Research News
Data Science: Sustainable and profitable
By Samantha McReavy
Improving the sustainability of farms while maintaining profitability is essential to protect the livelihood of farmers and the health of the planet. Farmers need to be profitable to stay in business. But they also need to look after their farms to keep producing food for the long run.
That’s where profitability mapping comes in. These maps show farmers an estimate of how much money they are making—or losing—on specific areas of their farm.
Virginia Capmourteres, formerly a research...
Data Science: The world of artificial intelligence
Kindred, co-founded by Prof. Graham Taylor, is a robot that can manage warehouse organization.
By Samantha McReavy and Mya Kidson
Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is all around us—although we may not always be aware of it—from self-driving cars to online product recommendations, practical speech recognition, text prediction and even the development of a globally accessible COVID-19 antiviral pill. AI is constantly being used to improve lives.
Dr. Graham Taylor, an engineering professor at the University of Guelph and interim Research Director at the Vector Institute, is working to improve AI technology...
Data Science: Strengthening automotive safety with in-lab technologies
DRiVE lab is led by Prof. Lana Trick (left), pictured here with students Heather Walker and Rylan Waring.
By Samantha McReavy
A high-tech driving simulator at the University of Guelph is using data to improve driver safety by identifying factors and behaviours that increase the risk of collisions.
The University of Guelph DRiVE lab (Driving Research in Virtual Environments) is led by Drs. Lana Trick, Department of Psychology; Andrew Hamilton-Wright, School of Computer Science; and Michele Oliver, School of Engineering. The lab houses a driving simulator—a full car body surrounded by viewing...
Data Science: The Multidisciplinary Impact of Improvisation
Korean percussionist Dong-Won Kim at a ground-turning ceremony for U of G’s MacKinnon Building renovation and its new ImprovLab.
By Sydney Pearce and Cate Willis
Dr. Ajay Heble, School of English and Theatre Studies, founded the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI). This partnered research institute looks into how artistic improvisation can be a model for social change, and how improvisatory practices can benefit community health and technological communication through engagement and collaboration.
“It’s exciting to see how members of the IICSI research team are engaged in the creation and development of digital tools and...
Data Science: Compusense
Compusense today: measuring and constantly striving to improve.
By Alicia Bowland
Compusense makes software for conducting sensory research and consumer studies. The Guelph-based company was founded in 1986 by Chris Findlay, an adjunct professor in the University of Guelph’s Department of Food Science.
Various consumer products and their surroundings convey sensory properties that consumers respond to differently. Sensory research measures consumer response to a stimulus.
“Step...
U of G’s Mass Spectrometry Facility Offers Unique Learning Experiences
Senior Research Technician Dr. Armen Charchoglyan with MSc student Elisa Lau.
By Cate Willis
Chemistry, food science, biomedical and toxicology researchers will benefit from new tools installed in 2021 in the University of Guelph’s mass spectrometry facility.
The new equipment – including a Thermo nLC Exploris 240 for quantitative protomics, a Waters LC Synapt Q-Tof with ion mobolity and a Bruker LC EVOQ Qube triple quadrupole MS for small molecule quantitation – will expand U of G’s research capacity and provide novel learning experiences for the next generation of researchers, says Dr. Dyanne Brewer, facility manager.
...
Data Science: A Shifting Research Paradigm
Malcolm Campbell, Vice-President (Research)
COVID-19 turned research on its head.
Since early 2020, we’ve had to rethink how, why, when and where research takes place. Confronting the COVID-19 virus provided University of Guelph with one of its greatest challenges and it has responded in kind. Our researchers have repurposed innovations, conducted cutting-edge research, offered their expertise to pandemic efforts and applied data to help people everywhere understand, manage and react to the unprecedented situations we face.
The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t the only...
U of G Research Group Addressing Challenges for Farmers in Northern and Eastern Ontario
University of Guelph professor Dr. Joshua Nasielski, Ontario Agricultural College, started the Northern and Eastern Agronomy Research Group (NEO-AG) to conduct agronomic research to help farmers in Northern and Eastern Ontario. In this article, SPARK writer Abbey Drew examines the unique challenges that farmers in Northern and Eastern Ontario face and the various projects that NEO-AG has underway at area research stations...
Yeast Shows Promise as a Feed Additive for Beef Cattle
By Katie Kroeze
Finding an effective alternative to supplementing livestock feed with antimicrobials is the focus of a University of Guelph researcher.
Melissa Williams, a U of G animal biosciences doctoral candidate supervised by Dr. Katharine Wood, is investigating yeast as a substitute for antimicrobial use in feed for beef cattle. Her results suggest that yeast has the potential for similar average daily weight gain in beef cattle as traditional additives.
Although most antimicrobials used in beef cattle...
U of G Researcher Looking for Anti-Viral Treatment for COVID-19
By Vanessa Virgo
U of G researchers are on the hunt for chemical inhibitors that could be used to treat COVID-19 by halting viral progression in infected patients.
Dr. Wei Zhang, a professor in the College of Biological Science, says previous researchers found small molecule inhibitors that prevented viral progression of the SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV viruses.
Following the earlier model, he and his team at the Zhang Lab looked for a molecule that could...