A PhD student’s research on creating stretchable, light-emitting electronic devices placed her among the top students in the province at a recent conference held by an organization whose aim is to advance the interests of Ontario’s nanotechnology industry.

Heather Filiatrault, a student in Chemistry and Biochemistry professor Tricia Carmichael’s lab, took second-place honours in the poster contest at the nanoOntario Conference, held last month at the University of Waterloo’s Quantum Nano Centre.

The research she presented was based on a cover article she authored with her academic supervisor published earlier this year in the academic journal Advanced Materials. It describes a method used to make light-emitting devices designed to tolerate strain so that they can stretch, bend and wrap.

The concept could have a wide range of potential applications from electronic display signs that wrap around the corners of buildings to light therapy used for healing wounds or activating chemotherapy drugs.

“It was really nice to do so well at this conference,” said Filiatrault, who grew up in Windsor and graduated from École secondaire E. J. Lajeunesse. “It was really exciting to have such a strong showing.”

Steve Carmichael, a research associate in Dr. Carmichael’s lab, said her showing at the conference is significant.

“There were more than 100 posters in the competition from throughout southwestern Ontario,” he said. “It's quite an accomplishment really.”

Most of the work in Carmichael’s lab is focused on the fundamental science of making flexible and stretchable electronic devices. The challenge with making conventional light-emitting devices, which rely on technology currently used in cell phones, cameras and digital media players, is the device complexity. Their display screens consist of thin film layers and each one needs to have an element of elasticity.

Carmichael’s approach has been to reduce the device complexity by using light-emitting electrochemical cells, which rely on materials that give off light when voltage is applied, sandwiched between electrodes. Along with her team, Carmichael developed a way to make a light-emitting material—an organometallic ruthenium complex—stretchable by blending it with an elastic silicone rubber. Under lab tests to measure its “stretchability,” her team found the material could achieve about 25 to 30 per cent elongation before the device failed to emit light.

“It’s more suited to applications where you’d wear it on your body,” said Filiatrault, who took home a $300 cash prize for her work. “It’s a soft material, so you could laminate it on to other surfaces.”

Athletes, educators, entrepreneurs and entertainers are among the eight University of Windsor grads who will be honoured for their successes early in their professional careers during the University of Windsor Alumni Association’s annual general meeting on Thursday, November 15.

This year’s recipients of the Odyssey Award are:

Kara Ro (BA 2000), a professional boxer and Canadian champion, uses her career in the ring as a platform to inspire women and girls to achieve their dreams. A certified professional life coach, the owner of KORE Consulting, she served as the women’s boxing analyst on TSN, CTV and Sportsnet for the 2012 Olympics, and is currently a commentator for professional boxing and mixed martial arts on FOX, HBO, MYTV20.

Jamie Adjetey-Nelson (BA 2007, BEd 2009), a champion athlete, made history when he captured the men’s decathlon title and won the gold at the 2010 Commonwealth games in New Delhi. One of his ultimate goals is giving back to those who have supported him – his schools, his community and his country. He travels to share his experiences with young people and gives motivational speeches on healthy living and setting goals to help them reach their full potential.

Gary Kalaci (BSc 2005, LLB 2009, MBA 2009) is co-founder and president of Alexa Translations, which  provides interpretation in more than 110 languages and dialects. In the past year, the company has evolved its service offerings to include multicultural/localization web-development and design. His community work drew national attention, making him the first-ever recipient of the federal government’s Therese Casgrain Volunteer Award.

Michael Kaye (MBA 2008) is co-founder and vice president of sales and operations of Alexa Translations. He is currently a member of the Executive Management Advisory Board of the Odette School of Business. This past year, he became chair of the organizing committee for the Toronto Chapter Annual Humphrey Memorial Golf Tournament, which has raised more than half a million dollars in support of student scholarships.

Laura Condlln (BFA 2001) has been acting with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival for 11 seasons.   Among her favourite roles at the festival are Irene Molloy in The Matchmaker, Chrysothemis in Elektra, Mrs. Darling in Peter Pan, Mistress Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Polly in the King of Thieves. She has received the festival’s Mary Savidge Award, which recognizes an actress who has shown outstanding commitment to her craft.

Kyle Blair (BFA 2001) joined the Stratford Festival in 2001 with his first role as Rolf in The Sound of Music.  Since then, he has distinguished himself in such featured musical-theatre roles as Jack in Into the Woods and Will Parker in Oklahoma! His talents have been recognized by winning the festival’s Tyrone Guthrie Awards, the Maureen Forrester Award to study classical voice and the Dora Mavor Moore Award for outstanding contributions to the festival.

Meighen Nehme (BComm 2002) is founder and president of The Job Shoppe, a privately owned and operated work solutions firm, which represents many of Ontario's most exciting organizations and candidates.  The agency’s growth—it has three locations, 25 internal staff, 550 external works and annual revenues between five and ten million dollars—earned Nehme the number six spot on PROFIT magazine’s list of Canadian female entrepreneurs for 2012.

Marcia Mayhew (BComm 1990), president of Mayhew and Associates, is responsible for all aspects of the workplace design company—revenue and profit, market development, and the “go-to” market strategy. The firm has been named among Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies; a success for which she credits the entire team’s strength and talent.

Shantelle Browning-Morgan (BA 2000, BEd 2001, MEd 2008) is a Windsor teacher who received the nation’s highest teaching honour for transforming her high school history classroom into a vehicle for learning. Her course “The History of Africa and Peoples of African Descent” illuminates the history of a unique group of people who settled in the local region to escape slavery and won her recognition with the Governor General’s History Award.

The November 15 alumni evening will begin with a cocktail reception at 5 p.m. in the CAW Student Centre’s Ambassador Auditorium before the formal program begins at 6 p.m.

In addition to the Odyssey awards, the association will confer its Excellence in Mentoring Award on law professor Donna Marie Eansor (LLB 1980) and kinesiology professor Margery Holman (BA 1968, BPE 1969) and the Alumni Award of Merit on David Phillips (BA 1967), senior climatologist for Environment Canada, and educator and music professional Maureen Harris (BMA 1997, MEd 2006).

The meeting and awards presentation are open to the public. If you plan to attend, RSVP by November 9 online at www.uwindsor.ca/alumni or e-mail alumni@uwindsor.ca.

It might be the “bad guy” when it comes to the role it plays in preventing the breakdown of blood clots, but a protein called TAFI might be just the fix scientists are looking for to prevent the spread of cancer cells.

“It’s the spreading that’s really the most dangerous part of cancer,” said Michael Boffa, an assistant professor in the university’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “Most people who die of cancer, die from the metastasis, or the spreading rather than the original tumour.”

One of four UWindsor scientists to receive a start-up last week grant from the local Seeds4Hope foundation, Dr. Boffa normally studies the role that TAFI plays in preventing the breakdown of blood clots that can so often lead to strokes and heart attacks.

However, through discussions with other UWindsor cancer researchers, he began to wonder if the same protein that prevents blood clots from breaking down might also inhibit the metastasis of cancer cells.

Boffa, who will appear today on CJAM 99.1 FM to discuss his research, said cancer cells like to escape from their original tumour site and then move through the tissues. If they happen to encounter a blood vessel, they can actually penetrate it, which allows them to be transported around the body, he said.

Proteases, meanwhile, are enzymes that are like “molecular scissors” which chew their way through other cells and allow cancer cells to escape in the first place, he added.

“Blood clots are like protein masses, but proteases chew through them and allow blood to flow again, but TAFI stops that from happening,” he said. “So it was perfectly reasonable to hypothesize that if TAFI could prevent blood clot breakdown, it could also prevent the kind of proteolysis that would allow cancer cells to migrate.”

Boffa said the research funding he received is critical for doing the kind of fundamental research he needs to do to prove the principle, which could ultimately lead to increased funding to expand the program and conduct further study.

Ultimately he hopes the research will lead to therapies that would heighten the activity of TAFI, provided it can be proven to effectively prevent the spread of cancer cells.

Boffa will appear today on Research Matters, a weekly talk show that showcases the work of University of Windsor researchers and airs every Thursday at 4:30 p.m. on CJAM 99.1 FM.

The Athletics Department is offering DailyNews readers a chance to win tickets to the Lancer basketball home opener against the Carleton Ravens on Friday, November 9. The defending national champion women will play at 6 p.m.; the men tip off at 8 p.m.

One lucky winner will receive a package of four tickets to the season openers in the St. Denis Centre fieldhouse. Just send your answers to the following trivia questions. The winner will be randomly selected from all correct responses received by 4 p.m. on Thursday, November 8.

To be eligible, submit your best response to each of these trivia questions:

1. Where are the Lancer women ranked by Canadian Interuniversity Sport as the season opens?
   a) 1st
   b) 3rd
   c) 6th
   d) 9th
   e) None of the above
    
2. Where are the Lancer men ranked by Canadian Interuniversity Sport as the season opens?
   a) 1st
   b) 3rd
   c) 6th
   d) 9th
   e) None of the above
    
3. Friday’s celebration will include the raising of the 2012 national championship banner for women’s basketball and which other Lancer team?
   a) football
   b) men’s basketball
   c) men’s soccer
   d) women’s track and field
   e) None of the above

Contest is open to all readers of the DailyNews. Send an e-mail with your responses to uofwnews@uwindsor.ca. One entry per contestant, please. Note: the decision of the judge in determining the most correct response is inviolable.

A bus will provide transportation to fans hoping to watch Lancer runners in action at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport cross-country championship meet in London on Saturday, November 10.

The bus will depart from the St. Denis Centre at about 8:30 a.m. to arrive at the Thames Valley Golf Course for the race start—the women at noon and the men at 1 p.m. The bus will leave London following the awards ceremony, at about 2:30 p.m.

The cost is $20 and space is going fast; to reserve your spot, e-mail Mitch Tome at Mitchelltome5@hotmail.com.

Lori Lewis, news services manager in the public affairs office, won Wednesday’s DailyNews pop quiz and the fabulous prize package of UWindsor-themed apparel, perfect for a staffer hoping to wear some school spirit during Friday’s open house event.

Lewis’ name was drawn from all contestants who correctly answered all seven questions—a distinct minority. For those playing along at home, here are the responses our quizmaster was looking for:

• Faygo did not invent the term “soda pop,” but it claims to have.
• Hires root beer has been in production since the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition.
• Radar O’Reilly preferred Grape Nehi.
• Bernie recommends that Bridget switch to cream soda.
• Nesbitt’s Orange marketed itself as “wonderfully orangey.” Fanta has produced commercials labelling its product “orange wonderful.”
• Eddie Shack shilled for the Pop Shoppe with the line “I got a nose for value!”
• A chocolate malted is not carbonated, but the rest are—even the misnamed egg cream.

And now, for your additional entertainment, here is the original trippy animated Nesbitt’s Orange commercial:

The challenges and solutions for family business owners in the Windsor-Essex community will be the focus of a panel discussion on Tuesday, November 13, entitled “All in the Family: A Panel on Family Business.”

The discussion, which runs from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Ambassador Golf Club, is hosted by UWindsor’s Centre for Enterprise and Law.

Four successful Canadian business owners and experts will touch on starting a business with one’s spouse, succession planning, starting a family while owning a business and next-generation business challenges.

The speakers are:

• Shelley Fellows, vice president, Administration & Marketing of Radix Inc.;
• Paul Foster, founder and CEO of The Business Therapist;
• Romano Formicuccia, owner of the Walkerville Yoga Loft; and
• Noah Tepperman, executive at Tepperman’s Furniture, Mattress, Appliance and Electronics Stores.

The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided. All who wish to attend should RSVP to Nicole Sleiman at nsleiman@uwindsor.ca.

— by Chantelle Myers

The Windsor-Essex United Way and its youth affiliate, Students United, will ask the campus to “pay it forward” on Friday, November 9, distributing free cupcakes outside the CAW Student Centre in exchange for a promise to carry the message of Random Acts of Kindness Day through the University.

Faculty and staff who make a qualifying contribution to the charity will enter a draw for prizes that includes:

• three instances of an extra vacation day;
• three-play subscriptions to University Players;
• free admission to School of Music concerts.

To qualify, donors must contribute a minimum of $26—that’s a single dollar per pay period via payroll deduction.