WE-SPARK Health Institute issues 2024 grant call WE-SPARK Health Institute is now accepting applications to stimulate the development of early-stage, novel, and innovative health research and education projects in Windsor-Essex. The WE-SPARK Igniting Discovery Grants provide funding for projects that have any health research focus across all health themes: biomedical research; clinical research; implementation science; educational health programs; health services research; and social, cultural, environmental, and population health research. Additional grants are also available: Cancer Research, funded by the Seeds4Hope Program, Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation Childhood Cancer Research, funded by ChildCan Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Research, funded by the Katelyn Bedard Bone Marrow Association The Tayfour and Emara Research Grant, funded by Dr. Fouad Tayfour and Dr. Barry Emara The objectives of the grants are to provide new research teams and programs with support to pursue projects and encourage exploratory and discovery-oriented…
Researchers seeking answers to mercury accumulation in African fish Kenyan fishers are hoping UWindsor scientists can improve environmental conditions that threaten the stock of Nile perch. UWindsor scientists are investigating a mercury contamination mystery that could threaten the future of the Kenyan Nile perch fisheries. Although Ken Drouillard found that mercury contamination in Winam Gulf, the largest portion of Lake Victoria within Kenya, is on the decline in both the lake as a whole and in the lower components of its food web, he also discovered it is on the rise within Nile perch. “We saw loadings of mercury increasing from 1960s to the ’80s when it peaked and then started declining and you’d expect the whole lake to recover as a result,” says Dr. Drouillard, School of the Environment professor and Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER) researcher. “We observed that in the lower trophic levels of the food web the mercury dropped, in mussels and even in smaller fish such as Nile tilapia, but then looking at the top predatory…
Februay networking event to bring together health research community WE-SPARK Health Institute hosts monthly networking events for members of the Windsor-Essex health research community to get to know one another through fun and casual conversations. There is no formal agenda, and all are welcome. This is an opportunity for anyone interested in health research to make connections in an informal and enjoyable atmosphere. The next event will be held Thursday February 1st from 5-8pm at the Bourbon Tap & Grill, 1199 Ottawa St, Windsor. No RSVP is required. WE-SPARK Health Institute is supported by an innovative partnership between the University of Windsor and Erie Shores HealthCare, Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, St. Clair College, and Windsor Regional Hospital that brings together health research strengths, expertise, and infrastructure from across the WindsorEssex region.
Exercise program promoting mental health wins support The University of Windsor is the recipient of a $100,000 grant from the Bell Let’s Talk Post-Secondary Fund to expand the UWorkItOut UWin program. Pictured here are UWorkItOut UWin grad students Melissa Paré and Aidan Kovacs, and kinesiology professors Krista Chandler, Chad Sutherland, and Todd Loughead. A UWindsor program that improves students’ mental health through physical exercise will expand thanks to a grant from the Bell Let’s Talk Post-Secondary Fund. UWorkItOut UWin will receive $100,000 from the fund that supports mental health initiatives at universities, colleges, and cégeps across Canada. “We would like to thank Bell Let’s Talk for the generous contribution,” said Krista Chandler, who founded UWorkItOut UWin with the help of fellow kinesiology professors Todd Loughead and Chad Sutherland. “This funding will allow us to continue to support our Lancer students and provide them with an exceptional university experience.” UWorkItOut UWin is a six-week supervised…
Rx Revolution: University of Windsor offers ground-breaking nursing certification program A new certification program at the University of Windsor will qualify nurses to prescribe medication. The Faculty of Nursing, in collaboration with Continuing Education and in association with the Ontario Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioner consortium, is launching a certification program that will enable Registered Nurses (RNs) in Ontario to prescribe medication for specific treatment and health care such as contraception, immunization, smoking cessation, and topical wound care. Until now, only specialized health-care professionals such as physicians, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, dentists, optometrists, chiropractors, and veterinarians had prescribing authority in the province. With the approval of the Ontario University Consortium RN Prescribing Education Program by the College of Nurses of Ontario, it is no longer the case. Faculty of Nursing professors Sherry Morrell and Gina Pittman highlighted the program’s impact on the health-care system, and how it significantly changes…
Grant to boost search for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease Biomedical sciences professor Vijendra Sharma is exploring pathways to treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. With a long-term goal of offering a novel approach to treating Alzheimer’s disease, professor Vijendra Sharma is researching biological pathways that could reverse long-term memory impairment. Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disease characterized by a gradual loss of memory and cognition, leading to amnesia. “First, we want to identify the cell types in the brain affected by Alzheimer’s disease,” says Dr. Sharma. “Then we’ll study how stress alters protein synthesis pathways in those cell types to create drugs that target the affected cells and correct the dysregulated protein synthesis, which is critical for memories.” An assistant professor in biomedical sciences who started his lab at the University of Windsor in January 2023, Sharma will focus on the integrated stress response pathway, which is activated in Alzheimer’s disease. Prolonged cellular…
Tools enable anatomy examination Students crowd around to view a demonstration of the Anatomage table, which enables users to analyze and examine human anatomy with the touch of a fingertip. A field trip to explore high-tech anatomy and physiology tools gave graduate students of chemistry and biochemistry deeper understanding of the human body. The experiential learning field trip to the Dr. Murray O’Neil Medical Education Centre, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry-Windsor Campus, allowed hands-on exploration of medical dissection through the Anatomage table, three-dimensional models, and human cadaver physiological organ systems. Student Victoria Kis especially enjoyed the Anatomage table, a digital tool that enables users to analyze and examine human anatomy with the touch of a fingertip. “I felt very excited and fortunate to be able to use the Anatomage table to take a look into the pregnant body and see the different organs and related systems,” Kis says. The demonstrations — facilitated by Master of…
Health research subject of online think tank A virtual think tank on February 2nd provides opportunities for input into three health research areas A public session on Zoom scheduled for 1 to 3 p.m. Friday, February 2nd will have three breakout sessions inviting participants to provide input into how these research areas should be set up, what success looks like, and how all can best work together to achieve outcomes. The three breakout sessions will focus on: Community Health & Well-being For those interested in all aspects of community health and well-being research including disease awareness, disease prevention, public health, environmental, rehabilitation, support programs, etc. Cancer For those interested in all aspects of cancer research including biomedical, clinical trials, psycho social, policy, nursing, etc Behavioural and Brain Health For those interested in all aspects of behavioural and brain health research including mental health, addictions, neuroscience, AI innovations, etc. Click here to register for the event.…
Jump-start your new year with cold-weather running, say researchers Cold weather doesn’t have to mean an end to outside exercise. Kinesiology professor Kevin Milne and PhD student Kurt Downes offer advice on how to run safely outdoors in winter in a recent article published in The Conversation. Photo by Julia Larson (Pexels). Don’t let cold temperatures dampen your enthusiasm about running outdoors, say a pair of researchers from the Faculty of Human Kinetics. In an article published in The Conversation, doctoral student Kurt Downes and professor Kevin Milne expound on “the joys of running in a winter wonderland.” The pair offer tips for finding motivation and staying safe, including advice on injury prevention. They cover how to run safely outdoors, as well as why it’s good idea. “There is some recent evidence to show that outdoor exercise may provide additional improvements in well-being,” they write. “These improvements could also contribute to combating seasonal affective disorders during the winter months and help to combat a slew…
