International Day of Women and Girls in Science is February 11, 2018. To mark the occasion, let’s look back at some of Canada’s women life scientists. 

They’ve been pioneers in providing a foundation of knowledge through the sheer force of their world-class talent —going back more than a century. Their legacy has established a knowledge foundation that represents the impact of real science.

Largely unknown by Canada’s decision-makers in government, industry and even the general public, their work is unheralded by ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Their relative obscurity in Canada, then and now, appears to be the preoccupation of how budgetary decisions are made as opposed to a consideration of talent and merit.

It’s high time to give them their due:

Maud Menten

At the turn of the century, University of Toronto medical graduate Maud Menten was barred from doing independent research in Canada as part of the accepted sexism of the day.

Her discovery in Berlin in 1913 provided the first insight into how chemical reactions in every cell of our body are regulated by enzymes. The discovery enabled enzymes to be purified, modified and targeted for drug therapy for disease.

Today enzymes serve as targets for about a third of all drugs in clinical use.

Maude Abbott

Maude Abbott was a world-renowned scholar, Bishop’s University medical graduate (1894) and a McGill University medical museum curator and pathology lecturer.

Her work in 1905 on congenital heart disease is critical to modern surgery. Abbott’s stunning pathology dissections are preserved today at the McGill Maude Abbott Medical Museum and remain unsurpassed to this day.

Brenda Milner

In the middle of the 20th century, McGill’s Brenda Milner, a renowned scholar and founder of the field of neuropsychology, discovered that memory in humans is multiple and stored in several different parts of the brain.

Her discoveries in 1957 led to better treatments for a variety of brain disorders including trauma, degenerative and psychiatric diseases.

Annette Herscovics

At McGill, Annette Herscovics discovered in 1969 that thyroglobulin, a precursor to thyroid hormone, undergoes carbohydrate modifications.

This was one of the first discoveries of a class of proteins known today as “glycoproteins.” Carbohydrate addition to proteins is today known as the most abundant protein modification for all life forms on the planet.

At Harvard in 1974, Herscovics then discovered the exact mechanism for carbohydrate addition that is a universal mechanism for all organisms with nucleated cells.

Upon returning to McGill in 1981, she discovered how these modifications are relevant to human disease, including cancer.

Rose Johnstone

Herscovics’s PhD supervisor was Rose Johnstone, who made a monumental discovery at McGill in 1983.

She discovered exactly how red blood cells in our body are made from precursor cells through a previously unknown structure she named “exosomes.”

Exosomes are now recognized as a universal protein delivery mechanism used by all cells in our body. They’re actively studied by academics and industry for the understanding and treatment of cancer, autoimmune diseases and neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Morag Park

At the U.S. National Cancer Institute in 1986, Morag Park’s work on mutant “MET” gene association with several different cancers led to international prominence.

Today, Park is head of the McGill Cancer Research Centre, and has extended her discoveries to breast cancer and the importance of the surrounding normal cells in tumour progression.

Janet Rossant

Janet Rossant discovered the mechanisms used by embryos to generate organs and tissues with direct relevance to childhood diseases.

Her talent was first recognized at Brock University in 1977 and was followed by recruitment to the Lunenfeld Institute in Toronto. She was then director of the Research Institute of the Hospital for Sick Kids, and is now president and scientific director of the Gairdner Foundation.

Mona Nemer

Mona Nemer is currently Canada’s Chief Scientific Adviser discovered [sic] in Ottawa how genes that regulate the development of the heart help understand heart disease.

Nada Jabado

The discoveries of Nada Jabado, a McGill physician scientist and paediatric cancer specialist, focus on how proteins are modified in cancer via the epigenome that mark the DNA in our genes to change the function of the gene.

Heidi McBride

McGill cell biologist Heidi McBride has made transformative discoveries on the role of mitochondria (the energy factory in our cells) in cancer and neurological diseases, including Parkinson’s disease.

Freda Miller

Freda Miller at the Hospital for Sick Kids in Toronto has deciphered the mechanisms used to generate neuronal circuits during development from a thin sheet of non-neuronal precursor cells.

Anne Claude Gingras

Anne Claude Gingras of the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute in Toronto is a specialist in “quantitative proteomics.” It’s led to enormous advances in our understanding of cell organization with direct application to disease.

Andrews, Arrowsmith and Edwards

Brenda Andrews, Cheryl Arrowsmith, and Elizabeth Edwards are internationally renowned for their discoveries at the University of Toronto.

Andrews defines the new field of systems biology to understand cell organization using robots and Artificial Intelligence and its application to disease.

Arrowsmith’s discoveries focus on cellular protein structure resolved at the atomic level to understand how chemical modifications regulate gene expression and their relevance to disease.

Edwards’ work on “bioaugmentation” through anaerobic microbes to detoxify environmental pollutants is of direct relevance to the nightmare of toxic industrial and municipal waste accumulation.

Impressive display of talent

Taken together, these discoveries represent an impressive display of talent for real science that rivals scientists anywhere in the world.

Whatever country recognizes and establishes a genuine priority to enable real science by talented women scientists, and helps them thrive in discovery research, will be rewarded enormously.

Discovery research institutes such as the Crick Institute in the U.K. gather the most talented scientists, men and women, early in their careers, when discoveries are usually made. That assures a critical mass and merit-based value system that then provides the best of the discovery researchers to go out to populate universities, research institutes and industry.

A Canadian model could—and should —focus on women scientists, since they now may be Canada’s most talented. And also its most undervalued.

John Bergeron gratefully acknowledges Kathleen Dickson as co-author.

John Bergeron, Emeritus Robert Reford Professor and Professor of Medicine at McGill, McGill University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Jane McDonald, Managing Director at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, made the following statement in response to the federal government announcing its next steps for establishing carbon pricing across Canada:

Today, the federal government sent letters to all provinces and territories outlining the timeline for when it will implement common minimum requirements for a price on carbon across the country. This is a key step forward in enacting the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change in order to meet Canada’s commitment under the Paris Agreement.

Pricing carbon emissions is a well-established approach to climate change in Canada and around the world. Even before the Pan-Canadian Framework was announced in 2016, 85 per cent of Canadians already lived in a province with carbon pricing. And this year, 67 different jurisdictions around the world are pricing carbon, including the European Union, China, Mexico and major U.S. states.

There are no real surprises in these letters; the minimum common requirements announced in 2016 have not changed. The price has to apply to a broad set of emission sources—not just one sector—and rise over time according to a national floor. Provinces and territories have the flexibility to choose between three different carbon pricing approaches, recognizing the efforts of provinces that have already implemented this policy. If a province or territory does not implement a carbon pricing system according to these guidelines, the federal government’s system is applied and all revenues are returned to that jurisdiction.

What we have not known until now is how this process would roll out. The letters outline three steps:

1. Any province and territory that chooses to have the federal government apply a carbon price will have to confirm this with the federal government by March 30, 2018.
2. By September 1, 2018, every province and territory will have to submit details of how their own plans meet the common minimum standards laid out in 2016 in the Pan-Canadian Framework.
3. If a province’s or territory’s plan does not meet those minimum standards, the federal approach will apply (in whole or in part) so that by January 1, 2019 every Canadian jurisdiction has a CAD 20 per tonne levy or equivalent emissions target.

That means the federal government's carbon price will start at CAD 20 per tonne in 2019, rather than the originally planned CAD 10 per tonne in 2018.

Impacts on provinces and territories will vary. Provinces who already have carbon prices—British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec—will not be affected in the next few years. In provinces like Saskatchewan, where the government has so far refused to move ahead with any price on carbon, the federal government will apply the full minimum price of CAD 20 per tonne on January 1, 2019. Some provinces will be subject to the federal price, but only in part and at a later date. Manitoba’s flat CAD 25 per tonne means that a federal top-up will apply starting in 2020 when the minimum national price hits CAD 30.

Over the past few years, you may have noticed the phrase “phosphorus free” on the labels of many products in stores. If so, you may wonder why it is so important to eliminate phosphorus from dish soaps, detergents, lawn fertilizers and shampoos.

Phosphorous occurs naturally and in the right amounts is not necessarily a bad thing. But important work at IISD Experimental Lakes Area proved that too much phosphorus in our water leads to environmental trouble such as algal blooms.

The policy changes that led to phosphorus being taken out of many of the products on grocery store shelves were strongly informed by that work.

The list of lakes that are suffering from algal blooms in North America is lengthy and growing. Algal blooms can affect environmental and human health, as well as have an impact on economies that depend on fishing and tourism.

So what are algal blooms? How are they caused and what can help clear our lakes of them?

Here, we look at the science behind those thick layers of green sludge and explore where we need to go from here.

First things first. What are algal blooms?

Algal blooms are dense layers of tiny green plants that occur on the surface of lakes and other bodies of water when there is an overabundance of nutrients (primarily phosphorus) on which algae depend.

This effect is called eutrophication. These high levels of nutrients are often caused by human pollution, such wastewater, sewage, manure and fertilizer runoff from agriculture.

Lake eutrophication can, however, be a natural process resulting from the gradual accumulation of nutrients, sediments, silt and organic matter from the watershed. IISD recently published a study on Pelican Lake in Manitoba—a lake that suffers from eutrophication—that explores the natural and human sources from which phosphorus is originating and ultimately entering the lake.

Should we be concerned about algal blooms?

Yes.

The green scum formed by dense algal blooms is unsightly, smells bad and can make water toxic to humans and fish, causing illness and—in some cases—death. When algae die, they are decomposed by bacteria, which can remove oxygen from the water, occasionally killing fish.

Algal blooms can also make water unfit for even recreational use. These tiny organisms can therefore have a huge impact on health, wildlife and economies that depend on fishing and tourism.

How widespread a problem are algal blooms?

Algal blooms plague many bodies of water across North America due to excess amounts of phosphorus.

In Canada, Lake Winnipeg has been experiencing a steady increase in algal coverage over the last 30 years, threatening wildlife, tourism and the fishing industry. In fact, in 2013 Lake Winnipeg was given the dubious honour of being named the World’s Most Threatened Lake by the Global Nature Fund, mainly due to its algal bloom problem.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that every coastal and Great Lakes state in the United States is affected. Recent examples show algal blooms affecting Lake Erie, Lake Utah and even the Pacific Ocean. Lake Erie was recently covered with a bright green layer of algae and has been dealing with eutrophication issues for decades, while Lake Utah was recently closed due to health concerns from a large algal bloom.

What is IISD Experimental Lakes Area doing about algal blooms?

Algal blooms are IISD Experimental Lakes Area’s reason for being—the site was originally set up in 1968 to determine what was causing them. By adding different nutrients to isolated sections of a lake, researchers at the research station determined that phosphorous is the most important limiting nutrient for algal blooms.

This groundbreaking discovery helped changed water policy around the world. It is thanks to this research that we have better sewage treatment plants, better water quality guidelines, and mandated phosphate-free laundry detergents and dish soaps. These policy changes resulted in fewer algal blooms due to "point source pollution" (where nutrients are released directly into a body of water—in this case from wastewater plants) in lakes such as Lake Erie.

The problem of algal blooms is not going away, especially with phosphorus emanating from non-point sources (entry points far from where the nutrient ends up), and so we are continuing to explore the issue and potential solutions.

IISD is researching how we can clean up, or remediate, algal blooms. Just last year, we published a review of the current literature on the most effective methods of "in-lake" remediation of lakes that suffer from eutrophication.

Our continuing work adding nutrients into Lake 227 has revealed that cutting off artificial nitrogen entering lakes does not have an effect on algal blooms, suggesting that jurisdictions should focus their limited resources on removing phosphorus from water.

IISD Experimental Lakes Area’s work on phosphorus now examines the role of this nutrient on algal blooms, food web dynamics, greenhouse gas emissions and the generation of harmful algal blooms (e.g., blue–green algae that produce harmful toxins). For example, since 2017 we have been researching what impact iron may have on harmful algal blooms in Lake 227.

IISD Experimental Lakes Area’s research on phosphorus and algal blooms is done in collaboration with multiple researchers across Canada, including the universities of Waterloo, York Wilfred Laurier, Toronto and New Brunswick.

Transparify—an initiative that provides a global rating of the financial transparency of major think tanks and policy-relevant non-profit organizations—has just released its latest assessment.

And there is some great news for us!

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) has earned the maximum rating of five stars for the third year in a row, meaning we are deemed “highly transparent” about our funding sources.

A five-star rating from Transparify means we list all our donors and clearly identify funding amounts and sources of funding for particular projects.

For IISD, this news could not come at a better time. Like other non-profit organizations, we are feeling the effects of the current, strained funding climate—with fewer potential sources of funding in our sphere of work (namely sustainable development) and much more intense competition for it.

Think tanks play an important role in shaping public policy and public opinion in many countries. The research and evidence generated by organizations like IISD is unbiased, independent-minded and rigorous. Our goal is to provide knowledge that can impact decisions that affect us all. However, if some think tanks are less transparent than others about their motives and funding sources, a shadow of doubt is cast over the entire sector.

Transparent donor recognition can be a crucial criterion for a funder to consider when determining which non-profit to fund. It can really set an organization apart.

As Transparify notes on its website: “…there are concerns that some policy advice provided by some think tanks may be driven more by the vested interests of their funders than by truly independent research and analysis.”

Given this backdrop, a five-star transparency rating matters more than ever—indeed our financial sustainability rests on it. Transparent donor recognition, along with overall financial reporting, can be a crucial criterion for a funder to consider when determining which non-profit to fund. It can really set an organization apart.

Existing and potential funders need to have quick and easy access to financial reporting, to see who else is funding our work, where their money is going, and what it is being spent on. Moreover, funders need to see how their support for our work leads to impact. They want to be able to attribute changes for the better to the dollars they have contributed.

Openly listing all who choose to fund our work is, for us, a source of great pride. These organizations and individuals have selected us over other organizations and have placed their faith in us to use their funds wisely and responsibly. We are grateful for this and afford our funders due respect and recognition, whether in an annual report, or an easily accessible listing on our website.

It is gratifying to receive this positive news as the calendar year draws to a close. We thank everyone who supported our work this year, as well as all our staff, and look forward to another five-star year in 2018. 

Keystone Pipeline. The Dakota Access Pipeline. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. North America has the largest network of energy pipelines in the world, and unfortunately periodic oil spills from pipelines do occur.

Even so, you may be surprised to learn that we actually know very little about what happens to freshwater systems when an oil spill occurs. Moreover, we know very little about how best to clean up those oil spills. A new large project, taking place at IISD Experimental Lakes Area in three stages, is setting out to answer those very questions.

Before we get into the research, let’s take a look at why oil spills could be a problem, how they could affect the surrounding environment and where we need to go from here.

What exactly is an oil spill?

Oil spills occur when oil being transported by truck, rail or pipeline unintentionally spills into the surrounding environment. In some cases, oil may end up in freshwater systems.

There are many types of oil. In North America, bitumen extracted from the Alberta oil sands is one of the most commonly transported types (by volume). Bitumen is too thick to be transported in pipelines, so it is diluted with other, lighter oils to allow it to flow more easily. The diluted bitumen is called “dilbit” and flows through many pipelines in North America.

Don’t we already know happens when oil enters fresh water?

Surprisingly, no.

Most existing research concentrates on the impact of oil spills on marine environments. In fact, leading and authoritative sources, such as the Royal Society of Canada and the National Academy of Sciences, have identified gaps in our knowledge regarding the impacts of oil spills on freshwater systems.

The implications of potential spills for freshwater systems and their surrounding environments remains uncertain.

And this is all the more surprising given the number of existing or proposed inland pipelines adjacent to freshwater systems. There are already approximately 840,000 km of oil and gas pipelines in Canada and 3.9 million km in the USA.

The implications of potential spills for freshwater systems and their surrounding environments remain uncertain. Because many methods for cleaning up oil spills were developed for the ocean, we also do not know which are most effective in freshwater systems.

We just don’t know enough.

What is happening at IISD Experimental Lakes Area to find out what oil spills do to fresh water?

Given the significant knowledge gaps, a groundbreaking project is taking place at IISD-ELA that will answer pressing questions about what happens when oil enters freshwater systems.

There are three stages of this research.

First, a pilot study using three small (2-m diameter) land-based microcosms has already been completed to examine the chemical and physical behaviour of dilbit in fresh water.

Oil is a complex mixture of chemicals whose nature changes with time in the environment. These changes can affect how easily it can be cleaned up (for example, does the oil remain floating or sink?) and its potential toxicity to freshwater wildlife. This early-stage study provided important preliminary information regarding these changes in fresh water that will help to guide the later phases of the research, which will begin in 2018.

The second stage is a field study. Researchers will use large enclosures (10-m diameter) placed in a lake to examine how diluted bitumen reacts in fresh water over longer periods of time. Researchers will also be directly testing changes in the oil’s toxicity to freshwater bugs, fish and amphibians.

The information from these first two studies will guide a third study, where researchers will examine the most effective methods of cleaning spilled oil from shorelines. Again, only small, contained model spills in an IISD-ELA lake will be used. This study will focus on the shoreline, which is most sensitive to oil and presents the biggest difficulty in terms of cleanup efforts.

Is it safe to study oil in an IISD-ELA lake?

IISD-ELA never embarks on any experiment without rigorous measures to protect the long-term health of the lakes. This includes a comprehensive contingency plan and a scientifically reviewed process to return the lake to the condition it was in before we started the research.

This oil research project is no exception and is going through a rigorous review process. All of the proposed model oil spills will be limited in volume and will be added into contained areas that are isolated from the rest of the lake. We will also install a series of absorbent booms around the isolated areas and at the lake outflow to double and triple protect against any leakages from the isolated areas.

As always, we are committed to removing leftover oil from the lake once the research is complete. A detailed plan to do that is an integral part of the study design as well.

IISD-ELA never embarks on any experiment without rigorous measures to protect the long-term health of the lakes.

What is IISD-ELA doing to ensure that our results are as useful as possible?

As scientists, we strive to approach our research objectively.

Our interest is in providing reliable results that can be used to inform better decision making around pipeline development and to develop more effective methods for cleaning up lakes after oil spills.

Throughout the project development stages, we have made every attempt to collaborate with those who might be affected by the research. IISD-ELA has sought input from First Nations and government departments, the oil production and transportation industries, regulators, universities and local community members.

For example, in September we held an Open House in Kenora (a small town in Ontario close to the research site) to discuss the project with citizens, explain the finer details and answer any questions.

Several studies are currently being pursued at the IISD-ELA to address public and regulatory concerns regarding potential environmental effects of oil spills and uncertainty regarding the best clean-up methods following a spill, especially for freshwater environments. One study, led by Drs. Jules Blais (University of Ottawa), Mark Hanson (University of Manitoba) and Diane Orihel (Queen’s University) will examine the ecological impacts of contained diluted bitumen model spills in a freshwater boreal lake. A companion study, led by Dr. Vince Palace (IISD-ELA) will compare the effectiveness of different methods for cleaning spilled oil form shorelines. Both studies are part of a large multidisciplinary program that includes participation from governments (ECCC, DFO, NRCan, OMECC, OMNRF),  regulators (NEB), academic partners (Universities of Manitoba, Ottawa, Queen’s, INRS, Calgary, Saskatchewan, Mcgill)  and industry (Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), Canadian Energy Pipelines Association (CEPA)). For more information, please contact Sumeep Bath at [email protected].