![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Friday |
Monday July 21, 2003
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
Midnight Sun climbs to thirdUW's Midnight Sun VII solar race car team performed well over the weekend in the American Solar Challenge event. Team member Calli Citron reports that the team left Albuquerque, New Mexico in third place yesterday morning. "We ran into some problems with our motor and motor controller," she says, "that seems to be our biggest challenge." The team starts off from Flagstaff, Arizona this morning. |
![[Thompson and Cliche]](/images/2003/thompson1.gif)
Photo by Jim Fox Thompson (right) in the lab with student Dominic Cliche |
Thompson, is associate vice-president (university research), and former dean of science. He and his research team recently discovered two powerful genes encoding proteins that comprise a "switch" for regulating programmed cell death. These genes have "broad application" in combating a range of human diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, glaucoma and Alzheimer's.
"The genes are present in both plants and mammals, including humans, and the switch may be a ubiquitous mechanism for controlling cell death. When the switch is on, cells die, and when the switch is off, they grow and proliferate," says Thompson.
Programmed cell death in plants is termed senescence. Transgenic plants in which the death switch has been locked in the off position exhibit delayed senescence. This can enhance the shelf life of perishable produce such as fruits, vegetables and flowers.
Maintaining the death switch in the off position also results in increased seed yield and enhanced tolerance of plants to environmental stress.
Programmed cell death in humans is termed apoptosis, and many diseases are attributable to abnormal apoptosis.
In the event of cancer, for example, cells targeted to undergo apoptosis are unable to turn on the death switch and proliferate to form a tumor. Conversely, other diseases such as glaucoma are a manifestation of premature apoptosis. "As in plant cells, so in human cells, transgene technology can be used to turn the death switch on and off, and this holds in prospect being able to ameliorate human diseases arising from abnormal apoptosis," Thompson says.
When the death switch is turned on in human colon carcinoma cells, apoptosis is induced and the cancer cells die. Similarly, the induction of premature apoptosis in human cells can be prevented by turning the death switch off.
"The goal," explains UW team member Brent Tweddle, "is to build a fleet of air vehicles capable of flying three kilometres, identifying target buildings, entering the structures and navigating inside to obtain visual reconnaissance information. This must be done within a period of 15 minutes and without the help of any crew."
So far, he says, after three years of the competition, no team has yet been successful in meeting the challenge. According to the official competition Web site: "This is the most difficult and challenging mission in the history of the International Aerial Robotics Competition, and will be by far the most significant when achieved . . . Realistically, no team is expected to master the technology necessary to complete this mission for at least two more years."
The year's mission is to construct a reconnaissance system for a hostage, nuclear disaster, or biological hazard situation. Constructed in four levels, the competition will require robots to:
UW competitors -- Adam Phillip, Jason Gillham, Nimalan Mahendran, Steve Buchanan (pilot), and Brent Tweddle -- are participating in the static judging on Wednesday, with the actual flight competition slated for Thursday.
After last year's contest, the Waterloo team stands tied for second place and has high hopes for the two WARG robots:
The competition has been running since 2001, and will continue until one team has completed all the levels. Each year $10,000 US is added to the pot. The winner will get the current pot, which this year is at $30,000 US.
A reminder to students who have still not picked up their student loans: any OSAP loans not picked up by August 13 will be forfeited and returned to the ministry, says Joanne Wade of the student awards office.
Christopher Oriet, psychology, will defend his PhD thesis at 2 p.m. today in PAS 3026. His topic is "Attention demands of memory scanning and visual search." His supervisor is Jennifer Stolz, psychology.
The new Campus Tech Shop opens today on the lower level of the Student Life Centre. Hours of operation are 8:30 to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday. Staff there can be reached at ext. 3518.
Effective today, students can spend more time in UW's libraries studying and doing research. Hours in the Dana Porter Library are now 8 a.m. to 2 a.m., and in the Davis Centre Library hours are 8 a.m. to 3 a.m. Extended hours will continue until August 13.
C&PA