Does vaping and smoking e-cigarettes put you at higher risk of COVID-19 complications?

UWindsor’s Drew Marquardt is trying to answer that question with research into how the toxicants in the oils of vapes and e-cigarettes affect lung function.

“What we’re trying to find out is how does this connect to complications if you catch COVID-19,” Dr. Marquardt said.

It’s believed there is a link between vitamin E acetate — a modified form of vitamin E found in vaping oils and e-cigarettes — and the lung injury found in people who use those products. A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine focusses on the presence of vitamin E acetate in the lungs of people with EVALI, short for electronic-cigarette/vaping-associated lung injury.

With the help of fellow UWindsor chemist James Gauld and researcher Charu Chandrasekera, head of the Canadian Centre for Alternatives to Animal Methods, Marquardt will study how vitamin E acetate interacts with the pulmonary surfactant — the liquid lining the alveoli in the lungs. He will develop models and send samples to a national laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee where scientists will test the surface tension of the pulmonary surfactant using small-angle neutron scattering.

“We want to find out how the vitamin E acetate disrupts the mechanical properties of the pulmonary surfactant in the model system,” Marquardt said. Using a 3D-bioprinted human lung tissue model, the team will then determine how lung injury induced by vitamin E acetate influences the virus that causes COVID-19.

EVALI is a new condition, identified in the past year, Marquardt explained. COVID-19 is even newer, with the nexus of the two conditions yet to be explored.

What is known is that 78 per cent of people with lung injury due to vaping and e-cigarettes are younger than 35. This is the age demographic expected to least likely suffer complications from COVID-19.

Marquardt suspects healthcare workers are too overburdened to look into the factors behind complications in patients in this age group.

“I don’t know how deeply the hospitals are able to delve into this,” he said. “You’ve got a disease that the world was not prepared for.”

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has selected Marquardt’s project for study under its current program offering rapid remote access to its instruments for COVID-19 research.

His research project has received funding through the University of Windsor’s Office of Research and Innovation and the WE-Spark Health Institute, a research partnership involving the University of Windsor, Windsor Regional Hospital, Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, and St. Clair College. It is one of 21 local COVID-related research projects WE-Spark has financially supported through its COVID-19 Rapid Response grant program.

—Sarah Sacheli

The coronavirus pandemic has created difficulties for law students seeking to gain practical experience, says Nadia Shivratan, and a non-profit organization she co-founded hopes to help.

LawLinks connects volunteers with law firms, clinics, and organizations seeking assistance on specific projects — everything from case research to preparing summaries of legislative changes.

“I was finishing my first year of law school and a lot of my friends were losing their summer positions,” Shivratan says. “I noticed there was a gap that needed to be filled.”

She and her older sister, Davina Shivratan, who completed her final year at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, wanted to bridge that gap: “What better way to spend our time than helping our fellow students?”

Since its founding about three weeks ago, LawLinks has more than 275 student volunteers registered, and firms have submitted more than 50 projects needing their help.

“It is definitely mutually beneficial,” Nadia Shivratan says. “A lot of the firms want to pay back to the community by offering mentorship, and the students get to apply what they have learned.”

While the non-profit is a response to the pandemic, it may continue once the crisis has passed.

“There is certainly a need for it,” says Shivratan. “Students want to develop their skills and organizations are always seeking assistance.”

Learn more on the LawLinks website.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed new questions for research and teaching on campus, and the Leddy Library is finding answers.

Information services librarian Adam Mulcaster is currently helping a group of researchers in the faculties of nursing; science; and arts, humanities, and social sciences identify literature to support their work in assessing the impact of COVID-19 on regional health care workers, particularly those who are crossing the international border daily to commute to their jobs in Michigan.

“As a border community opposite a major U.S. city, we have a relatively unique situation where large numbers of local nurses, many of them UWindsor alumni, cross the border each day to serve in a pandemic hotspot,” said Mulcaster. “Providing support in identifying relevant literature to allow those with subject expertise to quickly get to work will help with the immediate needs of this crisis but also with the long road ahead to a new normal.”

Having joined the Leddy Library in January, Mulcaster was fortunate to establish his footing and get acquainted with his new colleagues. But when the campus closed, he had to reconfigure his work environment to reflect the needs of essential campus services.

With the need to transition to online courses, Mulcaster, who serves as the liaison for nursing and psychology, has been assisting faculty members in these departments identify new materials to support online delivery.

"Some course materials translate readily from face-to-face to online delivery, while other resources no longer make sense,” said Mulcaster. “Librarians are here to help faculty quickly identify options for new materials and help to make them easily accessible to students right in Blackboard.”

Students and faculty can now book a remote appointment with Mulcaster and other librarians through the Leddy Library’s online booking system, as well as through virtual chat on the library website.

“I am still meeting faculty and students and striving to help them with their research needs,” said Mulcaster. “We are able to meet virtually online and deliver this support remotely.”

Although virtual services were adapted to allow the library to continue to provide key services during the pandemic, Mulcaster plans to continue with web bookings and video conferencing even after the eventual return to campus.

“It’s an accessible and approachable way to connect with students, some of whom may have been reticent to make an in-person consultation with a librarian before, and improve their information literacy skills,” he said.

Each academic department has access to a subject librarian that provides a range of supports. Learn more about remote services on the library website.

—Marcie Demmans

Each year, the Faculty of Science recognizes students who seek out opportunities beyond the classroom in the areas of Leadership, Engagement, Application, and Discovery as LEAD Medallion Scholars.

These experiences help students develop marketable skills in communication, critical thinking, community service, problem-solving, and a global perspective, says dean Chris Houser.

“I am always impressed by the number and diversity of activities that students have completed during their time at the University of Windsor,” Dr. Houser says.

Biological sciences major Taylor Bendig developed the Science Meets Art (SMArt) program to promote effective science communication through the creative arts, while working as a teaching assistant and volunteering in the research labs of both Tina Semeniuk and Barbara Zielinski.

Joy Kobti, a student of chemistry and biochemistry, served as president of the Science Society and a teaching assistant, and completed research with John Trant studying selective acetate deprotection in carbohydrate chemistry.

Emily Genyn, an environmental studies major who travelled the world through study-abroad trips to Costa Rica and Iceland as well as an exchange to New Zealand, completed research on property owner perceptions of shoreline erosion along Lake Erie.

Computer science student Eric Pickup conducted research with professor Sherif Saad Ahmed on vehicle cybersecurity, and spent two semesters in California as an intern at Google and GitHub.

Nick Philbin, a biomedical sciences student, worked with Lisa Porter investigating the role of Spy1 in triple negative breast cancer, while volunteering with the Windsor Cancer Research Group’s CURES team and serving as vice president of recruitment for the Students Offering Support program.

Kaylee Anagnostopoulos, a member of the Lancer women’s basketball team and a student in forensic science, completed work with Scott Mundle on the environmental chemistry of the Alberta oilsands.

Physics major Alexi Jankulovski worked with Dan Xiao on MRI technology while also completing a co-op with the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre and serving as a teaching assistant for the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

“These examples are not exceptions,” says Houser. “They are the norm in the Faculty of Science.”

More than 100 students will receive LEAD medals this year. Houser says his faculty take pride in the fact that they provide their students with unprecedented opportunities in study abroad, service learning, internships, and research.

Biological sciences professor Dora Cavallo-Medved says it’s wonderful to see students recognized for their hard work and dedication to the University: “Our LEAD Medallion scholars have made amazing contributions that have advanced our research programs, enhanced our teaching, and enriched our communities.”

Wen Teoh, director of the Entrepreneurship Practice and Innovation Centre (EPICentre), says it was overwhelmed with the response to its new EPIC Nimble program, which will support Windsor-Essex businesses looking to adopt technology to achieve sustainability in the fast-changing marketplace.

“We received over 50 applications from local small businesses looking to pivot their business model in these uncertain times,” Teoh says. “We had the incredibly difficult task of narrowing it down to seven applicants who will move on to complete this program.”

Selected were:

• GreenerBins Composting Co.
• The Grove Hotel
• Efficient Operations Inc.
• Riverside Pie Café
• Ergonow Inc.
• Yoga with Lora
• Windsor Creative

Program lead Paul Brereton notes the demand shows the need.

“We received applications from 18 different industries, geographically covering every corner of Windsor Essex,” he says. “We have the opportunity to make a lasting difference in how businesses in our community not only survive but thrive.”

Find more information on the EPIC Nimble program, including funding sources and community partners, on the EPICentre website.