Since it was first identified in Colorado in 1967, Chronic Wasting Disease has been spreading throughout cervids (the deer family). The fatal disease has been found in the Republic of Korea, Norway, Finland, and here in Canada it has been detected in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Quebec. A Genome Alberta led project kicked off in the fall of 2016 and has made some significant progress in identifying strains of CWD, important insights into the spread of…

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Indigenous students and community members undertake decolonial bioethics training with the Summer Internship for Indigenous Peoples in Genomics (SING) Canada. Genome Alberta is pleased to help support the SING Canada program this this year. SING Canada takes place July 14-20, 2019 at the University of Alberta, and focuses on chronic wasting disease (CWD): the prion science, epidemiology, the ethics of CWD management, and wildlife co-management policies including the incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge (IK), and wildlife…

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                         I received an invitation from the Canmore Museum and Geoscience Centre (CMAGS) to the launch event for their brand-new Virtual Reality experience, Inside the Mine. I hit the RSVP button immediately. I had been hearing about this project since its initial planning stage, and I was keen to see the rollout.                                         I like virtual reality (VR) experiences. In 2017 I wrote about my…

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The Summer internship for INdigenous peoples in Genomics Canada (SING Canada) is an initiative for Indigenous students designed to build capacity and literacy in genomics, bioinformatics, and Indigenous and decolonial bioethics. The SING program has been held in different locations each year and this year the University of Alberta is hosting the program. This not your typical summer workshop and affords the opportunity for participants to have hands-on classroom time, lab and field training in…

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You're on a hike, sitting by the lake, or just soaking up the sunshine in your background. Summertime and the living is easy - until the bugs show up. Mosquitoes buzz around you, ants crawl over your lunch, wasps send you you scurrying inside. Why are these little critters so irritating and do we really need gnats? Find out by going online and taking Bugs 101. Maya Evenden is a biological science professor at the…

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Like a newborn, cutting edge technology is a thrilling prospect until you have to pay for it. As scientists on the Efficient Dairy Genome Project (EDGP) strive to enhance feed efficiency and lower methane emissions, one question is central to their goal of producing the perfect cow: If we build it, will industry buy it? Finding an answer is the focus of GE3LS Research (Genomics and its Ethical, Environmental, Economic, Legal and Social aspects). “We…

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As pollsters have learned the hard way, prediction can be fraught with peril. When dealing with a disease as destructive as PRRSV (Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus), however, science needs every edge it can get. To that end, one researcher on the Genome Alberta-led project to increase disease resilience in pigs through genomics is examining a biomarker that could predict PRRSV severity. “One of the keys to battling PRRSV is identifying which pigs are…

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Génome Québec is proud to announce its financial participation in nine genomics projects selected for funding under the IVADO Fundamental Research Funding Program. This strategic collaboration is particularly relevant given that a number of projects financed focus on the use of Big Data in genomics. Genomics technology will generate massive amounts of data, which will be of significance for the human health sector. Our ability to analyze and interpret these data is a critical factor…

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This is the third in my series of ‘genetics explainer’ videos on YouTube for students, parents and teachers. I have already received feedback from a teacher that these videos will be of great use in a flipped-classroom instructional strategy. Mendelian genetics is a type of inheritance first described by Gregor Mendel in the 1860s and rediscovered in the early 20th century. In this video, I describe a dihybrid cross which Mendel used to demonstrate the…

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Classical computing is an evolving thing of beauty. At least it is in the eyes of scientists who seek to conquer the universe or a disease, or power a self-driving car and run other modern miracles birthed by modern science. The admiration is warranted considering the U.S. put humans on the moon with less computing power found in a typical smart phone today. But that is not to say that the four computers NASA used…

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