Category Archives: Science Communication

“To pay or not to pay: a comparison of paid vs. unpaid research assistants”

Maybe you read this title and thought, “What kind of question is this, obviously it’s more convenient NOT to pay employees and get free labour in the lab you are running!” Undeniably, many employers may believe in this line of thinking as well.

However, recently we’ve had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Stephen Withers from the esteemed Withers Research Group.  Initially, we met to discuss his latest research about using newer and more efficient imaging probes that light up upon contact with influenza molecules.  But additionally, we happened to gain an understanding about his personal beliefs when it comes to paid versus unpaid research assistants.


Podcast: Delving into Dr. Stephen Withers’ life, and his road into the scientific world.

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Video: Illuminating Influenza: a look into a new type of imaging reagent.


Description:
The Withers Research Group from the Chemistry Department

 

Dr. Withers claimed, “Many labs take volunteers, but I prefer to pay my researchers, to make sure that they’re committed. There can be volunteers that don’t feel quite as committed even after you spend lots of time training them.”

 

Upon hearing this, we were curious. Did the benefits of paying their researchers outweigh the costs required to pay them?

 

A qualified volunteer in a research lab offers their time and skills in exchange for experience in a field they are looking to delve into.  Although many volunteers choose to work in labs because they’re passionate about the field that is being researched, this is unfortunately not always the case. Frequently, undergraduate students who volunteer in labs do so simply because they believe that it will help boost their resumes for co-ops, or various post-undergraduate institutes. To explore this idea, we interviewed a 2nd year undergraduate student at UBC who asked to remain anonymous about the reasons why he volunteered within a research lab.

 

Image result for research labDescription: A Research Lab Environment
Source: Google images: Ryerson University

 

“…I’m not particularly interested in what I’m researching,” He claimed, “it’s not as if I do particularly specialized tasks anyway. I’m just volunteering because it should boost my application for med[ical] school.”

Indeed, there exist students who choose to volunteer without being interested in the research. This, combined with the fact that volunteer positions are unpaid by nature, it is apparent why some undergraduate volunteers may have some issues staying committed to the research after time passes as Dr. Withers hypothesized.

 

Image result for barbara sanfilippo commitment
Description: Quote by Barbara Sanfilippo
Source: Barbara Sanfilippo’s article

 

There is indeed a difference to having paid vs. unpaid research assistants, but overall, it is important for research groups to maintain an open mind and decide which style of accepting undergraduate students to work in their labs is right for their specific environment.

 

However, the simplest solution to this question is for students to only apply if they’re ready to commit and be passionate about the research they’re aiding.

 

This way, there’s not even a question to answer.

 

  • Jin Kyu Lee, Marianita Paspuel, Mirkka Puente, Alyssa Gutierrez

Two Heads Are Better Than One: Artificial Intelligence & The Use of CycleGAN in Generating Handwritten Chinese Characters

These days, even a two-year-old knows how to use a computer! We are all very familiar with how computers fetch and display data, but can they also make decisions about data? This idea is explored by artificial intelligence (AI), which refers to computer systems that perform tasks that normally require human intelligence. Some examples include speech recognition and decision-making. In simpler terms, it is the ability of a computer to learn from input data to generate new output data, hence why it is also known as machine learning. While we may not always be aware, we are subjected to AI every day! Prior to reading this, you may have been watching a Netflix-suggested movie or have come across a new artist on Spotify that just so happens to be exactly your style. There are countless ways that AI is being used throughout different industries, and continues to be researched in order to reach its full potential.

An Introduction To Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Video produced by SO Group 1

 

Recent application of AI in research

Researchers Bo Chang and Qiong Zhang, PhD students from the Statistics department at the University of British Columbia, have used a form of AI called CycleGAN, to investigate the generation of Chinese handwritten characters. Their research, which was published this year, is fundamental to the preservation of Chinese culture and handwriting styles of famous calligraphers in China’s history, such as Wang Xizhi. Unlike letters in the English alphabet, Chinese is made up of logographic characters. These characters represent a word or a phrase, and there are over 80,000 of them in the Chinese language! This large number of characters has limited research in the past, but this obstacle was tackled in this study using the CycleGAN method.

calligraphy by Wang Xizhi

Famous Chinese Calligraphy by Wang Xizhi
Image Source: flickr
Photographer: Margaret

 

Use of CycleGAN in Chinese handwritten characters generation

The goal of the procedure was having the machine learn the transformations that are required to go from an inputted pre-made font to an output of personalized handwritten font. In order to do this, evaluation metrics consisting of style discrepancy and content accuracy were established. The specific use of CycleGAN, contributes to achieving accurate output characters by using two machines instead of one. One guarantees that generated handwritten characters look like the real style that is desired, and the second, which is cyclic, guarantees that handwritten characters generated from pre-made font will reverse back to the original pre-made font.

Experimental results through this study demonstrated the efficacy of this method of Chinese character generation, showing it to be superior or on-par with other systems. For example, characters were less likely to have missing or additional strokes compared to other systems.

An interview with Bo Chang & Qiong Zhang on
“Generating Handwritten Chinese Characters using CycleGAN”
Audio produced by SO Group 1 with special thanks to Bo Chang & Qiong Zhang

 

Overall, this method proves to be preferred due to generation of more accurate and desirable results. While this research isn’t being further pursued, many around the world have already shown interest in using and modifying the code! This method may also prove to be useful in generation of characters in other languages.

Group 1: Shadi Elmi, Allison Chiang, Wenyu Zhao & Hao Huang

Arctic Research: Unique Diversity in Lake Trout

Picture this: you’re living in the Northwest Territories in July. It’s officially summer and the sun is shining… But it’s 0 degrees Celsius and your skin instantly shivers upon contact with the air. You’re in the Arctic to collect more information on a beautiful fish species – Lake Trout. At this point, you’re probably wondering: is this research really worth it? 

An image showing the living conditions of Arctic researchers in Great Bear Lake.

Let’s look into research at Great Bear Lake (GBL), for instance. It is one of the largest lakes in Canada, covering approximately 31, 000 square kilometers.

What exactly makes the fish in Great Bear Lake so unique?

Well, one example is the wide diversity of Lake Trout that has been observed. These findings are unparalleled in any other ecosystem, which makes GBL very intriguing to scientists all around the world, such as Dr. Louise Chavarie – a fish biologist from Quebec. She has devoted time and effort into exploring complex ecological interactions between fish in the Arctic, which is highlighted in the video below.

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A video examining Dr. Chavarie’s data collection methods and  the four different Lake Trout body types in GBL.

Surprisingly enough, diversity within a species is shown to increase survivability.

But how are diversity and survivability related?

Imagine a fish species with high variation between body types. The difference in body types may serve as an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on the environmental circumstances. For example, let’s examine a fish species’ vulnerability to predation. Fish with more hydrodynamic body types will be able to escape from incoming predators, giving them an advantage over fish with less hydrodynamic body types. Although not all of the fish population will escape predation, the better adapted ones will live and reproduce, ensuring that the fish stock will not entirely collapse. In the podcast below, Dr. Chavarie emphasizes the importance of Lake Trout diversity, in terms of resilience, when considering upcoming changes to Arctic ecosystems.

So, why should we invest time and resources into Arctic research?

The exceptional findings discovered by Dr. Chavarie and her research team are one example of the many hidden wonders in GBL. You can only imagine all of the beauty masked by the vastness of the Arctic! If we study the Arctic more frequently, we can gain more knowledge on species interactions and further develop our conservation efforts. By doing so, we can continue to rely on fish as a source of employment, revenue and protein!

An image featuring Dr. Chavarie, holding an extremely large Lake Trout fish.

 

To address our initial question, it is clearly very worthwhile to study Arctic ecosystems. Future research can help us improve our fishing management strategies, which will consequently promote financial and food security for the global population. 

 

SO Group #4:  Lexynn Kwan, Steven Li, Armita Payombarnia, Olivia Zhou

Scientific Outreach Project – Illuminating Influenza

By Alyssa Gutierez, Jin Kyu Lee, Mariana Paspuel and Mirkka Puente (Group 2)

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Flu: A New Season Coming this Fall

Nowadays, influenza virus commonly know as the flu is treated relatively as minor illness. However, knowing that flu pandemics have caused death of millions of people in the past ,  people should be more cautious, specially those at a higher risk: children, pregnant woman, the elderly. Additionally, influenza infections can be prevented by annual vaccination.

What is Influenza?

Source:  The Medscape Network Description: Influenza virus structure and its different components and surface proteins.

Influenza is a disease caused by influenza viruses that infect the respiratory system of many animals, birds and humans. In humans, some of the symptoms that characterize these infections are cough, fever, runny nose, sore throat and headache. Interestingly, these symptoms usually appear two or three days after infection and typically do not last more than a week. The three types of influenza virus, include: A, B and C; where influenza A and B  viruses usually infect a large numbers of individuals within a population at the same time.

History of Influenza virus

An influenza pandemic occurs because of antigenic shift,  a process in which two or more viruses combine together to form a new subtype of influenza virus that spreads worldwide. Through history, influenza A viruses are responsible for all the pandemics that have occurred and they represent the greatest threat to the population. For example, the deadliest flu pandemic is the Spanish flu, it took place in 1918, causing between 40 and 100 million deaths worldwide. In 1918, there were no vaccines available against influenza, neither were there antibiotics to treat secondary infections associated with influenza infection.  According to the article published by Peter Palese, influenza viruses type A and B are responsible for the death of approximately  50,000 people in the U. S. every year.

Video: “Flu virus”  Source:  National Geographic| YouTube

Why is the influenza virus a threat to people?

According to the article published by Declan Butler,  vaccines are required to be developed each year because some regions of the outer proteins of influenza virus can undergo high mutation rates during replication. This explains why influenza viruses avoid detection by the immune system. When a person gets infected with the flu, their immune system will mount responses  based on the first encounter the person had with the virus, so the response in a second or third encounter will be stronger and it will be against the unchanged regions of the virus. However, because the virus has changed structurally the antibodies against the previous version of the virus will not be of much help.

What is the best solution?

Development of new vaccines every year that best match the strains predicted for the incoming influenza season. Flu vaccines are able to reduce the risk of serious flu complications that can result in hospitalization or even death. While the efficacy of annual flu vaccinations were not very high for the 2017-2018 flu season: 17% in Canada, 10% in Australia and 25% in the U.S.,  but they are better than nothing.

Source: Las Vegas Sun Newspaper Description: Tips to prevent the spread of the flu.

-Mariana Paspuel

Why are we the only alive human species?

One of the main questions of humankind has been that one related to the evolution of its own species. Humans  have always wondered what special characteristics make us different from our ancestors and how is that we are the last hominid alive on the planet.

Was it the size of our brain? Was it a dramatic change in our cognitive activity? Was it the environment or the diet?

Among the hypotheses are natural competition and adaptation, a burst of cognitive development and the ability to solve problems as a key to survival, however, there is more on the story.

                                                  Human Evolution                                                         Credit: GIPHY

‘Generalist-Specialist’ new ecological niche

Until now it was thought that the stiff competition and dramatic cognitive changes have mainly contributed to the success of our species, however, new findings revealed that rather, the unique ecological position of humans as global ‘generalist-specialist’ is what mainly determined the prevalence of  Homo Sapiens (H.Sapiens).

In ecological principles, generalists and specialists are defined as completely different ecological niches, where generalists are species that tend to thrive in a variety of environmental conditions and specialists, species with very specific adaptations to a given environment. However, in the case of H.sapiens, a mix of these two niches appears to have contributed to the success of the species.
According a study conducted by scientist from the Max Planck Institute for Science of Human History (MPI-SHH) and the University of Michigan, the ‘generalist-specialist’ niche helped H.sapiens survive and was at the same time the key factor that allowed humans to be the last hominid alive on Earth.

In contrast with their relatives, our ancestors were able colonized very challenging environments ranging from desserts to rainforest and high altitude places making them specialists to adapt to extreme conditions, and generalist in the sense that they can adapt to almost any type of environment. This behaviour is associated with our unique characteristic of ecological plasticity, meaning that H.sapiens in contrast with all other species had the advantage to be able to shape their ecological behavior and adapt to extreme conditions.

Distribution of the Hominidae Family at the time of the evolution and dispersal of                                                        Homo sapiens                                                              Credits: Science Daily

Hominids Cooperation  and  Interbreeding

Cooperation among individuals non-kin individuals as well as passing and accumulating knowledge from previous populations may also help to develop the unique “generalist specialist” niche. Some of the other investigations also suggest that this ‘generalist-specialist’ behavior on early species allowed for hominid interbreeding which result in complex anatomical and behavioral characteristics that give rise to our unique species.

Short overview of the Hominidae Family evolution. Source: Youtube

In this study scientists also debated that although genomic and anatomical research of specimens is important,  the analysis of the ecological and environmental characteristics of the geographical regions is essential to  understand evolutionary pathways. According to this group of scientists, the future investigations have to shift from attempts to understand human earlier traces and start to better understand the ecological impact of the H.sapiens as species.

 

Stem Cells Remember Past Injuries of Tissues

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“What are stem cells? – Craig A. Kohn”  Video Source: TED-Ed Youtube Channel

What are stem cells?

Stem cells are your body’s internal repair system and seemingly remember past injuries of tissues by retaining memories of old injuries for improvement of  healing in the future. Studies have indicated that stem cells also have behavioral roles of responding to the environment and sensing it.

As living beings, there are times we encounter various kinds of injuries through some traumatic events. These can be simple from paper cuts to serious injuries like the loss of limbs infarction. The body has a mechanism of healing these damaged tissues. Some organisms like earthworms have the ability of regrowth of complete body parts after an injury but human beings have no such ability. Stem cells are known to replenish such types of injuries by focusing on the healing of other cell types.

” What is a Stem Cell“ Source:Relievus

How can stem cells repair injuries?

In the healing context, repair refers to restoring tissue function and architecture after an injury. This is based on the processes of replacement and regeneration. Research has indicated that these stem cells also have the ability of remembering past inflammation and wounds. The suggestion from studies of the gut, airways and the skin is that together with the immune system, stem cells use the memories for the improvement of tissue responses to later assaults by pathogens which are bacteriums, viruses that can cause disease.

“VESC system in the liver” Source: MedicalExpress

The repair of tissues can lead to restoration of some of the original structures of the tissue damaged like epithelial layers but in complex healing of organ functions. Additionally, when the responses of the stem cells fail to go in the right way, they can lead to various enduring health problems based on chronic inflammation. It thus means that stem cells directly communicate with the immune system to facilitate healing but the stem cells have a central role of making tissues adapt to preservation.

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Wenyu Zhao

Signs of a super-Earth discovered around Barnard’s star

 

Where is Barnard’s Star? What is Super-Earth?

“Barnard’s star may have a super-Earth”      Source: SciNews YouTube Channel

On November 14th, 2018, astronomers claimed that a super-Earth named Barnard’s star b was discovered in one of the orbitals of Barnard’s star which is a red dwarf star. This indicates that Barnard’s star is faint and has a low mass. It is approximately six light-years away from the solar system, and it is the second closest to the Sun. A super-Earth is an extrasolar planet which has a larger mass than Earth: Barnard’s star b is 3.2 times heavier than Earth and lies in the snow region where liquid water barely exists.

Why Is this finding important?  

The method used to detect Barnard’s star b is called the radial velocity method. It detects the wobbles in a star which are likely to be caused by the gravitational pull of an orbiting planet. This is because wobbles affect the light coming from the star: as it moves towards the Earth, its spectrum appears slightly shifted towards blue, and as it moves away, it is shifted to the red.

“Effect of wobbles on lights”           Source: ScienceNordic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The discovery of the planet is vital because it is the first time using this technology to detect a planet having such a small size and such a long distance from its host star. This newly applied radial velocity method adds extraordinary accuracy for identification of a planet. According to Dr. Ignasi Ribas, the research team is over 99% confident that the plant does exist. In the future, however, further data collection is still needed to minimize uncertainties. In addition, the technology is useful and easy to directly observe similar planets and obtain vital info such as the properties of the planets to extend current understanding.

 “Radio Velocity Method for Finding New Planets”      Source: cosmos YouTube  

Why do we keep searching for new planets? 

Due to the explosive growth of population, we are facing the problem brought by the limitation of resource on Earth. Astronomers keep searching for new planets that are Earth-like in the hope of obtaining the signs of liquid water. Moreover, we are all curious about the answer to the question which states “Are we closer to not being alone”.

“Earth-like Exoplanets”                         Source: NASA

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Olivia Zhou