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F A C U L T Y
O F
S C I E N C E
VOLUME 29, No 2, WINTER 2013
Science answering the
questions in health
A L U M N I
M A G A Z I N E
www.science.ualberta.ca
message from the dean THE SCIENCE OF HEALTH Pretty well everything we know about good and bad health comes from science—and this body of knowledge isn’t standing still. Science is pushing the boundaries of knowledge as disciplines come together to answer the big questions in health. Scientists, doctors, and technical specialists are pooling their wisdom and experience to map out new health treatments and novel applications for technology. We’ve dedicated this issue of Science Contours to this new frontier. You’ll learn more about where we are headed given our 40-year legacy of research into the basic interactions that support life. This research program began in the 1960s when Raymond Lemieux made his groundbreaking discoveries in carbohydrate chemistry. The renowned Lemieux group, now known as The Alberta Glycomics Centre, is home to some of the best scientists in the field. They are poised to lead in the biotechnology revolution that has the potential to deliver better drug design, new diagnostic technologies, more successful transplants, and even biofuels. You can also catch up on the technology
convergence where health science teams up with leading-edge technologies and computing applications for more personalized and informed decision-making. This is how science is scaling discovery to have a profound impact on the quality of our lives. And in more news on science and scale... our first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), Dino 101, launched in September. Dino 101 (actually PALEO 200: Dinosaur Paleobiology) has received international acclaim for the quality of the course. Over 20,000 students started the course, including 450 University of Alberta students for credit. This course is innovative and is unlike any other online course you may have taken before: on-location filming of dinosaur digs, interactive software applications, 3D images of real fossils, and so on. The course is offered again in January 2014 for credit. If you don’t want credit, you can take the course any time—it’s free. Sign up at uofa.ualberta.ca/dinosaurs/dino101. Watch for more MOOCs debuting in the 2014-15 academic year. Jonathan Schaeffer Dean of Science
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Science Contours is published twice a year by the Faculty of Science office to provide current information on the many activities of faculty and alumni. The magazine is distributed to alumni and friends of the Faculty. Dean of Science Jonathan Schaeffer Editor Sandra Robertson Associate Editor Kristy Condon Graphic Design Studio X Design Inc. Cover Illustration Jill Stanton Contributing writers Bryan Alary, Justin Bell, Kristy Condon, Ross Lockwood, Sandra Robertson, Scott Rollins, Sydney Rudko, and Alan Shapiro Photography Clive Coy, Phillip Currie, Eva Koppelhus, Ryan C. McKellar, Niels de Nijs, University of Alberta, University of Alberta Archives (UAA 82-171-05c), John Ulan
Send your comments to: The Editor, Science Contours Faculty of Science 6-197 CCIS, University of Alberta Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2E9
Publications Mail Agreement No: 40063605
/UofAScience @UAlbertaScience
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contents 2
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science bases 1 Science in the News
New support for research in healthcare innovations and for stronger environmental management in the oil sands; what science can do to save grizzly bears along the CP Rail lines in Banff; ASTECH awards, new insights into the evolution of climate and life on earth; and a welcome to our newest paleontology discovery—a once-in-a-lifetime find of a nearly perfectly preserved baby dinosaur.
features 5 Physicist-physicians chart new cancer treatments
When physicists get into the therapeutic design business, new rational drug designs can rapidly open up treatment pathways.
7 How to think about
12 The business of
Meet psychology grads Cindy Cui and Don Mabbott, who are applying their scientific expertise to improve children’s health.
Meet science grad Michelle Naylor, Regional Sales Manager for Takeda Canada Inc., who applies her dual literacy in science and business to her role in the pharmaceutical industry.
health
8 In a perfect world,
you’d stop the clock to treat traumatic injury
Fred Colbourne has been exploring therapeutic hypothermia to address the complex mechanisms of injury and repair in stroke patients.
9 U of A’s vast scientific legacy in life science
The research group spearheaded by ‘Sugar’ Ray Lemieux in the early 1960s has been at the forefront of understanding a critical domain of health science for close to 50 years. Learn more about how they continue to lead at the precipice of the biotech revolution.
Agrawal, the Director of the U of A’s Planning Program shares what science can offer for better risk response and prevention through planning.
health
13 A confederation
of lessons learned, brought to you by science and technology
19 From earthquakes
to bone-quakes: how geophysics can offer better health diagnostics
What does geology have to do with bone density? Scientists and medical practitioners can work together to provide more sensitive assessments of the key determinants of bone strength than x-ray.
New technologies are offering sophisticated insights into healthcare, for everything from safer neighborhoods to personalized treatments in medicine.
20 Science—an
adventure for a lifetime: Sheila Berry
15 Planning our
way to health at the intersection of nature and development
Alberta has had some dramatic experience with the health and public safety risks of natural hazards, including flooding and uncontrolled fires. Sandeep
Meet Sheila Berry (’55 BSc, ‘65MSc, ’69 PhD), one of the first women to graduate from the U of A’s Department of Biological Sciences. With many firsts and many adventures behind her, she has decided to support the Faculty of Science to pave the way for others to do the same.
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o S C I E N C E IN THE NEWS
We Fisher Scientific Longtime supporter of the Faculty of Science, Fisher Scientific, will be donating 15 Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) to the Faculty. The gift, valued at $25,000, was inspired by Anthony Cornish’s wife Karen GwozdCornish, who recently saved the life of a soccer dad who was having a heart attack during a game. Anthony, the Manager of the Molecular Biology Service Unit in Biological Sciences says two lucky things came together that day—“the soccer field was equipped with an AED, and Karen had just updated her first aid training and knew how to use the device.” To ensure students, staff, and visitors to Science will have the benefit of the same life-saving tools, the units will arrive early in 2014 and will be installed throughout CCIS, Biological Sciences, Chemistry and the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences buildings. Many thanks to Fisher Scientific for their generous support through the years, including their support for the Fisher Scientific Research Support Facility in CCIS (5-104) and student scholarships in Biological Sciences and ALES.
$2 million for research to extend the reach of healthcare As the new Cisco Research Chair in Healthcare Solutions, Pierre Boulanger (computing science) and his team are developing technologies that actualize the promise of personalized medicine, creating patient-specific models aimed at improving care and reducing risk for patients. Boulanger says the idea combines patient information such as MRIs, CT scans, and other data to create a model that allows doctors to train for procedures, create 3D visualizations, conduct simulations and even show patients different treatment options and outcomes. One example of its use involves planning a step-by-step jaw reconstruction following cancer treatment, using bones from the leg and a patient model to determine how
to piece everything together—including which blood vessels to cut. One of the first telemedicine projects under development also addresses challenges of providing high-quality care in remote parts of the world, including northern Canada. For example, a simple phone call through a mobile phone could retrieve blood pressure information or send a prescription to a pharmacist. Nitin Kawale, president of Cisco Canada, said the $2 million research chair will help Cisco collaborate with leading research-intensive universities like the U of A to foster innovation, increase productivity and support economic and social development.
Resin fossils provides new Insights into the evolution of the Earth’s atmosphere Until now, understanding the Earth’s atmospheric history has been a reconstructionist’s challenge because of the lack of useable sample material. One of the few organic materials that may preserve reliable data of the Earth’s geological history over millions of years are fossil resins or amber, because they remain nearly chemically and isotopically unchanged over long periods of geological time. In collaboration with Ralf Tappert of the University of Innsbruck and colleagues from the USA and Spain, Alex Wolfe (earth & atmospheric sciences) and Karlis Muehlenbachs (earth & atmospheric sciences) have produced a comprehensive study of the chemical composition of the Earth’s atmosphere since the Triassic period. The results suggest that atmospheric oxygen was considerably lower in the Earth’s geological past than previously assumed, casting doubt on some of the current theories about the evolution of climate and life—including the causes for the gigantism of dinosaurs. 1
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The team analyzed amber samples from almost all well-known amber deposits worldwide. This amber originates from the Cretaceous period, an inclusion of foilage of the extinct conifer tree Parataxodium sp. from the Foremost Formation at Grassy Lake, Alberta, Canada. It is approximately 77 million years old.
Ultra-rare baby dinosaur discovered in Alberta badlands A 72-million-year-old tragedy for one dinotoddler has given U of A paleontologists cause for celebration. One of the best preserved baby dinosaurs ever discovered has been unearthed in Alberta’s Dinosaur Provincial Park by Canada Research Chair and Dino 101 lead professor Phil Currie (biological sciences/earth & atmospheric sciences). Estimated to have been around three years old when it died, the near-complete fossil, intact except for its forearms, is in such immaculate shape the rosette pattern from its skin is visible in the impressions in the rock below. “There’s no question this is one of the very best ones I’ve ever found,” says Currie. The skeleton is from a Chasmosaurus belli, a horned relative of the Triceratops, and is only a meter and a half long. For comparison, the skull alone of a mature adult is fully two meters in length. No other babies of this species have been found to date, so the opportunities for studies are endless. “It’s an opportunity to learn something about a dinosaur that has broader implications for the whole scientific community worldwide,” says Currie. He plans to showcase the Chasmosaurus in a new round of Dino 101 classes beginning in January, as an example of how certain features like the frill in Ceratopsian
dinosaurs were developed as display structures. “They are things that are not so important and much smaller in the babies, but in a large sexually mature animal develop into these very bizarre structures.”
See more photos online at ualberta.ca/sciencecontours. Learn more about this baby Chasmosaurus beginning in January in Dino 101—dino101.ca.
l Complete skul of the juvenile lli s be Chasmosauru d to [top], compare of an jaw r we lo e th ian adult ceratops en se [bottom], both in lef t view.
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U of A ecologists to lead critical conservation research on behalf of energy sector Leading University of Alberta ecology researchers Stan Boutin (biological sciences) and Scott Nielsen (’05 PhD) will be collaborating on critical conservation research that pushes beyond monitoring the impacts of the oil sands to develop strategies and policy recommendations to save and restore delicate ecosystems in Alberta. As the hub of a broad-based research program that will extend the province’s research
and innovation network, the U of A will provide dedicated science capacity for testing causeand-effect relationships related to the monitoring information generated in the province. By aggregating data from monitoring agencies such as the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI) and the Alberta Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Agency, the research program will identify biodiversity conservation
challenges and determine potential solutions. The $4 million research program, supported by the Canadian Oil sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Province of Alberta through both Alberta Innovates Energy and the Environment and Bio Solutions, will ensure industry has the information it needs to develop and implement solutions.
Science earns top awards for contributions to Alberta research, discovery and leadership The Faculty of Science brought home three of the top awards at this years’ Alberta Science and Technology Leadership (ASTech) Awards. Former Dean of Science Gregory Taylor received the award for Outstanding Contribution to the Alberta Science and Technology Community. Taylor was recognized for his dedication to the leading interdisciplinary teaching and research in the Faculty of Science and for championing and
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supporting the creation of the Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science (CCIS). The Public Awareness Award went to AuroraWatch, led by principal researcher Ian Mann (physics). The user-friendly science outreach project brings the Northern Lights to followers through an email alert service. The AuroraWatch website (aurorawatch.ca) has had 1.2 million visitors, in addition to 26,000 email subscribers and 2,000 followers on Twitter (@aurorawatch).
Rhodes Scholar Megan Engel (’12 BSc) was awarded the ASTech Leader of Tomorrow Award. The award recognized Engel’s ambitious research conducted at the U of A’s National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT), where she studied the mysteries of folding proteins and nucleic acids that contribute to devastating brain disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. The award also recognized Engel’s commitment to music and the arts.
New study explores ways for Grizzlies and trains to co-exist in Banff National Park Colleen Cassady St. Clair (biological sciences) and her research group are leading a five-year project with CP Rail, aimed at reducing the number of grizzly bear deaths along the CP main line through Banff and Yoho national parks. With $1 million in funding from CP, the
project will help the company and park wildlife managers understand how grizzly bears use the landscape, particularly the areas immediately adjacent to the rail line. Using data collected by time-lapse camera and GPS-collared bears, researchers have found
the grizzlies use the rail line as a travel corridor and forage for food leaked from rail cars. There have been 13 grizzly bear deaths along the rail line since 2000—nearly all of them between 2005 and 2012. The study is also looking at the effectiveness of electrified rubber mats that, at two test sites, were successful at turning back grizzlies and other species keen on enjoying parts of beaver and elk carcasses left as bait.
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Science grad
Khaled Barakat: a nano-engineer in health Originally from Egypt, Khaled Barakat, (‘12 PhD) graduated from Cairo University with an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and a master’s in engineering physics and was a part of the Tuszynski group at the University of Alberta. While pursuing his masters, Barakat discovered molecular modelling and immediately recognized the opportunity to apply his skills as a physicist to the field of medicine. Barakat chose Tuszynski to supervise his PhD in the Department of Physics, where he developed atomic simulations of the complex structures that the Tuszynski group specializes in. While working for Tuszynski, Barakat sought new protein inhibitors for critical cancer targets, using his software and hardware programming experience to improve the computational approaches used in the lab. His PhD research with Tuszynski resulted in two patents and thirteen published articles—but Barakat is most proud of his role in the discovery of a molecular inhibitor of the NER DNA repair pathway, the discovery of dual inhibitors of the p53 tumour suppressing protein, and the discovery of a tubulin binding site. 5
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Barakat is inspired by the wealth of research he is capable of doing using cutting edge tools. Now a postdoctoral fellow with Michael Houghton, the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Virology who discovered the hepatitis C virus in 1989, Barakat is determined to discover a vaccine for the hepatitis C virus by leveraging his knowledge and experience to make significant contributions in the future.
Physicist-physicians chart new
cancer treatments
(L to R): Khaled Barakat and Jack Tuszynski. Over the past eight years, Tuszynski and his group have drawn from breakthroughs in biotechnology, nanotechnology and computing science to design molecules that may have therapeutic value. Through this methodology, Tuszynski has been able to narrow down an array of molecules that can inhibit microtubule growth, and one of these candidates is now being produced by an industry partner to prepare for rigorous medical testing. Before the drug reaches the market, it needs to pass an array of regulator trials, including a preclinical study scheduled for 2014, before human drug trials can begin.
Jack Tuszynski is hopeful his computational research methods will drastically reduce the time it takes to see new therapeutic drugs reach doctors and their patients. The Allard Research Chair in the Department of Oncology and professor in the Department of Physics, Tuszynski originally trained as a physicist but was quickly drawn to the application of atomic modelling for problems in medicine and biology. Not surprising, since as he points out, “physicists feel obligated to cross boundaries.” In his role with the Cross Cancer Institute, he is working on molecular modelling of therapeutic drugs at the nanoscale. The software Tuszynski uses simulates individual atoms and the physics behind their motion and interaction, which allows him to predict how therapeutic drug molecules interact. These simulations can sometimes require over one million atoms, so state-of-the-art supercomputers like the WestGrid network, SHARCNET, and even IBM’s Blue Gene supercomputer are required. These software simulations at the nanoscale allow Tuszynski’s
group to predict the interactions between new drugs and cellular structures in healthy and diseased tissues. This approach aims to disable cellular structures called microtubule that act like roadways inside the cell for nutrient transport and for separating chromosomes when a cell divides. Cancer cells undergo uncontrolled division, which leads
to tumors and cancer proliferation. Tuszynski’s group targets cancer growth by disabling the microtubules that participate in cell division. Microtubules come in many configurations, which allows researchers to look for a molecule that only interacts with microtubules produced by cancer cells, killing the diseased tissue but leaving the healthy tissue unharmed.
As part of the computational revolution in medicine, Tuszynski is spearheading a new pathway in research called “rational drug design,” a computational approach to drug discovery that allows his group to test hundreds of potential therapeutic molecules against target structures in cancerous tissues. Winter . 13
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“The rigors of science gave me a solid foundation and methodology for critical and logical thinking— and also a really strong work ethic.” —Cindy Cui
How to THINK ABOUT HEALTH:
Expertise unravels complex health factors for children and youth Psychology grad Cindy (Xinjie) Cui (’93 MSc, ’01PhD, ‘07 MBA) is the inaugural Director of the Child and Youth Data Lab, a research facility that pulls together data from child-serving provincial ministries to inform policy decisions at the Alberta Center for Child Family and Community Research. Her work addresses social issues like poverty reduction and early childhood development by uncovering the complex relationships of multiple factors such as health, education, family and the justice system. She was awarded the Premier’s Award of Excellence (Gold) for her work on child health surveillance in 2007.
How to THINK ABOUT HEALTH:
Donald Mabbott at the Hospital for Sick Kids
As a master’s student, Donald Mabbott (’93 MA, ‘98 PhD) was accepted into both the psychology and educational psychology programs at the University of Alberta. And now as a researcher, he straddles the gap between oncology and psychology. Mabbott says his PhD studies in developmental psychology in the Faculty of Science provided the foundational skills for his current research—looking at the longterm effects of cancer treatment on the psychological development of children. Mabbott is currently working with Magnetic Resonance Imaging as well as statistical analysis to test the health of brain structures for a drug trial that could repair parts of the brain damaged by cancer treatments.
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“Complex psychological health problems ask you to think critically about science.” —Donald Mabbott
Fred Colbourne (psychology)continues to explore the highly complex mechanisms of injury and repair that occur after ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. The successful translation of therapeutic hypothermia for certain forms of ischemic brain injury shows the value of strong and sustained research that draws from many perspectives.
In a perfect world, you’d
stopto the clock treat traumatic injury To most people, a minute here or there doesn’t really count for much, but in Fred Colbourne’s world, a minute can mean the difference between the life and death of brain cells affected by impairments in blood flow during a stroke or heart attack. Colbourne, a professor in psychology and member of the Centre for Neuroscience, has been working to buy time and save brain function by fine-tuning hypothermia as a treatment protocol. The now clinically-used protocol of inducing prolonged mild hypothermia came about from old observations that near-drowning victims could survive with relatively little brain damage provided they had a low body temperature. Such findings lead to many questions such as whether
cooling would work after an ischemic insult, and then, how cold is cold enough, and how long is long enough? Surprisingly, the answers to those questions came decades later in animal studies that have since translated to patient care. While prolonged mild hypothermia is an effective therapy, there continues to be much research by Colbourne and many other labs on optimizing and understanding this treatment. Colbourne’s interests now focus on treating hemorrhagic
stroke, which is proving to be a more difficult and highly complex problem. It is also one requiring a multidisciplinary approach. For instance, Colbourne’s research benefits greatly from collaborations with other labs at the University of Alberta and elsewhere. Notably, he has been able to take advantage of sophisticated synchrotron-based imaging methods by collaborating with a group at the University of Saskatchewan (P. Paterson, H. Nichol and others). Winter . 13
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U of A’s va in life scie
Depiction of a cell coated with carbohydrates (in red) interacting with other cells and bacteria
to treat infection, design dru enable transplantation, and
“The study of carbohydrates has enabled scientists to answer many important questions about our environment and ourselves.” —David Bundle (chemistry)
Raymond Lemieux
Since the early 1960s and the start of Raymond Lemieux’s research program, the U of A has been leading in one of the fundamental domains
in health research—carbohydrate chemistry. Essential players in some of the human bodies’ most critical functions, carbohydrates also play a key role in the complex interactions with proteins and lipids that allow the body to recognize itself and to target pathogens. Over the past forty years, the Lemieux lab has evolved into the Alberta Glycomics Centre (established in 2002), and continues to make significant strides both in research and in training a long line of scientific icons—including current and former science faculty, David Bundle, Ole Hindsgaul, and Todd Lowary, who is now the
Raymond U. Lemieux
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Director of the Centre and it’s broad reaching research program. The growth of the program is marked by the widening scope of its research, which includes disciplinary strengths from organic chemistry and microbiology to biophysics. The long term investment and collaborative nature of this research has placed the group on the precipice of a biotechnology revolution in glycoscience— answering global health needs through vaccine and drug design, diagnostic technologies, organ transplantation, biofuels, and alternative manufacturing of goods.
Raymond Lemieux was one of the outstanding chemists of the second half of the twentieth century. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, his work on oligosaccharide synthesis, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and computer simulations of oligosaccharide three dimensional structures, had matured to the point where he was able to systematically assemble complex oligosaccharides such as the human blood group antigens to explore their biological potential. To advance this research, Lemieux recruited David Bundle, a carbohydrate immunochemist, to work at the University of Alberta as a postdoctoral fellow. Together they worked to create applications of Lemieux’s halide ion reaction. This chemical reaction enabled Lemieux to create the sugars found on the surface of blood cells, as well as other sugars created by the human body through specialized enzyme reactions, leading to the development of various diagnostic techniques, and aiding in ABO incompatible organ transplantation.
ast scientific legacy ence
ugs, create diagnostics, even create biofuels
“These collaborations are about opportunity and ingenuity and sharing of ideas—an excellent training ground for graduate students to learn from leaders in multidisciplinary fields.”
—David Bundle
David Bundle During his time at the University of Alberta, he has been carrying on Lemieux’s legacy. And in addition to his work here, David Bundle has conducted research at the National Research Council (NRC) in Ottawa, where he served as the Head of Structural Immunobiology. Bundle has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and has received all three major international awards for carbohydrate science. Beyond his achievements as a scientist, Bundle has helped foster a culture of innovation and collaboration through the founding of the Alberta Glycomics Centre, and has helped the University become a world leader in this field. Bundle notes the importance of stable funding to the success of his research program, as some of his group’s accomplishments are the culmination of over a decade’s worth of experiments. He also stresses the importance of collaboration in research, and appreciates the opportunities for collaboration the Alberta Glycomics Centre has afforded. David Bundle
How to support the ongoing impact of the Lemieux legacy Leading researchers and students continue to build on Lemieux’s scientific insights to solve critical health problems. You can support this legacy of research and discovery by giving to the Faculty of Science—to ensure the research program continues to attract and retain talented scientists and students to advance meaningful discoveries. Please call (780) 492-7411, or visit www.ualberta.ca/givetoscience for more information.
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“The research excellence established by Lemieux, Bundle and Hindsgaul, and the many students and Post-Doctoral Fellows who have followed in their footsteps, have provided an exceptional foundation to broadly impact health. We’re excited about what the future holds.” —Todd Lowary (Director Alberta Glycomics Centre)
Alberta Glycomics Centre
Research highlights Todd Lowary (chemistry) The Lowary group is working across a range of health issues, from environmental remediation to fighting infectious diseases. For example, some of their work addresses the rise of new drugresistant strains of tuberculosis through novel vaccines (the World Health Organization has declared this a global emergency). By applying their understanding of carbohydrate science, the group is working to dismantle the bacterium’s uncommonly well-fortified cell walls that are covered by dense impenetrable carbohydrates. Christine Szymanski (biological sciences) The Szymanski group is creating carbohydrate vaccines and technologies to fight food borne illnesses—including Campylobacter jejuni, the bacterium that resides in chickens and is responsible for many cases of foodborne illness— but can also lead to more serious illnesses such as Guillain-Barré syndrome and Reactive Arthritis.
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Ratmir Derda (chemistry) The Derda group is addressing global health issues by working at the intersection of chemistry and biology. The group’s low-cost point-of-care diagnostics include a paper-based tool that can be used to detect bacteria anywhere—even in remote areas in the developing world. Other tools under development include patient-specific predictive testing for tumours, treatments and engineered bacteriophages to test for diseases like tuberculosis. Mario Feldman (biological sciences) The Feldman group is finding ways to optimize vaccines through glycoengineering, to turn the virulent properties of bacteria against themselves through vaccines. Their recent discovery of a glycoprotein biofilm that arms the defenses of the superbug, Acinetobacter baumanni, is opening the door to new ways to treat the antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Christopher Cairo (chemistry) The Cairo group is focused on the cellular membrane of eukaryotic cells. While the membrane is incredibly important for cellto-cell communication, many questions remain unanswered. Much of the Cairo group’s work focuses on the development of novel technologies for studying the plasma membrane, including synthetic lipid probes that could aid research in cell signaling and microscopy techniques. They are also applying and developing new chemical methods to label regions of live cells. John Klassen (chemistry) The Klassen group optimizes Mass Spectrometry for studying glycomics. Currently modeling protein ligand interactions in gaseous complexes, the data will improve molecular modeling. The group is also developing other techniques to address deficiencies in current techniques to continue to advance research in this area.
The business of health: science grad
Michelle Naylor Like many science undergrads, Michelle Naylor (‘91 BSc, ‘00 MBA) began her studies with thoughts of medicine, but found herself shifting gears after a few months into her studies. “I started in a pre-med type of program,” she recalls, “but really, within a year, I realized that medicine was probably not for me.” Eventually, Naylor shifted her major to pharmacology. “I was really interested in maintaining the science research, experiments and the biochemistry aspect of the program.” After graduating, Naylor took a job as a medical sales representative within the pharmaceutical industry—combining her work experience with her educational background. It proved a perfect fit, she says. “I was more of a people person than a lab person.”
Naylor returned to the U of A a few years later for an MBA, and has since become a regional sales manager with Takeda, the largest pharmaceutical company in Japan that specializes in areas of metabolic diseases, gastroenterology, oncology, cardiovascular health, CNS diseases, inflammatory and immune disorders, respiratory diseases and pain management. “So now I train, coach, and develop sales representatives and I am also involved with key accounts and customers.” Although her career path has drifted towards the business side of her education, Naylor
Fast facts about Canada’s pharmaceutical industry
(source: UBC Health Services and Policy Research, 2010 report)
30,000 10,000
Total direct employment by pharmaceutical manufacturers is approximately 30,000 jobs across Canada.
As many as 10,000 people in Canada are employed by non‐ manufacturing firms primarily engaged in activities related to pharmaceutical research and development.
40%
Naylor’s career is built on both her scientific literacy and her business expertise.
Marketing and selling positions account for the largest share of employment by pharmaceutical manufacturers in Canada, with roughly 40 per cent of employees in this sector being employed in these roles.
continues to lean on the technical knowledge she gained in the Faculty of Science. “I’m grateful for my science background,” she says. “It lets me marry the science with the business side of things. You’ve already got the clinical background; you’re used to reading a lot of clinical papers and you understand the terminology.” Naylor has never regretted her decision, years ago, to set aside her pre-med ambitions. She has been with Takeda for sixteen years now, and still loves heading to work in the morning. “It’s been a fantastic career for me.”
How to tap into the creativity and technical dexterity of advanced science students: Recruit an Industrial Intern to your workplace • The Industrial Internship Program in the Faculty of Science lets you hire a science student with three years of their studies behind them. • The placements can last eight, 12, or 16 months. • You can hire from a range of 35 different fields of study: including life sciences, physics and advanced mathematics, statistical sciences, computing science, the earth at atmospheric sciences, psychology, and more.
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lessons science and
A confederation of brought to you by New technologies are offering sophisticated insights into the massive volumes of data that are available to us—for everything from better crime prevention to personalized treatments in medicine. A June 19 New York Times article “Sizing up big Data, Broadening Beyond the Internet” calls this a shift in the centre of gravity in decision-making.
The best treatments based on the best evidence University of Alberta researchers Osmar Zaïane (computing science) and Doug Gross (rehabilitation medicine) have developed a new application to help clinicians choose the right treatment for injured workers. Drawing from 8,611 records in the provincial worker’s compensation database for information on injury type, rehabilitation methods, time between injury and rehabilitation, pain measures and overall outcomes, along with personal information such as age, sex, marital status, education and job status, the application deploys a form of artificial intelligence called machine learning 13
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based on a computer algorithm. The project pools the strengths of the two disciplines to offer recommendation through a set of rules created using the historical evidence. The tool has proven to be about 85 per cent accurate in recommending the right treatment—a success rate more reliable than assessments done by physical therapists, occupational therapists, and exercise therapists. Currently in use as a training tool for students, far more testing is required before it makes it into the hands of health professionals with potential applications to train new staff and use in remote areas. But even then the goal isn’t to replace clinicians, “this is about the clinicians making decisions and how we can help augment those decisions,” Gross said. “We all make mistakes and do the best we can. If there are tools out there that can help these healthcare providers make better decisions, let’s do it.” A study detailing their findings was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation.
Learning cancer’s secrets through computing science Russ Greiner (computing science) has contributed his expertise to a collaboration with Alberta Health Services to develop a computer algorithm to predict whether breast cancer cells are fuelled by estrogen. Since each cell in the body contains about 23,000 genes, identifying those specifically involved in cancer growth is an exceedingly complex task. “People can’t possibly sort through all this information and find the important patterns,” says Greiner, who is also an investigator with the Alberta Innovates Centre for Machine Learning. Using a form of artificial intelligence called machine learning to identify three genes that can determine if a tumour is fed by estrogen, the application can signal to physicians when to prescribe anti-estrogen drug therapies. The algorithm has proven to be 93 per cent accurate in predicting the estrogen receptor status of tumours, based on data gathered from 176 frozen tumour samples stored at the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Tumor Bank at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton. The same algorithm was later tested on other
Did you know? Frederick West is helping stalk silent tumors
learned, technology
Frederick West (chemistry) is working with colleagues in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry to stalk what is known as “silent” tumors—tumors that don’t show up on PET scans (positron emission topography). Because these tumors don’t accumulate the radio-active compounds which allow 3-D images to be virtually reconstructed by computer, they go undetected. “Often these silent tumors are the most aggressive, particularly in breast cancers,” notes Chris Cheeseman (physiology). The research offers new fructose based compounds rather than the usual glucose based molecules. Fructose compounds are taken up by different proteins in the tumors to potentially expose the “invisible” tumors.
Katherine Magor is looking at ducks to learn more about the flu data sets available online, with similar success. “Essentially, we’ve identified something inexpensive and simple that could replace receptor testing done in a clinical lab,” said co-author John Mackey, director of the Cross Cancer Institute Clinical Trials Unit in Alberta Health Services. “This could be applied to other biomarkers and distil data down into something that a clinician can use.” Mackey, who is also a professor of medical oncology with the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, said the technique is poised to take advantage of new gene-sequencing technologies, or genomics, which aims to understand the inner workings of cancer cells with a goal of tailoring treatments for individual patients. It’s still premature to consider the algorithm as a replacement for traditional lab tests, but that could change as new technologies become more affordable, perhaps as soon as five to eight years.
Innovative mobile apps for better health: pocketsized sex ed for teens Ella Schepens, Tracy Xiang, and Hannah Zhang aren’t your typical video game programmers— but Under Control isn’t your typical video game either. Thanks to these three young women,
sex ed may no longer be relegated to awkward lectures at school. While sexual education is not a common genre in mobile applications and is particularly lacking in games that combine quality educational content with entertaining gameplay, Under Control is at the forefront of new opportunities to apply advanced technologies to health promotion and management. Under the mentorship of NSERC and iCORE Industrial Research Chair in Service Systems Management Eleni Stroulia (computing science) and her PhD student Victor Guana, the three summer interns designed and developed the app by themselves using GameSalad—a game development tool which enables users with no prior programming knowledge to build gaming programs. The project was part of the summer Computing Science High School Internship Program (HIP) that provides students with realworld programming experience and a taste of the University computing science experience. Mentorships through programs like HIP are an important extension of Stroulia’s research work, who has also designed a health-focused app to enable health care aides to communicate up-todate information with doctors while attending to patients in rural locations.
With annual flu epidemics estimated to cause between three to five million cases of severe illness and between 250,000 to 500,000 deaths every year around the world, her research is dedicated to understanding how the infections spread. As flu virus carriers, ducks can carry live virus in their digestive tract and then excrete it into the water. With notoriously weak immune systems, they may then be easily re-infected from the water or from other strains in humans or pigs. Although human immune systems are three times better at identifying and fighting off viruses, understanding the role of birds in the rise and fall of a flu strain is critical for working towards arresting the cycle of infection.
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PLANNING
Ready to move fast to solve problems, Sandeep Agrawal, Executive Director of the U of A’s planning program, says students from the program are ready to take their place at the intersection between provincial and municipal governments, developers, consulting companies, law firms, and NGOs to create healthier communities. The Program offers two specialization streams, one through the Faculty of Science and one through the Faculty of Arts.
Planning our way to health at the intersection of nature and development
As far back as the 19th century and the Industrial Revolution, rapidly growing cities in Europe and North America have encountered problems like overcrowding, disease, fire, deteriorating living conditions, and lack of infrastructure. Out of the resulting concern for public health, urban planning was brought to the table. Any rapidly growing region, like Alberta, benefits from the science of planning to safeguard public health and well-being. Sandeep Agrawal, Executive Director of the U of A’s planning program, points out, “we are missing the fact that the way we plan impacts our environment and
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ourselves as human beings.” The challenge of planning in the 21st century has evolved to focus on minimizing the environmental, social, and health problems associated with unplanned development, and to lay the framework for sustainable growth into the next century.
Alberta and natural disasters Where the danger of natural hazards exists, risk response planning is essential to reduce the threats associated with unintended consequences of development. This involves identifying risks cause by the physical environment or human activities, quantifying risks and predicting consequences, and finally designing effective mitigation strategies.
“A danger of short-sighted development that has become all too common in Alberta in recent years is vulnerability to natural disasters. Rapid expansion often fails to consider these risks, resulting in hazardous construction and inadequate emergency preparedness. Two cases may spring immediately to mind—the 2011 Slave Lake fire, and the southern Alberta flooding in the summer of 2013.”
—Sandeep Agrawal (earth & atmospheric sciences)
The myth of the “100-year flood” Agrawal points out, “When talking about severe flooding, the term “100-year flood” is often used. This refers to a low-probability, highintensity flood which can be expected to occur approximately once in a lifetime. Given changing climate trends, severe flooding events have become more common in Alberta.” The Municipal Government Act—the provincial legislation concerned with urban planning and the development of communities— is vague regarding construction in flood-prone areas. “While offering guidelines, it does not set strict limits to be met. This has led to a variety of land use bylaws across the province, some showing more foresight than others,” notes
Agrawal. “Floodplains such as the Bow River Valley in Canmore and Calgary offer prime real estate locations; thus neither the concept of the 100-year flood, nor the reality of more frequent flooding, has been taken seriously.” While Calgary’s emergency response program
ranks among the best in the country, there was little that could have been done in the face of flooding as severe as in the summer of 2013. The extensive damage to Calgary’s downtown core and other southern Alberta municipalities was estimated as high as $5 billion. Winter . 13
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PLANNING
Planning Alberta’s Future Given the growing understanding of the social and environmental stresses at play in the province, what’s in store for Alberta? Agrawal offers three important considerations for provincial and municipal governments to address. • Provincial legislation sets the goals and rules for regions and municipalities in Alberta. Where gaps in legislation exist, municipalities may not line up, leading to potentially disastrous consequences. One step that the provincial government is already taking is a review of the Municipal Government Act to set stricter regulations regarding development in floodplains. Disastrous effects of floods, wild-fire and human-made activities could be further mitigated through risk-based planning and development tools like covenants and risk-based zoning. While this is undoubtedly a step in the right direction, it is largely a reactionary measure to severe flooding in summer 2013. Optimally,
Healthy where I live: how to plan for social housing Homelessness and planning are also fundamentally intertwined. Alberta’s booming economy has driven a rapid population boom that has exceeded available housing, resulting in upwards of 11,000 homeless people, that in in 2007 represented close to one third of all homeless in Canada. Within this vulnerable group, urban aboriginals are disconcertingly over represented. Since 2008, the provincial and municipal governments have taken an active role in combatting the problem, with a 30 percent reduction to date. “In dealing with these issues, the role of urban planning policies is to determine what forms and balance of housing are necessary. 17
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development charges by municipalities could also help achieve compact communities. The Capital Region Plan, already in place, provides a framework for planning in Edmonton and can be easily adapted to incorporate longterm sustainability as a core value.
legislation should aim to be proactive— anticipating hazards before they occur. • Municipal planning; communities should aim to find a better use for the land they already have instead of looking for ways to spread. Vancouver is a model of efficient use of space with adequate density to maximize economic benefit, yet enough breathing room and green space to allow residents to live comfortably. Edmonton must set a sustainable and realistic vision for future growth and educate citizens accordingly. The current demand for large houses and spacious lots is neither environmentally nor economically feasible in the long-term. Initiatives could include educating residents about the positives of living in higher density communities and undertaking a ‘full disclosure’ approach to the economic and environmental harms of present-day growth. An appropriate and effective use of
These may include rental, affordable, social, supportive, emergency, transitional, and other housing forms,” Agrawal points out. In this role, planners aim to fill the gaps to accommodate homeless and low-income residents or those displaced in emergencies. An example of such a planning policy would include requiring new developments to include a certain number of affordable units. Vancouver and Toronto are models in this regard, with effective social housing and programs in place. While in Edmonton, our booming growth has meant that some new communities represent low density ‘sprawl.’ Without a vehicle, transportation for everyday activities can be time-consuming and difficult. “Not a great fit for social housing,” he notes. “On the other hand, a high concentration of shelters in more accessible areas, such as down-
•
Regional framework; currently, the Alberta Land Use Framework divides the province into seven major regions, overseen by a Land Use Secretariat. Regional bodies oversee municipal plans, identify regional environmental and social issues, and set a long-term vision for development. For example, one of the goals of the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan is to ensure that the Athabasca River is used sustainably and shared equitably between industry and municipalities. The Land Use Framework is still in its infant stage, but holds much promise for streamlining and optimizing planning across the province.
town, can create other problems. Communities and neighbourhoods may become permanently branded in a negative way, to the detriment of both shelter occupants and existing residents,” Agrawal concludes. Hidden homelessness is another understated problem. Hidden homelessness refers to those with no home of their own, staying temporarily with friends or relatives and often moving around from one lodging to another. This problem is not as visible and often not accounted for. “Effective planning for social issues around safe housing begins with an accurate understanding of the magnitude of the problem. Quantifying the true number of homeless, and those at risk of losing their homes, allows the government to optimize estimates for development of social housing and necessary services.”
The Land Use Framework is still in its infancy, but holds much promise for streamlining and optimizing planning across the province.
Environmental disasters don’t see different jurisdictions In the summer of 2011, one third of the northern Alberta community of Slave Lake was destroyed by fire, with more than 7000 residents evacuated. While fires are largely unpredictable, they are a known hazard in northern Alberta during the dry summer season; therefore, some of the risks are addressable by planning. Riskprone areas can be prepared. Under Alberta
legislation, every community with a population greater than 3,500 residents must have a municipal development plan with integrated risk assessments. While a plan did exist for Slave Lake and neighbouring communities, it had not been considered during construction—leading to issues such as the development of cul-desacs too small for fire crews to access. Another
risk included the omission of the neighbouring aboriginal community in the planning process, since First Nations fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government rather than the province. Agrawal cites this as a clear weakness in the planning process: “disasters don’t see different jurisdictions.”
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By taking advantage of propagating mechanical waves, quantitative ultrasound offers a more sensitive measure of the key determinants of bone strength than x-ray
From
earthquakes to bone-quakes: how geophysics can offer better health diagnostics
Lawrence Le, an adjunct professor in physics and biomedical engineering is incorporating the science of seismology to uncover the nature of ultrasound wave propagation in long bones to image bone structure in osteoporotic patients. The new technique may allow researchers to measure bone thickness in as little as 30 seconds—but it wouldn’t exist without borrowing a technique from the study of earthquakes.
A cross-disciplinary collaboration between research groups in diagnostic imaging and geophysics at the University of Alberta is paving the way for a new type of tool for diagnosing osteoporosis. 19
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The breakthrough comes from a collaboration with Mauricio Sacchi and Jeff Gu in geophysics, who have been conducting research in signal processing techniques pertaining to the structure of the Earth. Earthquakes, explosives, and truck mounted seismic vibrators generate seismic signals that can be used to probe the geology in a particular area by analyzing how quickly seismic waves propagate through rock strata to arrive at arrays of receivers. Data from receiver arrays can be analyzed using a signal processing technique known as ‘inversion’ to recover a model of the subterranean world. This type of analysis is common in earthquake seismology and in oil and gas exploration in Alberta. By applying modified geophysical signal processing techniques to ultrasound scan data and high resolution imaging, Le and his collaborators were able to image cracks, bone thickness, and bone elasticity—important parameters in assessing bone quality and
to monitor bone healing. These innovative approaches, based on ultrasound imaging, complement existing methods based on x-ray densitometry, which is highly successful in bone density assessment, but less effective in determining bone elasticity and geometry.
Lawrence Le (back, L) and Mauricio Sacchi (back, R) with graduate students Kim-Cuong Nguyen (front, L) and Tho Tran (front, R)
Science—an adventure for a lifetime:
Sheila Berry
Back in the 1950s, students like Sheila Berry (’55 BSc, ‘65MSc, ’69 PhD) were the ones pushing the frontiers. In those days, science was still largely a male enclave. “I was the only female graduate student in my department [biological sciences],” she says. “My supervisor there was Dr. Jim Campbell,” she recalls. “He really encouraged me to get my degree. And then the head of the department, Don Westlake, was also very supportive.” After finishing her doctorate, Berry received a fellowship to work as a researcher in Paris, France for two and a half years. Later, she moved to Vancouver Island, teaching at the University of Victoria and Malaspina College.
A dedication to science and discovery After a rich life in science, Berry decided to explore some options for planned giving. “When
I sat down and thought about what charities I would like to support, the U of A was clearly one of the top ones,” she says.
After a rich, rewarding life and career in science, Berry is now grateful for the opportunity to give back. “The U of A was certainly a great influence on me, I really enjoyed my years there, and I felt they were doing good things.”
Sheila Berry has dedicated her life to science and discovery, and is making plans to support the Faculty of Science to pave the way for others to do the same. In the ongoing spirit of adventure, Sheila recently returned from a trip to Churchill Manitoba on a polar bear expedition, “which is one more item off my bucket list,” she says.
Like many supporters, Berry didn’t have a specific project in mind. So, when she heard about the U of A’s SCI Fund, it sounded like a perfect fit. The SCI Fund pushes at the edges of science and discovery by providing a tool for rapidly deploying resources whenever opportunities arise. The fund is working to advance teaching, research, student engagement, and science—with deep impacts in the community. SCI Fund is about science shaping the world. You can be a part of it.
SCI Fund, more ways to drive science and discovery If you would like to support the Faculty of Science through the SCI Fund, please call (780) 492-7411, or visit ualberta.ca/givetoscience for more information.
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Faculty of Science 6-189 CCIS University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta Canada T6G 2E1
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