Research Projects

I am looking for post-doctoral fellows. Trainees will be actively involved in the translational research effort pertaining to understanding the physiological and/or pathophysiological role(s) of the serine protease family, granzymes, in the context of skin or vascular inflammation regeneration, in aging, autoimmune and/or chronic disease. Granzymes are a family of 5 serine proteases in humans… more

Understanding the inequality of the economic impacts of Human Wildlife Conflict in India and Africa---especially snake bites. 

Evaluating the impact of behavioural and economic interventions in reducing human bear conflict in British Columbia.  

Mathematical analysis (e.g. energetics, stability and dynamical behaviour) of topological solitons in ferromagnets.

Mathematical analysis (e.g. energetics, stability and dynamical behaviour) of solitons of nonlinear Schrodinger equations.

Mathematical theory (e.g. well-posedness, long-time behaviour) of geometric dispersive equations.

Currently my research focuses on supporting older adults and their caregivers as then engage in managing cancer treatment and survivorship. I am looking to develop patient-oriented research partnerships in BC.

Global Surgery (multiple topics)

Health Professions Education (multiple topics)

Surgical Education (multiple topics)

Healthcare Simulation (multiple topics)

Materials innovations have sparked most of the major technological advances across the millennia – from the stone, bronze, and iron ages through to the current silicon age. Science now stands on the precipice of a new era: the age of quantum materials – materials with extraordinary electronic and magnetic properties that rely on quantum mechanical effects. In the Hallas group,… more

Our work focuses on the early development of moral cognition and action in infancy.

Please see www.edges.ubc.ca and www.watergoveranance.ca for ongoing research efforts. There are currently funded research opportunities with the decolonizingwater.ca project on Indigenous water governance issues (in Canada and elsewhere) and there may be upcoming support for analysis of non material dimensions… more

See https://phas.ubc.ca/~hearty/ 

1. Development and characterization of complex, human-based tissue models incl. organ-on-chip cultures

2. Development of gene therapies for genetic diseases of the skin and lungs 

• Analzying the impact of diversity policies on gender and race workplace diversity
• Case studies of employment discrimination and human rights complaints

Computer-assisted orthopaedic surgery

Ultrasound image acquisition and processing

Surgical navigation systems

In 2020, my team harmonized data collection on COVID-19 tested patients across 50 emergency departments in eight provinces (BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NS, NB). We linked registry data with administrative data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information and provincial data. We captured >206,000 consecutive eligible patients, published 25 manuscripts, and provided aggregate data to Public… more

Our research interests include:

• Integration of metabolomics with other ‘omics’ (epigenomics, genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics) data for the systems-level interrogation of biological problems
• Application of state-of-art metabolomics technologies in various biological challenges, such as mechanistic understanding of cancer metabolism and disease biomarker discovery… more

• Cultural impacts and barriers of decarbonization
• Sociological study of emotions and polarization over climate change
• Understanding how engagement in environmentalism is related to social class, political ideology, and gender

I am particularly interested in students who are developing projects on LGBTQ+ politics, especially in the Global South and on transgender rights. I am also interested in students working on issues in Bolivia.

global migration, occupational science, francophone minority communities

Please see: https://www.zoology.ubc.ca/~irwin/irwinlab/

Projects include

• elucidating virus host interactions such as antiviral innate immunity and viral proteins that modulate cellular processes
• identifying host protein substrates by viral proteinases
• non-canonical protein synthesis mechanisms used by viruses and cellular mRNAs
• mRNA therapeutics

Approaches include biochemical, molecular and cell… more

1) New finite element analysis techniques for advanced structures;

2) Development of optimization algorithms for structural optimization; 

3) Machine/deep learning methodology for reduced order modeling of mechanical systems.

New ways of assessing hearing aid outcomes; encouraging older adults to seek and use hearing health care services; acoustic and behavioural assessment of hearing aid processing.

Communication between audiologists and patients.

I am looking for graduate students (MSc or PhD) to contribute to the development of the Lifetime Exposures and Asthma outcomes Projection (LEAP) model. LEAP is a whole disease model of asthma in Canada, which is currently being developed to evaluate the impact of climate change-related increases in air pollution and the value of climate-adaptation measures. This project has been supported by… more

Dermatoepidemiology; Examining the epidemiology of skin cancer in the general population and identifying high risk population groups Skin cancer prevention; Using national surveys conducted by Statistics Canada, I have examined skin cancer prevention behaviours practiced by Canadians; Spectoscopy; Using imaging to differentiate skin cancer from benign lesions. Photobiology to study properties… more

The major research focus of my lab revolves around acute myeloid leukemia, and preleukemias referred to as myelodysplastic syndromes. Within this context we are interested in various posttranscriptional mechanisms that drive these cancers, how aging increases the risk of developing leukemias, and how to potentially target genomic and epigenomic vulnerabilities.

I am currently working on projects in multiple areas:

- Gender self-determination in early childhood and elementary education

- Trans pedagogy as practiced by trans educators outside formal schooling environments

- The experiences of transgender workers in PK-12 schools

I am most interested in working with students whose scholarship would contribute to or expand… more