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Acadia University - Every second counts, especially in the NHL
Often the difference between a good hockey player and a great one can be categorized by milliseconds. That’s partly what inspired Dr. Jonathan Fowles, Dr. Gary Ness, and then-honour students, Amy Simson and Matt Price of Acadia University to develop a unique skating simulator designed to improve acceleration times for hockey players.
SkateSIM®, the resulting off-ice skate simulator product (shown above), targets specific muscle groups and movements involved in skating acceleration. After successful testing on campus athletes and minor and junior hockey teams in Nova Scotia and Ontario, it has been purchased by an NHL team for off-ice training. Dr. Fowles plans to broaden SkateSIM® testing to include Olympic speed skaters in the not-too-distant future.
Over the last year, the SkateSIM® has been improved to the point where it can be easily packaged and shipped and discussions are underway with a manufacturer to distribute SkateSIM® throughout North America.
Cape Breton University - CBU teams up with IBM
Cape Breton University (CBU) has teamed up with computer giant, IBM, on a project called “Caption-Me-Now”. Essentially, IBM’s Caption-Me-Now is an accessibility initiative that provides a mechanism for captioning audio and video material from the Internet and avails it to individuals requiring the materials in alternative formats.
CBU is working with IBM to further develop these research techniques and improve transcription through the use of automatic and semi-automatic tools. The team is looking to ease the transcription work by using a unique interaction of voice recognition, automated tools and other input devices.
Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick -
Dalhousie University - Seeking the perfect reaction
Dr. Mark Stradiotto and a team of graduate students from Dalhousie University have made great strides in designing catalysts that have potential for commercial use within the industrial and pharmaceutical sectors. Catalysts are materials that cause chemicals to react without changing the properties of the catalyst itself. Creating a catalyst that is deemed a “perfect fit” for a particular chemical process is a powerful ability. Dr. Stradiotto works on special types of catalysts that work steriospecifically. These catalysts can be used to produce single reaction products which are identical except for their mirror image or optical properties. In the case of sterioisomer drugs, one sterioisomer product usually has the desired properties while the other is either inert or has totally different and unwanted properties.
Stradiotto uses a combination of metals, alloys, and natural and synthetic materials to make a “perfect fit” catalyst that incites a very specific chemical reaction. This controlled method used to achieve the desired chemical reaction is of great interest to industry where 80 - 90 % of chemical processes involve the use of catalysts.
The technology that Stradiotto uses for catalyst customization recently won him a $50,000 innovation award. With this award under his belt, Dr. Stadiotto is working with Dalhousie’s Industry Liaison and Innovation Office to seek out a potential private sector company to collaborate with and further his research work.
Click here for the latest news from the Dalhousie Office of Industry Liaison and Innovation
Memorial University - Seeking a “Seal” of Approval
The Genesis Group – Memorial University’s technology commercialization arm – has helped a faculty-owned company move research findings to a signed licensing agreement.
The company, North Atlantic Biopharma Inc. (NABPI), discovered that a lipid emulsion made with seal oil can be used effectively to intravenously feed hospital patients who have difficulty digesting essential nutrients orally. Genesis worked with NABPI to protect this finding. Now, with a license agreement in place, NABPI will work with Chinese company Guangzeng Pharmaceutical Group to bring a seal oil-based pharmaceutical product to market in China.
NABPI will be conducting some of the pre-clinical studies on the Memorial campus. It’s estimated that the development will take just three to five years to reach the market, something that would result in significant royalty payments to NABPI and the Genesis Group.
Mount Allison University - Another Step Closer to a Cure
People today, even the most health conscious, aren’t likely to include “boron” in their daily vitamin supplement routine. But maybe they should. This common element, found in soil, is gaining notoriety amongst scientists for its impact on human health and the environment.
Dr. Steve Westcott, a Canada Research Chair in boron pharmaceutical chemistry at Mount Allison, has developed a highly-efficient method for producing boron compounds that provide essential nourishment to plants, yet destroy insects, fungus and mould without leaving a toxic residue. Add to that the facts that boron compounds have powerful anti-cancer abilities (destroying cancer cells but leaving healthy ones intact) and that they are able to cross cell membranes to deliver drugs, it’s no wonder that a number of chemical and pharmaceutical companies are interested in Dr. Westcott’s technology.
Dr. Westcott has filed a US patent application, as well as a Patent Cooperation Treaty, for his method of preparing main group boryl compounds. He is also working with Moncton’s Atlantic Cancer Research Institute to test his bioactive boron compounds on fighting cancer cells.
Mount St. Vincent University - Emulating the best
Within the workplace one often sees people who bring to their jobs a depth and breadth of knowledge that goes beyond formal learning from books or teachers. Their knowledge is a reflection of particular life experiences. Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU) researchers have found that this type of “tacit knowledge” can be integrated into other people’s working approach through observation and interaction.
To demonstrate this, Dr. Andrew Manning, a specialist in social learning theory at MSVU, has teamed up with Emergency Medical Care Inc. (EMC), Sierra Systems, the City of Brampton Fire and Emergency Services and the Community College of New Brunswick (Bathurst Campus) in a project that facilitates the exchange of tacit knowledge between firefighters and paramedics through a virtual environment software prototype. Manning and his team have developed this technology platform, called SIMergency, that enables emergency responders spread out across the province (or around the world!) to follow a simulation of a three-storey rooming house fire so as to enhance their incident management decision-making skills.
MSVU’s Industry Liaison team is developing a commercialization plan for the SIMergency technology to attract a commercial partner.
Nova Scotia Agricultural College - Using one plant to grow another
For 25 years, Nova Scotia-based company, Acadian Seaplants Limited, has sustainably harvested wild seaweeds and cultivated and processed others into a number of technical, seaweed derived products serving food and agricultural markets in 70 countries. To grow its business even further, Acadian Seaplants has partnered with the Nova Scotia Agricultural College to identify components of the seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum that will be effective in very specific growing conditions around the world.
To achieve this, Dr. Prithiviraj, a Plant Stress Physiology Research Chair, is studying extracts derived from marine plants to determine which components are able to improve agricultural crop performance and productivity. By understanding precisely which compounds affect different crops, Acadian Seaplants can use that information to develop and market potential new products.
Acadian Seaplants funded Prithiviraj’s Research Chair position. It’s this type of partnership that helps the company get its scientific discoveries closer to the commercialization stage and, with continued investment and research, to the marketplace.
NSCAD University - A Safer Way to Lift
NSCAD Honours student, Margot Durling, excelled in her product design course – so much so that she may have developed a healthcare product that is on its way to being commercialized.
Durling originally envisioned a patient transfer belt (intended primarily for elderly patients needing help to stand) that would alleviate the risk of injuries, offer improved safety and comfort to patients and use essential ergonomic principles to make it easy for medical professionals to use.
For her thesis, Durling further developed “The Ambulator” using theories of biomechanics. Working with NSCAD Assistant Professor of Design, Glen Hougan, she collaborated with health care professionals in local nursing homes to make the belt more visually appealing. The new belt has a friendly design and has proven to be effective for both the patient and caregiver to use.
Durling is working with technology transfer staff to determine the “next steps” to successfully bring “The Ambulator” to commercialization.
St. Francis Xavier University - Dirty Problems Result in Clean New Devices
Taking a different path than many people, when Dr. David Risk encountered a problem, he invented something to solve it. Dr. Risk, of St.FX University, had several years of environmental research under his belt when he began looking at ways to improve existing soil testing methods, which could neither produce the specific types of global warming data that he needed nor facilitate his tight timeframes.
His response was the creation of two unique products. The first is what appears to be the world’s only soil gas transport measuring device, which will help gauge the speed with which gases that contribute to global warming, as well as contaminant and non-toxic gases, are moving out of the earth. The second is a trace gas sampling system that will make the testing process much cleaner.
“The idea was not about designing something that would make money; it was about being practical. I just wanted to have a better method of testing,” says Dr. Risk. “But these compact, more reliable devices definitely have a place within the research market. They save time and money and so are particularly useful for consultants and engineers.”
This market need has moved him to apply for patents for his prototypes, which he hopes will pique the interest of a company who will license the product.
Click here for the latest news from the Industry Liaison Office at St. F.X.
St. Mary's University - Isn’t it ionic?
Ionic salts are organic salts that have melting points at or below room temperature, as opposed to the better known table salt which melts at 801°C. The power of this “liquid salt” to dissolve other substances formed the basis of research being carried out by Dr. Robert Singer.
“The real-life focus on ionic liquids is their use as solvents in chemical processes. They can dissolve a lot of things,” says Singer. “For example, there is one liquid that can actually dissolve a lump of coal.”
Ionic salts are easier on the environment than more commonly-used solvents because they don’t evaporate (they have no vapour pressure) meaning that they don’t contribute to greenhouse gases or contaminate the air. They are also non-flammable, an attractive quality for industrial users.
These physical properties are of great interest to chemists and industry alike as the biggest source of industrial waste is solvent waste. Singer hopes to develop chemical processes that will work better with ionic liquids than conventional solvents. While switching to a process that uses ionic salts might mean a one-time conversion cost for companies, it would result in significant long-term financial savings and environmental benefits.
Dr. Singer, with assistance from Saint Mary’s Industry Liaison Office staff, was granted U.S. patent pending status for his ionic liquids research in December 2005. Dr. Singer and his team continue to advance ionic liquids research at Saint Mary’s with very encouraging results for future commercialization.
St. Thomas University - Collaboration at its best
Not all of Springboard’s members have research and development activity to support their own technology transfer office. Under the true collaborative spirit of the Springboard network, some offices play dual roles. UNB technology transfer staff manage potential commercialization opportunities at St. Thomas. It’s truly the power of progressive attitudes that makes this type of partnership successful.
Universite de Moncton - A more efficient approach to eLearning
L’Université de Moncton and the National Research Council have partnered with Desire2Learn, a world-leading provider of enterprise eLearning systems, to develop a software suite called SynergiC3. This new technology will significantly decrease production times and the cost of developing eLearning content, both of which are becoming increasingly important within the education and training industries.
“There has been rise in demand for rich and interactive content, created more efficiently and more cheaply without compromising quality,” says Dany Benoit, eLearning Manager, Université de Moncton. “The strategic partnership brings together a team of talented and knowledgeable people who will integrate some key processes to improve e-learning design and development.”
By facilitating collaboration, communications and coordination of activities, the SynergiC3 software will offer better quality control, flexibility, and compatibility. In essence, it will revolutionize the way eLearning is used.
University of New Brunswick - Bringing Chemistry to Life
As a boy, UNB’s Dr. Ghislain Deslongchamps, was fascinated with 3D models of molecules. This, combined with the fact that his father was a renowned chemistry professor, likely served as the impetus for his life-long love of organic chemistry – but with a twist. When teaching chemistry from a blackboard or a textbook, Deslongchamps was surprised to find that even the brightest students struggled to conceptualize chemical reactions at the molecular level. He realized that students needed help to visualize dynamic chemical concepts. Over a six-year period, Deslongchamps grew this novel concept into over 130 multimedia animations called Organic Chemistry Flashware™. When he presented Flashware™ at an international forum that highlighted frontier research in science and their related technologies, forum delegates began asking how they could buy it. But Deslongchamps lacked resources and know-how to develop and market his technology.
Deslongchamps was beginning to think his work would never reach other professors until the announcement of Springboard Atlantic in 2005. Springboard’s Proof-of-Concept program provides $20,000 to help bring his technology to market and its Interns in Innovation program allowed UNB to hire Joshua Samuel, a Technology Transfer Officer who had several years of licensing experience in the publishing industry.
Drawing on Samuel’s contacts at Canada’s largest educational publisher, Samuel and UNB Director of Intellectual Property, David Foord, flew to Toronto to present Flashware™ to the editorial team at Thomson Nelson. Thomson Nelson immediately saw its value and helped Deslongchamps shape the final product so it would be market-ready. In a matter of months, Thomson Nelson and UNB signed a worldwide, exclusive license for Organic Chemistry Flashware™ that would pay Deslongchamps and UNB a royalty on units sold.
In September 2006, Thomson Nelson launched Flashware™ commercially in Canada and Australia, and is planning to release it in the United States in 2007.
Click here for the latest news from UNB's Office of Research Services
University of Prince Edward Island - Setting up Shop on PEI
Prince Edward Island is well known for its beaches and the famous “Anne of Green Gables”, but it’s also gaining quite a reputation for its strong bioscience presence. Bioscience is a key strategic sector in PEI and hence has been the focus of development and expansion efforts. As a result, there is an ever-growing cluster of companies setting up research facilities on the island.
This was certainly part of the attraction for Dr. Russell Kerr, UPEI’s new Canada Research Chair in Marine Natural Products Chemistry. His international experience and expertise in research and development will be a great addition to PEI’s bioscience strengths. The longterm objective of Dr. Kerr’s natural products research will be to aid in the development of new therapeutic drugs from a variety of marine life without damaging fragile marine environments.