Research News
Celebrating five years of accomplishments for the Guelph Family Health Study
By Dianne Priamo
University of Guelph researchers from a wide range of disciplines are immersed in one of the longest-term studies ever undertaken by the institution – the 20-year Guelph Family Health Study. It’s designed to help families improve their health through better food, activity, leisure and sleep, with the ultimate goal of decreasing chronic disease risk, now and in the future.
The team is working with over 300 Guelph area families, and hoping to recruit more, to track lifestyle habits, body composition and genetics. The study...
Finding new pathways to understand Alzheimer’s disease
PhD studen, Abdalla, working on an electrode array.
By Ariana Longley
Connections within your brain help to shape who you are. Deterioration of these connections affects your memories and cognitive abilities, which is what happens with Alzheimer’s disease.
Despite how debilitating and emotionally devastating Alzheimer’s is, treatments remain ineffective to halt or slow disease progression. That’s why University of Guelph researchers are investigating new molecular targets to address this common disorder.
Prof. Melissa Perreault, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, is working...
Quality assurance standards could improve service dog industry
Photo provided by: Anne Wilcock
By Mya Kidson
Consensus standards exist in many fields – but not for service dogs. They’re trained to meet the needs of their handlers, but universal standards about what constitutes an effective service dog are vague or non-existent. A student research team at the University of Guelph says the efficiency and effectiveness of producing such dogs could be greatly enhanced if such standards were implemented.
University of Guelph B. Comm. students Kayla McLaren and Andrew Forgeron from the Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies, found that...
Retirees feel guilty about food waste in their communities
Photo credit: Dianne Priamo
By Ariana Longley
Food waste weighs heavily on the minds of retirement community residents who have experienced food insecurity at some point in their lives, according to University of Guelph researchers.
Prof. Bruce McAdams in the Department of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management and his team at the University of Guelph interviewed elderly people in two Ontario facilities to determine attitudes toward food waste. They wanted to help develop creative ways to help alleviate potentially negative emotions about food waste.
They found...
Dairy consumption in kids. Study encourages preschoolers to consume calcium-rich foods.
Photo courtesy of Milk Producer, April 2019 edition
Study encourages preschoolers to consume calcium-rich foods
By Mya Kidson
Dairy is a staple food group in a child’s daily diet. However, despite attempts to increase kids’ consumption, dairy may be lacking in their everyday routine. Since the new Canada’s Food Guide further steers consumers toward a more plant-based diet, new concerns are being raised that children might lack key nutrients dairy offers.
Master’s student Victoria Srbely and undergraduate student Imtisal Janjua, along with professors Andrea Buchholz from the department...
U of G pet nutrition expert receives research excellence award
Dr. Adronie Verbrugghe demonstrates how to check pet body composition score with DVM students.
An Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) researcher, who specializes in pet nutrition, has been recognized for research excellence and innovation.
Dr. Adronie Verbrugghe, a professor in OVC’s Department of Clinical Studies, has received a Research Excellence Award from the University of Guelph. Professor Verbrugghe, who is also Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Endowed Chair in Canine and Feline Clinical Nutrition, focuses her research on canine and feline nutrition.
“The impact of nutrition on health is a crucial, incredibly timely area of research,...
Open Access
By Amber Wood
Open Access, a free and unlimited online access framework to scholarly publications, is a way by which to improve knowledge, accelerate discovery and encourage innovation.
In May 2015, Canada introduced the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on publications to mandate open access to research articles funded by Canada's three major research agencies: the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
...
Predatory journals
istock.com/serdjophoto
By Amber Wood
As predatory journals become increasingly common in the scholarly publishing landscape, major media outlets like CBC and CTV News have broadcasted cautionary tales to researchers.
The growing concern with predatory journals is that they do not reflect the quality present in the scholarly publishing landscape and can be exploitive of researchers. Predatory publishers exploit the author-pays business model for their own profit. They conduct little to no peer review or editing work thereby hindering the scientific process and...
Vegan liqueur, skin exfoliant and aluminum foil substitute win big in Project SOY
Vegan liqueur, skin exfoliant and aluminum foil substitute win big in Project SOY
A cream liqueur for vegan- and lactose-intolerant consumers, a soybean-based skin exfoliant and edible soy protein substitute for aluminum foil are this year’s first-place projects at the University of Guelph’s 23rd annual Project SOY competition.
Project SOY (Soybean Opportunities for Youth) is an annual contest that harnesses students' creative power to develop new products and marketing strategies for soybeans. The event, held at the...
Dairy Performance Related to Calf Health
Photo courtesy of Caitlin MacLeod
Dairy performance related to calf health
By Alicia Bowland
Poor lung health in calves implicated in long-term negative impacts to dairy production. To maximize productivity and profitability, and to facilitate managerial decision-making, dairy producers need to look at their calves’ lung health. Tricia Dunn, graduate from the department of population medicine at the University of Guelph, and Theresa Olivett from the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine used thoracic ultrasound technology, a non-invasive chest ultrasound, to analyze...