Edmonton Protocol team reports treatment is safe and reliable for people with hard-to-control diabetes
After 20 years of perfecting their technique, the team behind the largest islet transplant program in the world reports the procedure is a safe, reliable and life-changing treatment for people with hard-to-control diabetes. In results published recently in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, the researchers report on patient survival, graft survival, insulin independence and protection from life-threatening low…
Maricor Arlos grew up around water, but when she came to Canada she found purpose in sustaining it
Growing up in the Philippines, a country in the western Pacific Ocean made up of 7,107 islands, Maricor Arlos didn’t think much about the water that surrounded her. With no central sewage system, many households in the Philippines have septic tanks or other forms of decentralized waste collection that would be cleared out periodically without…
New research challenges understanding of organisms that have been textbook cases since late 1800s
Our understanding of the marriage of fungus and algae in the formation of lichen is being upended by a University of Alberta research team whose work is rewriting the biology that introduced symbiosis to the world. “New discoveries happen with symbiosis all the time, but the exciting thing here is this is the symbiosis that…
Supplements containing beneficial gut bacteria from healthy cows could be a boon for dairy producers
A probiotic developed at the University of Alberta shows promise in improving the health of dairy calves in the essential first weeks of life. Normally, the young animals’ undeveloped immune systems leave them susceptible to common ailments like diarrhea, which can stunt growth or even result in death. When fed a cocktail of four strains…
How Indigenous and Western knowledge can be equal partners in conservation solutions
Protecting the world’s increasingly fragile environments through land and wildlife management, using the thoughtful approach of Indigenous knowledge, is an idea close to Jared Gonet’s heart. As a citizen of the Taku River Tlingit First Nation, the University of Alberta student in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences is working with his community and with…
Kidney disease costs the health-care system more than $40 billion each year
Not many people think about the cost of kidney disease, says a University of Alberta researcher. But the toll on Canadians is high. Kidney disease will affect one in 10 Canadians and costs the health-care system more than $40 billion each year. The number of people living with end-stage kidney disease, which has no current…
Will help answer questions related to population density, foraging patterns and more
Biologists and ecologists often need to identify individual animals in the wild to help answer questions related to population density, foraging patterns and more. But there’s an issue: many of the markers they use, such as tags with colours or numbers, are only clearly visible in daylight – which poses a challenge for studying nocturnal…
Discovery could open door to new treatments that improve our ability to eliminate the stubborn virus
Thanks to antiretroviral therapy, HIV infection is no longer the life sentence it once was. But despite the effectiveness of drugs to manage and treat the virus, it can never be fully eliminated from the human body, lingering in some cells deep in different human tissues where it goes unnoticed by the immune system. Now, new…
Discovery provides insight into improving vaccines, understanding cancer
Researchers have uncovered new information about a cellular mechanism in the immune system that provides a critical step toward a better understanding of how antibodies evolve and improve in the human body. The antibodies our immune system produces need fine-tuning to reach maximum effectiveness. When a vaccine or pathogen is first introduced into our bodies,…
New graduate certificate program in climate change and health will prepare students to find solutions
Agricultural policy-makers, wastewater treatment engineers, crisis counsellors and allergists all have something in common, although they may not realize it. Whether it’s planning for food that isn’t as nutritious as it used to be, preventing new waterborne illnesses from infiltrating the water supply, treating traumatized residents returning after an emergency evacuation or helping patients with…
After 20 years of perfecting their technique, the team behind the largest islet transplant program in the world reports the procedure is a safe, reliable and life-changing treatment for people with hard-to-control diabetes. In results published recently in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, the researchers report on patient survival, graft survival, insulin independence and protection from life-threatening low…
