BioLab Business Magazine Together, we reach farther into the Canadian Science community

An indoor residual spray made by combining a type of volcanic glass with water showed effective control of mosquitoes that carry malaria, according to a new study published in the journal Insects.  Annually, malaria kills some 400,000 people in Africa. The use of insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor residual sprays are the most common and effective methods of reducing mosquito …

Because they spoil without refrigeration, vaccines are notoriously difficult to transport to remote or dangerous places; as a result, millions of children around the world miss out on life-saving inoculations. However, scientists at the University of Bath have found a way to prevent warmed-up vaccines from degrading. By encasing protein molecules in a silica shell, the structure remains intact even …

University of Colorado Denver researchers are the first to 3D print a complex, porous lattice structure using liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), creating devices that can mimic cartilage and other biological tissues. Creating synthetic replacements which truly match the properties and behaviours of biological tissues hasn’t been easy. But University of Colorado Denver scientists, led by mechanical engineer professor Chris Yakacki, …

The discovery of a tiny insect fossil in Western Canada is unearthing big questions about the global movement of animals across deep time. The fossil, estimated to be 50 million years old, is the latest in a pattern of discoveries that are leading experts to contemplate a Canada-Australia connection. Paleontologists Bruce Archibald of Simon Fraser University and the Royal British …

As the world transformed with the coronavirus lockdowns of spring 2020, science shifted its focus to a new foe. Many Canadian foundations, companies and researchers are at the forefront of understanding the virus and discovering possible vaccines, while the world grapples with “the new normal.”  Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, recently issued this statement about COVID-19: “As …

By Jana Manolakos In 1993, the Canadian Government and the private sector launched a national network, the Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry and Education (CANARIE), designed to help scientists and academics link vast amounts of research data across Canada and the world. A year later in 1994, the World Wide Web followed, bringing internet to the masses. …

By Jana Manolakos When he took the helm as Director of the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario, last year, Robert Myers urged his team of intrepid theoretical physicists to “be bold, be adventurous, be audacious in our aspirations to advance humanity through exceptional science.” And they took up the call.  At the Institute, considered the world’s largest research hub for …

On the vaccine frontlines since the 1970s, VIDO-InterVac is among the leaders in the fight against COVID-19 By Abigail Cukier In January, within 24 hours of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring COVID-19 a health emergency of international concern, the Public Health Agency of Canada gave researchers at the University of Saskatchewan’s VIDO-InterVac Centre permission to work with the virus.  …

Dr. Jason Rowe searches for life on distant planets, using cloud-based computing By Timothy Fowler At 12 years old, Dr. Jason Rowe remembers seeing images of distant planets captured by NASA’s Voyager spacecraft. He was enthralled by the details of planets we had never seen before. Now, Rowe spends his life in pursuit of an answer to the question: Could …

Fasten your seatbelts.The speed and power of next-generation computers will blow your mind. By Jana Manolakos Canada is just beginning to catch up in the global race for the bigger, better computer with the country’s network of academic supercomputers, pushing up the leaderboard of the Top500 supercomputers on the planet. And even now, as the potency of these high-performance machines …