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September 29, 2010

University of Saskatchewan launches Entrepreneur-in-Residence program

Posted September 29, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – September 29, 2010
2010-09-12-OTHER

The University of Saskatchewan Industry Liaison Office and the Departments of Computer Science and Computer Engineering are proud to announce the launch of the Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EiR) program.

The EiR will tap into business and entrepreneurial expertise to help local researchers with potential ideas in the fields of computer science and engineering. Dale Lemke, a respected Saskatoon business person and president of Display Systems International, has been chosen as the inaugural resident. Lemke will offer one day a week of his time to work with researchers, students and employees at the U of S to help them develop their ideas into business or commercial applications. Lemke will be available to share his experience and stories, and be on hand to give advice and create linkages with others in the business and industry community.

Members of the media are invited to attend the launch of the EiR program and to meet Dale Lemke.

When: Thursday, September 30, 2010
Time: 9:30 – 10:15 a.m.
Where: Geology Building Atrium, 114 Science Place, University of Saskatchewan

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For more information, contact:

Lorna Shaw-Lennox
Start-Up Company Specialist
Industry Liaison Office
University of Saskatchewan
Tel: (306) 966-7338
Fax: (306) 966-7806
http://www.usask.ca/research/ilo/

September 24, 2010

Veterinary College at University of Saskatchewan Honours Community Donors and First-year Students

Posted September 24, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – September 24, 2010
2010-09-11-WCVM

The Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) at the University of Saskatchewan held special events today to celebrate two groups of people: the hundreds of donors who gave more than $5 million to its expansion project and the college’s first-year students whose veterinary education will be significantly enriched by the outstanding community support.

“When the Western College of Veterinary Medicine needed grassroots support to make this expansion and renovation project a reality, the people who have personal and long-standing connections to this college didn’t hesitate in offering their support,” said U of S President Peter MacKinnon at this afternoon’s celebration. “Each of you has ensured that the WCVM continues to be a centre of excellence for veterinary education, research and clinical expertise.”

Faculty, students, staff, alumni and friends of the WCVM from across Western Canada were among the first to contribute when the veterinary college began its multi-phase, $74-million infrastructure project in 2004. The project’s major features include a two-storey addition to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, a new research wing and an addition to the college’s diagnostics area. Construction crews are also completing extensive renovations to more than a third of the original building — a process that will wrap up in 2011.

The college’s newest group of students were also honoured today during a “white coat” ceremony. The first-year class, whose 79 members represent communities across Western Canada and the northern territories, received personalized white lab coats and stethoscopes from national and provincial veterinary medical associations. The students will complete their four-year Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program in 2014.

WCVM Dean Douglas Freeman said contributions from the college’s donors have ensured that all WCVM students have access to world-class facilities and resources including a veterinary teaching hospital that serves as a vital teaching centre for future veterinarians. “The Class of 2014 can look forward to learning and working in a hospital that is equipped with nuclear scintigraphy and other advanced imaging tools, modern surgery suites, and specialized rooms for veterinary dentistry, ophthalmology and oncology.”

Located at the University of Saskatchewan, the WCVM is Western Canada’s premier centre of veterinary education, research and expertise. More than 400 undergraduate and graduate students are enrolled at the internationally-recognized institution that includes a veterinary teaching hospital, provincial diagnostics laboratory and research facilities.

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For more information, contact:

Myrna MacDonald, Communications
Western College of Veterinary Medicine
University of Saskatchewan
Tel: 306-225-4479 • Cell: 306-291-9950
Email: sm.ridley@sasktel.net

September 10, 2010

U of S Students Make a Difference Through Community Service-Learning

Posted September 10, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Sept. 10, 2010
2010-09-07-OTHER

For students in Project Serve, part of the U of S experience is learning how to be a leader of tomorrow by getting off campus to work together on community-identified projects.

Now in its fourth year, Project Serve, a one-day community service-learning (CSL) event organized through the University Learning Centre, rallies about 160 students for a day of community service, learning and hands-on experience, such as helping children at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Saskatoon or building a home for a low-income family with Habitat for Humanity.

“CSL brings the university and the community together in a meaningful way,” said Phaedra Hitchings, program co-ordinator for CSL. “Our students work with community-based organizations to address community-identified needs—they learn and get valuable experience on the front-lines. It is an excellent example of experiential learning that connects the students’ placement experiences with their courses, goals and career paths.”

This year’s event takes place on September 11 at community organizations around Saskatoon, including: AIDS Saskatoon; Alzheimer Society of Saskatchewan; Boys and Girls Clubs of Saskatoon; Broadway Business Improvement District; Children's Discovery Museum; City of Saskatoon, Saskatoon Speaks Community Visioning Initiative; Habitat for Humanity Saskatoon; Heart and Stroke Foundation of Saskatchewan; Salvation Army Community Centre; Saskatoon Community Youth Arts Programming (Inc.); Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre; Saskatoon Open Door Society; Saskatoon SPCA; Station 20 West Development Corporation; Student Wellness Initiative Toward Community Health (SWITCH); and YWCA Crisis Shelter and Residence.

“It is important for the university to have a connection with the community and it is especially important for our students to be responsive to their community,” said Angela Ward, acting vice-provost, teaching and learning. “Through Project Serve’s introduction to the community and this model of learning, we hope to build on these relationships—benefitting both the university and our wider community, and open possibilities for students to pursue the areas of interest most meaningful for them.”

Project Serve kicks off with the students’ arrival at Station 20 West at 10:40 a.m. for the Community Festival. Students’ community service takes place at locations across the city from noon to 3 p.m. and is followed by a group discussion and a campus barbeque at 4 p.m. 

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To arrange for interviews and photo opportunities at the community organizations, contact:

Phaedra Hitchings, University Learning Centre
University of Saskatchewan
Tel: (306) 966-7164, Cell: (306) 241-7485
Email: phaedra.hitchings@usask.ca

September 03, 2010

VIDO-InterVac at the U of S signs exclusive license agreement for developing a novel vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)

Posted September 03, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Sept. 1, 2010
2010-09-02-VIDO

The Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) at the University of Saskatchewan announced today the signing of an exclusive license agreement with the Pan-Provincial Vaccine Enterprise Inc. (PREVENT) to develop a novel vaccine for children against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

The vaccine formulation includes an adjuvant combination which was developed in a collaboration involving scientists from the University of British Columbia, Dalhousie University and the International Vaccine Institute, Seoul, Korea, with funding from the Krembil Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Scientists have found the adjuvant formulation has been highly effective in newborn animal studies and shows excellent promise against RSV and other diseases.

RSV is one of the leading viral causes of infant death and causes acute lower respiratory infection in infants and young children. RSV can produce severe pulmonary diseases including bronchiolitis and pneumonia, with one to two per cent of infected children requiring hospitalization. An increased incidence of asthma has also been associated with these more severe lower respiratory tract infections.

Worldwide, this virus causes 64 million cases of RSV-associated acute lower respiratory infection in children under five years, and about 160,000 deaths per year. Treatment of RSV infection-related illness is a significant healthcare burden due to the substantial costs for ambulatory care for RSV infection-related illness and costs for RSV infection-related hospitalization.

“RSV-related respiratory tract infections in infants and children can be very serious, requiring supplemental oxygen and intensive care to support recovery in the most serious cases,” said VIDO-InterVac research scientist Dr. Sylvia van den Hurk. “Our research for a safe and effective vaccine against RSV will prevent thousands of hospital admissions, reduce healthcare cost and greatly improve the quality of life for young children.”

Andrew Potter, director and CEO of VIDO-InterVac, concurs. “Virtually all children will be infected at least once before they are two years old. A vaccine to reduce RSV infections will have substantial impact on reducing the number of cases, and in turn improve the health of children worldwide.”

“VIDO-InterVac’s involvement in this research is another example of their expertise in developing vaccines against infectious diseases,” said Karen Chad, vice-president research at the University of Saskatchewan.   

PREVENT and VIDO-InterVac will collaborate on developing vaccine formulations for preclinical studies and clinical trials.

About VIDO-InterVac: Created in 1975, VIDO-InterVac has Containment Level 2 and 3 facilities that include virology, immunology, bacteriology and biochemistry labs and a 160-acre research station.  A research organization of the University of Saskatchewan with operating support from provincial and federal governments as well as industry grants, VIDO-InterVac holds 80+ U.S. patents and has developed technology for eight commercial vaccines.

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For more information or to arrange an interview with Andrew Potter, please contact:

Shirley Toms, Corporate Communication Manager
VIDO-InterVac
Tel: 306-966-7483
Email: shirley.toms@usask.ca
Website: http://www.vido.org

September 02, 2010

U of S wins international award for solar powered toothbrush

Posted September 02, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – September 2, 2010
2010-09-04-DE

University of Saskatchewan College of Dentistry students J.H. Lee and K.Y.J Li won third place for a poster presentation at the Hong Kong International Dental Expo and Symposium for the Soladey-J3X toothbrush that uses light energy to help breakdown plaque biofilm while brushing.

Photo courtesy of theSheaf and Pete Yee Photography

The Soladey-J3X uses a solar panel installed at its base to transfer electrons via a conductive wire to a TiO2 semiconductor located at the neck of the brush. The electrons stimulate a reaction that facilitates the disruption of plaque and helps reduce gingival inflammation

The light-activated toothbrush, developed by the SHIKEN Co. Ltd in Osaka, Japan, was the subject of a recent clinical trial conducted at the U of S College of Dentistry. Drs. G. Uswak, J. Hoover, and K. Komiyama, all faculty members in the college, served as investigators and are currently preparing their findings for publication demonstrating that the Soladey-J3X is more effective at reducing bleeding associated with gingivitis when compared to a control brush.

With the Soladey-J3X toothbrush now retailing in parts of Asia and Europe and available online, the College of Dentistry has effectively helped take this new technology from the lab to the world.

“The college was able to participate in research that underscores both the importance of oral health and the necessity to continually search for new and effective ways to improve oral health for the general population,” says Dr. Gerry Uswak, Dean of the College of Dentistry. “The fact that we were able to involve our undergraduate students as part of the research team makes this project even more meaningful.”

Drs. Uswak, Komiyama, and/or Hoover are available to respond to media inquiries surrounding their research and the College of Dentistry’s role in future clinical studies that focus on improving the oral health of the entire population.

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For more information, contact:

Kathryn Cousins, Communications
College of Dentistry
University of Saskatchewan
Tel: (306) 966-2236
Email: kathryn.cousins@usask.ca

September 01, 2010

U of S Awarded $1.6 Million for Social Science and Humanities Research

Posted September 01, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Sept. 1, 2010
2010-09-01-OTHER

University of Saskatchewan faculty and graduate students have been awarded a total of $1.6 million in federal funding over three years to study a wide range of issues including the impact of environmental change on wildlife management, effects of executive compensation in the public sector, and ways of reducing poverty in rural communities.

Michael Atkinson

The funding announced today from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) includes $685,000 for scholarships and fellowships awarded to 23 U of S graduate students.

“This investment in our outstanding and diverse research talent will result in new knowledge that will have an impact on society, the environment and the economy, while training the next generation of innovative researchers,” said U of S Vice-President Research Karen Chad.

The following eight U of S research teams were successful in the Standard Research Grants competition, receiving a total of $549,015:

- Murray Fulton and Michael Atkinson (public policy) will look at executive compensation in government offices, Crown corporations, universities, and co-operatives to improve understanding of how these organizations operate and how compensation affects the behavior, morale and performance of executive decision-makers.
- Margaret Kovach (education) will interview both non-aboriginal and aboriginal university instructors of education and social work on how they incorporate aboriginal perspectives into their course instruction. By providing new in-roads for instruction and curriculum planning, this study will help teachers and social workers to be more responsive to aboriginal communities.
- Mona Holmlund (art history) will examine the unique cultural history of Saskatchewan visual arts, including co-curating public exhibitions and assembling a collection of essays to bring to light the artistic production of cultural groups that have been historically marginalized.
- Douglas Clark, Centennial Chair (environment and sustainability), will look at how environmental change shapes the goals of individuals, groups, and organizations involved with wildlife co-management in northern Canada. For example, the research will look at how climate change is challenging polar bear management in Nunavut. The goal is to find ways to cope with such change and refine decision-making processes that could benefit international resource management.
- Keith Walker (educational administration), Heather Heavin (law), and Paul Clarke (University of Regina) will investigate how human services professionals who provide services to children judge the best interest of the child, including the extent to which they take children’s views into account when decisions are made about their well being. The research will form the basis of recommendations for future public policy.
- Allison Muri (English) will create an open-access, electronic map archive edition of historical London to study how digital mapping can create new ways of looking at English literary history and communications in 18th-century London. The project will enhance understanding of the history and future of the book, its design, and how users interact with it.
- Egan Chernoff (education) will work with mathematics teachers and future teachers to understand how they perceive and teach randomness. Looking at randomly generated sequences of numbers such as lottery tickets and test answer keys, this research will contribute to the field of mathematics education, providing new understanding of why humans are poor judges of randomness.
- Robert Hudson (philosophy) will examine recent arguments by astrophysicists for the existence of dark energy, the mysterious substance currently thought to compose almost three-quarters of the universe.  The goal will be to philosophically assess these arguments to better understand how scientists arrive at theories and how they go about improving the accuracy of their observational data.

The following U of S teams were successful in the Aboriginal Research and Development Grants competition, receiving a total of $274,329:

- Marie Battiste (education), Lynne Bell (art and art history), Isobel Findlay (social enterprises), Len Findlay (English), and James Youngblood Henderson (native law) will study the teachings, oral traditions, art and other aspects of the humanities of the Mi’kmaq of Atlantic Canada. The interdisciplinary project will be led by Battiste, academic director of the Aboriginal Education Research Centre.
- Carolyn Brooks (sociology), Colleen Dell (sociology) and Jennifer Poudrier (sociology), in partnership with the Battleford Agency Tribal Chiefs communities, will look at youth crime and identify social and environmental pathways towards community resilience. This study will provide community-specific understandings for enhancing community programming, justice, and child welfare.

The following U of S teams were successful in the International Opportunities Fund competition, receiving a total of $99,946:

- Rose Olfert (public policy), Cristina Echevarria (economics), and David Natcher (renewable resource management), along with a team of international researchers, will carry out investigations in Canada, Chile and Peru to assess various approaches to reducing poverty in rural communities. The research will identify how specific public policies might be used to improve the economic welfare of resource-dependent rural communities.
- Hassan Vatanparast (pharmacy and nutrition), Li Zong (sociology), Rachel Engler-Stringer (community health and epidemiology/medicine), Carol Henry (pharmacy and nutrition), and Susan Whiting (pharmacy and nutrition) will study how cultural and socio-economic factors such as education and language barriers influence food security of refugees before and after migration to Canada. This research will be used by policy makers to help address food security issues.

U of S sociologist Peter Li was awarded $25,000 to host a two-day international workshop on economic and social integration of migrants and immigrants, featuring mainly scholars from Western Canada and Western China.

SSHRC will support university-based research and training in the humanities and social sciences through the following graduate student awards which are supplemented by an additional $3,000 tuition scholarship from the College of Graduate Studies and Research for each successful student:

- U of S doctoral students Katya MacDonald (history) and Chassidy Puchala (community health and epidemiology) were each awarded prestigious Canada Graduate Doctoral Scholarships, valued at $35,000 per year for three years.
- Three U of S students—Kurt Krueger (history), Nancy Peters (education) and Terri Simon (psychology)—were awarded doctoral fellowships valued at $20,000 annually.
- Eighteen U of S students—five of them from the English department—were awarded a Joseph Bombardier Canada Graduate Master’s Scholarship valued at $17,500 for one year. For a full list of recipients, visit: http://www.usask.ca/cgsr/

Several of the above projects include researchers at the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. Backgrounders on these projects are available at: http://www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca/

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For more information, contact:

Kathryn Warden
Director, Research Communications
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-2506
kathryn.warden@usask.ca

105 Administration Place
Saskatoon, SK, Canada