Research Projects

Wall Opera Project - Does Opera Training sculpt the brain. Does the study of opera performance change the brain function for students with learning disabilities ? Does it have positive effects for all students studying opera. If there are positive effects to be found how could this help people who have other brain disfunctions or have succombed to diseases or stokes affecting the brain?

Sport development pathways, women's and men's soccer, action observation and prediction, observational learning of perceptual motor skills, optimizing practice conditions through practice manipulations and instructions, motor skill expertise and associated processes

My research group is working with Ministry to develop, implement and evaluate a new provincial medication safety information technology we have developed. This work will provide multiple opportunities for graduate students to be involved in. With the implementation of this technology more robust data will become available on adverse drug events experienced by patients. Future projects include... Read More

Our research interests include:

• Integration of metabolomics with other ‘omics’ (epigenomics, genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics) data for the systems-level interrogation of biological problems
• Application of state-of-art metabolomics technologies in various biological challenges, such as mechanistic understanding of cancer metabolism and disease biomarker discovery... Read More

Robotics and digital health for dementia care

Please see: https://www.zoology.ubc.ca/~irwin/irwinlab/

Projects include

• elucidating virus host interactions such as antiviral innate immunity and viral proteins that modulate cellular processes
• identifying host protein substrates by viral proteinases
• non-canonical protein synthesis mechanisms used by viruses and cellular mRNAs

Approaches include biochemical, molecular and cell biology methods, proteomics... Read More

1) New finite element analysis techniques for lightweight structures;

2) Development of optimization algorithms for structural optimization; 

3) Machine learning methodology for reduced order modeling of mechanical systems.

Surface integrity in vibration assisted machining process.
Surface texturing process.
Chip formation stability in high-speed machining process.

Dermatoepidemiology; Examining the epidemiology of skin cancer in the general population and identifying high risk population groups Skin cancer prevention; Using national surveys conducted by Statistics Canada, I have examined skin cancer prevention behaviours practiced by Canadians; Spectoscopy; Using imaging to differentiate skin cancer from benign lesions. Photobiology to study properties... Read More

The major research focus of my lab revolves around acute myeloid leukemia, and preleukemias referred to as myelodysplastic syndromes. Within this context we are interested in various posttranscriptional mechanisms that drive these cancers, how aging increases the risk of developing leukemias, and how to potentially target genomic and epigenomic vulnerabilities.

• Understanding how engagement in environmentalism is related to social class, political ideology, and gender
• Examining the way that definitions of morality play a role in consumer tastes and environmental movements

My research program at UBC/BCCHRI aims to better understand how the immune system can be used to treat childhood diseases. In children with cancer, the immune system is no longer able to rid the body of cancerous cells. In children with autoimmune diseases the immune system gets rid of healthy cells of the body. We are particularly interested in the metabolism of immune cells. 

Cellular... Read More

The lab's primary focus is suicide (including theory, motivations, warning signs, improved measurement of key risk and protective factors). Secondary lab interesets include classification and assessment of emotion and personality.

Antiracist and justice-oriented language education

Manuscript studies; History of the Book; History of Reading; History of Libraries; Materiality of Information (Book Design); Digital Humanities where it intersects with the History of the Book.

Early modern Spanish literature and culture. Transatlantic Studies. Mediterranean Studies. Spanish theatre. 

My enthusiasm for research draws from my interest in the biochemistry and physiology of nutrition-related diseases and in targeted and population-based strategies of chronic disease prevention and optimal health promotion. My research focuses on micronutrients and specifically B-vitamins and their kinetics and functions in human metabolism. B-vitamins are required for normal cell growth and... Read More

oral cancer screening

early detection

markers of progression

Mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases
Clinical biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases (Imaging, CSF, Blood)
Gene silencing, gene editing and gene therapy for brain diseases
Transcriptional regulation of disease genes
Experimental therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases
Induced pluripotent stem cells models of human brain diseases

Various projects related to regulatory T cell therapy biology and clinical applications

Integrin cell adhesion in chemotherapeutic resistance. Targeted drug susceptibilities. Tumour microenvironment. Immunogenic cell death. Pediatric oncology.

In the above domains, to be worked out with excellent candidates. I am well funded by CIHR and have an excellent track record of mentoring MSc and PhD students. 

• Role of epigenetics in male and female germline development
• Role of retroelements in gene regulation
• Interplay between epigenetic marks and DNA methylation in the early embryo