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The Connect2Canada Team

	Rapidly diagnosing disease in cattle will drastically improve communities where owning a cow can lift a family from poverty.

University of Saskatchewan VIDO Launches $2-million Project with India to Develop Food Safety Tools
The University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) is a key partner in a $2-million Canada-India initiative to improve food safety through the application of biotechnology in developing an innovative device for rapidly diagnosing disease in cattle. “With this project, we have the opportunity to apply VIDO’s expertise in large animal models and in immune-response technology to empower rural farmers in India.” said VIDO director Dr. Andrew Potter. “This technology could be life-changing in a country where owning a cow can lift a family from poverty.”
http://www.usask.ca/research/news/read

UBC-NASA Exploration of B.C. Lake to Guide Search of Early Life on Mars
A two-week expedition of a remote lake in interior British Columbia will help scientists and engineers search for evidence of early life on Mars. Researchers from the University of British Columbia and McMaster University, along with astronauts and scientists from NASA, will use single-person submersibles to explore the deepest parts of Pavilion Lake and collect samples of unique freshwater microbialites. “Better understanding of how ancient fossils on Earth were created will hone our ability to find and detect life -- and remnants of life -- on other planets,” says UBC Civil Engineering Prof. Bernard Laval, co-principal investigator of the Pavilion Lake Research Project.
http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/media/releases/2008/

Ontario and California Scientists Work Together on Stem Cell Research
Researchers in Ontario and California have partnered on a project to make it easier to turn cutting-edge stem cell research into medical breakthroughs. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty made the announcement at the BIO 2008 Conference, where he is working with biotechnology leaders to promote Ontario and attract investment. The province is investing $1 million in a partnership with California's Gladstone Institutes, where researchers are leading efforts to implement one of the most significant recent scientific discoveries: that it is possible to change ordinary skin cells into stem cells. Ontario researchers — at the University of Toronto and Hospital for Sick Children — have developed the technology and expertise to produce these cells in quantity. The scientists will work together to advance this new area of stem cell research and discover breakthrough medical therapies.
http://www.premier.gov.on.ca/news/Product.asp?ProductID=2323&Lang=EN

Professor at University of Western Ontario Proves that 'Selfish Gene' Exists
A new discovery by Professor Graham Thompson of the University of Western Ontario provides conclusive evidence that supports the existence of a ‘selfish gene,’ something that evolutionary doctrines had accepted as fact for decades. Since renowned British biologist Richard Dawkins ("The God Delusion") introduced the concept of the 'selfish gene' in 1976, scientists the world over have hailed the theory as a natural extension to the work of Charles Darwin. Professor Thompson worked with Peter Oxley of the University of Sydney in Australia to isolate a region on the honey bee genome that houses this 'selfish' gene in female workers bees.
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2008/

Bidding in Canada's Wireless Spectrum Auction Hits $4B
Bidding reached $4 billion on Monday in an online auction aimed at creating more competition in Canada's cellphone market, surpassing early expectations of the amounts of money involved. Participants in Industry Canada's wireless spectrum auction have bid $4.01 billion for licensing rights for airwaves that wireless networks need to operate over. Analysts had originally estimated the bidding would go as high as $2 billion for the 105-megahertz band of spectrum. Some had believed it might have been winding down when bids recently reached $3.5 billion.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/06/24/spectrum-four-billion.html

	Plant seeds with larger wings move more easily into new habitats, the Queen’s University study shows.

	Professor Dinesh Pal demonstrates a model that maps the neurons, skeletons and tendons of the hand.

A Digital Mind-Body Mapping Expedition
Professor Dinesh Pai is part of a University of British Columbia team leading an international initiative to map out the neurological processes of the body, brain and limbs at the level of specific neurons, muscles and tendons. “Essentially, we are reverse engineering the brain to produce the first working computational model of the complex interplay between our minds and our bodies.” The project could produce great leaps forward in many areas, including medicine, industry and robotics. Although the project is just ramping up, the team’s mapping and modeling expedition is already producing some of the world’s most realistic computer simulations of the human body.
http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/ubcreports/2008/08jun05/expedition.html