🧬 An RNA breakthrough could treat thousands of diseases
🧠 Workout or sleep? Both help a sleepy brain
🌆 Collecting data to protect a unique Toronto neighbourhood
🤖 Security concerns plague leading AI models
🌿 Interspecies competition helps plants adapt
🌳 New tool shows where urban trees can thrive
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Treating the untreatable: RNA breakthrough for thousands of diseases
A team of U of T researchers has developed a novel disease therapy that could one day treat a wide range of genetic diseases caused by RNA mutations. The team notes that their research could be used to develop a new drug class to treat a wide range of related genetic diseases.
“There are so many types of disease-causing mutations — many affecting only a small number of people — that developing a separate gene therapy for every individual mutation is extremely challenging…. With tRNA therapeutics, our goal is to develop a common therapeutic approach that could potentially address the same type of mutation across many different genes and diseases, including rare conditions that currently have few or no effective treatment options.” — Dr. Bowen Li
MCGILL UNIVERSITY
Workout or sleep: Both help a sleepy brain
To preserve memory after a night of sleeplessness, either a nap or short workout can do the trick. That’s a recent finding from a research team led by McGill, examining participants who either did 20 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise or took a 90-minute nap. Both groups did 22% better on a memory test.
“Sleep loss affects nearly every aspect of how we think and function, but many people can’t simply stop what they’re doing and get more sleep…. Our findings show that even a brief bout of exercise may help preserve one of our most important cognitive abilities.” — Dr. Marc Roig
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Data for Kensington: Protecting a unique urban neighbourhood
In an interdisciplinary project, researchers at U of T are collecting data to help preserve one of Toronto’s most iconic neighbourhoods, Kensington Market.
With its mix of food, art, bars, vintage wares, and historic Victorian homes, it’s got character to spare. Given the influx of developers and short-term rentals that has altered affordability in the area — affecting both residents and small businesses — the researchers aim to gather reliable data to support advocacy efforts.
“We decided to do a study that would collect a lot of information about the existing commercial landscape and its non-residential history, including social institutions, religious places and art spaces… the land trust is primarily about housing, though not exclusively — they also want to make sure the neighbourhood’s longevity and livability are supported by affordable commercial spaces and community-serving businesses.” — Dr. Emily Hertzman
WATERLOO UNIVERSITY
Tech tampering: Security concerns plague leading AI models
Led by Waterloo researchers and FAR.AI, an international research team has found that the safety mechanisms in 21 leading open-weight LLMs can be removed fairly easily. At scale, the research team notes that this gap in AI model security could lead to mass proliferation of disinformation, email scams, and other illegal activities.
“When the safety guardrails are stripped out of a capable model, it can be used at scale for harm in ways a single person could never manage manually…. The leading open-weight models are often not too far behind the best closed models,” said Rambhatla, director of the Critical Machine Learning Lab at Waterloo. “As they grow more powerful, the potential consequences of someone stripping out their safety features grow with them.” — Dr. Sirisha Rambhatla
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Fights for the future: Interspecies competition helps plants adapt
As climate patterns shift, plants either evolve, become hardier, or die out. Now, evolutionary ecologists at U of T have recently discovered that competition among plant species can boost some plants’ ability to adapt to shifting conditions.
“Researchers typically don’t consider species interactions or whole communities when studying how plants evolve in response to warming…. Also, we tend to think that competition is a negative thing — with organisms fighting for light, nutrients and space…. But our study reveals that the presence of competitors acts as a catalyst to speed up adaptation to a warming climate. We’ve shown that two traits — the ability to compete and the ability to adapt to rising temperatures — can be associated and evolve hand-in-hand.” — Dr. Takuji Usui
UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Trees for thee: New tool shows where urban trees can thrive
Using parameters such as physical barriers and heat indices, a new tool developed by UBC researchers identifies where urban trees can be planted to maximize shade and cooling.
It factors in variables like underground utilities, heat maps, demographic data, and overhead wires, with the aim of helping cities offset high urban temperatures. After running the pilot program in Kelowna, the CanopyFit tool will now expand to Vancouver.
“Creating and sustaining extensive canopy cover, by protecting mature trees and planting trees that can grow to large sizes, is one of the most effective investments cities can make to reduce exposure to extreme heat.” — Dr. Melissa McHale