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skos:note """ THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
[UBC
VOLUME 51 I NUMBER 3 I MARCH 3,2005
UBC REPORTS
2 UBC in the News
3 College Days 4 New Life Sciences Institute 9 Celebrate Research
12 Defence in Depth
Implantable Medical Devices Promise Better Life
Tiny gadgets could spare diabetes patients the pain of pricking fingers, by brian lin
A UBC mechanical engineer is embarking
on a multi-disciplinary project that could
spare diabetes patients from ever pricking
their fingers again.
For decades, diabetes patients have
been drawing small amounts of blood
regularly in order to monitor their
glucose level, a procedure that is often
painful and can be particularly tough on
children or the elderly.
Now Mu Chiao, an assistant professor
in the Faculty of Applied Science and
Canada Research Chair in MicroElectro-
Mechanical Systems (MEMS), has set his
sights on creating a tiny, implantable
device that could be used to monitor
chemical levels such as glucose in
diabetes patients or deliver regular
doses of medication such as hormones
from inside the body.
At no larger than 2 millimetres, these
tiny chips would come fully equipped
with highly sensitive screening and
distribution mechanisms, and their own
Prof. Mu Chiao is working with a wide
range of scientists to develop biosensors
and monitoring devices.
power source, all wrapped in material
that prevents rejection by the body.
In fact, some of them would be so
inconspicuous that they could be left
in the body once they've accomplished
their missions.
Originally from the southern Taiwanese
port city of Tainan, Chiao was trained in
the Sensor and Actuator Center at
University of California, Berkeley, a
hotbed for MEMS and nano-technology
research.
One of the hottest areas of mechanical
engineering, MEMS technology has been
used to make sensing devices that control
airbag deployment in cars and switching
devices in optical telecommunications
cables.
For Mu, however, bio-medical
applications of MEMS have a stronger
attraction.
" I want to make a positive impact on
people's daily lives," says Chiao, whose
research could mean fewer physician
visits and a better quality of life for
patients with chronic diseases.
Chiao has already pioneered a tech-
con tin ued on page 8
Saving the Serengeti
Anthony Sinclair's 40-year study of animal populations in African parks has
helped define biodiversity science, by Hilary Thomson
As past director
of UBC's
Biodiversity
Research Centre,
Anthony Sinclair
helped shape the
vision for the new
interdisciplinary
Beaty Biodiversity
Research Centre
announced on January 31 under current
director Prof. Dolph Schluter, Canada
Research Chair in Evolutionary Biology.
It all started with dung beetles.
As a child in Africa, UBC zoologist
Anthony Sinclair admired and collected the
humble insect, marking the start of a career
that has spanned four decades, three continents and earned Sinclair membership in
the Royal Society of London, an academy
of the world's most eminent researchers.
A world expert in ecosystem dynamics,
biodiversity and conservation biology,
Sinclair has conducted experiments in areas
ranging from Australia and New Zealand
to the Yukon, but most of his work has
focused on the Serengeti region of
Tanzania, in eastern Africa. His latest
work, recently published in Science, concerns population dynamics of Serengeti
lions.
Born and raised in Zambia, Sinclair's
earliest memories revolve around time
spent as an intrepid investigator of bugs,
birds and mammals. He
soon learned to mix caution with curiosity, however, after meeting a leopard
during a night-time foray at
age eight.
Educated in Tanzania and fluent in Swahili, Sinclair was sent to
secondary school in England - at
that time a three-day plane journey
away. He originally studied to be an engineer but by his own admission was
an indifferent student.
All that changed when he
decided to follow his heart
and become a biologist.
" It was just like pushing a button," says the
61-year-old. "I roared £
ahead." e
An apt descrip- <
tion, indeed. After 0
earning a PhD at °
Oxford University,
Sinclair has conducted
40 years of landmark
research that has helped define
biodiversity science and made him one
of the world's
most-cited investigators in
the field of environment
and ecology.
But to hear
Sinclair tell it, his
career
has mostly
turned
on
luck.
•*£ A
History handed him his first lucky break
in 1890 when Italians brought a cattle disease called rinderpest to Africa during the
colonization of Ethiopia. African cattle
had no immunity to the disease and ultimately 95 per cent of the continent's
population was wiped out.
Authorities tried to combat the
spread of the disease by
killing infected animals.
They couldn't kill animals in the protected
30,000 sq. kms. of
Serengeti Park,
however,
and thus
born Sinclair's living
lab.
He started research in Serengeti in
1965, while still an undergraduate. The
rinderpest outbreak and its effect on
Africa's ecosystem created a large-scale
natural experiment for him to test his
theories of fluctuations in animal populations. He has used the area to create
an ecological baseline by measuring natural changes in biodiversity within the
park and comparing this data to human-
induced changes seen outside the area.
He spent a decade focused on African
buffalo and wildebeest, monitoring their
resurgence after rinderpest was wiped
out. The wildebeest population increased
six-fold in about a 15-year period and
Sinclair recalls standing on hilltops
seeing nothing but the black hides of
wildebeest for 30 miles in any direction.
"The changes in wildebeest population in Serengeti changed everything -
vegetation, food supply for predators
and for humans," says Sinclair.
"This natural experiment
proved that everything is
■ linked and that all living
things are connected in an
ecosystem, a concept that is
well understood now but
was just emerging
when I
started
my
work."
At
that
time,
researchers were busy
unraveling many mysteries in the
region, but their work was unconnected.
Sinclair suggested they consolidate their
knowledge and has edited three books -
Serengeti, published in 1979, Serengeti II
in 1995 and Serengeti III, soon to be
continued on page 9 I UBC REPORTS | MARCH 3, 2OO5
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Highlights of UBC Media Coverage in February 2005. compiled by brian lin
First Prescribed-Heroin
Project Begins
Vancouver has opened North
America's first safe heroin-
injection site, a pilot project
which, it claims, will curb disease and deaths among
addicts.
The North American Opiate
Medication Initiative
(NAOMI), a two-year
$8 Million study funded by
the Canadian Institutes of
Health Research, will also
take place in Montreal and
Toronto and enrol a total of
470 "treatment-resistant"
addicts, reports The
Economist.
By keeping hardcore addicts
from committing crimes to
fund their habits, it is hoped
that they will leave drugs
behind and lead a more productive life. UBC HIV/AIDS
researcher and the project's
lead investigator, Martin
Schechter says that in similar
studies done in Europe, the
participants "reduced their
use of street drugs, their
health improved, the level of
employment went up and the
levels of criminality fell drastically. "
This Little Piggy Hurts
In a feature story on animal
welfare in The Independent,
UBC agricultural sciences
professor Dan Weary argues
that conventional husbandry
methods should be rethought
on the basis of the animals'
reactions.
For example, Weary
suggests that pigs should be
injected with hormones that
neutralise the sex hormones -
"immunocastration" - instead
of being painfully castrated.
National Study Reports
Drug Reactions
At least seven children's
hospitals will participate in
an $8.4-million nationwide
project to report adverse
reactions to drugs in children,
ranging from rashes to
drug-induced hepatitis.
Researchers will also collect
DNA and blood samples,
searching for genetic markers
that could explain why a drug
is safe for one child but not
another.
Associate Prof. Larry Frank has found people who live in sprawling
suburbs are less likely to be physically active.
"Instead of passively waiting, we're hiring people to go
out and find (adverse drug
reactions), catalogue them, put
them in a central registry and
share them among hospitals to
see if there are any patterns,"
co-principal investigator Dr.
Bruce Carleton of UBC's
Centre for Healthcare
Innovation and Improvement
told The National Post.
Urnbanites Healthier than
Suburban Counterparts
UBC professor Larry Frank
recently spoke to CTV's
Canada AM about his research
on urban sprawl and public
health.
"We found that the people
who live in the most walkable
parts of the Atlanta region,
who have shops and services
near to where they live . . . are
2.4 times more likely to meet
the US Surgeon-General's recommendation and the Heart
and Stroke's recommendation
of 30 minutes of moderate
activity per day than
people who live in the more
sprawling parts of the same
region.
"Non-leisure-time physical
activity is a better way to
guarantee that we will add up
and collectively become more
physically active, or less likely
to be sedentary," he said.
Let Them Stay Up and
Watch TV
Television programs designed to
be entertaining, intelligent and
educational can open a "cognitive window" and have a profound effect on formative
young minds.
Studies have shown that television has the ability to stimulate both sides of the brain,
making it easier to retain and
understand information.
"There is no question about
that any more. The research is
in," UBC psychologist Tannis
MacBeth told The Globe and
Mail. "Programs intended to be
educational have positive
effects on the children who
watch them." □
UBC REPORTS
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Designer
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Martin Dee martin.dee@ubc.ca
Contributors
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Brian Lin brian.lin@ubc.ca
Hilary Thomson hilary.thomson@ubc.ca
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NEXT ISSUE: APRIL 7, 2005
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For upcoming UBC Reports submission guidelines, please see
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randy.schmidt@ubc.ca or call UBC.NEWS (604.822.6397) UBC REPORTS | MARCH 3, 2OO5 | 3
College Days, College Nights
UBC students were in front of and behind the cameras for this view into student life
BY BRENDA AUSTIN
The title of this documentary
alone should draw you in.
Over the course of the 2003-
04 academic year, eight UBC
film department students followed the joys and disappointments of 16 UBC undergraduates.
The entire 6-hour film aired
in three parts March 1, 2 and 3,
on the Documentary Channel.
Now, CBC plans a shortened
version to air in the fall.
The documentary revealed
emotional discord between
student and immigrant parents;
the party scene; the stress of
exams; romance; relationships
with faculty; student achievements, and the struggle and
defeat of those far from home.
The lynch pin of the whole
project was John Zaritsky, a
well-known journalist and film
producer whose documentaries
have aired on PBS, CBC and
BBC. He became film production adjunct professor in the
UBC Department of Theatre,
Film and Creative Writing for
this project.
Zaritsky broached the idea
for this documentary at the
2000 Sundance Film Festival
house. She followed the roller
coaster life of Sheila, the captain
of the UBC women's basketball
team, attending championship
games with her and learning
how to get a genuine story by
working hard at keeping a good
on the loss of his girl friend.
There were other tense
incidents in the film and in the
lives of the cast. But, overall,
most felt they were doing the
right thing at the right time at
university, according to Alyson
A year in the life of... UBC film students at work on the documentary.
relationship.
"Crew members were expected to observe closely the lives of
their subjects, stay involved and
bring ideas to weekly film
department sessions," Chan
Drysdale, a film department
faculty member responsible
for organizing the internship
documentary production course,
which she co-taught with
Zaritsky.
'Crew members were expected to observe closely the lives of their subjects,
stay involved and bring ideas to weekly film department sessions."
with Corus Entertainment, editors for the Documentary
Channel, carried in Vancouver
on Shaw's digital cable service.
He wanted to know what it was
like to be a college student in
the new millennium.
His company, Point Grey
Pictures, did the preliminary
cast interviews for College
Days, College Nights of about
70 volunteers from the UBC
undergraduate student body
who responded to campus
advertisements.
"About half were eliminated
in the first interview. The other
half went on camera with a
professional crew so we could
gauge their reactions. We wanted a balance of gender, cultural
background, university year and
study course."
The crew members were
fourth-year film production students and they interned with
Point Grey Pictures for six UBC
credits.
"They were fairly green to
begin with, but knowledgeable
in camera technology, easy to
train and quick to learn, and
were shooting up to professional standards at the end of the
semester," Zaritsky said.
Mike Rae, one of Zaritsky's
interns, lived in a house rented
by Point Grey Pictures for four
of the volunteer cast. This
meant he could be part of their
lives for parties, exams, family
issues and so on.
"The experience changed my
life," said Rae as he followed
Leila, a first-year nursing student, Spencer, a political science
student, who ran for Alma
Mater Society Vice-President,
and Jamie, a fluently bilingual
French and English international relations student.
Another cast member,
Melody Chan, was assigned to
the fourth member of the
said. The knowledge, expertise
and connections she made led to
subsequent contract work on 10
feature films.
Zaritsky's not surprised.
"Melody, yes, she was a great
shooter," he said. "And Mike is
now my teaching assistant in a
new course this year with a
documentary called Couples."
" I have respect for all these
students. They're more serious
and hard working and more
competent than I was as a student, although they are less
politically committed and motivated than my generation."
Cast members each kept a
video diary they could use at any
time. This was often the truest
record of their emotions.
Zaritsky remembered a vignette
of compelling honesty that
touched on the universal experience of rejection. A student
recorded his thoughts and feelings at 3 o'clock in the morning
"And for the student crew,"
she added, "this was a unique
experience. Until now it was
unheard of for students to leave
university with six hours of
on-screen professional credits
to their name. This was a big
accomplishment." □
KUDOS
UBC Film Studies
1990 UBC film production
alumnus Reginald Harkema
has been nominated for
a 2005 Genie Award for
Best Achievement in Editing
for the feature film
"Childstar," directed by Don
McKellar. The Genie Awards
will air on City TV
Vancouver at 8 p.m. on
Monday, March 21.
■ i- '
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UNIVERSITY BOULEVARD ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITION
Three Teams:
Three Visions
April 1-10, 2005
Come see the future of UBC
Aerial view of University Boulevard
7I MORRIS AND HELEN BELKIN ART GALLERY
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Tel: 604.822.2759 Fax: 604.822.6689
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EXHIBITION HOURS:
Opening Night (April 1): 5:30-8pm
Monday - Friday, 10am-7pm
Saturday - Sunday, 12-5pm
UBC
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71 CAMPUS COMMUNITY POLL
Students, faculty, staff, alumni, professor emeriti and
university residents can vote at the exhibit or on-line.
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m Allies and Morrison Architects (London)
Proscenium Architecture & Interiors Inc. (Vancouver)
m Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners (Santa Monica)
Hughes Condon Marler: Architects (Vancouver)
■ Patkau Architects Inc. (Vancouver)
For more information about the competition
and the campus community poll, please visit:
www.universitytown.ubc.ca IC REPORTS | MARCH 3, 2OO5 | 5
Senior Appointments
The University of British
Columbia Board of Governors
welcomes four new elected
members. Andrew Irvine, a
professor and deputy head in
the Department of Philosophy
at UBC, and Belle Dale-Wills,
the associate director of UBC
Facilities Services, have been
appointed for three-year terms
beginning February 1, 2005.
Tim Louman-Gardiner, a first-
year Faculty of Law student,
and Quinn Omori, a fourth-
year International Relations
student, have been appointed
for one-year terms beginning
April 1, 2005.
The Board of Governors has
approved the appointment of
Prof. David Dolphin, a finalist
for this year's Gerhard
Herzberg Canada Gold Medal
for Science and Engineering,
as Acting Vice-President,
Research, effective February 1,
2005. The Board has also
approved the re-appointment
of Mr. Terry Sumner as Vice-
President, Administration and
Finance for a six-year period,
effective June 1, 2005.
Dolphin, who also serves as
Vice-President, Technology
and Development, with global
bio-pharmaceutical company
QLT Inc. and who is known
for his role in the development
of drugs treating macular
degeneration, will fill the
Vice-President, Research position held by departing Indira
Samarasekera, who will
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