Grants and Contributions

With an increasing global demand for seaweed derived products and ingredients, as well as a broader public understanding of the important environmental services provided by our marine flora, there is growing interest from young entrepreneurs to develop Canada’s seaweed cultivation industry to achieve financial, societal, and environmental benefits. In this context, Merinov and NRC are developing projects to support the development of larger, better managed, and more sustainable seaweed cultivation industry while supporting marine habitat conservation and preserving the genetic resources native to Canada’s marine zones, with a focus on Atlantic Canada. This project will support a sustainable seaweed aquaculture industry for the main cultivated species in the Atlantic coast of Canada, the sugar kelp. Biobanking is crucial to reach this goal, as the preservation of properly characterized strains will allow the preservation of genotype and phenotype diversity for conservation, improvement of cultivated strains, and increased population resistance to various natural (climate cycle, parasites, disease, etc.) or anthropogenic (climate change, development, aquaculture, oil spills, etc.) disturbances. To define which strains/populations to biobank, there is a need to better understand the seaweed ecology and population delimitation and if the environment influences their phenotype or quality. Three main linked objectives will be developed here: 1) defining morphology and genetics of the sugar kelp populations, 2) developing technology and identify which populations to biobank and 3) developing a bank of seed strains with selected characteristics. Samples of wild sugar kelp will be collected in two provinces where seaweed aquaculture is rising: Quebec and Nova Scotia. A better understanding of the population genetics and gene flow through a high resolution assessment of wild and cultivated populations will also provide important relevant information to management agencies and to the industry

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated an increased consumption of disposable personal protective equipment (PPE) by healthcare workers and by the general public. As of June 29, 2020, based on federal government projections for PPE demand over the next year, it is estimated that approximately 63,000 tons of COVID-19 related PPE will end up as waste, being ultimately landfilled.
In November 2018, the Canadian Councils of the Ministers of the Environment (CCME) adopted Canada's Zero Plastic Waste Strategy to reduce the environmental impact of plastics and promote a circular economy. To support this strategy and to reduce the environmental footprint of PPE in Canada, the Government of Canada is supporting the development of solutions to manufacture more sustainable PPE and to better manage their end of life. Strategies include re-usability, alternative materials, improved recyclability and novel recycling technologies, as well as compostability.
This challenge is in support of the compostability element of that strategy. The National Research Council of Canada (NRC), in collaboration with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Health Canada (HC), and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) are seeking solutions for the manufacture of compostable disposable surgical masks and respirators to be used by healthcare workers.

The ground transportation industry has experienced a steep decline in traffic as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Canadians feel less safe travelling in mass transportation environments given the uncertainty surrounding the risk of contracting COVID-19 and future viruses in these spaces. The NRC and TC seeks to challenge the Canadian industry to develop solutions that can be used in existing federal, provincial, and municipal buses and trains to protect onboard occupants by mitigating the airborne viral risks while restoring confidence in transportation. 

The Project will include the development of novel quantum imaging technologies (both experimental and computational) to study fundamental aspects of coherent electron transfer dynamics in molecules. The Project will make use of a revolution in ultrafast laser technology – Ultrafast X-ray Photonics – combined with computational quantum dynamics to permit the direct observation and characterization of quantum electronic dynamics. Canada is a world leader in Ultrafast X-ray Photonics and the CFI has invested nearly $25M in ultrafast X-ray science infrastructure at the INRS Varennes and the University of Ottawa, the latter housing the highest power ultrafast laser system in Canada. The understanding of light-driven coherent electronic dynamics in molecules underpins new rational design principles based on Quantum Coherence, which will be developed in the Project, leading to next-generation Light Harvesting. These principles will provide new routes, based on Quantum Physics, to enhancing the efficiency of Light Harvesting processes, including solar energy conversion, a critical green technology.

Innovation in nanophotonics has been driven by major advances in nanofabrication. As nanophotonic devices have a nearly limitless design space, equally critical has been the ability to simulate light interaction with complex nanostructures. Advanced nanophotonic design commonly relies on computationally expensive 3D simulations. This project directly addresses the use of AI to assist with the design of photonic components, both for “classical” devices where improvements in performance or size will be sought, as well as design of new devices such as optical phased arrays, which rely on grating couplers as fundamental blocks. Artificial Intelligence will be used to develop efficient and accurate surrogate models for subwavelength grating structures. This will reduce the scale of simulations by a factor of hundreds and enable efficient design of advanced nanophotonic components that require metamaterials.

This collaboration with UCSC will support the design of new technologies for the CAL2.0 upgrade of the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) instrument. Specifically, UCSC will: (1) develop simulations to inform CAL2.0 project hardware design, (2) design and deliver custom coronagraphic mask hardware to HAA to be deployed into GPI/CAL2.0, (3) design real-time adaptive optics software. The overall goal of the CAL2.0 project is to enhance the GPI instrument’s sensitivity such that it will directly detect fainter extrasolar planets than was previously possible.

The Project will support the development of polarisation resolved single photon sensors over a broad range of photon energies (THz - telecom - visible) using photoexcitation of trions in gate defined quantum circuits in 2D quantum materials. Unique advantages of 2D quantum materials include bandgap tunability, photon polarisation to valley optical transitions, high quantum coherence and trion binding energy exceeding room temperature. The Project will support the development of quantum sensors in that quantum transport of a single electron from source to drain through a quantum dot (QD) proceeds at a specific value of back-gate voltage. When a single photon is absorbed in a QD, an exciton is created. An electron coherently interacts with the exciton forming a trion, changing the required back-gate voltage and quenching transport. Hence, the presence of a single exciton absorbed by a single photon can be electrically detected at a single electron level. The team will also explore methods to enhance the photon-electron interaction such as coupling to an optical cavity. The Project will advance the state-of-the art technologies for single photon sensing by the development of 2D materials-based quantum sensors.

With an increasing global demand for seaweed derived products and ingredients, as well as a broader public understanding of the important environmental services provided by our marine flora, there is growing interest from young entrepreneurs to develop Canada’s seaweed cultivation industry to achieve financial, societal, and environmental benefits. In this context, Merinov and NRC are developing projects to support the development of larger, better managed, and more sustainable seaweed cultivation industry while supporting marine habitat conservation and preserving the genetic resources native to Canada’s marine zones, with a focus on Atlantic Canada. This project will support a sustainable seaweed aquaculture industry for the main cultivated species in the Atlantic coast of Canada, the sugar kelp. Biobanking is crucial to reach this goal, as the preservation of properly characterized strains will allow the preservation of genotype and phenotype diversity for conservation, improvement of cultivated strains, and increased population resistance to various natural (climate cycle, parasites, disease, etc.) or anthropogenic (climate change, development, aquaculture, oil spills, etc.) disturbances. To define which strains/populations to biobank, there is a need to better understand the seaweed ecology and population delimitation and if the environment influences their phenotype or quality. Three main linked objectives will be developed here: 1) defining morphology and genetics of the sugar kelp populations, 2) developing technology and identify which populations to biobank and 3) developing a bank of seed strains with selected characteristics. Samples of wild sugar kelp will be collected in two provinces where seaweed aquaculture is rising: Quebec and Nova Scotia. A better understanding of the population genetics and gene flow through a high resolution assessment of wild and cultivated populations will also provide important relevant information to management agencies and to the industry

Innovation in nanophotonics has been driven by major advances in nanofabrication. As nanophotonic devices have a nearly limitless design space, equally critical has been the ability to simulate light interaction with complex nanostructures. Advanced nanophotonic design commonly relies on computationally expensive 3D simulations. This project directly addresses the use of AI to assist with the design of photonic components, both for “classical” devices where improvements in performance or size will be sought, as well as design of new devices such as optical phased arrays, which rely on grating couplers as fundamental blocks. Artificial Intelligence will be used to develop efficient and accurate surrogate models for subwavelength grating structures. This will reduce the scale of simulations by a factor of hundreds and enable efficient design of advanced nanophotonic components that require metamaterials.

This collaboration with UCSC will support the design of new technologies for the CAL2.0 upgrade of the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) instrument. Specifically, UCSC will: (1) develop simulations to inform CAL2.0 project hardware design, (2) design and deliver custom coronagraphic mask hardware to HAA to be deployed into GPI/CAL2.0, (3) design real-time adaptive optics software. The overall goal of the CAL2.0 project is to enhance the GPI instrument’s sensitivity such that it will directly detect fainter extrasolar planets than was previously possible.