Seven postdoctoral fellows from the University of British Columbia have received 2022-23 Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships, out of seventy fellowships awarded nationally. These prestigious fellowships will provide each researcher with $70,000 per year for two years.
Congratulations to the researchers! Learn more about their research below.
Dr. Mohammadreza Alizadeh (Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, Faculty of Science)
Impact of Compound Climate Extremes on Canadian Food Security
Abstract: Canada's agriculture is highly vulnerable to compound climate extremes, which happen when multiple co-occurring climate drivers or hazards contribute to environmental or social risk. As a result of climate change, climate extremes are expected to increase in Canada. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the relation between Canadian agriculture and such spatially co-occurring climate extremes and their associated consequences across the country. Studies examining historical patterns and future agroclimatic conditions in light of their potential socio-environmental impacts are needed to understand the impact and adaptation of compound climate extremes in Canada. My postdoctoral research will examine agricultural productivity and food security in the context of different forecasts of compound climate extremes to understand the potential, challenges, and costs associated with such risks. I will assess the relative socio-environmental impact of various co-occurring climate extremes, such as hot-dry, hot-humid, dry-cold, and humid-cold phenomena, on agricultural production and food security and determine how they increase the risk of crop failure in Canadian agricultural systems and impact the community. Using data from the past (1980–2022) and predictions for the future (2025–2100), I will assess whether climate change will make it more likely for extreme weather to happen at the same time and, if so, how this could affect crop production and Canada's food security. This research will help decision-makers and stakeholders develop more effective agricultural management and adaptation strategies by addressing the complex sustainability concerns posed by compound climate extremes. Further, it allows for the reduction of costs and negative impacts associated with land and resource management while considering a higher level of risk and exposure.
Dr. Melissa Chen (Microbiology & Immunology, Faculty of Science)
Searching for wild microbes that protect against plant disease: who are they, what are they doing, and where can we find them?
Abstract: Food security is a growing concern in Canada. Climate change and human activity has increased the severity and frequency of plant pathogens and diseases which reduces global harvests by up to 16%. Recently, there has been significant interest in “whole-ecosystem” approaches to managing crops, which take into account the natural ecology of plants and the organisms that live among them-- such as the bacteria living on roots. Bacteria can both cause disease (pathogens) or prevent disease (protectives). Although both types of these bacteria grow on wild plants, the plant is not usually sick, which suggests that wild protective bacteria are able to suppress pathogen growth. However, the mechanism through which pathogens are suppressed by protectives is not well studied in wild bacteria populations, and their lifestyle (what nutrients they eat; what conditions they prefer) is largely unknown. Therefore, I propose to create a high-throughput system that uses liquid-handling robots to automate the growth and mixing of bacteria, which will allow us to learn about thousands of bacterial strains at once. With this high-throughput system, I will ask three questions: (1) how closely related are pathogens and protectives? (2) what nutrients and environmental conditions do pathogens and protectives prefer, and do they overlap at all? (3) can all protectives suppress all pathogens on all plants, or is there plant- or pathogen- specificity? The answers to these questions are valuable not only from a scientific perspective (understanding how ecological traits are distributed between pathogens and nonpathogens), but also from an agricultural perspective (which protective strains work best?). Therefore, this project will improve our understanding of the microbes living on roots so that we can better engineer whole plant microbiomes that protect food crops against diseases.
Dr. Jesse Charlton (School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine)
Variability is exploration. How we search for and adapt our walking movement to pain and the environment.
Abstract: The ability to change how we move in the face of new challenges has been fundamental to our survival for centuries. Our walking motions are no exception, constantly readjusting to our environment and our changing bodies. These adaptations may be subtle, like adjusting to a new walking surface, or more obvious, like when a limp develops after an injury. Regardless of the driving force, adaptation is necessary to continue walking. Currently, we have a poor understanding of this movement adaptation process and the factors that affect it. A clearer understanding of this complex process will help us clarify how movement is altered in real-time, but also what factors might be indicative of poor adaptation behaviour. A specific factor, the small fluctuations in our movement (movement variability), are thought to interact with the process of movement adaptation. More movement variability is beneficial, allowing us to naturally explore different movement options, while low variability may be a sign of a rigid, unadaptable movement; something often observed in people with chronic pain. Our experiments will specifically investigate this interaction between movement variability and movement adaptation by manipulating these factors using electrical stimulation to create artificial knee pain. We expect to find that the presence of pain will change natural movement variability and create adaptation, and when variability is lower, adaptation will be slower or non-existent. This work will provide several key outcomes for the field of human movement science and motor control. It will create new and important experimental methods to explore movement adaptation; we will design novel wearable technology for experimentation in real-world environments outside the lab; and the results will create foundational knowledge regarding how our senses and motor control systems use movement variability to explore and adapt to the everchanging world around us.
Dr. Soh Ishiguro (School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine)
Tracing of cell lineage histories and gene expression profiles in mouse development
Abstract: Mammalian development is a dynamic process that starts from a single cell. Cells give rise to diverse mature cells and communicate with other cells to express their unique functions forming complex tissue and organs over time. Early development consists of a limited number of cells can directly be observed under the microscope; however, the complete cell lineage history during the whole-body mouse development has been poorly understood. While gene expression analysis at a single-cell resolution has been a promising approach to studying complex cellular statuses and their lineages in the developmental process, current technology can only analyze ~1% of whole cells of an individual mouse. As such, how cell lineages differ among individuals and gene expression program shapes cell fate decisions remain largely unclear. To address these questions, I am developing a new technology BAR-seq (BArcode-Ribozyme Sequencing), by harnessing a ribozyme RNA and genome editing to track cell lineage history and gene expression at a level of single cells. We envision that BAR-seq would provide unprecedented insight into development and disease progression and will produce comprehensive resources for the stem cell and regenerative medicine fields.
Dr. Ehsan Hamzehpoor (Chemistry, Faculty of Science)
Architecting three-dimensional organic frameworks from the hierarchical assembly of molecular cages: toward the next generation of programmable solids
Abstract: In 2009, Jean-Marie Lehn (1987 Chemistry Nobel laureate) penned down his conclusive remarks on materials chemistry research: "From divided to condensed and on to organized, living, and thinking matter, the path is toward an increase in complexity through self organization". It's been an ultimate challenge for centuries to develop materials with predictable self-assembly and functionalities for electronic, photonic, magnetic, greenhouse gas capture, renewable energy, health, and security applications. It not only requires perceptive design and synthesis of fundamental building blocks but also meticulous control over their mutual interactions which ultimately dictate their assembly into larger structures. To date, only a handful of carbon-based materials exhibit such predictability in achieving desired properties. However, the majority of these materials possess only one or two-dimensional structures. Herein, I propose a unique approach to building organic cage-shaped molecules from simple building blocks and then assembling these cages (in the same reaction pot) into ordered 3D frameworks. By understanding the symmetry and connection of the framework precursors, the ultimate topology of the pores (for guest incorporation) in the material would be predicted. The key aim is to showcase the unlimited potential of such 3D frameworks by studying the impact of their solid-state topology in quantum computing applications. Furthermore, developing these previously inaccessible materials will present a new world of opportunities to design and discover materials that can outperform existing ones and will spark research interest from material chemists, physicists, and device engineers to applying these highly ordered 3D materials in modern applications such as environmental contaminants removal, gas storage, and batteries, as well as future nano-designable materials for health (i.e. drug delivery), security, and information technology (i.e., quantum computing) fields.
Dr. Nicolas Graham (Sociology, Faculty of Arts)
Constructing Clean Growth in Canada
Abstract: In the context of the deepening climate crisis a ‘clean growth’ project of climate change action has emerged at different scales and regions of the world-system. Clean growth hinges on carbon pricing and carbon markets, alongside technological changes such as efficiency enhancement, to reduce carbon emissions and encourage an energy transition. It emphasizes the economic opportunities associated with climate action and ultimately aims to reconcile environmental sustainability and economic growth. My proposed research examines the construction and evolution of clean growth in Canada. While existing research on this emerging project is largely theoretical and informed by anecdotal evidence, I provide an empirical examination that will enrich the literature.
First, I examine clean growth policy networks that span business, government, and non-government organizations. I consider the development of this network over time, comparing 2016 and 2021. Second, I analyze clean growth policy outputs produced by key civil society organizations, providing an in-depth understanding of the measures and actions advocated by clean growth proponents. Third, I study news media representation of key clean growth policy groups and authors, providing a measure of impact in this field, and enhancing the examination of both clean growth network formation and practice.
Canada is currently a prominent fossil fuel producer and outsized emitter, but has made climate commitments, to be achieved under the framework of clean growth. The construction and evolution of the project in Canada calls for comprehensive investigation. By analyzing core policy networks through which the project is organized, alongside the discourses and news media representation of key policy groups we will gain deeper insight into its nature, prospects, and limitations as a framework for addressing climate change.
Dr. Xin Sun (Psychology, Faculty of Arts)
How Bilingual Experience with Chinese Shapes Children’s “English Brain”
Abstract: Immigrants make up more than 80% of Canada’s population growth, yielding an increasing number of bilingual child learners. This makes bilingualism and bilingual education an important topic of equity and social justice in contemporary Canadian society. Language scientists have long sought to understand how the developing mind and brain learn languages so quickly and efficiently, but existing research has mostly focused on language acquisition in the monolingual brain, with less known about how dual language experience shapes the neurobiology of language. My previous published work suggests that exposure to a structurally-distinct writing system, Chinese, influences school-age bilingual Chinese-English children’s English literacy. In Chinese, learners associate meaning with characters, whereas in English, learners first associate sounds with letters. My prior findings showed that bilinguals’ two languages interact, such that Chinese bilinguals exhibited stronger meaning-based reliance even when reading words in English. However, it remains unknown how Chinese- English bilingual children process English words before they have learned to read. Filling this knowledge gap is essential for understanding how Canada’s bilingual children acquire language and approach literacy. To address this question, I propose to compare Chinese-English bilingual and English monolingual children at pre-literate ages (4-5-year-olds) using combined behavioural and neuroimaging measures to characterize key skills for word understanding. The findings will not only be relevant to Canada’s sizeable Chinese-English bilingual population but will also advance general theories of bilingual acquisition and help point the way to more optimal language and literacy instructional practices for bilingual learners. In accordance with Canada’s multicultural and multilingual initiatives, this work will yield significant contributions to the education of children from diverse socio-linguistic backgrounds.
The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships Program provides the opportunity to bring top talent to join the research community at UBC. Fellowships are awarded to the very best postdoctoral researchers, both nationally and internationally, who will positively contribute to Canada's economic, social and research-based growth. Emphasis is placed on the synergy of research goals and projects between applicants, supervisors, and host institutions.
Seventy fellowships are awarded each year and are equally distributed among candidates from Canada's three Tri-Council Agencies: the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
More information about the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is available from the Postdoctoral Fellows Office.