cells. However, translation of these findings to clinics is limited due to the realization of many layers and complexity in gene expression regulation as well as the cellular heterogeneity of cancer. Single-cell gene expression profiling has revolutionized our view of tumorigenesis and the characterization of populations with stem-like features largely responsible for therapy resistance. Understanding the impact of cancer mutations on gene regulatory mechanisms to define exactly the causal relationships between multiple layers of the networks at the level of single-cell resolution is critical to bringing forward insights into mechanisms of tumorigenesis and innovative therapeutic approaches for cancer treatment. In this project, we will use the Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) disease model to evaluate single-cell profiling of genetic, transcriptomic, epigenetics and epitranscriptomic status of primary normal stem/progenitor cells and primary AML patient samples. The main objective is to develop an integrative profiling and analysis platform to measure the molecular activities across multiple layers of gene regulatory networks at a single-cell resolution. To accomplish this goal, we propose 2 aims:
Aim 1. To establish a cost-effective multiplexed sequencing pipeline through which we obtain 10M+ reads to quantify epigenetic, transcriptomic, and epitranscriptomic activities.
Aim 2. To customize state-of-the-art machine learning and artificial intelligence models to adjust putative technical biases introduced by sequencing technologies and identify multi-layered gene regulatory programs.
Using a compressive sensing method, we will address prevalent technical challenges in profiling and subsequent computational analysis and probabilistic modelling e.g., sparsity, technical noise, multi-modality, and biological interpretation. For data integration, we will develop an interpretable probabilistic model that takes into account upstream DNA accessibility, baseline expression, splicing and RNA methylation. We will establish a rich catalogue of cell-state-specific causal path diagrams to guide follow-up validation experiments. Our framework will aid systematic survey of transcription factors, epigenetic/epitranscriptomic readers/writers, and target genes.
- Williams, Karla (Pharmaceutical Sciences)
Detection and Categorization of Cancers using Nanoaperture Optical Trapping of Single Extracellular Vesicles
Co-Principal Investigator: Gordon, Reuven (University of Victoria)
Research Summary
OBJECTIVE: The primary goal of this multidisciplinary proposal is to develop an exceptionally precise and specialized system for the detection and categorization of cancer. This will be achieved by applying nanoapertures optical tweezers to extracellular vesicles in liquid biopsy samples.
RESEARCH APPROACH: We will use nanoapertures in metal films to focus a laser beam below the diffraction limit and thereby trap single extracellular vesicles (EVs) from a liquid biopsy sample. Since the trapping signal is sensitive to variations in the refractive index profile, shape and size of the EVs, we will evaluate the platforms capabilities to differentiate between EVs derived from healthy or cancerous cells. To enhance diagnostic specificity, we will employ surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy on the trapped EV as a fingerprint analysis of the constituents. We will also attempt extraordinary acoustic Raman as an approach to measure low frequency mechanical vibrations and thereby gain insights into the mechanical properties of the EV.
NOVELTY AND SIGNIFICANCE: There is a critical need to develop non-invasive platforms to detect and classify cancer. The potential of EVs to detect and report on cancer is substantial; EVs are abundant in biofluids, exceptionally stable, and easily accessible, making them an excellent biomarker source. Unfortunately, EV analysis is severely limited by available fluorescent labels and their small size requires nanoscale characterization. Commonly used fluorescent labels are limited to the detection of abundant biomarkers and multiple-marker detection is challenging due to steric hindrance. Interrogation of proteins or nucleic acids contained within an EV is also impractical with current analysis platforms. Therefore, approaches that are well suited to small nanoparticles and forgo the need for labels are desired. An unproven yet promising approach would use nanoaperture optical tweezers to trap EVs and characterize their biophysical properties; thus, enabling us to bypass the need for fluorescent labels.
The significance of this novel tweezer-based platform is that it can identify targets where suitable labels have not been identified. The trapping platform has the novelty of working at the single EV level, which provides extreme sensitivity. Furthermore, by forgoing the need for labels, our approach promises to reduce the cost and processing time required in standard biopsy analysis.
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