Ontario Impact

Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Graduate Students

Despite the fact that vision care coverage is offered in Ontario to individuals under the age of 20, only 14 per cent of children under the age of six had a vision exam as of six years ago.

For optometrists like Afua Oteng Asare (left), a PhD student at the ��Ƶ’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, this is concerning because eye examinations for children at this age are key to diagnosing two very common and major conditions. The first are refractive errors, which include short-sightedness (myopia), long-sightedness (hyperopia) and blurred vision near and far (astigmatism). The second is amblyopia, commonly known as “lazy eye.”

“These conditions are not always obvious just by observing a child,” says Asare. “What is most concerning is that if not detected and treated early, amblyopia in particular could cause irreversible vision loss by the age of seven or eight.”

Asare has been interested in examining barriers to vision care access since she first began her clinical practice as an optometrist in Ghana. She saw that most patients coming to have their eyes examined were of a higher socio-economic status and began to question how it might be possible to make vision care accessible to everyone.

“That experience sparked my curiosity about barriers to vision-care access in general,” says Asare. “It is also an area of health services that is sorely under-researched.”

Through her recent work as a manager of a vision-screening program in London, Ont., Asare also noticed younger patients were not having their eyes examined regularly, even though their vision care in Ontario is free.

A lack of awareness that coverage even exists in Ontario for school-age children appears to be one of the main barriers to vision-care access that Asare has encountered. Add to that the high cost of prescription glasses and a lack of available resources, including access to optometrists in rural areas, particularly for Indigenous Peoples, and the list of barriers continues to grow.

“For many policy-makers and health-care practitioners, vision care in childhood often ends up on the back burner because, unlike diabetes, cancers, infectious diseases or other common diseases, refractive errors and amblyopia may require a pair of glasses to help the issue, but the child isn’t at risk of dying,” explains Asare.

To better understand access to vision care for children, Asare has been analyzing the cost-effectiveness of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s recent child vision protocol. This work was recently presented at the Canadian Association of Health Services and Policy Research conference and the American Academy of Optometry meeting.

As part of Ontario’s public health standards, health units are now required to provide vision screening in all kindergarten classrooms.

Vision screening is not the same as an eye exam, says Asare. It is a simple and quick test that helps determine whether a person has risk factors for refractive errors or lazy eye that would require them to undergo a more extensive eye exam from an optometrist.

Impaired vision can have a substantial impact on quality of life. For children, delayed development in reading and writing, and later limited choices of occupation can be linked to socio-economic disadvantages and subsequent additional health problems.

As part of her study, Asare has compared the current practice where vision screenings are conducted by pediatricians during “well-child” checks and found that the new in-school protocol appears to be more effective.

“Research has shown that vision screenings are not routinely done during well-child checks, and while the in-school screenings are a little more costly, our study has shown the benefits outweigh the price,” says Asare.

Moving forward, health policy-makers will use cost-utility studies like Asare’s to inform their decision on whether to continue the new screening protocol in kindergarten classrooms. As of now, no additional funding has been provided to health units to conduct this screening protocol and, as a result, not all are able to effectively provide it in schools.

“It would be ideal to mandate that all children must have an eye exam with an optometrist,” says Asare, “but vision screening is a step in the right direction, and one way to improve vision-care access in a relatively affordable way.”

To improve their recovery, U of T graduate helps ICU patients get a better night's sleep

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 28 Nov 2019 22:15:27 +0000

To improve their recovery, U of T graduate helps ICU patients get a better night's sleep

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 11/28/2019 - 17:15

Cutline

Sleep is an integral part of the recovery process, but can be difficult to come by in the intensive care unit (photo by iStock)

Rebecca Biason

Topic

Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation

Alumni

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Getting a restful night’s sleep in the intensive care unit (ICU) can be difficult for many patients thanks to beeping machines, check-ups by nurses, medication rounds and the ever-present glare of fluorescent light. At times, rest is the most difficult thing to come by when you’re critically ill.

But sleep is an important and integral part of the recovery process. Improved sleep can decrease the length of a patient’s stay in hospital, decrease time on a ventilator and reduce susceptibility to neurocognitive issues such as delirium.

Stuart Douglas, an emergency physician and intensivist and a recent graduate of the ��Ƶ’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, has developed a quality improvement initiative at Kingston Health Sciences Centre that promotes better sleep for patients in the ICU. The project was recognized with the Harry and Rose Perlstein Award, which is presented to a student whose research has the potential to improve health-care services for patients in long-term and acute care settings.

“After admission to the ICU, patients are often at risk of developing post-ICU syndrome, which comes with a constellation of functional limitations that can last a lifetime,” says Douglas, adding that some of the limitations are physical, involving decreased work capacity and muscle fatigue, while others are neurocognitive and can include a range of psychiatric issues.

“There is evidence to suggest that improving sleep for patients in the ICU can lower their risk of developing these conditions – not only improving their quality of care, but helping them obtain positive health outcomes and quicker release from hospital.”

Stuart Douglas, a recent graduate of the ��Ƶ’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, has developed a quality improvement initiative at Kingston Health Sciences Centre that promotes better sleep for patients in the ICU (photo by Greg Black)

During his observations in the ICU and through focus groups, Douglas found two main barriers affecting sleep promotion.

“Delayed downgrading” of a patient can result in prolonged and frequent nursing assessments overnight, disrupting sleep. For example, the first 24 hours after ICU admission for an acute trauma patient might require hourly neurological assessments, although the frequent checks can usually be reduced over the next few days of a patient’s stay.

An additional barrier was directly related to a sense of stigmatization among nurses. In focus group discussions, some nurses revealed they were uncomfortable interacting with patients less frequently overnight.

“Some nurses mentioned a fear of being stigmatized or seen as lazy and less capable if they were not actively managing patients overnight,” says Douglas.

To address this issue, Douglas decided to pilot two key initiatives.

First, he encouraged nurses to reference the sleep of their patients during morning rounds using the Richard Campbell Sleep Questionnaire. This rating scale helps evaluate sleep on a scale of 100, with higher scores indicating better sleep. It is also more conducive to unit-wide initiatives.

While nurses were likely to fill out the questionnaire, Douglas found the main challenge was getting consistent discussion about a patient’s sleep to be included during morning rounds with the attending physician.

“I tried to make it mandatory, but that didn’t work, so I tried to encourage it through education, speaking often about the benefits of improved sleep,” says Douglas, who graduated with a master’s degree in quality improvement and patient safety.

“The concept of QI [quality improvement] methodology is still novel to this unit – and in the climate of critical care, sleep just isn’t a popular topic compared to other high-tech interventions. It sounds almost silly to talk about sleep when you are dealing with a person on a ventilator and a bypass pump, but with the growing movement in this area of research I’m hoping that will soon change.”

Despite the challenges, Douglas’s education initiatives around the benefits of sleep have taken hold among some of the ICU nurses – so much so that they developed an initiative on their own.

In the ICU unit, special posters have been put up. One side is labelled “sleep zone,” meaning a patient with this poster on their door should be allowed to rest. The other side includes a list of best practices for nurses, doctors and family to help improve sleep for ICU patients.

“The beauty of this poster initiative was that it was completely nurse-driven, designed and implemented, which meant the uptake was higher and they were vocal about utilizing it,” says Douglas.

While Douglas’s efforts have yet to completely improve sleep in the ICU unit at Kingston Health Sciences Centre, the initiatives are still in place. With more time and continued education around the benefits, Douglas is confident there will be a significant shift in thinking and improvement in patients’ sleep.

“The health system is only as good as you allow it to be,” says Douglas. “It’s the responsibility of health-care workers to make sure it is functioning as best it can, to look at patient safety with a forward-thinking lens and emphasize a health system approach.”

Opioid disorder course, offered by CAMH, targets fourth-year U of T pharmacy students throughout Ontario

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 14:00:09 +0000

Opioid disorder course, offered by CAMH, targets fourth-year U of T pharmacy students throughout Ontario

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 11/26/2019 - 09:00

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Emma Koivu is taking an opioid use disorder treatment course from her hometown of Thunder Bay, Ont., where she is doing a fourth-year rotation (photo by Patrick Callan)

Topic

Emma Koivu doesn’t need to read about the opioid crisis in textbooks or hear about it on the news to understand the severity.

The ��Ƶ student in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy sees it everyday in her community.

“The opioid crisis is very prevalent up here,” says Koivu, who is currently doing a fourth-year rotation in her native Thunder Bay, Ont.

In 2018, there were 44 opioid-related deaths in Thunder Bay – a 42 per cent increase from the previous year.

“Through my years as a pharmacy assistant and as a pharmacy student, I’ve always known that, as a pharmacist, I would be dispensing methadone and suboxone for opioid use disorder treatment,” says Koivu.

That’s one of the main reasons Koivu was thrilled when she heard the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is offering an Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Course for the first time – and for free – to fourth-year Doctor of Pharmacy students at U of T.

The online course consists of six modules, live webinars, videos, quizzes, case studies, discussions and a final paper.

“I always planned on taking this course, but because of the cost and student loans I wouldn’t have taken it probably for a few years even though I would have been practising with patients with opioid use disorder,” Koivu says. “This gets me that knowledge a lot sooner.”

Emma especially likes the live webinars. She’s attended two so far: one with a physician and one with a patient.

“They’ve been really good because it gives you the perspective from the physician and the patient, and you know these are real people, not just a scenario,” she says.

Koivu also really likes how the course focuses on the importance of inter-professional collaboration.

“As pharmacists, we’re the ones dispensing methadone and suboxone to patients on a daily or weekly basis and we’ll often detect things we can communicate to physicians that they might not have otherwise picked up on – like if a patient is missing doses.”

Maria Zhang, an adjunct lecturer, clinician educator and advanced practice clinical leader at CAMH and U of T, says the course was made available for free to fourth-year U of T pharmacy students to provide them with in-depth opioid training earlier in their career (photo by Steve Southon)

Maria Zhang, an adjunct lecturer, clinician educator and advanced practice clinical leader at CAMH and U of T, says demand for the course has been high among practising pharmacists. In this first offering to students, more than 200 of the 240 fourth-year pharmacy students have enrolled.

“We typically offer this course to practising clinicians,” says Zhang, one of the course instructors. “This year, with the generous support from CAMH Education, we’ve made it available for free to fourth-year pharmacy students to get them this in-depth training earlier in their career.”

Zhang says the course builds on existing content taught at U of T to give pharmacy students the confidence and competence in working with patients who are already receiving treatment for opioid use disorder, or may be displaying early signs of it.

“With their additional training, they’ll be able to navigate challenging situations, such as cases of intoxication or relapse, with openness and respect,” she says.

By providing a multi-faceted view of opioid addiction, Zhang hopes the course will also encourage pharmacy students to play an increased advocacy role.

“Hopefully they’ll have a better understanding of the patient’s experience – and if they work in a setting that doesn’t yet treat patients with opioid use disorder, they can advocate for timely access to evidence-based treatment,” she says.

Koivu adds that there’s a lot that goes into safely treating patients with opioid use disorder, and that it’s important for pharmacists to know how to do it properly.

“Being on the front line, pharmacists have a really important role to play in treating patients with opioid use disorder,” says Koivu. “This course will definitely help me in that role, as well as everyone else who takes it.”

Reconciliation through Engineering Initiative to help improve Indigenous housing, transportation

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 13:51:06 +0000

Reconciliation through Engineering Initiative to help improve Indigenous housing, transportation

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 11/25/2019 - 08:51

Cutline

U of T researchers Tracey Galloway and Chris Beck in one of the planes used to transport passengers, food and other supplies to remote Indigenous communities in Northern Ontario (photo courtesy of Chris Beck)

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

Geography and Planning

Indigenous

Truth and Reconciliation

Mitigating indoor mould and optimizing air transportation in northern Ontario are the first two collaborative projects between Indigenous community leaders and ��Ƶ researchers being tackled through the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering’s Reconciliation Through Engineering Initiative (RTEI).

Launched last December by the Centre for Global Engineering (CGEN), RTEI will ultimately identify six projects to improve access to clean drinking water, food security, housing, health care, transportation and communication systems in Indigenous communities across Canada.

All projects aim to find sustainable engineering solutions through community-driven, multidisciplinary and Two-Eyed Seeing collaborations, leveraging the expertise of both Indigenous community members and U of T researchers specializing in diverse fields.

“In today’s challenging environmental climate, a Two-Eyed Seeing approach to research is critical to building sustainable futures for all,” says Sonia Molodecky, the RTEI program lead.

U of T computer scientist named NSERC/Autodesk Industrial Research Chair in Human-Computer Interaction

noreen.rasbach — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 13:52:28 +0000

U of T computer scientist named NSERC/Autodesk Industrial Research Chair in Human-Computer Interaction

noreen.rasbach Thu, 11/14/2019 - 08:52

Cutline

“We'll be looking at how modern interactive technologies, such as wearable devices, augmented reality, collaborative robots and mixed-initiative systems, will allow people to work and learn in ways that were never before possible," says Tovi Grossman

Alexa Zulak

Topic

Advanced Manufacturing

Faculty of Arts & Science

Computer Science

Technology

The manufacturing industry is changing. Jobs that once relied on individuals to carry out manual labour are increasingly turning to automation because of the growing power of machines and computing systems.”

But humans still need to know how to work with the technology – and where they fit in.

“These rapidly evolving technologies are forcing individuals in impacted industries to work in new and unfamiliar ways, creating new human-computer interaction challenges,” said Tovi Grossman, an assistant professor in the ��Ƶ’s department of computer science, in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

“It’s critical to our future that new interactive systems are developed to allow users to work efficiently with these automated design and fabrication systems and to support their learning, training and retraining, to keep pace with the rapidly changing needs of their skill base.”

It’s a challenge Grossman is dedicated to helping find a solution for as the new NSERC/Autodesk Industrial Research Chair in Human Computer-Interaction.

The five-year appointment – for early-stage researchers demonstrating exceptional promise – will allow Grossman to focus on developing human-computer interaction approaches to support hybrid interactive systems in the design and fabrication sectors. These systems help workers create efficient work patterns and maintain their agency while they perform tasks alongside automated technologies.

“Specifically, we’ll be looking at how modern interactive technologies, such as wearable devices, augmented reality, collaborative robots and mixed-initiative systems, will allow people to work and learn in ways that were never before possible,” said Grossman.

An expert in human-computer interaction with a focus on understanding and improving human learning in complex scenarios, Grossman joined U of T in 2018 after working as a distinguished research scientist in Autodesk Research’s User Interface Research group.

“I’m very excited to have been named the NSERC/Autodesk Industrial Research Chair in Human-Computer Interaction,” said Grossman. “As someone who recently transitioned from working in industry to working in academia, this position will give me the best of both worlds.”

The position builds upon U of T’s longstanding relationship with Autodesk, a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. NSERC acknowledged the partnership with a Synergy Award for Innovation in 2011, recognizing the collaboration as a model of an effective partnership between industry and higher education.

The partnership has led to a number of research publications, numerous highly skilled computer scientists and many patents and awards. Several employees of Autodesk have joined U of T as graduate students and faculty members, including Grossman himself.

“The partnership with Autodesk will provide me and my students the unique opportunity to transfer research solutions into real-world products that reach millions of users,” said Grossman.

Computer science's Interim Chair Marsha Chechik is proud to recognize Grossman’s success.

“His research often reaches beyond the boundaries of computer science, with collaborations from engineering, architecture and even anatomy,” said Chechik. “His current collaboration with Autodesk is a primary example of a partnership between academia and industry for creating solutions to real-world problems.”

The appointment will also allow Grossman to mentor the next generation of computer scientists, while working on challenging and innovative academic research problems with far-reaching implications in diverse areas, like the education, manufacturing and construction industries.

“Funds for this program will train and prepare a new cohort of computer scientists and give our graduate students in computer science the opportunity to apply their research to real-world problems – putting new technologies into the hands of real people.”

U of T researchers, innovators to pitch ideas for Ontario's growth at annual economic summit

rahul.kalvapalle — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 20:41:00 +0000

U of T researchers, innovators to pitch ideas for Ontario's growth at annual economic summit

rahul.kalvapalle Tue, 11/12/2019 - 15:41

Cutline

Pepper, a socially assistive robot developed in the lab of U of T's Goldie Nejat, is designed to detect and respond to human voices and gestures (photo by Liz Do)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Advanced Manufacturing

Alumni

Entrepreneneurship

John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture

Forestry

Mechanical & Industrial Engineering

Robotics

When it comes to using robots to help the elderly, the future is almost here.

That’s according to ��Ƶ robotics expert Goldie Nejat, who says we’re only a few years away from deploying robots in long-term care facilities to help residents everyday tasks, exercise and cognitive stimulation.

Her long-term vision is to design robots that can assist with an array of tasks to improve seniors’ quality of life, alleviate some of the burden on their caregivers and family members – and, ultimately, contribute to the expansion of the Ontario economy.

“Health-care robotics is growing substantially, and U of T is at the cutting edge of designing these robots,” says Nejat, an associate professor in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

“We’re training the next generation of skilled researchers and entrepreneurs to develop this technology and integrate it into our health-care system to assist people who need the care.”

On Wednesday, Nejat, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Robots for Society, will be one of four presenters pitching their ideas to the audience at the Ontario Economic Summit. The annual event is organized by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and brings together industry representatives, experts and government officials to talk about the province’s economy. The theme for this year’s edition – taking place at the Beanfield Centre at Toronto’s Exhibition Place – is competitiveness. Premier Doug Ford and Mayor John Tory, a U of T alumnus, are scheduled to attend.

Goldie Nejat and a student interact with a socially assistive robot named Tangy, which is designed to facilitate recreational activities and promote social interaction among people with degenerative cognitive conditions such as dementia (photo by Laura Pedersen)

Nejat and three other members of the U of T community will take part in a session titled “The Next Big Idea.” Each will each present a pitch for how a hypothetical public investment of $100 million in their respective sectors could be utilized to drive competitiveness and economic growth in the province.

Nejat will discuss how socially assistive robots can help adults living with dementia as well as health-care workers; Hani Naguib, a professor in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering and director of the Toronto Institute for Advanced Manufacturing, will discuss how advanced manufacturing and smart materials can usher in a revolutionary transformation for factories and industry; Anne Koven, an adjunct professor in the forestry program at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design and executive director of the Mass Timber Institute, will talk about how mass timber and tall wood construction can sustain a mutually beneficial relationship between the forestry industry and thriving urban markets; and Allen Lau, a U of T alumnus and the founder and CEO of data-driven publishing platform Wattpad, will talk about how to nurture Ontario’s tech ecosystem into a global powerhouse.

The session will be moderated by Christine Allen, U of T’s associate vice-president and vice-provost, strategic initiatives, and a professor in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy.

"The Ontario Economic Summit represents an incredible opportunity to strengthen dialogue between academia, industry and government on how we can all work together for the betterment of our province,” says Allen, who is also the co-founder of medical nanotechnology startup Nanovista.

"I'm delighted that the audience will have the opportunity to learn about how the university’s research and talent are leading the way in the development and application of some of the most revolutionary technologies of our time – innovations that are improving Canadians’ lives and contributing to the economic health of the province.”

One of the session's participants is likely to stand out in the crowd, according to Nejat.

“We’re going to take one of our robots and have a demonstration where it engages people to do a few exercise sessions with it,” she says.

That’s a capability that Nejat and her team are also preparing to test in a two-month study that will see the robot lead residents of a long-term care facility through physiotherapist-approved exercises.

“We’ll assess residents’ acceptance of the robot ... and any other feedback during the interaction,” says Nejat.

Nejat’s robots have already spent time in long-term care facilities, where residents, family members, caregivers and administrators have been given the chance to have “meet-and-greet” sessions with them.

“It’s interesting to see how naturally people interact with social robots. They talk to the robot in a similar way that they talk to people. They respond to it, they’re engaged,” says Nejat. “This shows the capabilities and potential of the technology.”

Nejat says robots hold promise in providing older adults with cognitive stimulation.

“Dementia is a worldwide epidemic for which there’s no cure, so it’s important for us to look at using technology to help us live with a certain quality of life as we age and our population demographics change,” she says. “It’s important for older adults to be healthy as they age, be active and take part in social interactions. There’s a lot of potential for robots to support their everyday lives in this way.”

Nejat says U of T’s prowess in robotics and related technologies like AI, as well as Toronto’s bustling innovation and startup ecosystem, makes it the perfect place in which to grow the sector.

“In addition to improving people’s lives, this sector can spur job creation through startups and spin-off companies, as well as the entry of established robotics companies. My pitch at the Ontario Economic Summit will centre on how robotics can help with everyday life, support us as we age and contribute to job creation and economic prosperity in the province.”

U of T evolutionary biologists track U.S. invasion of herbicide-resistant weeds

davidlee1 — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 12:56:59 +0000

U of T evolutionary biologists track U.S. invasion of herbicide-resistant weeds

davidlee1 Wed, 10/09/2019 - 08:56

Cutline

A field of soybean plants on Walpole Island in southwestern Ontario is entirely overrun by common waterhemp (photo by Julia Kreiner)

Chris Sasaki

Topic

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Faculty of Arts & Science

Global

Graduate Students

Evolutionary biologists from the ��Ƶ are part of a research team that has identified how herbicide-resistant strains of common waterhemp, an invasive weed, have emerged in fields of soy and corn in southwestern Ontario.

The researchers found that the herbicide resistance – first detected in Ontario in 2010 – spread via two mechanisms: first, pollen and seeds of resistant plants are physically dispersed by wind, water and other means; second, resistance has appeared through the spontaneous emergence of genetic mutations that then spread.

The researchers found evidence of both mechanisms by comparing the genomes of herbicide-resistant waterhemp plants from farms in the U.S. Midwest with the genomes of plants from Southern Ontario. Their findings were recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

“We used modern methods of genome analysis to look at the genetic similarity of different populations of these plants,” says Julia Kreiner (left), a PhD candidate in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology in the Faculty of Arts & Science and the study’s lead author.

“To our surprise, we found that the genomes of some resistant plants in Ontario were nearly identical to those in very distant U.S. plants. This was evidence that the Ontario plants were very closely related to the U.S. plants and suggests that the former came from seeds that were just picked up from one field and dropped in another.”

While Kreiner and her collaborators did not determine exactly how the seeds were physically transported, this propagation known as gene flow is typically accomplished in different ways. Seeds can be carried by water or in the digestive tracts of animals, or from field to field by way of farm equipment. Genes can also be spread via wind-borne pollen – particularly with a wind-pollinated plant like common waterhemp.

The same DNA analysis identified some resistant plants that did not genetically match any other plants, suggesting they appeared through the independent emergence of a genetic mutation conveying resistance.

The researchers were surprised to discover both mechanisms at play.

“We have two regions, Walpole Island and Essex County in southwestern Ontario, where waterhemp populations evolved resistance,” says Stephen Wright, a professor in ecology and evolutionary biology at U of T and a co-author of the study.

“Because of their proximity, our expectation was that they would have shared the same origin of resistance. But our results suggest different origins – from the movement of seed from a source population in the U.S. as well as independent evolution of resistance in a local population.”

John Stinchcombe, also a professor in ecology and evolutionary biology and a co-author, says, “One of the most striking findings is that we see both ways that weeds could become resistant happening on really short time scales.

“Evolution is happening very quickly, and using multiple mechanisms.”

In addition to the U of T researchers, other study co-authors included weed scientists from the University of Illinois, the University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus and genome and developmental geneticists at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Germany.

“Because herbicide-resistant waterhemp had appeared in the U.S. long before such plants were found in Canada, we were convinced that evolution of herbicide resistance is very rare and had occurred only once,” says Detlef Weigel, a co-author from the Max Planck Institute. “Now that we know that it can occur repeatedly, the next question is whether one can slow down the evolution of new genetic variants that make waterhemp herbicide resistant.”

The researchers studied strains of the common waterhemp (Amaranthus tuberculatus) that are resistant to glyphosate, one of the most widely used herbicides in the world. It’s commonly known by its trade name Roundup.

“Waterhemp is one of the most problematic agricultural weeds in North America,” explains Kreiner. “In the U.S., common waterhemp and the closely related Amaranthus palmeri are causing all kinds of havoc in terms of crop productivity and crop yields.”

“Waterhemp first appeared in one county in Ontario in the early 2000s. As of this year, we’ve found them in seven different counties in the province. So, it’s spreading.”

Kreiner says the findings underline the importance of strictly following agricultural practices designed to minimize gene flow and staunch resistant strains as they arise.

“The fact that we’re seeing a spread involving all of these mechanisms shows that managing the problem is a real challenge, and that it will require integrating management approaches across different scales,” Kreiner adds.

For example, it illustrates the importance of thoroughly cleaning agricultural residue from rented farm equipment, which is used on multiple farms in a season, in order to minimize the transport of seeds from field to field.

“It also shows the importance of practices like rotating herbicides from season to season,” says Kreiner. “And rotating crops between corn, soy and wheat. It’s practices like these that will minimize the emergence of resistance and limit seed movement.”

At the same time, Kreiner warns that the occurrence of herbicide resistance is an inevitable evolutionary process, and that the challenge requires further study.

“Management practices still don’t treat the underlying cause, which is that herbicide resistance is evolving repeatedly,” she says. “And so with these new genomic resources and approaches, I’m now trying to understand what makes a weed a weed. What are the factors that might make these weeds more likely to evolve resistance and be more problematic than others?

“At this point, we’re running out of herbicides. These plants have evolved resistance to pretty much every herbicide we’ve come up with. And it doesn’t seem like there’s ever going to be a herbicide that a weed can’t eventually evolve resistance to.

“There may be other strategies for controlling these weeds – like weed-control technologies based on robotics and machine learning,” Kreiner suggests. “But even then, the weed has a way to evolve around that, so it’s a really difficult challenge.”

The research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, among others.

How this U of T alumnus is leading the ‘vinyl renaissance’

noreen.rasbach — Wed, 02 Oct 2019 04:00:00 +0000

How this U of T alumnus is leading the ‘vinyl renaissance’

noreen.rasbach Wed, 10/02/2019 - 00:00

Cutline

Alumnus Rob Brown, chief operating officer of Viryl Technologies, holds up a “splatter” record made on the company’s LiteTone vinyl press. Viryl Technologies is one of only two firms worldwide that produce such machines (photo by Doug Chappell)

Tyler Irving

Topic

Advanced Manufacturing

Alumni

If you had told a young Rob Brown that he would someday run one of only two companies in the world that make vinyl record pressing machines, he would never have believed you.

“Vinyl was dead,” says Brown, who graduated in 2000 from the ��Ƶ's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “Growing up, I had a turntable and enjoyed listening to it, but by the time I started my undergrad at U of T, it was all CDs. And after Napster, even those started to disappear.”

After graduation, Brown pursued a traditional engineering career path at first – thanks to a 16-month internship through the professional experience year co-op program, he landed a job in product development at Xerox in Mississauga.

Brown designed document feeders, auto staplers, and other components for printers and copy machines, from conception through to manufacturing. But a few years later, Xerox wound down its manufacturing operations in Canada and Brown went to work for Sentinelle, a startup that made advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment.

“I was the 17^th employee,” he says. “Within just a few years, we grew to 150 people, so I got a taste of the startup life and all that it entailed.”

He also met James Hashmi and Chad Brown, two colleagues that would become his future business partners. Chad Brown had previously been the owner of Canada’s last vinyl record pressing plant, Markham’s Acme Pressing. It was through his former industry contacts that the trio started to hear about the improbable resurgence of vinyl.

“Today we can all carry thousands of songs in our pocket, yet we can’t find anything we want to listen to,” says Rob Brown. “Vinyl makes the process more deliberate. It’s about carving out time to listen to music in a more mindful way.”

Spurred on by the creation of Record Store Day in 2008, vinyl sales in the U.S. have soared from 1.9 million in 2008 to 16.8 million in 2018. The trend in other countries has been similar, accompanied by a brisk trade in second-hand records. Some industry watchers suggest that vinyl sales could soon outstrip those of CDs.

But the renaissance came too late for the companies that made the presses: Virtually all of them had gone out of business. Record companies who wanted to issue new releases on vinyl had to make do with refurbished machines from decades earlier.

“People were buying presses from Russia that had been sitting out in the snow for 10 years, that never had any chance of running again,” says Brown. “There was this huge void for new equipment.”

Around 2015, as their employer entered a period of restructuring, they started to research what it would take to build a modern record press from scratch. They visited pressing plants, taking pictures of their refurbished equipment and reading through dusty service manuals. They expanded their team, scoured the internet for expired patents and watched YouTube videos of old machines in operation.

“Mike Wybenga, who is now our director of engineering, was great at this,” says Brown. “He would zoom in on a video, find a number written on the side of the machine, call it and chat to whoever picked up.”

In this way, the team was able to identify the tried-and-tested solutions they wanted to preserve, as well as the pain points they could focus on improving.

In July 2015, Viryl Technologies was incorporated, with Brown as chief operating officer. A little more than six months later, the team had a working demo assembled. The launch gained media attention and generated a lot of interest in sales; Brown says that the phone was “ringing off the hook.”

Though built with modern materials, the design of the company’s flagship WarmTone vinyl press is broadly similar to the workhorses of the 1970s. What’s different is the way the machines are controlled and monitored. Programmable logic controllers, real-time sensors and mobile-ready software – none of which were available in the disco era – make it easier to detect problems and troubleshoot on the fly.

“Any operator can log in from their phone and see exactly what their plant is doing,” says Brown. “We also have access to that data, which helps us better support our customers and improve our designs.”

The company also offers a LiteTone model, with manual operation geared toward custom productions, such as records featuring pictures or multiple colours of vinyl. Their newest creation is a “steamless” model that eliminates the need for the cumbersome steam boiler traditionally used to heat up the molds. This model is small enough to fit in a standard shipping container, and was recently featured in a Ram commercial with country singer Eric Church.

Viryl Technologies has created a mobile record press that fits in a standard shipping container (photo courtesy of Viryl Technologies)

With more than 50 machines now operating in a variety of countries, business is good for Viryl. Going forward, the company will continue to refine their presses, as well as expand into auxiliary equipment for the record industry and perhaps even other sectors that make use of molded plastic.

The future looks bright, but Brown says that he still thinks back to the lessons he learned at U of T.

“You forget the formulas, but what you remember is the approach to problem solving, and how to quickly get the information you need to move forward,” he says. “I remember one of my instructors, Duncan Newman, always used to say ‘get physical fast,’ by which he meant: Don’t spend too much time designing on paper before you build a prototype.

“That approach has served us well.”

From wood towers to more efficient mining: How U of T is driving innovation, economic prosperity across Ontario

rahul.kalvapalle — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 04:00:00 +0000

From wood towers to more efficient mining: How U of T is driving innovation, economic prosperity across Ontario

rahul.kalvapalle Wed, 09/18/2019 - 00:00

Cutline

A 14-storey academic building made of engineered wood is proposed for the top of the Goldring Centre (photo by Peter Vanderheyden)

Topic

John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture

Forestry

Meric Gertler

Mining

It may be located far from Ontario's northern forests, but the 14-storey, engineered wood-framed tower proposed for the ��Ƶ’s St. George campus will help to propel mass timber construction in the province.

Mass timber is prized as an innovative building material because of its low carbon footprint, structural integrity, fire-resistant properties and aesthetic appeal. Research and building projects at U of T, including the Academic Wood Tower, are helping to showcase mass timber’s potential and spur innovation and job creation in forestry.

It’s just one example of how industries contributing to economic development across Ontario are benefiting from research and expertise at U of T.

The project is expected to help “communities in northern Ontario find exciting new markets for their forest products,” said Anne Koven (pictured left), director of Ontario’s Mass Timber Institute and adjunct professor in the forestry program at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.

The Academic Wood Tower is one project that will be highlighted in Sudbury this week at a roundtable on “Northern Ontario’s Innovation Ecosystem.” It's one in a series of events across Ontario this fall that will explore how cutting-edge research and talent at U of T are helping open new markets for industry and driving growth in Ontario.

The series was organized by the ��Ƶ and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce to examine regional challenges to economic development in the province.

The series moves to Peterborough on Sept. 27 for a panel on “Scaling Up Small Business” and concludes in Hamilton on Oct. 3 with a discussion on “Regional Collaboration in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA).”

“Ontario’s post-secondary institutions play a vital role in driving innovation in both traditional and emerging industries, and the ��Ƶ makes a unique contribution across the province through our multidisciplinary research strengths,” said U of T President Meric Gertler.

“These roundtables will advance our long-standing collaborations with government and industry to translate ideas into solutions that create opportunites and long-term growth in communities throughout Ontario.”

In the province’s north, that means harnessing innovation to help traditional industries in the natural resources adapt to sustainability considerations and changing market demands.

Koven, who will be a part of Wednesday’s roundtable in Sudbury, says the growing interest in mass timber among architects, engineers and designers is creating a heightened need for research, something U of T is well equipped to supply.

“We need good research because architects, designers and construction companies have experience in building with concrete and steel, not with wood – certainly not with these new wood products,” she said. “We believe that U of T researchers are well placed to help this sector with the knowledge that they need.”

Koven adds that partnerships – and the “north-south connection” fostered between U of T and its partners in the north – are crucial to the health of the forestry industry. It’s a message she’s keen to convey at the Sudbury roundtable.

In addition to forestry, Sudbury’s economy has also long been synonymous with mining, an industry that faces urgent challenges pertaining to energy consumption and waste management, according to Assistant Professor Erin Bobicki (pictured left) of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering's department of materials science and engineering.

Bobicki, who is cross-appointed to the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry, says the first step in the mining process – the crushing and grinding of rocks to liberate minerals – is so inefficient that only around one per cent of energy put into the process actually goes into breaking rocks.

“My recent calculations, based on data from Natural Resources Canada, showed that we use more energy to break rocks than we do in the entire pulp and paper industry,” said Bobicki. “Mining is the most energy-intensive industry in Canada, so we really need to come up with better ways to do this.”

To that end, Bobicki is leading a public-private-academic consortium called CanMicro that is researching the use of microwaves to provoke thermal responses in target minerals located in rocks, allowing for more efficient use of energy.

She is also collaborating with mining companies located in Sudbury – including the Brazilian multinational Vale SA, where she began her career as a metallurgist – to find ways to reduce the environmental impact of tailings, which are waste and byproducts left over from mining.

“The vision is that we eventually get to a point where we don’t have tailings or anything that will be viewed as waste, but everything will be viewed as a commodity,” she said.

Bobicki said the Sudbury roundtable is also an opportunity to highlight obstacles faced by entrepreneurs in the mining industry trying to scale up their business. “If an innovation comes from a small entrepreneur, they often don’t have the resources to take on expensive and technically risky projects to demonstrate that their idea works.”

That’s a challenge ubiquitous across industries, and one that U of T is looking to tackle by building strong ties between its research community and industry partners.

Derek Newton (pictured left), assistant vice-president, innovation, partnerships and entrepreneurship, says U of T currently works with around 300 private-sector partners that include several Canadian-owned small-and medium-sized enterprises.

“We’re always looking for companies that have technical challenges and research questions,” said Newton. “We connect them to U of T researchers who can help them address their challenges and tackle important research questions together. These partnerships help companies create new products and services that can benefit Ontario.”

Newton gives the example of Peterborough-based company Charlotte Products, which worked with the labs of Professor Christopher Yip (pictured left) from the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering and University Professor Shana Kelley (pictured far left) from the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy to develop novel cleaning products that are fighting the spread of infections in hospitals and care facilities. The partnership was supported by U of T, the company and the federal government.

The Peterborough roundtable on Sept. 27 will see Newton moderate a panel discussion on scaling up small business that will include Diane Richard, Charlotte Products’ director of product development, on the panel. Prabmeet Sarkaria, Ontario’s associate minister of small business and red tape reduction, will address the group.

The roundtable series will conclude in Hamilton on Oct. 3 with a discussion on how regional collaboration among post-secondary institutions, businesses, government and other organizations can foster collaboration, both in expertise and resources, to tackle key economic challenges in the GTHA.

Few initiatives exemplify this form of collaboration like the Smart Freight Centre, which was established by U of T in conjunction with Peel Region, McMaster University and York University to spur research and innovation pertaining to the transportation of goods across the GTHA.

The chair of the centre, Professor Matthew Roorda of the department of civil and mineral engineering, will shed light on how the centre’s activities – which cover issues ranging from robotics and emissions to transportation policy and solving congestion – stand to boost the economic vibrancy and general quality of life across the GTHA.

U of T researchers launch in-depth evaluation of strategies to curb 'hallway medicine' in Ontario

rahul.kalvapalle — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 18:22:00 +0000

U of T researchers launch in-depth evaluation of strategies to curb 'hallway medicine' in Ontario

rahul.kalvapalle Thu, 08/22/2019 - 14:22

Cutline

U of T researchers Sara Guilcher (left) and Kerry Kuluski are launching a research project aimed at identifying solutions to "hallway medicine" in Ontario (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Health