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On August 8, 2022, Concordia University of Edmonton (CUE) hosted a “Science Summer Student Research Wrap-Up” event.

Five CUE students, who received Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for spring/summer research projects, presented at the session.

Brief profiles of their research achievements can be found below.

The Office of Research Services offers congratulations to these students, and sincere thanks to all CUE community members who participated in this event!

Haley Wolgien

Research Project: HPLC analysis of advanced glycation end products in French fries

Supervisor: Dr. Makan Golizeh

Synopsis: Advanced glycation end products, or AGEs, are pathogenic compounds produced when cooking food and have been shown to contribute to aging and have negative health impacts including cataracts, diabetes, and heart disease. Fortunately, there are ways to reduce AGE content in food, including cooking with lower temperatures, increasing acidity such as with lemon juice or vinegar marinades, and by reducing the amount of heavy metals in foods, as these have shown to increase AGE formation. The scope of this research was to produce AGEs in a laboratory setting as well as in food samples, develop methods to analyze AGEs, and investigate the use of natural chelating agents to bind heavy metals present in foods, thus reducing AGE formation.

Lily Woldeabzghi

Research Project: The impact of ketone bodies on microglial sensitivity to inflammation induced by energy starvation

Supervisor: Dr. Matthew Churchward

Synopsis: Microglia are the resident macrophages of the central nervous system (CNS), meaning that they survey the environments of the brain and spinal cord and signal to one another as well as other immune cells when a pathogen or damaged tissue is discovered to trigger a pro-inflammatory response which serves to clear out whatever harmful material is present. Once microglia engage in a pro-inflammatory response, they are classified as “active” as there is a clear difference in their appearance and function compared to when they are surveying the environment. A growing body of research has found an association between an abnormally large amount of activated microglia and the progression of a number of neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. It is hypothesized that something causes microglia to misfunction and this contributes to the progression of these deadly diseases. Therefore the premise of my project was to further explore the impact of glucose starvation on these cells which was previously found to negatively impact their function and determine whether an alternative energy source commonly derived from proteins could restore the cells to their regular function.

Lexi Nash

Research Project: Values of Distance Games

Supervisor: Dr. Svenja Huntemann

Synopsis: Combinatorial games are two player games with no chance elements and no hidden aspects. Distance Games are a subclass of combinatorial games in which pieces are placed on a board such that they are the proper distances from previously placed pieces. We assign values to these games to tell us how much of an advantage each player has when they play optimally. I looked into the values of some known distance games, as well as some new ones.

Megan MacElheren

Research Project: Low-cost forage management (hay and pasture systems, legume seeding) impacts on productivity and soil health of old grassland

Supervisor: Dr. Emmanuel Mapfumo

Synopsis: Low yields in old hay and pasture stands are caused by various factors including low soil nutrient supply and encroachment by lower yielding grass and weedy species. Due to the economical aspect, grasslands are being broken to accommodate more profitable annual crops. This causes a serious loss of forage acreage, and loss of soil carbon. This study examines low-cost alternatives to breaking the land to boost productivity of grasslands. Objectives include increasing the forage yield of old hay pasture stands through inclusion of legumes, determination of the most cost-effective method for pastureland rejuvenation, and identification of trends in forage productivity and soil health when grazed, hayed, and legume treatments are applied. 

Morgan Smith

Research Project: The principal ideal problem for quadratic fields

Supervisor: Dr. Ha Tran

Synopsis: The principal ideal problem is one of the main problems in computational number theory. The current fastest classical algorithms run in sub-exponential time and, using quantum algorithms, this problem can be solved in polynomial time.

In this project, we investigated the properties of ideals and reduced ideals for quadratic fields and how to solve this problem for quadratic fields. In particular, we implemented Buchmann’s algorithm for real quadratic fields with small discriminants.