Students will be visiting 6 different sites around the harbour, set traps for fish and then collect them the next day. Fish are transported to McMaster and they are then dissected to provide more information about population abundance in relation to abiotic and biotic factors influencing the harbour. Water quality tests are also performed at each site and the students will have to wear chest waders and life jacket to do this. Dr. Balshine is looking for 2 outstanding, reliable, careful students who would want to be involved in a group field and lab-based project. Students are expected to be in the lab/field 14 hours per week. Ideally, students should have a full G license and be comfortable getting dirty and be strong swimmers. No swimming or driving is required but preference is for students that have these skills.

During the summer of 2024, students will have a unique opportunity to work with the world’s only flying mammals in Canada’s first and only captive research colony of insectivorous bats at McMaster University. Successful applicants will work alongside a graduate student bench mentor in a research pairing to maximize their learning experiences. Students who are interested in careers working with animals (e.g. veterinary medicine) may also have an opportunity to shadow the technicians of the Psychology Animal Facility and learn about multiple animal models used in scientific research. One goal is to provide students with a hands-on research experience. Another goal is to kindle intellectual curiosity by exposing students to exciting scientific research conducting studies with bats in captivity and learning research methods in bioacoustics, hearing, and mammalian integrative physiology. Students will also be exposed to and interact with personnel in other animal research labs through connections with colleagues at McMaster. Successful applicants must complete WHMIS lab safety, biosafety, and animal training courses, and receive a series of preexposure medical vaccinations so they can safely work with bats. Dr. Faure is looking to hire 1-3 students who are willing to work a minimum of 14 hours a week from May to August 2024.

Humans love to move to music and tend to do so in groups. But what determines how we dance? Is it the irresistible rhythms of the music, or the social cues of others dancing near us? This project will investigate audience members’ movements, collected using motion capture at a real concert in the LIVELab. We will be processing the data before analyzing it to assess how people interacted through inter-individual synchronization. And, we will test how movements differed depending on what musical features were present. The student(s) involved in this project will review literature, work with motion capture data, perform data analyses, and if time permits, help with writing of the paper. Dr. Cameron and Dr. Trainor are looking for 1-2 students to work 14 hours a week from May to August, 2024.

This project focuses on the rapidly growing interest in indoor food production (e.g., aquaponics). Dr. Kolasa is looking for 2 students that are interested in aquatic ecology, algae, and microbiota, but any student with a science inclination may learn and contribute to this project. A passion for research is vital. Dr. Kolasa’s lab is preparing one Research System to start operation in early May in the Biology Greenhouse. They have another dormant system that a team of students (TEAM) would take over. The TEAM will be solely responsible for setting up, managing, and monitoring their system’s performance. The second system will be the focus of a PBL Team’s project: to populate and operate throughout the summer. The TEAM will be able to follow and learn from the development of the Research System. That project will ultimately become a second research system but with any modifications and improvements, the TEAM implements. In practice, the TEAM and the research group will work very closely: in the same space, on the same question, and mostly simultaneously. This PBL setup will give the TEAM complete independence and researcher support from a similar project. The research team consists of the PI (J. Kolasa), two international interns (MITAC Globalink funded), and likely a summer student or two. Students will learn skills and gain knowledge in ecosystem theory, aquaponics, green recycling, biota and environmental parameters monitoring, and simple data analyses for management decisions. Students will also write a full report at the summer’s end. Dr. Kolasa’s research team will provide supervision, guidance, and consultation to ideas initiated by the TEAM.

Dr. Doyle is looking for one OUR summer student to work alongside other undergraduate and graduate students in the SyM3 Lab (sym3lab.ca) on a project that involves isolating bacteriophage (or phage, viruses that infect bacteria) from soils collected from fields across Southern Ontario. The OUR student will conduct phage plaque assays to determine which bacterial species each phage infects, and select those phage that are specific to bacterial strains that cause a reduction in plant growth. Through this work, the student will gain skills related to designing experiments and maintaining them, working with bacterial cultures and using proper aseptic technique, data analysis using the R programming language, and designing a poster to communicate findings from their experiment to a broad audience. Dr. Doyle is especially looking for a student who values collaboration, working as part of a team to achieve research goals. They are expected to attended group meetings over the summer, including a journal club that will expose them to key literature on microbiome science and phage therapy.

The students will carry out ecology and behavioural studies of Osmia conjuncta, a native snail shell nesting bee, and Cepaea sp., the non-native grove snail. Students will work at the McMaster Forest in the field, the greenhouse, and the lab to find snail shells with hatching bees, put out cleaned shells as a nesting substrate,observe bees making shell choice, and identify bees. They will assess population size for the snails and bees. Students will be supervised by Dr. Dudley and work with a 4th year thesis student who is researching this system. The research assistants will learn hypothesis testing, ecology field techniques, experimental techniques, and plant, bee, and snail identification. Students will also do bee community collections at West Campus. The field site is accessible by Hamilton Bus (HSR) and by car with 15-30 minutes travel time from campus.

Develop an API to extract data from websites and text files using tools like ChatGPT, Llama, or other large language models.

This study is interdisciplinary, focussing on pedagogy and physiology. Performance of any task can be reduced by levels of perceived, cognitive or cellular stress. Student anxiety, specifically test anxiety, is common factor that can impair student performance in university courses. The measurement of heart rate variability (HRV) is a novel and promising tool for non-invasive assessment of cardiovascular status. HRV is the variations of the intervals between heart beats (typically termed the rhythm-to-rhythm interval) and can determine oscillations or ‘changes’ in heart beats. HRV reflects the autonomic nervous system and control of the ‘fight-or-flight’ response. In healthy individuals, anxiety due to mental stress will decrease HRV simultaneous with an increase in HR. A growing body of evidence has reinforced the notion that HRV is related to the mental state of students following various academic examinations in students at a variety of educational levels. To date, very little is known about test anxiety in first- and second-year anatomy and physiology students across various departments and faculties at McMaster University. This project will explore the relationship between physiological variables and academic outcomes, with the goal of integrating these results into the pedagogical approach to teaching anatomy and physiology. Students will conduct a literature review, be introduced to ethical conduct for research involving humans, assist with data collection, perform analysis and engage in academic writing process for journal article submission. Successful applicants must complete WHMIS lab safety, biosafety, a course on research ethics, and will work alongside a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow to maximize their learning experience with various techniques.

My research group, Toxic Allure, studies historical white lead makeup recipes with the goal of assessing how toxic they may have been. Most historical makeup is made from white lead, and it has been thought for the last 30 years that this form of lead cannot be absorbed into skin. In the last two years, my research group has done some very exciting work that shows that this is not completely true. If white lead is mixed with oils or acids, it can penetrate significantly into skin.

We study the underlying mechanisms by which lead can be absorbed into and through skin using synchrotron techniques. We use synchrotron µX -Ray Fluorescence maps obtained at the Canadian Light Source to map the location of lead absorbed from makeup through pigskin at different points in time. We have discovered that lead is taken up in specific tissues in the skin, and that the absorption is much faster than previously assumed. The image below is a map of lead absorbed into skin from lead acetate, a compound created when white lead is mixed, as in some historical recipes, with vinegar. We can see that the lead is absorbed in specific cells in skin (red circle), into connective tissue (blue circle) and excitingly we can see that it is taken up into sweat glands (yellow circle). We can also see lead at the very bottom of the sample which shows that lead should go through skin into saline placed at the back of the skin. However, when we measure the saline, the amount of lead measured is less than these maps suggest. This suggests that there may be a problem with the standard Franz cell methodology that has been used to test lead absorption through skin. The amount of lead that is absorbed through skin may have been underestimated for the last few decades.

My hypothesis is that there is a reaction taking place between the form of lead that passes through skin and elements in the phosphate buffered saline. I think the lead may be forming insoluble compounds that stick to the back of the skin and therefore do not dissolve in the saline.

This summer I want to test whether we can more accurately measure lead that passes through the skin by changing the material behind the skin to deionized water or alcohol. The summer research plan will be to test the diffusion of lead acetate and some lead-based historical makeups through skin into water or alcohol by making measurements using a Franz cell system. By testing the levels of lead in the water and alcohol and comparing with levels in saline we will be able to see if we can conduct more accurate testing. I am looking for two level I or II students to work on this project.

Students will learn how to set up a Franz cell system with pigskin membranes and how to send the results for ICP-MS testing for lead levels. They will conduct analysis of the ICP-MS data. They will learn to safely work with lead compounds and how to make some historical makeup recipes. Finally, they will learn how to prepare skin samples for testing at the synchrotron and learn how to analyze the lead maps obtained from skin.

Image credit: dailynews.mcmaster.ca

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have attracted tremendous attention from the scientific community since their discovery. Their unique properties, which include high tensile strength, a high aspect ratio, thermal and electrical conductivity, and extraordinary optical characteristics, make nanotubes potentially valuable as advanced materials in a variety of applications. SWNTs have been successfully incorporated into field-effect transistors, photovoltaics, flexible electronics, sensors, touch screens, and various other devices. Although many demonstration studies have been performed, applications of SWNTs in practical devices have not kept pace with academic research. This results from the fact that all commercial nanotubes are produced as an impure mixture of semiconducting (sc-SWNTs) and metallic (m-SWNTs) structures. Since components of electronic devices require either pure m-SWNTs (electrodes, interconnects, etc.) or pure sc-SWNTs (transistors, sensors, etc.), purification of as-produced SWNTs is imperative. Several methods for separating and purifying SWNTs have recently been reported, but are extremely expensive and impractical. Recently, selective dispersion using conjugated polymers has emerged as a promising low-cost and scalable process that has been successfully demonstrated to isolate sc-SWNTs using a variety of conjugated polymers. Despite this progress selective dispersion of m-SWNTs remains elusive. The Adronov group has recently shown that the electronic nature of the conjugated polymer backbone has a significant effect on dispersion selectivity through inductive effects. We have found that relatively electron-poor conjugated polymers disperse m-SWNTs to a greater extent than structurally similar electron-rich conjugated polymers. This concept has recently been demonstrated through the comparison of a poly(fluorene-co-pyridine) conjugated polymer before and after post-polymerization functionalization. By partially methylating the pyridine units, cationic charges were introduced onto the conjugated backbone, converting the polymer from electron-rich to electron-poor. It was shown that the electron-poor conjugated polymer dispersions were enriched in m-SWNTs, while the electron-rich counterpart solely selected for sc-SWNTs. This project will build on this research from the Adronov group by developing new polymer systems with electron withdrawn backbones that  improve the isolation of m-SWNTs through a selective dispersion process. The successful applicant will work with Adronov Team members and will be trained on all required chemistry and characterization techniques. This position would involve 35 hours per week of work (full-time).

People’s lives are influenced by various social factors such as race, ethnicity, relocation, gender, sexuality, age, and disability. Consequently, everyone possesses a unique combination of social, cultural, and personal identities. Identity formation is intersectional in nature, and individuals’ life experiences occur at the intersections of various social systems.

Adaptive exercise programs provide specialized services and support for meaningful and effective exercise opportunities for people with various abilities. In community-based exercise settings, each program participant has their own unique needs, interests, and aspirations that contribute to their sense of belonging and place. To uphold agency, autonomy, and a sense of community, community-driven social change in promoting EDIIA in exercise programs requires actions rooted in collaborative reflexivity, respectful relationships, and reciprocal contributions stemming from diverse perspectives.

Students in this project will experience unique community-engaged participatory research approaches as “communicators” and “connectors.” Under the supervision of a post-doctoral fellow and graduate students in our lab, they will organize one-on-one interviews and talking circles, participating in these data collection phases as field-note takers. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to engage in data analysis as coders, using the qualitative research software NVivo. Successful applicants will complete a series of safety, research software, and ethics training.

Healthcare and allied health professions experience some of the highest rates of work-related injuries, particularly musculoskeletal disorders and psychological injuries. Despite many workplaces implementing occupational health and safety (OHS) training early on in a job, the novice workers and recent graduates are at highest risk for injury. Our health-related and life science undergraduate programs provide essential knowledge and applied skills for success in placement opportunities, graduate programs, and future careers in the health field. However, do we know if our curriculum provides students with the general knowledge of how to keep themselves physically and psychologically safe at work? This project will explore student’s experience with OHS and injury prevention knowledge within their undergraduate courses and curriculum. Dr. O’Reilly is looking for 3 students that are passionate about their education and helping to keep their peers safe in their future health-related jobs! The summer research students will conduct a literature review, survey administration and data analysis, and manuscript writing for peer-reviewed submission. In addition to research experience, students will gain networking skills with health and safety professionals in the public sector (healthcare).

3D printing and additive manufacturing has been a transformative, revolutionizing prototype design and offering custom, innovative solutions in industries such as healthcare, aerospace, and architecture. It also has applications in education, where it can provide an interactive and hands-on approach to learning. In this project, students will perform a literature review on manipulatives in education, design 3D models to be used in mathematics education, and write instructional content incorporating manipulatives into lesson plans. Previous experience 3D printing is an asset but is not required.

The motivation of this project is to explore how two different fluorescence microscopy techniques, namely fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), can be combined into one functional system. While FCS measures fluorescence intensity, FLIM measures fluorescence lifetimes. By understanding how these two techniques can work together, we can study more complicated systems, such as one where the fluorescence lifetime changes during an FCS experiment, or a system with a mixture of dyes operating in the same spectral range but with different fluorescence lifetimes. One way these two techniques can be combined is in a new technique called fluorescence lifetime correlation spectroscopy (FLCS).

The vertebrate embryo forms a longitudinal head to tail body axis during early development. This axis gets segmented into tissue blocks called somites as the tail of the embryo elongates. Cells commit into making somites periodically at specific positions. Recent work showed that tail bud cells establish a gradient of the fibroblast growth factor (Fgf) signaling (from tail towards the somites) and this gradient oscillates periodically to instruct cells somite positions. For this summer project, two students will learn molecular tools such as fluorescence immunostaining and advanced microscopy. The project will involve evaluating cellular response of Fgf signaling readout molecules to chemical drugs targeting the pathway or the extracellular depositions within the tissue. Students will design their experiments, perform time-controlled drug perturbations, take part in imaging and analysis of their data by working with zebrafish embryos. In the end of 14-weeks study, students will write a detailed report of their findings and present their research in the lab meeting. A curious mind with quantitative literacy, previous experience with basic molecular biology tools and/or confocal imaging are preferred skills.

Students’ primary study resource in our first-year chemistry classes are the prior assessments. We are building a digital learning tool for students, called the chemistry formative assessment study tool (Chem-FAST), that uses a database of questions from the past decade of assessments in first-year chemistry. Chem-FAST incorporates principles of cognitive psychology, such as spaced practice and practice testing. Moreover, Chem-FAST is based on adaptive testing, utilizing statistical data to deliver questions that are individualized for each student, dynamically adjusting to their ability level. Students obtain a realistic picture of their progress and performance and are challenged at just the right level. In effect, each student gets a personalized set of practice questions, tailored to their individual needs, to maximize their preparation for assessments and improve their metacognitive skills.

We will carry out a pilot project this summer to examine whether Chem-FAST is an effective learning tool for students. This project will involve obtaining research ethics approval, collecting feedback from students, collecting and analyzing data, and troubleshooting Chem-FAST. Dr. Greenberg is looking for one motivated student with excellent time management skills, a desire to learn new skills, and a passion for improving the student experience. The student will work 12 h per week for 16 weeks (May to August 2024). The student should have taken CHEM 1AA3 and be willing to work collaboratively in a diverse group; basic experience in Python is a bonus.

In recent years, the importance of understanding infectious disease dynamics for effective public health management has become increasingly evident. One way of enhancing our understanding is to analyze information on past epidemics. Fortunately, there is a wealth of valuable aggregated data, which are free of the privacy concerns often associated with recent data. Unfortunately, access to these data is fragmented and often prohibitively inconvenient. With this project, the Earn lab is building a data archive that will provide straightforward and convenient access to historical public infectious disease data in Canada and beyond. We are systematically contacting data stewards across Canada and internationally to access the disparate source documents that contain public historical infectious disease data. We obtain scans of these documents and create a digital replica of them by entering the information into spreadsheets, using the same format and layout as the original. These replicas have archival value, but also make it convenient to search for and correct data entry errors because they can be easily compared with the original sources. We also produce code that converts the digitized spreadsheets into files that are more convenient for epidemiologists and data analysts. Under the guidance of experienced researchers, students will engage in practical learning, employing a diverse range of techniques to enhance their educational experience. Students will contribute to the project by searching for additional data sources, entering and correcting data, and writing code for enhancing data quality.
See https://canmod.net/digitization/.