Winners

This project studied the use of a sensor and a cooling device element combination to help treat situational anxiety. The experiment proved to be effective in helping people with their test anxiety. This discovery is important because it means that the device can be used to help people with anxiety. This device may allow people to help treat their anxiety without requiring medication.

Less

This project was focused on the design, construction and validation of the first ever low-cost and portable device for detecting and staging skin cancers and skin diseases. This novel device is interesting because it could potentially solve the problem of a lack of dermatologists in resource poor settings. Hopefully, it can one day be used to detect early stage skin cancers and save lives.

Less

Jonathon has engineered a first-of-its-kind, no replacement, artificial heart that not only functions as a heart, but also runs real-time self-diagnostic tests to detect any problems, adjusts beats per minute based on the patient’s conditions (such as physical activity or altitude changes), all while being roughly 250 times cheaper than current artificial hearts. Lévesque hopes that his improvement on the artificial heart will provide an effective, cheap and safer alternative, in order to save more lives.

Less

Adrien has designed a novel sensor that fits easily into sports helmets that is able to detect in real-time whether a player has suffered a concussion, which can be visualized through an exposed LED. This information is also sent to team trainers via an App that alerts them to the player’s concussion. In a time where concussions are coming center stage in sports, Bouhtiauy has solved the uncertainty of whether players suffer concussions and allows for appropriate intervention, in a simple but effective invention.

Less

The purpose of this project is to design self-assembling solar cells which are inspired by the way plants and certain types of bacteria absorb sunlight. To create these solar panels, genetic and structural modifications were performed on a photosynthetic bacteria in order to obtain proteins wrapped in nanotubes which could be used to generate and store charge in biological solar cells when flashed with light.

Less

This project proposes an immunotherapeutic approach for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. This is done by transducing self-regenerating hematopoietic stem cells, with an anti-CD22 gene and a promoter to maximize the expressivity of the gene in only cytotoxic immune cells. The gene codes for a receptor targeting CD22: a protein found on the surface of acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells.

Less

Current methods of diagnosis for Alzheimer’s disease are often expensive and inaccurate. A novel blood-based diagnostic method was developed using the L-arginine metabolite cycle. This was investigated as a potential source of biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease using statistical analysis and machine learning algorithms. This diagnostic tool could be utilized in the medical field to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in an expedient and effective fashion.

Less

Blood-brain barrier drug delivery problems of existing neuropharmaceuticals can be solved using genetically engineered molecular Trojan horses. A novel tailor-made Trojan horse drug that quickly switches into an aggressive molecule to destroy even the residual amyloid plaques could be more effective than any known drug thus far developed for Alzheimer’s disease.

Less

In this project, a novel disease diagnostic assay was developed, applying DNAzyme technology, for the sensitive detection of pathogenic DNA in the blood. Current means of diagnosing diseases are extremely costly or unreliable. This simple assay allows for the highly sensitive, reliable yet also cost-effective detection of any pathogens for under $10, allowing for the widespread adoption of genetic-based diagnosis for all pathogenic diseases.

Less

Many polymers act as super-absorbers, which means that they absorb many times their weight in water and because of this, they are extremely useful in many aspects of life. Synthetic polymers are used to clean up oil spills, but are derived from petroleum products, and are not environmentally friendly. This project is about creating possible alternatives for synthetic polymers used for absorption, and adsorption.

Less

Violacein is a natural purple compound shown to have anticancer, antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and antioxidant properties. Unfortunately, commercially available violacein costs up to $395,000 per gram due to slow production. By transforming genetic material containing enzymes to produce violacein into model organisms, violacein can be produced faster and inexpensively. Additionally, the bacterial strains may suggest targeted violacein drug delivery to local tumour microenvironment.

Less

For this project, I developed a level 2 autonomous vehicle, including systems for steering, speed control, and stop sign detection. A variety of machine learning and conventional control techniques were tested for this task. In combination, they allowed me to produce a reliable, robust, and safe autonomous vehicle that detected the road lane and optimized its own steering system while driving.
Brendon, as part of Team Canada-EUCYS, won a First Prize Award (Platinum) at the 2018 European Union Contest for Young Scientists with this project.

Less

As a 4-H poultry member, Mac identified a need for better options for containers used to ship day old chicks. When she ordered poultry, the chicks often arrive cold, underweight or injured. As a result, Mac chose to design a new shipping container for chicks with the goal that it would improve shipping conditions, by lowing injury and mortality rates.

Less

The effect of UV-C light application on the number of microorganisms in airport security screening bins was studied. Results indicate a significant microbial reduction with UV-C light application. The reduced microbial load in the bin may decrease the risk of microorganism transfer and potentially disease transfer to persons of contact. This could have an impact on the global spread of disease related to air travel.

Less

This project introduces a novel method for the detection of Parkinson's disease. A procedure was established to create an aptamer-based method for the detection of alpha-synuclein, a protein that accumulates and forms plaque in multiple neurodegenerative disorders. Using an aptamer that is bound to a fluorescent tag, alpha-synuclein was detected in mice brain tissue. This method shows great promise in the future disease detection.

Less

Christopher developed a smart cast to help with identifying acute compartment syndrome (ACS). ACS is a medical complication that happens when a cast on a broken arm or leg is too tight, cutting off blood supply and leading to possible limb amputation. Currently, there is no device available to detect ACS. This Smart Cast provides a new way to recognize ACS and prevent limb amputation.

Less