Wednesday, Aug. 10, 11:30

Continue Reading]]> SASKATOON – Media are invited to a sneak peek of the new Facility for Applied Avian Research (FAAR), one of only two such facilities in Canada. The tour will kick-off with a special event featuring the Honourable Ralph Goodale and University of Saskatchewan President Peter Stoicheff celebrating the 57 U of S scientists and students who received more than $10 million from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) in the latest grant competition.

Wednesday, Aug. 10, 11:30 am

(tour to follow immediately after the program)

Main Foyer, first floor
Western College of Veterinary Medicine
52 Campus Drive
University of Saskatchewan

FAAR covers close to 350 square metres, with six indoor bird rooms and 12 outdoor enclosures. It is capable of holding a large variety of bird species and is the only facility of its kind in Western Canada dedicated to the study of avian wildlife ecotoxicology and bird health.

Available for interviews:

• Honourable Ralph Goodale, minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
• University of Saskatchewan President Peter Stoicheff
• Christy Morrissey, director of the Facility for Applied Avian Research and a wildlife ecotoxologist

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For more information, contact:

Jennifer Thoma

Media Relations Specialist

University of Saskatchewan

306-966-1851 (office)

306-270-4513 (cell)

jennifer.thoma@usask.ca

Drs. Carl Wesolowski and Surajith Wanasundara, in the Department of Medical Imaging at the U of S College of Medicine, have developed a new general theory of how water-soluble drugs are handled in the human body. Their theory better

Continue Reading]]> SASKATOON – University of Saskatchewan (U of S) researchers have developed a method to better inform how certain drugs are administered to people to improve the volume and timing of doses. Their work was recently published in the Public Library of Science.

Drs. Carl Wesolowski and Surajith Wanasundara, in the Department of Medical Imaging at the U of S College of Medicine, have developed a new general theory of how water-soluble drugs are handled in the human body. Their theory better captures how and when drug dosages reach the targeted area(s) of the body. With it, they provide a mathematical equation that can be used by a medical professional to help administer drugs more effectively.

“The timing and volume of injections can be better assessed with this method,” said Wesolowski.

His hope is that this new information will make its way onto the packaging of relevant drugs to better guide how they are administered to patients.

“Right now, the information provided on drug packaging is not particularly helpful for determining drug volumes in combination with timing of injections,” he said.

Among the researchers’ findings is that the time it takes for a drug’s half-life to become established is much longer than previously thought—by as much as five to nine times longer than predicted using current theory. The half-life of a drug is the period of time required for the concentration or amount of drug in the body to be reduced by half. The length of half-life varies from one drug to another and this measure is used to determine proper dosages and their timing.

“It has been common to think that a drug rapidly distributes in the body. And although it is true that drug distribution in the body is very fast initially, this redistribution also slows down rapidly so that rather than, for example, taking 90 minutes to reach the body’s tissues, it takes half a day to do so,” Wesolowski said.

Their model is already patented in the United States and some European nations, and is patent-pending in Canada. Co-authors of the paper with Wesolowski and Wanasundara include Drs. Michal Wesolowski and Paul Babyn, also in the Department of Medical Imaging at the College of Medicine. The work was funded by the Sylvia Fedoruk Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation and the U of S College of Medicine.

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For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Kate Blau
Communications Specialist
College of Medicine

University of Saskatchewan
306-966-6059 | kate.blau@usask.ca

Marilyn Poitras, an assistant professor in the College of Law, will serve as a commissioner in the inquiry. An expert in constitutional and Aboriginal law, her professional life prior to joining the college in 2009 was a fusion of law, governance, community and institutional education.

As a commissioner, Poitras will provide concrete recommendations to federal, provincial and territorial governments about

Continue Reading]]> A University of Saskatchewan (U of S) legal scholar will bring her knowledge and skills to the federal inquiry on missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW).

Marilyn Poitras, an assistant professor in the College of Law, will serve as a commissioner in the inquiry. An expert in constitutional and Aboriginal law, her professional life prior to joining the college in 2009 was a fusion of law, governance, community and institutional education.

As a commissioner, Poitras will provide concrete recommendations to federal, provincial and territorial governments about how to deal with the disproportionate rates of violence and crime against Canada’s Indigenous women and girls.

The inquiry will begin in September and finish by the end of 2018. Ottawa has set aside $53.8 million to pay for the inquiry.

See more at CBC Politics.

Anti-doping and the use of supplements

Phil Chilibeck, professor, College of Kinesiology (available after Aug. 7)

Chilibeck can talk about the use of supplements and whether or not these supplements been scientifically proven or examined to improve performance.

Athletes, athletic performance, sport psychology

Jason Weber, co-ordinator of the

Continue Reading]]> The Summer Olympics will begin on August 5, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the following University of Saskatchewan experts are available to comment on topics ranging from Olympic athletes, advertising and the threat of terrorist attacks:

Anti-doping and the use of supplements

Phil Chilibeck, professor, College of Kinesiology (available after Aug. 7)

Chilibeck can talk about the use of supplements and whether or not these supplements been scientifically proven or examined to improve performance.

Athletes, athletic performance, sport psychology

Jason Weber, co-ordinator of the Human Performance Center, College of Kinesiology

Weber can comment on Olympic athlete training, development and performance. He has co-ordinated, designed and implemented off-season high-performance training for professional athletes and is also a Certified Exercise Physiologist.

Olympic experience and sports psychology

Kent Kowalski, associate professor, College of Kinesiology (available after Aug. 7)

Kowalski can comment on the psychological aspects of performance and what it takes mentally to be an Olympic athlete, including:

• Coping with mental blocks
• Maintaining focus and preparation
• Getting past a poor performance

Risk of the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne illnesses

Dr. Andrew Potter, the CEO of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization – International Vaccine Centre.

Potter is an internationally known expert who can discuss transmission, prevention, mitigation and social response to outbreaks, the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne illnesses.

Security measures and terrorism

Colleen Bell, assistant professor, College of Arts and Science

Bell can comment on the general security measures leading up to and during the Olympics and why the terror threat is higher during most Olympics. Bell’s areas of research include war and security studies, terrorism and counterterrorism and western intervention.

Advertising and merchandising

David Williams, professor of marketing, Edwards School of Business

Williams can comment on advertising and promotion, international marketing, marketing management, how the games are managed and how sponsors leverage large-scale sporting events.

Nationalism and the Olympics

Daniel Béland, political sociologist, Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy

Béland can speak about the connection between nationalism and the Olympics and how governments use the power of the Olympics to create greater affinity to the country and/or sway public opinion on an issue.

Gymnastics training on a child’s growth and development

Adam Baxter-Jones, interim dean of the College of Graduate Studies and Research

Baxter-Jones is a member of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) Scientific Commission and can provide insight into the impact gymnastics training has on a child’s growth and development, and perspective on what it takes to compete at an Olympic level.

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For more information, contact:

Jennifer Thoma

Media Relations Specialist

University of Saskatchewan

306-966-1851

jennifer.thoma@usask.ca

The number of Sable Island horses is at an historic high – now ranging from 450 to 550 horses compared with only 200 to 400 during the past 250 years. A team led by Philip McLoughlin and Keith Hobson has been trying to find out why the

Continue Reading]]> SASKATOON – University of Saskatchewan (U of S) biologists have made a significant advance in understanding the ecology of Sable Island and its iconic wild horses—one that underscores how intimately connected living systems are.

The number of Sable Island horses is at an historic high – now ranging from 450 to 550 horses compared with only 200 to 400 during the past 250 years. A team led by Philip McLoughlin and Keith Hobson has been trying to find out why the numbers have grown so much.

In research featured this week in the journal Ecology and as the “editor’s choice” in The Scientist, McLoughlin, an associate professor in Biology at the U of S and his team demonstrated a link between burgeoning seal populations on Canada’s east coast and the foraging habits of feral horses along the length of Sable Island.

They have found that grey seals, whose numbers on the island have swelled from fewer than 1,000 in the 1960s to nearly 400,000 currently, have their pups on the island and fertilize the sandy, wind-swept grasslands—transferring nutrients from the sea that promotes growth of the grasses where feral horses have now chosen to feed.

McLoughlin cautions that more research is needed to say definitively whether the increase in seal numbers is increasing the survival and reproduction of the horses feeding near seal colonies. But measurements prove the seals do enrich the island’s plant growth with nitrogen from feeding on fish in ocean, and computer modelling has demonstrated that the horses preferentially select those particular grassy areas to eat.

“What is really interesting is that we show how the enrichment of grasses, which occurs non-uniformly on the island, then affects how the horses move around the island to eat,” he said.

“This speaks to the question of how seemingly distinct systems—ocean and land—can be interconnected by fundamental ecological relationships.”

The team’s next step is to determine whether nitrogen originating from the sea is detectable in the tissues or hair of the horses and to the extent it explains their reproduction and survival.

He noted the team included U of S graduate students Kenton Lysak and Tom Perry, and post-doctoral fellow Lucie Debeffe.

Since 2007, McLoughlin, his students and his research collaborators have been naming and keeping track of the life histories and movements of every horse that lives on Sable Island, with a view to better understanding how populations function and how isolated populations may be conserved.

“Sable Island is truly one of the most interesting outdoor laboratories a population ecologist could ask for,” he said.

The project was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Canada Foundation for Innovation, with in-kind support from Parks Canada Agency and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

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For more information, contact:

Jennifer Thoma

Media Relations Specialist

University of Saskatchewan

306-966-1851

jennifer.thoma@usask.ca

Saturday, August 6 1-4 pm Convocation Hall, Peter MacKinnon Building 107 Administration Place University of Saskatchewan 

This event is one of series of activities sponsored by the university Great War Commemoration Committee during the centennial of the war,

Continue Reading]]> SASKATOON- Members of the media are invited to attend a University of Saskatchewan (U of S) Great War “Antiques Road Show,” in co-operation with Parks Canada. Saskatoon-area residents are encouraged to bring any Great War memorabilia to the event for assessment by Parks Canada military curator Grant Tyler.

Saturday, August 6
1-4 pm
Convocation Hall, Peter MacKinnon Building
107 Administration Place
University of Saskatchewan 

This event is one of series of activities sponsored by the university Great War Commemoration Committee during the centennial of the war, 2014-2018. The committee is pleased to partner with Parks Canada for this special event.

Families are encouraged to share their connections to the Great War. Everyone is welcome, including those who are interested in seeing what memorabilia is brought forward for assessment.

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For more information about the event, contact:

Bill Waiser, Chair

U of S Great War Commemoration Committee

306-270-1905

bill.waiser@usask.ca

Audra Norek

Cultural Resource Management

Saskatchewan South Field Unit

Parks Canada

306-745-6234

306-740-8709

An estimated 47 million people across the globe live with dementia, and in rural or remote communities primary health care (PHC) providers bear most of the responsibility for diagnosis and management with few dementia-specific resources.

“Rural healthcare providers face a lot of challenges in diagnosing dementia,” said Morgan. “We’re trying to

Continue Reading]]> SASKATOON – New funding of $2.3 million will enable U of S researcher Debra Morgan and her team to further their work to improve dementia care in rural and remote communities.

An estimated 47 million people across the globe live with dementia, and in rural or remote communities primary health care (PHC) providers bear most of the responsibility for diagnosis and management with few dementia-specific resources.

“Rural healthcare providers face a lot of challenges in diagnosing dementia,” said Morgan. “We’re trying to find out how to provide them with education and decision support tools they need to increase their capacity to diagnose and manage dementia, and find ways to provide remote support from specialists at a distance.”

It is a big problem, one that Morgan, professor and chair of Rural Health Delivery at the Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture (CCHSA), is hoping to address with the Rural Dementia Action Research (RaDAR) PHC Toolkit. The seven-year Foundation Grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research will go towards creating, implementing and evaluating best practices for delivering comprehensive care for people with dementia in rural and remote settings. Given the tremendous diversity across rural settings and PHC teams, a “one size fits all” won’t work. The RaDAR Toolkit will provide an inventory of tested strategies that can be adapted, scaled up, and sustained across diverse, low-resource rural settings both nationally and internationally.

The toolkit will be based on findings from three inter-related streams of research led by different team members: interdisciplinary team care (Morgan), remote specialist-to-provider support (Megan O’Connell, a clinical psychologist in the Rural and Remote Memory Clinic and associate professor of psychology at the U of S), and decision support tools for providers (Julie Kosteniuk, a professional research associate at the CCHSA).

While there are principles of dementia care in PHC settings that have been shown to have better outcomes than usual care, they mostly come from research and programs in urban settings.

The ultimate goal is to create a toolkit of high-quality dementia care practices that can be tailored to different rural settings, with the goal of enhancing quality of life for dementia patients and their families. Improving access to appropriate care will help unburden the health care system by providing diagnosis and treatment close to home and can be adapted by health care systems both across the country and internationally.

“Rural regions have fewer resources, (but) they have proportionally more older people—and age is the main risk factor for dementia,” continued Morgan. “But there are fewer supports in rural and remote communities, specialists are not easily accessible, and physicians have less access to education to help them diagnose and manage.

“The lack of services, and that the services that are available are limited in quantity and appropriateness, are multiple reasons why we need this research. This program brings together experts from a broad range of disciplines, from Canada and internationally, to address this important issue.”

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For more information or to arrange an interview with Debra Morgan, contact:

Kate Blau, Communications Specialist
College of Medicine

University of Saskatchewan
306-966-6059

kate.blau@usask.ca

The Innovative Learning Institute for Circumpolar Health is a network of universities providing decentralized nursing education. The goal of the program is to improve the teaching of northern nursing education, share best practices, and form a community of students and educators

Continue Reading]]> SASKATOON – Nursing students and educators from Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Russia and Canada are gathering on campus as the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) hosts the 2016 Innovative Learning Institute for Circumpolar Health from August 2 to 12.

The Innovative Learning Institute for Circumpolar Health is a network of universities providing decentralized nursing education. The goal of the program is to improve the teaching of northern nursing education, share best practices, and form a community of students and educators to examine and improve the clinical practice of nursing in a northern context.

“Our vision for the institute is to be global leaders in ‘putting health into place’ for northern and Indigenous people,” said Lorna Butler, strategist for distributive learning at the U of S. “The College of Nursing’s approach to the “learn where you live” model provides the appropriate context to launch this program. Information technology is key to the delivery of global communications that emulate shared classrooms and face-to-face meetings. Currently, partner universities and nursing programs are well versed in the use of distributed decentralized technologies.”

The institute was established to connect global communities, including students and faculty, to meet and learn from their peers while comparing nursing practices and needs around the circumpolar north. As part of the program, participants are encouraged to expand beyond traditional thinking and health practices through shared learning.  As one of the project’s three strategic goals, the institute will also facilitate leadership in stimulating a “learn where you live” environment, an initiative of the U of S College of Nursing.

In 2015, two educators, and two students from the College of Nursing, attended the inaugural institute, spending two weeks at the Northeastern Federal University in Yakutsk, Siberia (Russia).

“Going abroad allows students to see how nursing practice can be different in other places, expanding their range of possibilities, but it also shows them what’s common across time and space,” said Heather Exner-Pirot, strategist for Outreach and Indigenous Engagement, U of S. “We want to give northern students a chance to learn from other northern experiences, where remoteness, isolation and culture have a big impact on nursing practice.”

Funding from the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education (SIU) High North Programme has made it possible for the U of S to extend the institute’s reach this summer and include other countries within the circumpolar region. In addition to seminars on campus, students will travel to the northern communities of La Ronge, Stanley Mission, Pinehouse and Île-à-la-Crosse to meet with various health professionals and community leaders.

More information about the work of the Northern Nursing Education Network is available at www. northernnursingeducation.com

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For more information, contact:

Susan Savino, Marketing and Communications Specialist

U of S College of Nursing

306-966-7948

susan.savino@usask.ca

Nursing students and educators from Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Russia and Canada are gathering on campus to share best practices, to improve the teaching of northern nursing education, and to form a community of students and educators around the clinical practice of nursing in

Continue Reading]]> SASKATOON – The University of Saskatchewan (U of S) invites media to attend the opening ceremonies for the 2016 Innovative Learning Institute for Circumpolar Health. The learning institute aims to improve the teaching of northern nursing education.

Nursing students and educators from Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Russia and Canada are gathering on campus to share best practices, to improve the teaching of northern nursing education, and to form a community of students and educators around the clinical practice of nursing in a northern context.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Noon

4th Floor, Health Sciences Building

104 Clinic Place

University of Saskatchewan

Saskatoon

Representatives will be available for interviews following the announcement.

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For more information, contact:

Susan Savino

Marketing and Communications Specialist

U of S College of Nursing

306-966-7948

susan.savino@usask.ca

“The Saskatchewan River Delta is dying. We can’t stop it, but we can slow it down,” said Gary Carriere, Champion of the Saskatchewan River Delta Stewardship Committee and Councilor – Lands and Resources portfolio for Cumberland House, Saskatchewan’s oldest settlement.

The Saskatchewan River

Continue Reading]]> SASKATOON – The Saskatchewan River Delta is facing a serious decline in ecological health, according to researchers at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S), a condition that has dire implications for the residents of this biologically diverse area.

“The Saskatchewan River Delta is dying. We can’t stop it, but we can slow it down,” said Gary Carriere, Champion of the Saskatchewan River Delta Stewardship Committee and Councilor – Lands and Resources portfolio for Cumberland House, Saskatchewan’s oldest settlement.

The Saskatchewan River Delta, one of the country’s most important wetlands, receives flows that come all the way from the Rocky Mountains and provides a home for a vast number of plants, fishes, mammals and birds. However, community members have deep concerns over resource development upstream, including the operation of major dams.

“The Saskatchewan River delta ecosystem is declining because the flows are reversed from what used to make the delta ecosystem flourish—namely high spring flows slowly declining into the summer and very little flow in fall and winter,” said Graham Strickert, an assistant professor with the School of Environment and Sustainability and the Global Institute for Water Security at the U of S. These topics are to be discussed at the Delta Stewardship Symposium.

The event will also feature a symbolic ceremony where sediment from Lake Diefenbaker will be deposited into the Saskatchewan River Delta.

“This gesture hopefully will seed ideas,” said Strickert. “We want people to know that upstream developments influence water flows and fish, and also trap fertilizing sediment that is normally carried by rivers. The management of water resources is really a complex and multifaceted issue; we need to better understand the trade-offs between the social and economic benefits to the province and the impacts on the downstream environment.”

Along with U of S researchers, a number of speakers and stakeholders will be attending the event including Prince Albert Grand Chief Ron Michel.

Media are invited to attend the following event:

Delta Stewardship Symposium

Thursday, July 28

10 am – 7 pm

Veterans Hall

Cumberland Street

Cumberland House, Saskatchewan

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For more information, contact:

Chris Morin

Communications Specialist

Global Institute for Water Security/School of Environment and Sustainability

306-966-1019

c.306-715-0221

chris.morin@usask.ca

With a schedule like this, there is virtually no time for a student to take on a part-time job to cover costs. Now imagine the challenges that come with being a student-athlete who plays two different

Continue Reading]]> Student-athletes at the U of S have a multitude of demands to meet. They have to manage a full course load, maintain a high level of academic performance, manage their schedule, maintain peak physical condition, and travel to games. Not to mention practice, practice, practice.

With a schedule like this, there is virtually no time for a student to take on a part-time job to cover costs. Now imagine the challenges that come with being a student-athlete who plays two different sports. This is a reality for Julie Labach, a finance major and a track and field and soccer star for the Huskies.

However, thanks to the generosity of U of S donors through the Annual Campaign for Students, Labach’s rigorous but rewarding schedule is not compromised by cost.

Read more about Labach and the Annual Campaign for Students at the Donor News blog.

July 28 – Aug. 6

(Showtimes listed at www.25thstreettheatre.org/tickets)

Victoria School Gym

639 Broadway Avenue Saskatoon

With Glowing Hearts is based

Continue Reading]]> SASKATOON – A new play at the PotashCorp Fringe Theatre Festival will shed light on the historical role women have played as labour activists in Canada. The production, titled With Glowing Hearts: How Ordinary Women Worked Together to Change the World (and Did), is part of a partnership between University of Saskatchewan (U of S) researchers and dramatists to bring research findings to the stage.

July 28 – Aug. 6

(Showtimes listed at www.25thstreettheatre.org/tickets)

Victoria School Gym

639 Broadway Avenue
Saskatoon

With Glowing Hearts is based on research by Elizabeth Quinlan, associate professor, U of S Department of Sociology, into the lasting impact made by miners’ wives—through their work in women’s auxiliaries in remote mining towns during the mid-20th century—on Canada’s labour landscape. The play is directed by Julia Jamison, assistant professor in the Department of Drama, and features a cast of U of S students and alumni.

Media can arrange to visit live rehearsals of the production from July 25–27. Video from rehearsal is available to media upon request. A video teaser for the show can be viewed online: https://vimeo.com/175416554

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For more information, contact:

Elizabeth Quinlan

Associate Professor

Department of Sociology
University of Saskatchewan

306-966-6937

elizabeth.quinlan@usask.ca

Back in 1998 at the age of 26, Thomaidis began her coaching career with the monumental task of taking over a struggling University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s basketball team that had one of the worst records in the country. Today, the Huskies are a perennial powerhouse and reigning Canadian Interuniversity Sport national champions under Thomaidis, who has now turned her attention to taking

Continue Reading]]> Eighteen years ago, it would have been hard for Lisa Thomaidis to ever imagine a season like this.

Back in 1998 at the age of 26, Thomaidis began her coaching career with the monumental task of taking over a struggling University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s basketball team that had one of the worst records in the country. Today, the Huskies are a perennial powerhouse and reigning Canadian Interuniversity Sport national champions under Thomaidis, who has now turned her attention to taking Canada to the medal podium at the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro next month.

Looking back, it’s all a little surreal for Thomaidis, who was named national team head coach in 2013 and successfully guided Canada to a berth in the Olympics at the qualifying tournament in Edmonton in 2015 after winning gold at the Pan-Am Games in Toronto last summer. Now she is days away from coaching Canada’s team in the world’s most spectacular sporting spectacle.

“Way back then, thinking about going to an Olympics, let alone as the head coach, wasn’t even in the realm of possibility when I first got the job,” said Thomaidis. “But it’s going to be fantastic.

“I am super pumped for the opportunity and I am really proud to be representing Canada and taking our team there and we are going to make a lot of Canadians proud with our performance … And I am really excited to be representing Saskatchewan and the U of S down there and certainly the university has played a large role in my development and being able to be in the situation where I am at right now to be able to take the lead with this team.”

Thomaidis is one of a half-dozen members of Canada’s contingent heading to the Rio Games who have U of S Huskies connections, along with athletes Gavin Schmitt, Jillian Gallays, Taryn Suttie and Erica Gavel, as well as medical staff member Al Bodnarchuk. One of Thomaidis’ top Huskies players, CIS all-Canadian Laura Dally, spent the summer with the national women’s basketball team and was one of 16 players still under consideration before the final 12-player Olympic roster was finalized today.

“Laura was in the mix,” said Thomaidis. “She did fantastic and with a few of those outside the group of 12, essentially they were there for experience because they are going to be in the mix for the next (Olympic qualifying period). She proved that she belonged and held her own and she really did herself proud. I think the experience was invaluable for her and it was great to have her involved for as long as we did.”

For her part, leading the Olympic team is one of the highlights of Thomaidis’s career and something she could have only dreamed of when she stepped onto the campus at the U of S some 18 years ago.

Thomaidis took over a Huskies program that had won only 34 of its 270 games over the previous 16 seasons, and turned it into one of the best in the country, winning four Canada West league titles, being named conference coach of the year five times and the CIS coach of the year three times. Her coaching acumen was quickly recognized by Basketball Canada, which first brought her in as an apprentice coach back in 2001 and she has been with the national team program ever since.

Now she has Canada daring to dream of a medal at the Summer Olympics, a moment that would be the pinnacle of her coaching career.

“To be able to accomplish that would be absolutely phenomenal and unreal,” she said. “We’re in the conversation right now about being able to possibly accomplish that, but we are all very realistic in terms of what that would take and the number of other quality teams that are going to be competing at that level and have those same goals in mind. So a lot has to happen in your favour. A lot is about timing, getting a little bit lucky, playing your best at the right time, the matchups, the draw, and staying healthy. There’s a lot of factors that come into play, so we are just going to focus on the things that we can control and go from there.”

Thomaidis and Team Canada open the Olympic competition by battling China on Aug. 6 in Rio de Janeiro.

Huskie Highlights

Here’s a look at the other U of S Huskie connections at the Summer Olympics from Aug. 5-21 and the Paralympics from Sept. 7-18:

Jillian Gallays
Originally from nearby St. Brieux before moving to Saskatoon, the 29-year-old Gallays qualified for her first Olympics by winning a Pan American title in March after overcoming a serious knee injury in 2015. Gallays, who was diagnosed with dyslexia as a youngster, competed for the Huskie wrestling team and won two CIS national championships while earning her Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology. A six-time national champion, Gallays has previously competed in a Commonwealth Games and two world championships, winning bronze at both the Commonwealth Games and the worlds in 2014. She is scheduled to compete on Aug. 18 in the 53-kilogram weight class at the Olympics.

Erica Gavel
A former member of the Huskie women’s basketball team from 2009-2012, Gavel’s career was cut short when she suffered her third serious knee injury in three years. The Prince Albert product picked up the sport again when she tried wheelchair basketball in 2012, earning a scholarship to the University of Alabama and going on to make Canada’s senior women’s wheelchair basketball team in 2014. The 25-year-old Gavel, who earned a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology in 2012 at the U of S, was officially named to our Paralympic team in March. Gavel and the Canadian team hit the court for the first time on Sept. 8.

Gavin Schmitt
Canada qualified this year to compete in men’s volleyball at the Olympics for the first time in 24 years, with a helping hand from the former Huskie standout. The 30-year-old Schmitt, who suited up for one season at the U of S and helped the Huskies qualify for the 2006 national championship, played a key role in Canada’s qualifying run in the spring after playing professionally in Turkey in 2015-16. The 6-foot-10 power hitter, who battled back from stress fracture surgery in January to help Canada qualify, tuned up for the Olympics at home in Saskatoon during World League action in June. Schmitt and Canada play their opening match on Aug. 7.

Taryn Suttie
The 25-year-old from Hanley, Sask., will compete in shot put for Canada in her first Olympic Games. Suttie, who had a record-setting CIS career with the U of S Huskies, was officially named to the track and field team earlier this month after the Canadian championships in Edmonton. She qualified for the Olympics in April with a personal best throw of 17.88 metres. Suttie, who studied kinesiology at U of S, was a double gold medallist at the 2011 CIS track and field championships and finished 10th in shot put at her first Pan Am Games in Toronto in 2015. She is scheduled to compete in her event in Rio on Aug. 12.

Al Bodnarchuk
Bodnarchuk will be making his sixth trip to an Olympics next month in Rio as part of the Canadian medical staff, scheduled to work at the Paralympics and serve as an alternate for the Summer Games staff. The 57-year-old Saskatoon native began his career as a student trainer for Huskie Athletics and worked 18 seasons as head trainer with the track and field team at the U of S. Widely regarded as one of the top massage therapists in the country, Bodnarchuk has also worked with the Canadian team in three Commonwealth Games and eight world championships and helped U of S athletes win three CIS track and field championships and the Huskie football team capture three Vanier Cup titles.

Kaylyn Kyle
The 27-year-old former member of the Huskie women’s soccer team is officially one of four alternates for Canada’s Olympic team, but the Saskatoon native will only be called up to make the trip to Rio in the event of an injury. The midfielder was a part of Canada’s bronze-medal winning team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Kyle, who plays professionally with the Orlando Pride, spent one season with the Huskie women’s soccer team in 2006 and was a student at the U of S from 2006-2010.

Katie Miyazaki
Miyazaki will make a trip to the Paralympics as a member of the wheelchair basketball coaching staff. Miyazaki played women’s basketball at the U of S from 2010-12 after transferring from the Simon Fraser University Clan. She was twice named CIS Defensive Player of the Year and helped the Huskies to a Canada West title and CIS silver medal in 2010-11. Miyazaki also represented Canada at the Universiade Games in Shenzhen, China, as well as played women’s football with the Saskatoon Valkyries for two seasons. Obtaining a Master of Public Health from the U of S, the Richmond, B.C., native is the High Performance Wheelchair Basketball Coach for the Saskatchewan Wheelchair Sports Association.

The four wood bison calves grazing beside their protective mothers look just like any other bison—but what makes these animals unique is the way they came into the world.

Three calves are the first bison ever born using in vitro fertilization. Researchers produced them in a laboratory, then transferred the embryos into surrogate mothers more than nine months ago.

Continue Reading]]> SASKATOON – Veterinary researchers at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) have successfully produced bison calves using in vitro fertilization—a world first.

The four wood bison calves grazing beside their protective mothers look just like any other bison—but what makes these animals unique is the way they came into the world.

Three calves are the first bison ever born using in vitro fertilization. Researchers produced them in a laboratory, then transferred the embryos into surrogate mothers more than nine months ago. The bison cows gave birth to the calves earlier this month.

The fourth calf was produced from a frozen embryo that was taken from a bison cow in 2012 and transferred to a surrogate mother in 2015—another reproductive first for the bison species.

“The babies look great,” said Dr. Gregg Adams, a professor and reproductive specialist at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM). “They’re keeping up with mom, and I’m really happy about it.”

Adams has conducted reproductive research of wood bison for nearly a decade. Indigenous to Canada, the wood bison are threatened both by disease and loss of habitat.

“It is tremendously gratifying to see this. I’m excited. I’m hoping all the different interest groups will see this as a real possibility, a solution to the problem,” said Adams.

Between 5,000 and 7,000 wood bison remain in the wild—less than five per cent of their original numbers. Scientists hope that this reproductive breakthrough will help retain genetic diversity and eventually rebuild the depleted wild herds.

While there are many parallels with reproductive work in cattle, bison present their own unique challenges. Foremost is the presence of disease in both the plains and wood bison herds. Bison herds are infected with brucellosis and tuberculosis, diseases that were introduced by exposure to infected cattle more than 80 years ago, and that can be spread to both cattle and people.

“Besides a loss of habitat, which has been significant, these diseases have prevented us from getting back and reconstituting the population,” said Adams.

By using advanced reproduction techniques such as artificial insemination, superovulation—a process of inducing the female to release more than one egg per cycle in order to produce multiple eggs available for fertilization and more in vivo embryos from a single donor—and in vitro fertilization, researchers can disinfect the egg and sperm of the female and male bison—minimizing the chances of producing diseased babies or spreading disease.

“The whole objective of our program is to conserve the species. I think what we’re doing with advanced reproductive technologies is really designed to preserve the genetic diversity [of the animals],” said Adams.

“If we can preserve the genetic diversity, I’ll feel like I’ve done my job. That will benefit both the wild populations as well as any livestock producers.”

Wood bison research began at the U of S in 2006, with the delivery of a herd donated by Elk Island National Park to the WCVM’s Native Hoofstock Centre at Goodale Research Farm, 20 kilometres east of Saskatoon, Sask.

“It’s been a tremendous amount of work,” said Adams. He notes that four PhD students and a post-doctoral fellow have contributed vital research findings toward this recent achievement. Researchers from the University of Calgary have also collaborated on the research project.

Researchers first had to learn how the bison’s reproductive cycle worked and characterize the species’ normal breeding pattern.

“Really, none of that was known,” said Adams.

Their first studies began with determining when the bison ovulates. Then they needed to figure out how to control the reproductive cycle.

On the male side, they needed to find out when to collect semen from the bulls and how to preserve the genetic material. Much of this work was done in the laboratory of cryobiologist Dr. Muhammad Anzar, whose lab developed techniques to produce and preserve disease-free, frozen semen. Anzar works for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, but is based at the WCVM.

In 2011, WCVM researchers conducted successful superovulation and embryo transfers on wood bison. Within the superovulation protocol, fertilization took place in vivo, in the fallopian tube of the female bison. Then, embryos were collected one week later and transferred to surrogate mothers.

This work, conducted by WCVM researcher Dr. J. Manuel Palomino as part of his PhD thesis research, was an important step in advancing reproductive knowledge and techniques.

WCVM PhD candidate Miriam Cervantes began her bison research the same year, and this latest development in in vitro fertilization has been the focus of her PhD program. Cervantes produced 10 embryos in the lab, and they were transferred fresh into the WCVM bison herd in October 2015. Another bison cow received a frozen embryo produced in vivo in 2012 by Palomino.

After diagnosing pregnancy in four of the animals after 30 days, the pregnant bison were left alone in the pasture to minimize stress. The researchers waited anxiously to see if the babies would be born.

“We are proud to say that our work has given a good result,” said Cervantes. “We are very happy.”

Now that researchers have developed these reproductive techniques, the next step is to retrieve and preserve genetic material from existing herds—providing the groundwork for preservation of the species.

Dr. Murray Woodbury, research chair of the WCVM’s Specialized Livestock Research and Development Program, has provided professional herd management and oversight for the wood bison. Adams also credits the project’s success to financial support from the U of S, Government of the Northwest Territories, Parks Canada and Saskatchewan’s Agri-Food Innovation Fund.

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For more information, contact:

Jeanette Stewart

Communications Co-ordinator

Western College of Veterinary Medicine

University of Saskatchewan

306-966-2560

C: 306-290-4572

jeanette.stewart@usask.ca

Jennifer Thoma

Media Relations Specialist

University of Saskatchewan

306-966-1851

jennifer.thoma@usask.ca

The supplement, Retail Food Environments in Canada, is the first of its kind in Canada and deals with an area of research that is barely a decade old.

“It’s (a field) where there was basically no research prior to 2005,” said Rachel Engler-Stringer, who authored or co-authored four of the 12 publications cited

Continue Reading]]> A newly published supplement in the Canadian Journal of Public Health owes a lot to work being done by a small team of researchers within the College of Medicine.

The supplement, Retail Food Environments in Canada, is the first of its kind in Canada and deals with an area of research that is barely a decade old.

“It’s (a field) where there was basically no research prior to 2005,” said Rachel Engler-Stringer, who authored or co-authored four of the 12 publications cited in the supplement. “We hosted in Saskatoon a conference last year called Food Environments in Canada Symposium, and invited some keynote speakers from across the country representing different regions, and different focuses of research.”

Following the conference a group of researchers approached the CJPH, with the support of Health Canada, expressing an interest in creating the supplement.

“We approached the journal and said ‘We’d like to put together a supplement based on this conference,’” Engler-Stringer continued. “So we sent out a call for abstracts among the researchers who had been at the conference and put together this prospectus for the supplement, and have been working on it for the last year.”

Food environments may be a newer area of study, but they’re a subject that impacts the lives of millions of Canadians in both rural and urban areas. A food environment covers everything from geographical and structural elements, to the information and media that shapes food purchasing and consumption patterns.

See more on the College of Medicine website.

“It’s been great,” says Connor Brousseau, a fourth-year acting student who was hired to write music for this summer’s productions of J. Caesar and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. “The cast, the administrative people, the stage managers, the directors—everybody has been fantastic to work with.”

The annual theatre event is a regular outlet for established artists such

Continue Reading]]> Students in the Department of Drama are thriving amid the energy and excitement of Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan as members of the 2016 festival’s production team.

“It’s been great,” says Connor Brousseau, a fourth-year acting student who was hired to write music for this summer’s productions of J. Caesar and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. “The cast, the administrative people, the stage managers, the directors—everybody has been fantastic to work with.”

The annual theatre event is a regular outlet for established artists such as Heather Morrison (BFA’08) and Angela Christie (BFA’00), but also provides up-and-coming students with priceless experience working on a professional production.

Department of Drama students including Brousseau, Jensine Trondson, Amberlin Hsu and Logan Martin-Arcand are involved in this year’s festival. They work alongside veterans of Saskatchewan’s theatre community including about a dozen faculty, instructors and alumni of the College of Arts and Science.

See more on the College of Arts and Science website.