Grants and Contributions

Space anemia is well-documented, but we don’t fully understand the cause. This study will analyze the red blood cell data of American and Canadian astronauts over the past 50 years in order to further characterize space anemia. The causes of anemia may be multiple and studying the complete blood profiles of astronauts provide a unique perspective to explain the increased red blood cell destruction in space. Astronauts, space tourists, and bedridden people on Earth remain at risk for anemia. This project will add to the growing body of research with the hopes of discovering effective ways to mitigate this risk.

Light-headedness and fainting occurs when the cardiovascular system is unable to maintain arterial pressures during rapid changes in posture, such as standing up from a horizontal position. Some astronauts experience such symptoms after returning to Earth from space and the underlying factors are still poorly understood. The research team will analyze data from the recent CIHR-based Bed Rest Study of 55-65-year-old men and women wich they propose can provide information on how the blood supply to the brain is related to fainting. The results will be an important step towards the prevention of fainting in astronauts and people on Earth.

Findings from Viking and Phoenix Mars landers have revealed the widespread presence of perchlorates in Mars regolith at concentrations that are toxic to humans and plants. The MARSCROP project will explore the use of perchlorate reducing bacteria associated with willow roots to mitigate regolith toxicity as well as determine the potential for co-cropping of willow with tomato and soybean to produce safe fresh food for astronauts on the surface of Mars. The project findings will hope to exploit multisystem biology which has evolved on earth to help solve complex challenges and safeguard astronaut health on the Martian surface.

Vision loss due to Space Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome (SANS) is observed in many astronauts, is poorly understood, and remains one of the most feared hazards of space flight. The loss of gravity causes shift of fluids, including blood to the upper body, and these disturbances around the eye, especially in the choroid, the most vascularized tissue in the body, may be an important piece of the puzzle. Novel non-invasive eye imaging techniques will be used to examine blood vessel changes in the choroid for the first time in a model of SANS. Discovering biomarkers of excess and persistent blood and fluid entry into the eye will be an important step toward understanding and predicting SANS and preventing vision loss from SANS in astronauts.

Space’s low gravity leads to bone and muscle loss which can compromise astronauts’ missions. Previous work showed that the knee cartilage of mice breakdown after a period in space’s low gravity. But little is known about the effect of low gravity on human cartilage. The research team will use human stem cells from adult females and males to make cartilage to study the effect of low gravity on cartilage. They will use an instrument designed by NASA to replicate low gravity. They hope their work will shed new light into osteoarthritis, a common disease in Canadians with cartilage breakdown at its core.

Public safety organizations are currently using a very manual and labour-intensive process to create and share alerts with members and partner agencies. Rubicon is building digital, automated collaboration tools to address this challenge and is expanding the development team to implement and take this across the country.

Participation in the NRC IRAP’s PIC Summit Europe mission held in the Netherlands, November 6-10, 2023, led by the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) to develop international partnerships and potential project ideas for the 2023 Xecs Call for Proposals.

The objective of this Project is to advance Indigenous issues and priorities in environment, safety and/or socioeconomic imperatives, consistent with the Terms of Reference of the Indigenous Advisory and Monitoring Committee for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project.

The objective of this Project is to advance Indigenous issues and priorities in environment, safety and/or socioeconomic imperatives, consistent with the Terms of Reference of the Indigenous Advisory and Monitoring Committee for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project.

The purpose of this agreement is to increase awareness, availability and use of lower carbon vehicles and fuels in Canada by supporting the installation of 93 electric vehicle chargers in British Columbia.