I keep an eye out for science articles related to astrobiology. Recently some big ideas in astrobiology have been announced including the Earth First Origins, a major project supported by NASA Astrobiology led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Perhaps of interest to students and teachers is the New Arecibo Message. Students are required to solve a puzzle to log in for more information. The…

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Setting up a conversation, recording it, and editing the audio for a podcast has become so simple you can get the job done quickly - even on a smartphone if needed. But that's just the technology -  the content is where it really starts. Yesterday I recorded and posted a conversation with 2 of our researchers who received significant new funding in the Genome Canada 2017 Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Competition. The new project "A…

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Dr. Paul Stothard is a Professor at the University of Alberta, and Dr. Gary Van Domselaar is Chief of Bioinformatics at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg. Together they are leading a new $940,000 project to help researchers make sense of the massive amounts of data generated in the sequencing of bacterial genomes. This is particularly important for the National Microbiology Lab which has the job of helping to stop the spread of infectious disease,…

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Genome Canada is pleased to announce 25 projects selected for funding as a result of the 2017 Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Competition (B/CB). A total of $23.1 million is being invested in these projects, which will produce next-generation tools and methodologies to deal with the influx of large amounts of data produced by modern genomics technologies and will provide broad access to these tools to the research community. Bioinformatics and Computational Biology is specifically recognized…

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In one respect, immunity is akin to the elevator at your office: only appreciated when it’s out of order. Given the impact of sick animals on their owner’s business, pig health is a top research priority. As scientists seek to enhance disease resilience in pigs for a Genome Alberta-led project, they may draw on the findings of another study on early life antibiotics. The lead on that study is Dr. Janelle Fouhse, Postdoctoral fellow in…

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The Danes may be best known for LEGO and Hans Christian Andersen, but to Canadian dairy researchers, it’s Denmark’s data that puts them on the map. In their efforts to improve feed efficiency and methane emission in dairy cattle, scientists on the Efficient Dairy Genome Project (EDGP) are looking to Denmark – among others – for the building blocks of genomic progress. “It is well established that the success and long-term sustainability of any livestock…

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The Canadian Centre for Computational Genomics is funded in part by Genome Canada, Ontario Genomics, and Genome Quebec. Canadian Centre for Computational Genomics, based at McGill and SickKids, to lead in management and analysis of federated health data A patient develops a rare condition and needs answers, so their clinician searches frantically to find patients with similar, rare, symptoms and similar possible causes. To understand the mechanisms of one debilitating disease, a medical researcher tries…

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Dr. Janelle Baker has a home in two worlds. She is Metis and a cultural anthropologist, and is using those two perspectives to guide a unique project in the Fort McKay area of Northern Alberta. Elders in the area noticed their traditional berry picking areas had changed. The berries looked and tasted different in the area near oilsands development. They had their traditional ecological knowledge to work with but also turned to modern science to…

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I first came into contact with Leroy Little Bear when I was a CBC Radio journalist, and by 2002 he was a regular guest on ‘Nightwatch’ an experimental all night talk show I produced out of Edmonton with host Don Hill. Leroy has many honours to his credit including the Alberta Order of Excellence and is an Officer of the Order of Canada. He is the founding director of the inter-faculty Native American Program at…

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                          Canadian science fair dates and locations have been revealed as all the regional science fairs are now affiliated with Youth Science Canada for the 2019 science fair season. Many students have been actively working on projects since September and are getting ready for their school and regional fairs. Volunteers at regional organizations are processing student registrations, meeting with sponsors, and contacting potential…

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