Download St. Francis Xavier University

Institute for Life and Health Studies
Interdepartmental collaboration in support of innovative
education and research opportunities for St.F.X. faculty and
students.
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Faculty Members
Adult Education
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Maureen Coady
Anthropology
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L Jane McMillan CRC: Indigenous Peoples and Sustainable Communities
Biology
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Angela Beye
Cory Bishop
Edwin DeMont
Lori Graham
V. Karunakaran
William S. Marshall
Russell Wyeth
Business Administration
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Tom Mahaffey
Chemistry
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Manuel Aquino
David Morgan
Truis Smith-Palmer
Education
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Bosire Monari Mwebi
Human Kinetics
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Sasho MacKenzie
Human Nutrition
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Doris Gillis
Laurie Wadsworth
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Information Systems
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Todd Boyle CRC: Integrated IT Diffusion in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science
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Ryan Lukeman
Wendy MacCaull
Xu (Sunny) Wang
Nursing
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Elizabeth McGibbon
Charmaine McPherson
Physics
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David Pink
Psychology
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Anne Bigelow
Karen Brebner
Petra Hauf CRC: Culture and Human Development
John McKenna
Margo Watt
Religious Studies
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Brenda Appleby
Organization
Chair: Edwin DeMont
Secretary: Karen Brebner
Working Group on Education Initiatives
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Edwin DeMont (Chair)
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Wendy McCall
Anne Bigelow
Bosire Monari Mwebi
Working Group on Research Initiatives
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Lori Graham (Chair)
David Morgan
Margo Watt
Elizabeth McGibbon
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Faculty Interests
Brenda Appleby (Religious Studies)
Bioethicist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies,
teaches Health Care Ethics, Religion, Spirituality and Health; and Religious Approches to
Sexuality and Sexual Diversity. Current research interests; health care ethics, spirituality
and health, Mi’kmaw spirituality and healing, integrity and well-being in end-of-life and
palliative care.
Manuel Aquino (Chemistry)
About one-third of the synthetic work my lab does in the area of inorganic and
organometallic chemistry of the transition metals is geared toward drug design. We
investigate compounds of the platinum-group metals (Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir and Pt) for their
potential, primarily, as anti-cancer agents. (A research avenue that was somewhat
serendipitously begun in the mid-1960’s by Rosenberg with the discovery of cisplatin,
cis-Pt(NH3)2Cl2, which became one of the first inorganic anti-cancer drugs and is, along
with its 2nd generation analogues, the drug of choice for most testicular cancers; recall
Lance Armstrong). We have recently had a number of compounds tested against HeLa
and CoLo 320DM cancer cell lines with two of them showing some promise against the
multi-drug resistant CoLo cells. We also investigate the interactions of our complexes
with biologically relevant substrates, such as purine and pyrimidine bases, in order to
determine their primary and secondary binding modes, as most of these forms of drugs
are thought to inhibit DNA synthesis by direct coordination to nucleotide bases.
Angela Beye (Biology)
My research focuses on how alterations in pulmonary surfactant, a lipid-protein
complex found lining the interior of the lungs, contributes to lung dysfunction. I am
particularly interested in the function of airway surfactant, as opposed to alveolar
surfactant, in order to understand the pathogenesis of asthma. This research uses birds as
a model system for analyzing airway surfactant, as it is not possible to isolate this
surfactant from mammalian lungs. Currently, I am investigating whether airway (bird)
surfactant possesses host defence properties. This research may translate into
applications for agriculture and veterinary medicine for diseases such as avian influenza
or “bird flu”, as well as airway diseases such as asthma.
Anne Bigelow (Psychology)
My research on infant development focuses on optimal parent-infant interactions
for healthy infant development. Most recently I completed a three year longitudinal study
of early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact showing such contact reduces postpartum
depression in mothers, increases maternal sensitivity to infants, facilitates mothers’
decision to exclusively breastfeed, allows infants to maintain the quiet alert state in social
interactions, and increases infants’ responsiveness to mothers.
Cory Bishop (Biology)
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I conduct discovery-based research on marine invertebrates. My research exists at
the interface of development, ecology and evolution. I am primarily interested in signal
transduction pathways that control the timing of environmentally induced metamorphosis
among marine invertebrates with biphasic life histories. I am currently focusing on nitric
oxide/cyclic guanosine monophosphate (NO/cGMP) and thyroxine (T4) signaling and
their epistatic interactions. A second program concerns the development, function and
evolution of a novel sensory structure recently discovered on a sea urchin larva. This
project involves cloning and characterizing G-protein coupled receptors from the tropical
banded sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus, investigating the development of defined
neurons that differentiate late in larval life and documenting larval behaviours in response
to experimental perturbations. A third avenue concerns the orgin of the vertebrate neural
crest. The neural crest is an embryonic tissue that contributes to many adult tissues
including the peripheral nervous system and craniofacial skeleton (and teeth) and forms
pigment, endocrine and cardiac cells. I use sea squirts, the closest living relatives of the
vertebrates, to reconstruct the evolution of the neural crest from simpler origins. One
migratory cell population of interest in larval sea squirts expresses elevated levels of the
molecular chaperone HSP90. I plan to use stable transgenesis to genetically label these
cells and trace their fate into the juvenile. The longer term goal of this research is to
build conceptual models of the role that development plays in evolutionary innovations. I
received my Ph.D. from the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at
Simon Fraser University, held an NSERC PDF in the laboratory of Michael Hadfield
(University of Hawaii), and then went on to another postdoctoral position in the
laboratory of Brian Hall (Dalhousie University). I enjoy collaborations with several
researchers from Canada and the US.
Todd Boyle (Information Systems) CRC: Integrated IT Diffusion in Small and
Medium-sized Enterprises
The focus of his research is the processes, technology, and management issues
associated with the adoption of continuous quality improvement (CQI) by Canadian
community pharmacies. Dr. Boyle’s research is fully funded by SSHRC, NSHRF, CFI,
NSRIT, and the Canada Research Chairs program; with significant in-kind contributions
from the Nova Scotia College of Pharmacists (i.e., provincial pharmacy regulatory
authority) and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada (ISMP-Canada). Dr.
Boyle’s latest projects include SafetyNET-Rx and quality related event (QRE) (i.e.,
medication errors and near misses) reporting and learning in community pharmacies.
Developed by the research team (i.e., St. Francis Xavier University and Dalhousie
University), Nova Scotia College of Pharmacists, and ISMP-Canada, SafetyNET-Rx is
continuous quality improvement program that enables community pharmacies to apply
integrated information technologies (IT) and various quality management practices in
order to reduce, better report, and learn from QREs. Key elements of SafetyNET-Rx
include a web-based integrated error reporting and analytic tool, reporting errors to a
national database for analysis at the national, provincial, and store levels, a CQI process
customized for community pharmacies (i.e., SafetyNET-Rx Cycle), and pharmacy
tailored root-cause analysis. The focus of Dr. Boyle’s NSHRF funded research is on the
technology, process, management, and regulatory determinants of QRE reporting, service
recovery, and learning in Canadian community pharmacies. The research involves testing
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a SEM of such determinants and outcomes, and developing an online self-assessment tool
so that pharmacy managers can benchmark their QRE reporting, recovery, and learning
practices against the best, better, and promising practices used throughout Canada.
Karen Brebner (Psychology)
The main focus of my research is the exploration of animal models of addiction,
including self-administration of psychoactive drugs, behavioral sensitization, relapse to
drug seeking behavior, and conditioned place preference. My recent work focuses on
drug-induced neural plasticity and epigenetic modifications in the brain that might
contribute to addiction. I am also investigating different molecules that might form the
basis of a novel pharmacotherapeutic approach for treating drug addiction, and whether
there are applications to other neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders associated
with abnormal synaptic function.
Maureen Coady (Adult Education)
My research relates to educational dimensions of community health and
development. I am interested in citizen engagement strategies that enable informal
learning, such that individuals and whole communities are able to exercise more control
over the influences that determine their health. I have examined adult learning
dimensions of health volunteerism in a decentralized health care environment, and
community development practices that can support the development of sustainable
community partnerships for health. In an effort to increase understanding about the links
between health and learning I am currently examining learning that takes place for adults
in health promotion and health education programs, delivered in community settings.
Related to this is the experience of practitioners in this context. In future I hope to
explore the concept of reflective practice with health professionals. Reflective practice is
increasingly advocated as an intentional way for them to examine their previously held
assumptions about practice, and to envision new possibilities and responses.
Edwin DeMont (Biology)
One area of research in my laboratory is the study of the structure and function of
tissues found in primitive vertebrates such as lamprey and hagfish and some invertebrates
such as lobsters. We are focused on two specific tissues, non-collagenous cartilages and
microfibril-based arteries. We are trying to develop these as model systems for
connective tissue diseases such as arthritis and Marfan Syndrome. My colleague Glenda
Wright (UPEI) and I were awarded a CIHR operating grant to examine the structure and
function of microfibril-based arteries with the long-term goal of helping to understand
how microfibril dysfunction is important in Marfan Syndrome. I am an adjunct professor
at both the School of Biomedical Engineering at Dalhousie University and Atlantic
Veterinary College, U.P.E.I.
Doris Gillis (Human Nutrition)
My research activities focus on health literacy, food security, and maternal and
child nutrition. For example, as principal investigator for the Health Literacy in Rural
Nova Scotia Research Project, I collaborated with a multidisciplinary research team and
community partners in studying the links between health and literacy in Northeastern
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Nova Scotia. Building on this work, my doctoral research (funded by CIHR, 2006-08)
examined dimensions of health literacy related to breastfeeding promotion practices of
professional and lay providers across the perinatal continuum of care in the Guysborough
Antigonish Strait Health Authority (GASHA). Currently, I am a member of the Maritime
Early Literacy Evaluation Team which is exploring the impacts of literacy programs
delivered to families of newborns in hospitals in NS, NB and PEI. Funded by CIHR
(2008-11), the research is led by Dr. Cyndi Brannen, Centre for Research in Family
Health at the IWK. I have served on many national and provincial committees including
the Expert Panel on Health Literacy struck by the Canadian Public Health Association
and funded by the Canadian Council on Learning (2006-8). In their report released in Feb
2008, the Panel pointed to low health literacy as a serious population health issue in
Canada. I bring my interest in health literacy and food security to the development of a
SSHRC Community University Research Alliance (CURA) proposal focusing on social
and policy change related to community food security led by Dr. Patty Williams, CRC,
MSVU. An LOI submitted to SSHRC in Oct 2008 was approved for full proposal
submission in Sept 2009. With funding by a NSHRF Knowledge Transfer Grant, Dr. Ann
Bigelow and I currently completing the development of a DVD and education kit
designed to transfer knowledge to practitioners and parents from an earlier study funded
by the NSHRF which investigated the effects of early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact.
Lori Graham (Biology)
Infection processes are characterized by dynamic interactions between host and
pathogen. My research emphasizes the structure-function relationships of bacterial cell
surface components, specifically the molecular interactions which occur between these
components and their respective target host cells and tissues during the development of
disease states. As a model organism I utilize Campylobacter fetus, a gram negative
bacterial pathogen of humans and ungulates, which is able to cause disease states varying
in severity from asymptomatic to persistent infection to severe systemic disease. I have
established in vitro infection systems utilizing several different epithelial cell lines to
mimic the mucosal surfaces at which C. fetus usually initiates infection. Biochemical
methodologies are used to identify both host cell and bacterial components which are
involved in mediating interactions as well as to isolate, purify and chemically
characterize these components. Genetic manipulation of C. fetus allows the
determination of the role of specific bacterial components in virulence. Subsequent host
cell responses to bacterial encounters are followed using a variety of cell biology assays.
Numerous microscopy techniques, including fluorescence and confocal microscopy as
well as high resolution transmission and scanning electron microscopy are used to
visualize host-pathogen interactions and host response. This work provides basic
information on the initial stages of infection for C. fetus in particular, but may also
establish how variable disease states subsequently develop from an initial mucosal
infection.
Petra Hauf (Psychology) CRC: Culture and Human Development
As Canada Research Chair in Culture and Human Development, I study how
infants learn to understand actions during infancy and early childhood. Specifically, I am
looking at how infants’ perceptual and motor development affects how and when they
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begin to produce their own actions as well as how it this development affects their ability
to perceive and understand the actions that others make. Using eye-tracking and video
technology I investigate also what other features are linked to infants’ development.
Studying infants, I have discovered that in their first year of life they not only learn about
actions while watching others but that the actions they produce themselves affects how
interested they are in those made by others. To understand this two-way relationship is a
key to more advanced understanding of actions, goals and communication. My research
focuses on the relationship between perceptual and motor development and how the
development of these two systems affects normally developed infants’ cognitive and
social abilities. This research may additionally be used to develop training programs for
infants and young children with developmental delays. By understanding the interplay
between motor and perceptual development and overall cognitive functions it may be
possible to develop training programs that help alleviate the problems associated with
developmental delays. In an additional line of research I focus on infants’ emotion
understanding. I am looking into their way to display emotions and to use emotional cues
of others to guide their behaviour.
Wendy MacCaull (Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science)
My research involves modeling and reasoning about complex and distributed
processes. The applications of this research are directed to the development of innovative
software for verifiable, dynamic, adaptive software for process management, information
management and exchange, planning/scheduling and data integration. The motivating
examples involve processes for improved health services delivery. My research interests
include such topics as verification, both model checking and automated theorem proving,
tableaux methods, proof theory, nonclassical logics (temporal, modal, paraconsistent and
others), logic programming, ontology building and merging, knowledge representation
and reasoning, model driven architecture, parallel and high performance computing
methodology. I collaborate with administrators, physicians and nurses from GASHA
(our local health authority) with people from the StFX School of Nursing, with an
industry partner, Palomino System Innovation Inc, with many colleagues in Canada and
abroad. I currently teach both math and computer science and for many years taught
statistics. I currently am PI on grants from NSERC, ACOA (the AIF), NSHRF and
ACEnet and in the past year have held grants from CFI and NSRIT and been a
collaborator on 2 small grants from CIHR. You can see the web site www.logic.stfx.ca
which details work to date at the Centre for Logic and Information which I established as
a result of the ACOA AIF.
Sasho MacKenzie (Human Kinetics)
My research is focused on the optimization of human movement with a particular
interest in golf. My approach to solving problems on the optimization of human
movement is primarily founded on the development and use of forward dynamic
simulations. The simulations are coupled with genetic algorithms to determine the
optimal timing of muscle activation patterns. I’ve recently completed a series of studies
on customizing the properties of the golf club to suit an individual player. I’m currently
focused on modifying my modelling techniques in order to run optimization simulations
on the high performance computing infrastructure available at StFX.
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William S. Marshall (Biology)
Dr. Bill Marshall specializes in cell level physiology of ion transport by epithelial
systems from a variety of animal models such as teleost fish and human cell lines.
Projects use airway, gill epithelia, cornea, renal and intestinal epithelial models. The
focus is the regulatory mechanisms of the ion channel Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane
conductance Regulator (CFTR) and other ion transporting proteins. CFTR is regulated in
a complex of proteins including Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) a cytoskeletal regulatory
protein in fish and in human airway epithelial cells lines (Calu-3) as well as in fish skin
and gill. We use immunocytochemistry, electrophysiology and protein molecular
biology to find solutions to mechanisms in transporter regulation, funded by NSERC and
CFI. Marshall was the first research active Dean of Science at St. F. X., has been chair of
Biology, member of many NSERC committees including GSC-31 Animal Physiology,
Scholarships and Fellowships and was the youngest president elected in the Canadian
Society of Zoologists in 1999. With constant NSERC research funding since 1982 and
many international collaborators, Prof. Marshall has more than 70 highly cited peer
adjudicated research papers in ophthalmology, renal physiology, comparative fish
physiology and endocrinology; he has frequent invitations to speak in international
symposia and to contribute review papers and book chapters in the areas of animal
physiology. More than 40 students have trained in the Marshall lab, most going on to
graduate school or medicine.
Elizabeth McGibbon (Nursing)
Research program focuses on the identification and amelioration of health
inequities. This includes barriers in access to health services; health services (health care
delivery models and policies) as a social determinant of health; intersections/synergies of
the social determinants of health, identity and geography as antecedents of ill health;
ethical, legal, and ‘front-line’ challenges in the implementation of health as a human
right; and the political economy of health. My recent projects are: ‘Barriers in access to
health services for rural Aboriginal and African Canadians: A scoping review’ (CIHR);
Anti-racist health care practice (McGibbon & Etowa, 2009, Toronto: Canadian Scholar’s
Press, 245pp). Some projects I am currently working on are: development of a human
rights health report card for Canada with colleagues in Canada, US, Uganda, and South
Africa; editing a book ‘Oppression as a social determinant of health in Canada’
(Fernwood Publishing); and the study of primary health care inter-sectoral teams (with
Dr. Charmaine McPherson), including their potential to improve the health and well
being of marginalized and racialized individuals and families. Methods are qualitative
and quantitative, and I am developing some beginning expertise in GIS applications.
L Jane McMillan (Anthropology) CRC: Indigenous Peoples and Sustainable
Communities
Aboriginal rights and justice are at the forefront of my ethnographic and
participatory action research in Mi’kmaq communities. I investigate the impact of
colonization and systemic discrimination on cultural health through three platforms:
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nationhood, treaty rights and resource regulation; community based justice and family
violence; and sustainable cooperative development. The Netukulimk project, a Mi’kmaq
concept we are exploring under the nationhood, rights and resource platform, recently
developed a research focus on the links between cultural identities, access to traditional
resources, procurement and distribution of traditional foods and their impact on
sociocultural and physiological health. We envision establishing a group of participants
to create a community garden, procure traditional Mi’kmaq foods, consume these foods
regularly and measure the impact on individual and community health, the experience of
rights assertion and potential for cultural invigoration.
Charmaine McPherson (Nursing)
I am an applied health researcher who focuses on health policy and service issues.
My research interests include public system reform, organizational change and service
integration through a social justice lens. I primarily use network and complexity theory to
examine these issues. Recent research focused on how interorganizational and crosssectoral health networks were developed and sustained in Nova Scotia. I am the
nominated Nova Scotia PI on a national study examining the roles of context,
interprofessional relationships and networks in primary health care model development
across Canada (CHSRF-REISS grant 2007-2010). Two studies awaiting funding
decisions seek to examine (1) how interprofessional teams are developed and sustained in
primary health care reform in Nova Scotia (NSHRF), and (2) the role of networks in
knowledge transfer among public health staff in Ontario (CIHR). I am primarily a
qualitative researcher (case study) with mixed methods and social network analysis
expertise. I tend to work on large collaborative research teams that include researcherdecision maker-community partnerships. I am currently in my second year of a 2-year
CHSRF/CIHR CADRE (Capacity for Applied and Development Research &
Evaluation) postdoctoral fellowship in primary health care reform. I am an invited
visiting scholar at the Word Health Organization in Geneva within their Implementing
Primary Health Care Reform portfolio (April-June 2010).
David Morgan (Chemistry)
The Morgan laboratory’s research interests are in the set of protein – protein
interactions that mediate the malaria parasite’s recognition of the cell types it invades, to
the active rearrangement of the parasite’s cytoskeleton, which provides the mechanical
force necessary to invade those cells. At present the proteins of interest to us are the
Thrombospondin Repeat Anonymous Protein (TRAP) and the EBA-175 protein, which
are involved in recognizing liver and red blood cells, respectively. Also of interest are the
malarial aldolase protein and the malarial actin protein. The former is also known to bind
the actin cytoskeleton, and is thus likely to be a link between parasite cell surface proteins
and its cytoskeleton. The immediate goals of our research are to assess the
thermodynamic and structural properties of the TRAP / aldolase interaction, to determine
if an EBA-175 / aldolase interaction occurs, and if so, to assess its thermodynamic and
structural determinants, and to monitor the effect of TRAP, EBA-175, and actin binding
to aldolase on the latter’s enzymatic activity. Longer term research interests involve
discovery and characterization of other proteins involved in the invasion machinery, and
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a mathematical description of the invasion process based on the suite of data collected in
experiments like those mentioned above.
Bosire Monari Mwebi (Education)
My research interests are in health education at local and international contexts.
These includes: behavioral aspect of youth towards sexual health and HIV/AIDS and
STIs; peer education in HIV/AIDS and STI’s prevention; using photo-hadithi as a
participatory research technique for eliciting children’s perspectives on health issues;
developing pre-service teacher’s competence in health education instruction through
service learning and international internship; and social determinants of health in
Canadian schools and beyond. Some of the projects I am working on are: Preparing
North American pre-service teachers for global perspectives: An international teaching
practicum experience in Africa ( will be taking pre-service teachers to Kenya in
March/April 2010); ‘Understanding the Place of Photo-Hadithi in Transforming
Knowledge about HIV/AIDS in a Kenyan primary school’ (implemented in Kenya in
2007, led to the development of a research tool- photo-hadithi, 2007); Incorporating
service learning in health education and deviance and social control courses (ongoing
with Donna MacDonald); Outdoor Active Living (AOL) project with A. Foran & A.
Stanec. The program aims at developing a research component based on service learning
that partners senior high students facilitating the activity program with middle-school
youth, and mentored and supervised by Bachelor of Education students (ongoing).
Exploring the sexual health knowledge attitudes and behaviours towards HIV/AIDS and
STIs among Kenyan first year university students. A joint research proposal to be
submitted to SSHRC’s International Opportunity Fund with colleagues in Kenyatta
University, Kenya (will apply for November 2009 competition).
David Pink (Physics)
Senior Research Professor, received his Ph.D. from University of British
Columbia. He began his career as a theorist in solid state physics but, after 15 years in
that field, switched to the physics of biological systems. He worked on modeling
biological membranes (invented the so-called “Pink model”), and subsequently extended
his techniques from analytical work to include computer simulation. He became
involved with the Food Science group at the Technical University of Nova Scotia (now
part of Dalhousie) and through them with the Food Science MNG and subsequently
AFMNet. Recently he has been doing research on delivery platforms, Gram-negative
bacterial membranes, cationic antimicrobial peptides, triglycerides, nanoparticles and
biofilms. With regard to the last named, he has extended his work to include dissipative
particle dynamics (DPD) to model fluids, and is a co-inventor of the DPD simulation
software Fluidix©, sold/maintained by a company, OneZero Software, created by his
student. He is involved with the Porins, Salt, Fats and Biofilms projects recently funded
by AFMNet. He helped create the High Performance Computing Lab and the state-ofthe-art Raman Laboratory at St.F.X. via a $3M grant from the AIF. He was on the Board
of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and has been on the NSERC Council and
innumerable NSERC committees, as well as being involved with the Canada Council
(Killam) and the Advisory Board on TRIUMF. He has taught almost all undergraduate
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physics courses and continues to teach Biophysics. He has published about 130 papers as
well as various reports on education and research facilities. He has a wide range of active
collaborators in Canada (StFXU, ACENET, Dalhousie, Ryerson, U of Guelph), the USA
(Boise Sate U, General Mills) and Germany (U of Heidelberg, Jacobs-University
Bremen) and his research is well-supported by NSERC and AFMNet.
Truis Smith-Palmer (Chemistry)
My research is based on Applied Analytical Chemistry. One current project
involves studies on silver and gold nanoparticles including their interactions with
bacteria. We use nanoparticles for Surfaced enhanced Raman (SERS) applications
We are looking at the use of nanoparticles for inhibiting bacterial growth – in solutions or
in films We have used FTIR to examine the adsorption of surfactants, polymers
carbohydrates, proteins and biofilms onto titania films deposited on ATR elements. We
have two state-of-the-art Raman microscopes. One we generally use to study material in
flow cells. The other is used in conjunction with atomic force microscopy (AFM) and we
are moving towards using it for tip enhanced Raman (TERS) experiments. The AFM
allows us to image surface features and choose positions at which we can obtain Raman
spectra. The beam is approximately 1 μm. We have used the AFM system to look at
titania, and silver and zinc nanoparticles and their size and surface distribution after
various treatments. We have also use Raman AFM to examine bacteria and biofilms.
Much better spatial resolution can theoretically be achieved by replacing a standard AFM
tip with a tip ending in a silver or gold nanoparticle, which can then be scanned across a
surface to collect enhanced spectra (TERS). This is difficult and takes considerable time
and effort to achieve. My studies here have including looking at the interaction between
polymers and particles in a variety of ways – using FTIR, fluorescence, titration,
sedimentation and flocculation experiments. Much of my work is carried out in
conjunction with Dr. David Pink in the Physics Department, who is involved with
modeling the systems of interest. Current research with Smith-Palmer as Principal
Investigator is funded by NSERC, CFI. Further funding has been obtained in
collaborations with David Pink(StFX) (AIF, Sable Offshore, NSERC-CRD).
Laurie Wadsworth (Human Nutrition)
Laurie has over 12 years of experience in Public Health practice. Her research
interests include effectiveness of nutrition communications, effects of mass media use on
health attitudes and behaviours, potential for media literacy to alter health attitudes and
behaviours, and health promotion program planning and evaluation. Her interests in
agenda setting and health policy development involved her in Canada’s Trans Fat Task
Force, the Saskatchewan Heart Health Program, and various committees of the Heart and
Stroke Foundation.
Xu (Sunny) Wang (Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science)
The main area of my research focuses on developing statistical learning methods
in drug discovery to identify compounds that are active against the target (e.g. inhibit a
virus). Statistical learning in drug discovery is to build a model that uses descriptors
characterizing molecular structure to predict biological activity. It is a supervised
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learning. I also conduct collaboration work with researchers from other disciplines, such
as epidemiologist, optometrist.
Margo Watt (Psychology)
My research focuses on factors (e.g., learning, personality) that contribute to the
development and maintenance of anxiety and related disorders (e.g., hypochondriasis,
chronic pain, and substance abuse). In particular, I am interested in the role of anxiety
sensitivity (AS: fear of arousal-related sensations) in these disorders and the relationship
between AS and physical activity as an approach to therapy. We have developed a brief
cognitive-behavioural intervention specifically designed to reduce AS, which includes
running as an interoceptive exposure technique. The efficacy and effectiveness of this
intervention has been demonstrated; the range of its possible applications and mechanism
of process continue to be investigated.
Russell Wyeth (Biology)
Animal behaviour, neurobiology, and invertebrate neuroethology. I am interested
in how the brain controls behaviour and use an integrative approach, studying sensory
cues, the behavioural responses to those cues, and how the nervous system generates the
responses to those cues. As such, I deal with all three components of the nervous system:
sensory, central and motor . Research methods in my lab include behavioural
observation (often underwater using video and SCUBA), video analysis of behavioural
experiments, electrophysiology (both extracellular and intracellular recordings), and
neuroanatomical observation (confocoal microscopy, etc.) Primary projects at the
moment are investigating the neural control of navigation in the sea slug Tritonia
diomedea, and sensory systems in the snail Lymnaea stagnalis.