Experts at the University of British Columbia have weighed in with their projections for The Next Big Thing that will impact our lives. Their predictions include:
- personally customized drugs
- replacing fossil fuels with biofuel made from wood
- the ability to assess animal emotions
- a scientific system to shut down new global diseases fast
- Segways for disabled people
- alternative existence in parallel virtual worlds
For the second year, UBC Reports, the university’s monthly news publication, examines the power and possibility of research by asking experts in a variety of fields to identify a major advance that will change our world. Their answers will be published in January 2007, but are available now for editors and reporters below.
To interview these experts, most of whom have some availability throughout the holidays, contact Brian Lin at 604.822.2048.
Personally Customized Drugs
Prof. Ronald Reid, Chair
Division of Biomolecular and Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Pharmacogenomics research will advance personalized medicine based on the individuality of our genome, and allow doctors to identify the best drug to be administered to a particular patient, and the correct dose. This will lead to novel approaches to genetic counseling and medical decision-making.
more…
Replacing Fossil Fuels with Biofuel from Wood
Jack Saddler, Dean
Faculty of Forestry, and Research Associate Warren Mabee
New technologies will allow clean fuels to be produced from wood biomass. If only 25 per cent of the Mountain Pine Beetle-killed wood in B.C. was converted to ethanol, it could supply between five and 10 years worth of B.C.’s gasoline requirements.
more…
Ability to Assess Animal Emotions
Assoc. Prof. Dan Weary
UBC Animal Welfare Program, Faculty of Land and Food Systems
The conditions we provide animals should address concerns about animal health and emotions including pain, hunger and boredom. The next big challenge in the science of animal welfare is to devise methods of assessing how animals feel.
more…
Finding the Treatment, and Possible Cure, for Diabetes in the Human Gut
Assoc. Prof. Timothy Kieffer
Cellular and Physiological Sciences
Exciting new therapies, based on a class of gut hormones called incretins, are on the way with the potential to not only treat diabetes, but perhaps cure it.
more…
A System to Shut Down New Global Diseases, Fast
Brett Finlay
Michael Smith Laboratories
Robert. C. Brunham
B.C. Centre for Disease Control (CDC)
Imagine one of our worst fears: a deadly new disease emerges, and cases pop up around the world. A global network of scientists springs into action — the pathogen is isolated and sequenced within days. Advanced epidemiological models help isolate cases and shut down transmission. Within weeks, work is underway on a vaccine. Such a rapid response system is on the horizon.
more…
Segways for Disabled People
Asst. Prof. Bonita Sawatzky
Orthopaedics UBC, Divison of Pediatric Orthopaedics
New UBC research on people with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, amputations, arthritis, and incomplete spinal cord injuries has found that all participants were successful operating a Segway.
more…
A Boom in Aging Research
Asst. Prof. Colin Reid
Health Studies, UBC Okanagan, and co-leader of the B.C. Network for Aging Research
By 2026, one in five Canadians will be 65 or older. So what are we going to do about it? The next big thing in this field will be one of the largest long-term studies of aging ever undertaken anywhere in the world. The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) will follow 50,000 Canadian men and women between the ages 40 and 79 for at least 20 years.
more…
Alternative Existence in Parallel Virtual Worlds
Brian Lamb
UBC Office of Learning Technologies
The next big innovation on the Web will be the emergence of three-dimensional immersive environments for online activity. These parallel worlds, populated by virtual avatars representing human beings in the physical world, are becoming home to activities and interactions that a short time ago might only have been imagined in science fiction.
more…
Busting the Secularization Myth—A New Science of Faith
Asst. Prof. Ara Norenzayan
Dept. of Psychology, Faculty of Arts
Many scientists have subscribed to the “secularization myth,” that with the advances of science and technology, religion will become a thing of the past. But at the dawn of the 21st century, religions are multiplying, growing and mutating at a brisk pace.
more…
Grappling with Moral Aspects of Assisted Reproduction Advances
Prof. Judith Daniluk
Dept. of Education and Counselling Psychology and Special Education, Faculty of Education
Having women’s eggs cryopreserved, overcoming male infertility, and screening embryos for genetically inherited diseases represent amazing new advances. Yet these advances bring a number of challenging moral, ethical and social issues with which individuals and couples using these treatments must contend.
more…
A Culture of Viral Videos, or Global Mobilization
Gisèle M. Baxter, Sessional Lecturer
Dept. of English, Faculty of Arts
With the advent of new, instantaneous and portable technologies, we face two significant directions. One is a continued splintering of cultural interests and preoccupations. The other is the possibility of genuine global mass movement toward widespread change.
more…
New Land Use Restrictions to Protect Water Security
Assoc. Prof. Karen Bakker
Dept. of Geography, Faculty of Arts
A new paradigm is emerging for water security: sustainable access to adequate quantities of water, of acceptable quality, for human and environmental uses, on a watershed basis. This deceptively simple definition is a subversive concept that will very soon impose major new restrictions on land use around watersheds in Canada.
more…
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