Canada’s high school students may not be getting enough information on the negative impacts of climate change,scientific consensus behind human-caused warming or climate solutions,according to new research from the University of British Columbia and Lund University.Researchers analyzed textbooks and curricula from Canada’s 13 provinces and territories and interviewed curriculum designers.They concluded that while the material did agood job of explaining that climate change is caused by humans,it missed opportunities to educate them on impacts and solutions.In addition,curricula from Manitoba,Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island presented human-caused climate change as being asubject of debate among experts when,in fact,there is overwhelming scientific consensus that humans are driving climate change. 查看详细>>

For the first time,scientists have captured high-resolution,three-dimensional images of an enzyme in the process of precisely cutting DNA strands.The images—captured using atechnique called cryogenic electron microscopy,or cryo-EM—reveal new information about how agene-editing tool called CRISPR-Cas9 works,which may help researchers develop versions of it that operate more efficiently and precisely to alter targeted genes.The findings—published today in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology—hold promise for future treatment and prevention of arange of human diseases caused by DNA m 查看详细>>

The University of British Columbia(UBC)is launching Canada’s first blockchain and distributed ledger technology training path for graduate students.The initiative aims to build capacity for existing master’s and PhD students in this area and help scale Canada’s blockchain industry,while also tackling some of the world’s most complex sociotechnical issues.Set to become the world’s most multidisciplinary blockchain training path,the unique initiative will provide students with next-generation tools and applications to address issues in FinTech,engineering and computer science,and information governance through its disciplinary streams.“As the country’s first graduate blockchain learning path,the initiative is transformative to the blockchain sector in Canada and beyond,”said Victoria Lemieux,UBC iSchool associate professor and Blockchain UBC cluster lead.“The initiative will allow students to develop the skills around emerging technologies that are in high demand as well as drive economic growth as graduates fill the void in the industry.” 查看详细>>

There is aplace at UBC where,without ever leaving aroom,you can experience astroll through Stanley Park,conduct an orchestra and even get awalking tour of the brain’s complex neuroanatomy.Welcome to the Emerging Media Lab(EML)—a unique space where students,faculty and staff come together across disciplines to push the boundaries of technology and create new tools for learning.Established in 2016,the EML operates as asolely experimental space where,as its technical supervisor Kirk Karasin puts it,“Participants have the right to fail.”It’s aresource open to faculty and students from all disciplines,where the only prerequisite is adesire to explore new applications for emerging media,from virtual reality(VR)and augmented reality(AR)to brain-computer interface and artificial intelligence.“It isn’t part of aspecific faculty or department,”says Saeed Dyanatkar,EML lead and executive producer of UBC Studios.“The EML is for everyone.”Currently eight faculty in residence,from an array of UBC faculties and departments,are collaborating with EML on innovative teaching and learning solutions.Most projects are proposed by faculty members,but the tools themselves are developed by teams of undergraduate student volunteers and Work Learn students,with support from industry partners and EML staff.Tools at their disposal include AR HoloLens headsets—donated by Microsoft—as well as VR glasses from Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.And as all the projects are non-credit and purely extracurricular,developers have free rein to test and explore the technologies.“We have,in many disciplines,really creative and innovative faculty who want to be able to experiment with leading-edge technology that they think has potential to enhance their academic domain,”observes Simon Bates,associate provost of teaching and learning.“In the spirit of innovation,they want to do experiments and learn how these technologies can support them,or support student learning.And the EML gives them aspace to do that.” 查看详细>>

The University of British Columbia’s Board of Governors has approved the appointment of Peter Smailes as the new vice-president,finance and operations.Smailes brings more than 20 years of experience to the role.He has served as interim vice-president since January and formally took on the position this week.“As Vice-President,he will work closely with me,the board of governors,executive,deans and other partners,in overseeing the finance and operations portfolio for the university,”said UBC President and Vice-Chancellor Santa J.Ono.“He will also provide strategic leadership along with other members of the executive team to ensure the university is successful in achieving the vision and goals set out in its strategic plan:Shaping UBC’s Next Century.”Smailes will lead finance,treasury and risk management services across the UBC Vancouver and Okanagan campuses as well as building operations,energy and water services and infrastructure development.His portfolio also oversees the university’s relationship with the UBC Investment Management Trust which manages the university’s$2.1-billion endowment,the staff pension plan,and UBC Properties Trust,which develops and manages real-estate assets for the benefit of the university.UBC has an operating budget of$2.5 billion,research income approaching$600 million,more than 150 spin-off companies and an estimated$12.7 billion economic impact.“I’m very pleased to take on this role,”said Smailes.“UBC is an exceptional institution and Ilook forward to continuing to strengthen its reputation for research excellence and as auniversity dedicated to the student learning experience.”Smailes is aChartered Professional Accountant and Certified Management Accountant with abachelor of economics degree from Carleton University.He began his career in Toronto at abrokerage firm in 1987.In 1992,he joined UBC as afinance temporary employee,gradually moving through avariety of positions until 1998 when he left UBC to form aprivate consulting business.Smailes returned to UBC in 2001 as associate treasurer,a role he held until 2005.That year he was named interim treasurer,before he was appointed to the treasurer role in 2007. 查看详细>>

Permanent lung damage caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD)starts much earlier than previously thought,even before patients are showing symptoms.These are the findings of anew study recently published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.The breakthrough discovery,led by Dr.Tillie-Louise Hackett,associate professor in the University of British Columbia’s faculty of medicine,will dramatically change how patients are treated for COPD,the leading cause of hospital admissions in B.C.and Canada.Hackett,who is also aprincipal investigator at St.Paul’s Hospital Centre for Heart Lung Innovation(HLI),and her research team found that even patients diagnosed with mild COPD have already lost asignificant portion of their small airways—more than 40 per cent—on average.COPD is achronic,progressive condition that slowly damages the tissues of the lungs.Currently,patients with mild disease,as determined by alung function test,are given minimal or no treatment.“These patients often have little to no symptoms,so it was believed their lungs were relatively undamaged,”said Hackett.“Now that we know the severity of the damage,we need to look at earlier intervention to ensure the best outcomes for COPD patients.”The new findings also suggest previous large clinical trials testing new COPD treatments may have failed because patients already had substantial lung damage.“If the same drugs were tested on patients with more mild forms of the disease,and less tissue damage,the results could be very different,”said Hackett.Lung samples from 34 patients were analyzed using an ultra-high resolution microCT scanner,one of only three scanners of this kind in the country.The special scanner,funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and St.Paul’s Foundation,was instrumental to Hackett’s research.Though the HLI Lung Tissue Registry Biobank at St.Paul’s has been collecting specimens for more than 30 years,the recent addition of the microCT scanner made it possible to image samples that are embedded in paraffin in extreme detail.It is estimated approximately one in 10 people over the age of 40 may suffer from COPD.Martin Mannette has been living with the disease for eight years.He is managing well with acareful combination of medication,but the 68-year-old is excited about how this research could impact future patients.“I worry about COPD taking over as the number one killer,”said Mannette,“so anything we can do for the next generation so they can avoid COPD is so important.”Dr.Don Sin,the Canada Research Chair in COPD and aSt.Paul’s respirologist,said the findings have significant implications.By 2020,COPD is expected to be the third leading cause of death worldwide.“This breakthrough finding will allow us to develop new drugs to treat patients with COPD at the earliest stages of their disease when the disease is reversible,”said Sin.“This will prevent disease progression in thousands of patients and help them stay out of the hospital and remain healthy in their own homes.” 查看详细>>

UBC researchers have found acheap,sustainable way to build asolar cell using bacteria that convert light to energy.Their cell generated acurrent stronger than any previously recorded from such adevice,and worked as efficiently in dim light as in bright light.This innovation could be astep toward wider adoption of solar power in places like British Columbia and parts of northern Europe where overcast skies are common.With further development,these solar cells—called“biogenic”because they are made of living organisms—could become as efficient as the synthetic cells used in conventional solar panels.“Our solution to auniquely B.C.problem is asignificant step toward making solar energy more economical,”said Vikramaditya Yadav,a professor in UBC’s department of chemical and biological engineering who led the project.Solar cells are the building blocks of solar panels.They do the work of converting light into electrical current.Previous efforts to build biogenic solar cells have focused on extracting the natural dye that bacteria use for photosynthesis.It’s acostly and complex process that involves toxic solvents and can cause the dye to degrade.The UBC researchers’solution was to leave the dye in the bacteria.They genetically engineered E.coli to produce large amounts of lycopene—a dye that gives tomatoes their red-orange colour and is particularly effective at harvesting light for conversion to energy.The researchers coated the bacteria with amineral that could act as asemiconductor,and applied the mixture to aglass surface.With the coated glass acting as an anode at one end of their cell,they generated acurrent density of 0.686 milliamps per square centimetre—an improvement on the 0.362 achieved by others in the field.“We recorded the highest current density for abiogenic solar cell,”said Yadav.“These hybrid materials that we are developing can be manufactured economically and sustainably,and,with sufficient optimization,could perform at comparable efficiencies as conventional solar cells.”The cost savings are difficult to estimate,but Yadav believes the process reduces the cost of dye production to about one-tenth of what it would be otherwise.The holy grail,Yadav said,would be finding aprocess that doesn’t kill the bacteria,so they can produce dye indefinitely.He added that there are other potential applications for these biogenic materials in mining,deep-sea exploration and other low-light environments. 查看详细>>

In the small,northwestern town of Smithers,Dr.Mallory Quinn has been busy setting up shop as anew family doctor–one of agrowing number of University of British Columbia-trained doctors choosing to practise in smaller communities across the province.“It’s an incredible experience to open anew medical practice that can help support the health care needs of patients and families in my hometown,”Quinn said.The growing number of UBC medical graduates in towns like Smithers is due partly to the Faculty of Medicine’s province-wide medical education program.More than athird of this year’s nearly 300 graduates were educated and trained outside Vancouver,in classrooms,hospitals and clinics in northern B.C.,on Vancouver Island,or in the Interior.Dr.Mallory Quinn at her graduation.“Graduates like Dr.Mallory Quinn are making an incredible difference for people in small communities throughout British Columbia,”said Melanie Mark,Minister of Advanced Education,Skills and Training.“Congratulations to all the partners on the anniversary of this impactful program,and to all the doctors who are graduating from UBC’s Faculty of Medicine after years of studying and hard work.You are improving the lives and well-being of all of us in B.C.”The innovative province-wide program–one of the first programs of its kind in Canada–was created in 2004,in partnership with the University of Northern British Columbia,the University of Victoria,and all of B.C.’s health authorities.In 2011,the program was expanded to UBC Okanagan in Kelowna.This May marks the tenth anniversary since the first class graduated from the distributed medical program in 2008.The program is supported by the Ministry of Advanced Education,Skills and Training.“We’re improving the health of British Columbians by giving our medical students the opportunity to train–and make connections–in rural and remote areas,”said Dr.Dermot Kelleher,dean of the faculty of medicine.“Many factors influence where adoctor decides to practise.But by broadening our students’horizons,more of them are choosing to practise in communities where doctors have traditionally been scarce.”More than 100 doctors now working in northern B.C.have been trained in UBC’s programs there,either as medical students or medical residents.Quinn spent most of her four years of medical school in the North,an experience that informed her decision to return home.“The program was invaluable.I gained alot of exposure training in smaller communities and these experiences really opened my eyes to the challenges and benefits of rural medicine,”Quinn said.“It has always been really important for me to give back,and now,being back in Smithers as afamily doctor,I’m looking forward to providing care to the community that gave me so much growing up.” 查看详细>>

Building on recent news of funding for the Millennium Line Broadway Extension to Arbutus,UBC’s Board of Governors today endorsed an advocacy strategy to accelerate completion of the SkyTrain line to the university’s Point Grey campus.The need for improved regional transit connectivity emerged as akey theme during consultations on UBC’s new Strategic Plan and pursuing an accelerated investment in rail rapid transit to campus directly supports the plan’s three themes:collaboration,inclusion and innovation.UBC’s Board endorsed an exploration of adirect contribution from UBC along with other partners towards the project,provided this contribution does not affect funding for UBC’s academic mission.A UBC contribution could take many forms,including:land for stations(as York University recently provided for the Toronto-York Spadina Subway expansion);charges collected from developers(as is being done by City of Richmond for the Canada Line Capstan Way station);and/or afinancial contribution from new revenues enabled by rapid transit(as YVR did for the Canada Line).The amount and nature of UBC’s contribution will depend on the outcomes of technical work to understand project scope and costs,consultation with the UBC and external community,and discussions with other partners.“Extending rail rapid transit to UBC is akey component of aregional approach to transit improvement,and directly supports UBC’s Strategic Plan.Enhanced transit connectivity between UBC and the rest of the region will benefit individuals,businesses and organizations across Metro Vancouver,”said UBC president Prof.Santa Ono.“Today’s Board approval of the advocacy strategy enables UBC to advance conversations with senior levels of government,regional partners,and with the UBC community about expediting the project.”Regional benefits of extending rapid transit to UBC include:Improving affordability by opening up housing options across the line’s entire length;Improving travel times for people and goods along the corridor and elsewhere by reducing congestion;Reducing greenhouse gas emissions;Enhancing access to education,medical,recreational and cultural services on and off campus;Lowering barriers for aspiring students to access UBC from across Metro Vancouver;and Fostering innovation by connecting research centres like UBC with biomedical centres like Vancouver General Hospital and innovation districts at Great Northern Way and Mount Pleasant.UBC is B.C.’s third-largest employment centre after downtown Vancouver and Central Broadway,and one of the region’s busiest transit destinations with over 1,000 buses aday. 查看详细>>

A new investment fund at the University of British Columbia is boosting ventures that are tackling the world’s biggest social and environmental problems.The UBC Impact Fund invests seed-stage capital in UBC-created ventures that deliver measurable positive impacts alongside financial returns.“A key part of UBC’s innovation strategy is supporting ventures and activities that make significant societal contributions,”said Gail Murphy,vice-president,research and innovation at UBC.“This new fund gives donors an innovative opportunity to support entrepreneurship at UBC and has atremendous ripple effect as returns are continuously re-invested into new ventures.”The first two ventures to receive support through the fund are Vancouver-based startups Brighter Investment and Wize Monkey.Brighter Investment provides students in the developing world with funding for post-secondary education.Despite the benefits of higher education,many students in the developing world don’t have access to loans or scholarships.The company finances high potential students pursuing degrees with the best career prospects.After graduation,students repay apercentage of their income to investors. 查看详细>>