��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers awarded federal research grants worth more than $3 million

caroline.zentner — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 21:50:59 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers are among the successful applicants for federal grants announced by The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, and the Honourable Marjorie Michel, Minister of Health.

The more than $1.3 billion in funding supports over 9,700 researchers and research projects in Canada through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

“From brain plasticity and the mechanism of low-dose radiation to supporting newcomers through mentoring, these grants illustrate the diversity of research being done at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge,” says Dr. Dena McMartin, vice-president of research. “This funding not only helps established researchers continue their work but also helps our early career researchers build their research programs. Ultimately, our students benefit with increased opportunities to engage in research throughout their post-secondary careers.”

In total, ULethbridge received funding from NSERC for nine Discovery Grants and two Discovery Development Grants. The Discovery Grants will bring in nearly $475,000 a year for the next five years. The research projects include the following:

Dr. Gerlinde Metz (Neuroscience) will receive $96,000 per year for a study looking at the social determinants of experience-dependent brain plasticity.
Dr. Stacey Wetmore (Chemistry & Biochemistry) will receive $89,000 per year for a project involving computer modelling of modified RNA.
Dr. Olga Kovalchuk (Biological Sciences) was awarded $55,000 annually to study the fundamental mechanisms of low-dose radiation.
Dr. Borries Demeler (Chemistry & Biochemistry) is set to receive $47,000 yearly for solution studies of interacting biopolymer systems.
Dr. Hadi Kharaghani (Mathematics & Computer Science) will receive $32,000 a year for his project on special orthogonal matrices.

The remainder of the NSERC recipients are four early career researchers, each of whom received a Discovery Launch Supplement of $12,500 in addition to their Discovery Grant.

Dr. Corina Birghila (Mathematics & Computer Science) was awarded a yearly amount of $31,000 for a project titled Optimal Decision under Uncertainty.
Dr. Jessica Willi (Chemistry & Biochemistry) will receive $44,000 annually for a project on ribosome functions through synthetic biology.
Dr. Vineet Rathod (Chemistry & Biochemistry) will receive $38,000 annually to examine the structure-function relationship of natural and engineered amyloid proteins.
Dr. Dylan Girodat (Chemistry & Biochemistry) will receive $42,000 per year for a project on the structural dynamics of ribosomes during translation.

In addition, Discovery Development Grants, worth $22,000 each, were awarded to Drs. Christopher Hopkinson (Geography & Environment) and Marc Bomhof (Kinesiology and Physical Education).

Hopkinson will use remote sensing to model vegetation and snowpack response to wildland fire in headwater basins.
Bomhof intends to look at the interplay between exercise and dietary factors on appetite regulation.

ULethbridge social science and humanities researchers were awarded $645,000 in SSHRC Insight Grants.

Dr. Daniel O'Donnell (English) will work on a project involving Research Data Management and Research Data Infrastructure by humanities researchers.
Dr. Scott Rathwell (Kinesiology) wants to enhance sport participation, promote physical activity and improve health outcomes for aging adults by establishing a framework for effective sport programming in middle-aged and older adults.

Several ULethbridge researchers are the recipients of Insight Development Grants totalling more than $291,000.

Dr. Toupey Luft (Education) has designed a project to address the gap in understanding how arts-based mentorship may enhance a sense of belonging for newcomer young adults.
Dr. Kenneth Holyoke’s (Geography & Environment) project investigates the nature and scope of climate impacts on the Wolastoqiyik and Wabanaki archaeological record in New Brunswick.
Dr. Justin Raycraft’s (Anthropology) objective in this project is to increase understanding of the social dimensions of human-carnivore coexistence in the Tarangire ecosystem of northern Tanzania.
Dr. Jeffrey MacCormack (Education) will develop a professional development intervention consisting of a community of practice for teachers and principals where they learn evidence-based practices to support students with profound and multiple disabilities.
Dr. Miranda Leibel (Liberal Education) will examine how the creation and maintenance of postal services are an important component of Canadian state- and nation-building.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge iGEM teams bring home medals

caroline.zentner — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 17:45:58 +0000

After devoting months of work to their projects, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s high school and collegiate iGEM teams brought home the hardware at the recent iGEM grand jamboree held in Paris.

The 26-member collegiate team was awarded a gold, with a dozen team members making the trip to Paris for the competition. The 18-member high school team was awarded a silver and attended the jamboree virtually.

“We are the only university in the province that won gold,” says Dr. Vineet Rathod, team supervisor. “I was proud of the students, and they felt proud, too. It’s the hard work of eight months; we started working on the project in February.”

The collegiate team project centred on developing an early detection kit that farmers could use to test for clubroot, a soil pathogen that affects canola, mustard and cole crops like broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower.

“Participating in iGEM has been an incredible experience for me,” says Jenna Letain, a master’s student in biochemistry. “Being able to apply my research knowledge towards a collective project while also mentoring a group of students has helped me grow as a graduate student. I highly recommend iGEM to any student who is looking to gain more experience working collaboratively as a team in a research setting.”

"It has been an unbelievable experience and I have gained an incredible amount of appreciation for the world of research beyond going to lectures at the university,” says Nolan Fomradas, a second-year biology student. “iGEM has exposed me to a great network of people, made me appreciate my studies even more and made me a better student.”

The 18-member high school team’s project focused on building a protein biosensor that would change colour in the presence of velvet fish disease. Velvet fish disease is a parasite that can get into the slime coat of fish and eat away at their cells, eventually killing them. The only way to test for it now is by a visual inspection of the fish and by that time, it’s usually too late for treatment.

“They did a great job,” says Dr. Laura Keffer-Wilkes, team supervisor. “I’m super, super proud of them. They did a really good job during their judging session.”

“I am thrilled about everything the team accomplished this year,” says Mercy Awosoga, a student at Catholic Central High School. “Receiving silver is encouraging and reflects all the hard work put into planning, community outreach, lab work, engineering, modelling and research. Throughout my iGEM experience, I have formed amazing friendships and understood the importance of collaboration.”

With their sights set on next year, recruitment of team members will soon get underway. Any high school students who’d like to participate in next year’s iGEM competition can contact Keffer-Wilkes at kefferwilkesl@uleth.ca. ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ students looking to get involved can get in touch with Rathod at vineet.rathod@uleth.ca.

UNews - Vineet Rathod

��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers awarded federal research grants worth more than $3 million

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��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge iGEM teams bring home medals

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��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers awarded federal research grants worth more than $3 million

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge iGEM teams bring home medals