DailyNews Issue for Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

Donors who attend a reception May 24 in recognition of their support for the Annual Giving Program will be entered into a draw for a unique door prize – naming rights to a commemorative bench on the UWindsor campus.

“We are very excited about this unique opportunity,” says development officer Mona Dosen. “It ties in directly with this year’s theme of campus beautification and the winner can choose to honour a department, special event or family member.”

The elegant wrought-iron benches are placed along campus walkways, providing a comfortable place for students, staff and visitors to meet, socialize or just to enjoy some restful moments. For a $1500 contribution, sponsors may specify text to be engraved on personalized plaques on the back of each bench.

“It really represents a significant door prize, but I want to remind invitees that they must be present in person to be eligible to win,” Dosen says.

Faculty, staff and retiree donors to the 2011/12 Annual Giving Program are invited to attend, 2 p.m. Thursday, May 24, at the garden outside the Leddy Library’s front entrance.

If you plan to attend, RSVP to Dosen at mona@uwindsor.ca or 519-253-3000, ext. 4279.

Volunteering with the Active Aging and Health Management Program, which serves seniors living with chronic diseases, has given kinesiology students Charles Kahelin and Rob Ward a better appreciation of the wide spectrum of mobility issues people must cope with.

The two are now helping with a research project on the location of emergency evacuation chairs in campus buildings.

Ward, just finished his third year studies in movement science, says that for a university geared to accessibility, the project is important.

“Besides the obvious issues of people in a wheelchair, there are gait issues, strength issues, stability issues, shortness of breath – all sorts of reasons why a person might need assistance in exiting a building during an emergency,” he says.

Students working with kinesiology professor Dave Andrews are testing a model evacuation chair, assessing how it can be incorporated into the current fire warden emergency system. Besides his department, partners in the project include the Health and Safety Office, Campus Community Police, and the Office of Human Rights, Equity and Accessibility.

Kahelin, who will graduate with his BHK this June and commence an MHK in the fall, said he and Ward will assess buildings to determine how many evacuation chairs each needs, and recommend locations that will provide easy access -- and a quick exit. They will prepare a report to inform decision-making by the Fire & Life Safety Committee.

“This is a practical project that meets a real need,” says Kahelin. “It is a great experience to be working on something we expect will be implemented to benefit people.”

The two will begin this week on the months-long process of auditing stairwells and hallways in Chrysler Hall, the CAW Student Centre, Leddy Library, the Human Kinetics Building, and the Toldo Health Education Centre. To allay the concerns of occupants, they will wear Kinesiology Research shirts while conducting their work.

A master’s student in biochemistry will get the chance to share what she knows about halting the progress of Parkinson’s disease with a large group of neurologists, pharmaceutical reps and fellow academics when she speaks at a national conference in British Columbia this week.

Krithika Muthukumaran.

Krithika Muthukumaran will deliver a presentation about her studies on the effects of using a water-soluble form of C0Q10 to treat lab mice with Parkinson’s when she speaks at the annual conference of the Natural Health Products Research Society, being held in Kelowna from May 22 to 25.

“This is the first time for me to do something like this, so I’m very excited,” said Muthukumaran, who won a $1,000 Canadian Institutes of Health Research Training Program in Neurodegenerative Lipidomics Travel Award to attend the conference.

She will speak about an experiment in which lab mice modified with genes that increase the susceptibility to the neurodegenerative disorder were treated with Ubisol QE, or a water-soluble formulation of the enzyme COQ10. The treatment halted the degeneration process in those mice that received it, she said.

Muthukumaran studies under the tutelage of professor Siyaram Pandey, who said the conference will provide his student’s work with some excellent exposure.

“It will be the perfect audience for her to get a lot of good feedback,” he said.

Caesar’s Windsor will host the 2013 conference from May 12 to 15.

The myUWindsor app will definitely make student life easier, says Ronnie Haidar, but it may make faculty life more difficult.

“I feel sorry for professors because students are going to be playing with this in class,” the fourth-year business student said. “It’s so cool; there’s so much to explore.”

Haidar introduced the mobile app, which provides a wide array of campus information to students with iPhone, BlackBerry and Android smart devices, at a launch event Thursday to open Campus Technology Day 2012.

It draws on the Student Information Service and the Collaboration and Learning Environment Windsor (CLEW) learning management system giving users the ability to:

• review their courses, schedules, grades and exams;
• update their financial accounts, including UWinCARD and meal plans;
• receive direct messages from professors and course instructors;
• read University news and updates on Lancer athletics; and
• search for locations and routes on an interactive campus map.

UWindsor president Alan Wildeman made the app launch the subject of the first post to his new Twitter feed, UWin_President. He said he is excited to open a new channel to communicate with students and the community.

“Our students have been asking me to join Twitter for quite some time, so it will be great to have yet another access point with them,” he said. “Although I won't be able to respond to every comment, I will use Twitter to regularly providing updates from our busy campus.”

John Powell, director of Web communications, has scheduled sessions this week to introduce members of the faculty and staff to the app. No pre-registration is required for any of the three sessions:

• Tuesday, May 22, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. in room 1121, Education Building
• Wednesday, May 23, 10 a.m. in room 1123, Education Building

Learn more about the app and download it free at www.uwindsor.ca/app.

Kym Boycott has been referred to as one of Canada’s top DNA detectives, but like many a sleuth, it’s the unsolved cases that keep her awake at night.

A neurogeneticist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and an associate professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa, Dr. Boycott uses molecular medicine and DNA sequencing to identify the genetic causes of sometimes deadly rare diseases among children. Her job involves bringing gene discovery to routine diagnosis and patient care.

And while she’s had plenty of success tracing the roots of some of those diseases, it’s the families she’s unable to help who sustain her motivation to keep trying.

“It’s very troubling to have families in the clinic asking questions we can’t answer,” said Boycott, one of the keynote speakers at the annual conference of the Canadian Science Writers’ Association, in Windsor, June 2 to 5.

“That’s very frustrating. Especially for families with previously healthy children who have developed a disorder and they’re degenerating. Compared to families with children born with a disorder, it’s a different level of acceptance. You can just imagine what those parents are going through. It’s horrible.”

But Boycott, the lead investigator of the Genome Canada-CIHR funded Finding of Rare Disease Genes in Canada (FORGE Canada) initiative, has made substantial progress. So far, her team has identified the genes responsible for almost 50 rare disorders, including:

• Floating-Harbor syndrome, a rare condition characterized by short stature, delayed bone maturation, language deficits, and a distinctive facial appearance;
• Nager syndrome, characterized by craniofacial and limb malformations;
• Hajdu-Cheney syndrome, whose hallmark is acro-osteolysis, or a shortening of terminal phalanges, and generalized osteoporosis;
• Weaver syndrome, which consists of generalized overgrowth, advanced bone age, and intellectual disabilities; and
• Joubert syndrome, characterized by a distinctive brain malformation, developmental delay, breathing abnormalities and abnormal eye movements.

There are about 200 disorders in all that Boycott is trying to identify. A large part of her work involves using a technique called exome-sequencing, a method that involves selectively sequencing the coding regions of the genome in order to identify DNA mutations associated with rare disorders. It’s a process she hopes will lead to an improved ability to prevent and treat these devastating conditions.

“Genomic technology is revolutionizing the field of genetic disorders,” she said. “By identifying these genes we can begin the work of finding new treatments and halt what we call the diagnostic odyssey.”

Boycott will deliver the lunchtime keynote address on Monday, June 4, at noon in Ambassador Auditorium, CAW Student Centre.

Lancer alumnus Jamie Adjetey-Nelson (BA 2007, BEd 2009) headlines Canada’s entry at the 2012 Panamerican Combined Events Cup taking place in Ottawa, May 26 and 27.

The decathlete, who enters with a personal best of 8239 points, sits third on the Canadian all-time list behind Michael Smith and David Steen. Adjetey-Nelson has represented Canada on numerous occasions, notably at the 2011 World Championships and at the 2010 Commonwealth Games -- where he won gold.

Canadian head coach Carla Nicholls says participation in combined events has been on the rise, and the country is now seeing the fruits, with depth developing on both the men’s and women’s teams.

“The event being held in Canada provides our program the unique opportunity to expose non-national team members to strong competition in the open section of the event,” she says. “Our developing athletes will be showcased alongside athletes of Jamie Adjetey-Nelson’s ilk, serving up a great mentoring and learning opportunity. I am really looking forward in leading this team for two days of gruelling competition.” 

Competitors from 10 countries will converge on Terry Fox Athletic Facility at Mooney’s Bay Park, May 26 and 27.

Contractors have completed the installation of vertical wooden beams along the west side of the Centre for Engineering Innovation, which shade the interior spaces.

The images below, by photographer Dan Reaume, provide before-and-after views of the building’s California Avenue façade. The 310,000 square foot facility will open to students this fall.

Before

After

The Lancer women’s basketball team won national congratulations Wednesday for its second straight Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship when Windsor West MP Brian Masse gave a shout-out to the squad in the House of Commons.

Masse, wearing a Lancer shirt under his suit, rose during members’ statements to praise the players’ “strong work ethic, determination, consistency and poise.”

Watch a video of the statement as he delivered it on the floor of Parliament:

The 18th annual Media City Film Festival opens on Wednesday, May 23, with a special program of the films of UWindsor arts professor emeritus Iain Baxter&.

The screening, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Capitol Theatre, is the first public presentation of Baxter&’s Super 8 films created from the mid-1960s through the 1970s, of historical significance to his practice and the larger field of conceptual art. It will feature 13 single-reel Super 8 films, shown in their original format, accompanied by an animated talk by Baxter& himself.

Organized jointly by the festival and the Art Gallery of Windsor, the program is intended to celebrate one of Canada’s most significant artists. Professor emeritus at the School of Visual Arts, Baxter& is a recipient of a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts and an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Admission is “pay what you can,” with a suggested donation of $5. The Capitol Theatre and Arts Centre is located at 121 University Avenue West.

Baxter& will also participate in a panel discussion with Adam Lauder of York University at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 25, at the Art Gallery of Windsor, 401 Riverside Drive West.

In addition to a screening of selections from Baxter&’s early video artworks and two new video projects commissioned from the artist by Media City, the event will feature a book signing of the new publication Iain Baxter&: Super 8 Information, and the the 224-page exhibition catalogue Iain Baxter&: Works 1958-2011, produced by the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Media City is an annual international festival of film and video art presented in Windsor and Detroit since 1994. Each year the festival attracts filmmakers and audience members from around the world to participate in five days of screenings, live performances, exhibitions and artist’s discussions. Learn more on the festival’s Web site.

UWindsor alumnus Rick Spence (BA communications, 1977) will kick off Startup Canada’s visit to Windsor-Essex with a keynote address this morning at the Odette School of Business.

Rick Spence.

Spence, a Toronto-based business writer, consultant and speaker, will share more than 20 years experience studying Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs in his discussion, titled “Growth Secrets of Canada’s Top Entrepreneur” from 8 to 10 a.m. May 22, in room 104, Odette Building. The former editor and publisher of Profit, the Magazine for Canadian Entrepreneurs, he now writes a weekly column on entrepreneurship for the National Post.

Startup Canada is the country’s first-ever, entrepreneur-led, national movement to enhance the nation’s competitiveness and prosperity by supporting and celebrating entrepreneurship. Its cross-Canada tour will open its Windsor leg with Tuesday’s keynote, followed by a networking event at Caesars Windsor with word-of-mouth guru Saul Colt. The day will conclude with a special town hall at Walkerville Brewery. Participants will develop a concrete action plan and community-led solutions to pressing issues facing entrepreneurs in Windsor-Essex.

The tour will conclude Wednesday, May 23, with a one of a kind Entrepreneur Show and Tell at the Downtown Windsor Business Accelerator. Learn more on the event Web site.