Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
University of Manitoba
Return
of the Sun
manitoba
CRYSTAL PROJECT
inside:
Biopsies
Beware
The Story
Looking
through
Guy Maddin’s
Keyhole
Message
from the Vice President
(Research)
Welcome to the inaugural issue of
ResearchLIFE, the University of Manitoba’s
research magazine!
The first major research university in Western
Canada, the University of Manitoba has been
bringing research to life for more than a century.
From the development of canola and advances
in wireless communication, to the elimination of
Rh disease of the newborn and new strategies for
fighting HIV/AIDS, our researchers have made
contributions that have had a global impact.
Today, our artists, engineers, scholars and sci-
entists continue this quest for knowledge and its
application – by finding new ways to improve our
health and protect our environment, developing
new technologies that better our lives and the
world in which we live, and building civil societ-
ies and stronger communities here and around
the world.
I invite you to turn the page and step into the
exciting world of research at the University of
Manitoba. You will be inspired by what you find.
This magazine conveys the amazing passion
for discovery of our faculty and students, a
passion that I am privileged to share in each
and every day.
Inside
11
Return of the sun
For thousands of years the sun has dipped behind the
horizon and then returned to bring hope of warmth
18 25 29
and spring to the Inuit people of the high Arctic.
The roles played by the return of the sun and the 18 biopsies beware
importance of light and darkness in everyday life in They made the world take note when they began biopsying every
the Arctic have been incorporated into a teaching patient despite what blood tests said, and now they are on their way
resource developed by researchers at the University to making biopsies a thing of the past. By Sean Moore
of Manitoba – with the goal being the improvement
of science and math education. 25 the story
By Janine Harasymchuk A Jewish saying asks what is truer than truth? And it answers:
The story. By Sean Moore
29 keyhole
Guy Maddin, UofM’s distinguished film maker in residence and
George Toles, chair of the film studies program, collaborate on a
new film. By Guy Maddin
ResearchLIFE
RETURN UNDELIVERABLE Contributors
CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO: Sean Moore
Lindsay Fagundes
UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA Tamara Ansons
540 Machray Hall Gary Brownstone
Winnipeg, MB Canada R3T 2N2 Lancelot Coar
Tel 204-474-7300 • Fax 204-261-0325 Guy Maddin
ResearchLIFE@umanitoba.ca J. Elliot Scott
Ilana Simon
Mickey Wener
Vice-President (Research)
Joanne C. Keselman Photography
Cover: Doug Barber
Editor and Manager of Tamara Nathaniel
Research Communications
& Marketing Member of the University Research
Janine Harasymchuk Magazine Association: www.urma.org
Design umanitoba.ca/research
Relish Design Studio Ltd.
ISSN# 1918-1442
Happenings
Speaker series kicks off the year
The Bringing Research to Life Speaker Series features outstanding
researchers from the University of Manitoba. Over 200 people came out to hear
food scientist Rick Holley and clinical health psychologist John Walker give their
perspectives and answer questions. Here’s a synopsis of their presentations.
Soup Immunology
Up Your Smile Research
Expanding
For the 7th year in a row, the School of Dental Hygiene
The immunology research facility
continued to reach out to Winnipeg’s inner city residents at
in the Faculty of Medicine recently
Siloam Mission. On November 6, dental hygiene students were
announced their expansion into new
making a difference by sharing practical information that can help
space in the Apotex Centre on the
prevent oral pain and disease, and contribute to a healthier smile.
Bannatyne Campus. The expansion
Interested individuals had an opportunity to have a dental hygiene
comes as a result of an $1.6 million
assessment and oral hygiene consultation on site in the newly
contribution through the Winnipeg
established Saul Sair Health Clinic’s dental facility.
Partnership Agreement.
All patrons received an oral hygiene product package and entered
The Department of Immunology has
draws for winter wear, toiletries and other useful items. To further support
outgrown its current facilities in the
the event, the students organized a drive at the Faculty of Dentistry
Basic Medical Sciences Building. The
for clothing and non-perishable foods.
new facility will lead to the expansion
In 2005, The Canadian Dental Hygienists Association
of existing and new research programs
recognized the School of Dental Hygiene’s Soup Up Your
and to increased commercialization
Smile student outreach project with the Oral-B Health
from these programs.
Promotion Award “for creatively promoting
oral health to this underserved
population.”
I think there are two aspects of research. raises a whole set of other questions. Then For most of us our most significant
I think of the teaching mission as being we must figure out what the answers to learning experiences are experiences
preserving and passing on what we know. those are. So, it’s not a finite task; or, if it is with other people – usually teachers,
The research mission is expanding the finite, we don’t see the end of it in sight. sometimes fellow students, sometimes
boundaries of what we know but also To me, there is also real magic in one our parents – that have shaped our lives.
looking inside what we think is the body of the other major components of I think what happens – that’s where the
of knowledge and challenging it. Asking university activity – teaching. magic happens in the classroom – is that
questions like ‘that’s what the people Sometimes people will expect that you encounter someone who really cares
that came before us thought but is that because I’m a computer scientist that I’m about a discipline and they can com-
really true? Are we really sure about that? going to be heavily biased in favour of municate the excitement and the passion
Maybe we should go back and look at information technology based delivery about the intellectual content of the
that again?’ systems for teaching. I think there are discipline to students and say “look what’s
Insight is required to know what some wonderful tools out there. But I happening here and look how amazing
questions are capable of either pushing often ask in groups “think of your two or this is!” If the person finds it amazing and
the boundary out to something new or three most significant learning experienc- can communicate his or her amazement
going back and reexamining the things es in your education background.” How in it, that’s where the magic happens
we think we know and seeing if there is a many people are thinking about reading in education.
different understanding of them. Finding a web page? Probably nobody. I’ve never Communicating all that magic is
the inspiration to frame those questions had anyone say that. Most of us don’t our challenge.
is one of the challenges of research and it even talk about reading a particular book. It’s the challenge in our classroom and
brings the excitement to research. Some people can, because sometimes the challenge of bridging the gap between
Knowledge is like a sphere growing in reading a book can be a life changing the very specialized focused research
space. The more we know the bigger the experience. But for most of us it will be questions that faculty and graduate
surface is that impinges on what we don’t telling a story about a teacher in univer- students and sometimes undergraduates
know. There are lots of questions to ask. sity or secondary school, sometimes even focus their attention on; bridging the
I think that when we answer questions in grade school. Or it’ll be a story about a gap between that really detailed, specific
that we think are pretty fundamental team of students that you worked with on thing, to the big idea that matters and
questions, often we come up with models a third year project for several weeks in a makes sense to our friends in the com-
that have a complexity that was greater row, staying up half the night working on munity. And we will never run out of
than what was anticipated – so you think this massive thing and complaining about work because it’s always going to be
that here is question ‘x’ and I’m going to it, but in the end learning a huge amount a challenge. n
answer that question and then I’m going and finding a tremendously meaningful
to know. But the answer to that question human experience.
Rock star strikes gold innovative ways of understanding Hawthorne has the added distinction
minerals, and has led to groundbreaking of having had the mineral Hawthorneite
Geoscientist and Distin- research on crystal structures and crystal named after him by the International
guished Professor Frank Hawthorne, chemistry of complex minerals, and to Mineralogical Association. The mineral is
often described as a ‘rock star,’ struck gold advances in a number of topical areas, a green coloured crystal, found in Utah.
earlier this year when he was awarded the including environmental mineralogy and The Killam Prize is Canada’s most
Killam Prize for lifetime achievement in the disposal of high-level wastes. distinguished annual award for outstand-
teaching and scholarship in the natural sci- Hawthorne is recognized as one of the ing career achievements. Hawthorne was
ences by the Canada Council for the Arts. world’s leading mineralogists. In 2002, one of only five who received this honour
Hawthorne’s research combines he was listed by Sciencewatch as the most in 2008. The Prizes were inaugurated in
chemical theory and mathematics with highly-cited mineralogist/crystallographer 1981 and financed through funds donated
for the decade 1990 to 2000. to the Canada Council by Mrs. Dorothy
J. Killam, in memory of her husband
Izaak Walton Killam. Created to honour
eminent Canadian scholars and scientists
who are actively engaged in research,
whether in industry, government agencies
or universities, the prize brings with it a
$100,000 award to further his research.
Doug Barber
Every kernel counts facility that will lead to profound new stored grain, Jayas’ research has increased
insights in the area of stored grains. remarkably the availability of high quality
For thousands of years, grains Jayas’ research team were the first grains to feed the growing population of
have formed the basis of the human group in the world to develop three-di- the world.
diet throughout the world. Access to a mensional mathematical models of heat,
consistent supply of quality grains and moisture and carbon dioxide transfer in Jayas will be delivering a public lecture
their products is literally the lifeblood stored grain as well as the movement of titled “Making Every Kernel Count” on
for developing and developed countries. insects in grain. This provided the basis Tuesday, February 3, 2009 at 8:00 p.m., 343
Any loss in quality or quantity can have for developing alternatives to pesticides Drake Centre, University of Manitoba Fort
far-reaching effects, yet post-harvest for the control of insects in grain to be Garry Campus. n
losses continue to range from nine per used ultimately for human and animal
cent in North America to fifty per cent in consumption. In reducing spoilage of
developing countries. In the latter, high
losses can contribute to famine.
For the past 25 years, Digvir S. Jayas,
Distinguished Professor of biosystems
engineering, Faculty of Agricultural and
Food Sciences, has been working to im-
prove storage of grain. Last year, that work
landed him the Dr. John M. Bowman Me-
morial Winnipeg Rh Institute Foundation
Award for outstanding research by senior
university faculty.
As Canada Research Chair in Stored-
Grain Ecosystems, Jayas attracted almost
$23 million in research grants and
contracts for his research that will
ultimately lead to improved grain quality
for consumers, increased cost efficiency
for farmers, and reduced waste product.
Indeed, he conceptualized and developed
the Canadian Wheat Board Centre for
Grain Storage Research, a leading-edge
sun
By Janine Harasymchuk
RETURN OF THE
For thousands of years the sun has dipped behind the horizon and
then returned to bring hope of warmth and spring to the Inuit people
of the high Arctic. The roles played by the return of the sun and the
importance of light and darkness in everyday life in the Arctic have
been incorporated into a teaching resource developed by researchers
at the University of Manitoba – with the goal being the improvement
of science and math education.
How can we change this? The answer is at said Lewthwaite. “I ask myself, have we community in which any school is situ-
the fundamental level. really not taken the time to find out from ated, and that of the interaction with the
The Canadian Council on Learning re- the learner? The learner can be an early, global environment.
leased State of Learning in Canada: Toward middle or senior years’ student and in Within each system reside factors
a Learning Future in July 2008. In this many of the projects the learner is actually that have negative and positive impacts
report it states that “how young learners the teacher. That is at the heart of it. Try- on student success. These two factors
(in the elementary and secondary school ing to find out what the learner is saying.” combined result in resiliency. The need is
years) perform in mathematics, problem to first identify these risk and protective
solving, reading comprehension and other What affects the learner? factors within each system, but then find
competencies is a strong predictor of later The Manitoba CRYSTAL research has strategies to mitigate the former while op-
performance. Students who perform well focused on the central theme of success timizing the latter. Increased resiliency is
in these areas are also more likely to par- in the teaching and learning of science the ultimate goal, recognizing that the four
ticipate in post-secondary education and and math as an emergent property of a systems are interactive, with each affecting
in the knowledge economy.” number of interacting systems. Four of the other and impacting on the success of
“There is rarely attention given in these systems were selected for investiga- the student.
education to finding out what learners say tion: that of the individual learner, that “In each [of the systems], we are dealing
about what contributes to their learning. of the interaction between the learner with four systems that when we began,
Several of the projects are trying to find and his/her immediate environment (the became more than we first expected,” says
out what is influencing their success,” classroom), that of the interaction with the Gordon Robinson. “These aren’t separate
systems. They are interconnecting systems. game plan it is much easier to accomplish vided for them. It’s now up to the users as
The lines between each began to blur. You goals. If there is going to be changeover to how they move forward with what we’ve
can start off doing research in System A, bring someone in that has the same mind given them,” says Lewthwaite.
maybe find you should be in System B. It set and capability. You need people that Knowledge translation is a key compo-
just speaks to the fact that everything has can fulfil the capacity.” nent of what comes out of the CRYSTAL
an impact on student success and that it Another factor is the ‘southern’ teaching projects. The resources developed need
isn’t a simple matter to pin down.” methods that come with teachers im- to be put into use in classrooms across
In the Qikiqtani (Baffin Island) region ported from southern Canada. Lewthwaite the country. To this end, they are made
of Nunavut, a five-year school commu- says, “The southern way of teaching in freely available on the Manitoba CRYS-
nity science development project was northern communities doesn’t always TAL website. These have been widely used
undertaken by CRYSTAL in three schools: work. You simply cannot take Western sci- resources. One website – sci-ed.org – has
Pond Inlet, Clyde River and Igloolik. This ence and southern teaching practices and recorded up to 2,000 downloads, not hits,
process applied the guiding principles of deliver it to northern communities as you per month of these resources.
Inuit Quajimajatuqangit (IQ) to the im- would in an urban school in Winnipeg or Another translation activity happened
provement of science curriculum delivery. Vancouver. It just won’t work.” at the Second International Conference
The approach honours the knowledge, “Teaching about life and talking about on Stories in Science Teaching, held in
principles and values the communities see the return of the sun provides a beautiful Munich, Germany in July. The theme
as fundamental to defining who and what context for learning science and math- was “Stories from the history of science:
they are. ematics,” says Robinson. “How can you Knowledge translation for the science
As part of the development project, show the importance of light unless you classroom.” This conference brought
extensive consultations were held with use the example of the difference between together researchers, scholars, and educa-
teachers, principals, education authori- clear ice and ice that has snow on it? tors from twelve countries to present and
ties, parents and students. The need to And then look at how light enters through discuss stories relating to the history of
incorporate the traditional teachings the ice?” science and how to use those stories in the
alongside the ‘western’ method of science classroom, to educate students. The Mau-
teaching came out as a resounding priority Where do we go from here? rice Price Foundation under the umbrella
for all those consulted. An assessment tool The heart of the Manitoba CRYSTAL is of the Manitoba CRYSTAL grant provided
was developed in order that the science the learner and their experiences. The significant funding to the conference.
delivery methods could be evaluated after work done so far has built a foundation for “There is an international cry for
implementation. what is to come. The resources that have educating for a sustainable future. There
Developing learning materials for use come out of this project are extensive and is good context for teaching science in
in these Nunavut schools does not happen differ significantly from materials used sustainability,” said Robinson “so this is
in isolation. Lewthwaite says, “We are very readily in Canadian classrooms. one other area of focus.”
closely connected to teachers and students “A lot of resources that go into schools “Most surveys suggest that students op-
in the schools, the community members, don’t come with the research and timum interest in school science is around
and the school and territorial administra- evaluation that the Manitoba CRYSTAL the grade 5/6 level. Their perception of sci-
tions. These resources have been devel- resources have built in. They don’t come ence as a subject – in the learning – peaks
oped collaboratively.” with research about what contributes around grade 5/6,” said Lewthwaite.
The evaluation tool is now being used to best practice. This strong evaluation “There has to be changes in the ortho-
to monitor progress in the three schools. component and validation of the re- doxy of curriculum and the way in which
The results are positive in two out of three sources ‘working’ in the classroom is key science is taught in order to upset the
of the schools. One school was not seeing to student success. It’s important for users applecart – because the apples are spoiling.
positive progress. Why? The high turnover to understand that with a resource like We’re really trying to foster a more positive
of staff in northern schools is a major Return of the Sun, they are unlikely to see attitude shift in students. These shifts are
contributing factor. anything better than this in their lifetime, likely to come from changes in curricu-
“The problem is the turnover in educa- because of the research work we’ve done lum, changes in assessment and changes
tion is a major impediment to success. If alongside the resource development. It’s in teaching practices. If we do that, we’ve
you can have the same team and the same like a once in a lifetime opportunity pro- been successful.” n
Wolf Tree of this manuscript, Sexing the Prairie, Influenza 1918: Disease, Death
(Coteau Books) was published in the journal Open Letter and Struggle in Winnipeg
Alison Calder in Fall 2006. (University of Toronto Press)
English, film, and theatre Esyllt Jones
The Red Indians: An Episodic, history
A first col- Informal Collection of Tales
lection of from the History of Aboriginal The influen-
sharp, clever, People’s Struggles in Canada za pandemic
wicked poems that (Arbeiter Ring, 2007) of 1918–1919
range from images Peter Kulchyski killed as many
of circus freaks native studies as fifty million
and two-headed people worldwide
calves to snow The Red and affected the
geese and wind in Indians is a vast majority of
the pines. A wolf theoretically nu- Canadians. Yet the
tree is a tree in anced, frank, and pandemic, which
a bush or a thicket which is different in accessible book came and left in
shape from those around it; a tree whose about Aborigi- one season, never to recur in any signifi-
broader trunk and spreading branches nal resistance in cant way, has remained difficult to inter-
indicate that it once grew alone but is Canada, historical pret. What did it mean to live through
now surrounded. and contempo- and beyond this brief, terrible episode,
Alison Calder’s poems shine the light rary. In the man- and what were its long-term effects?
of a poet’s curiosity on all manner of ner of Eduardo Galeano’s famous trilogy Influenza 1918 uses Winnipeg as a case
“natural occurrences,” which neverthe- Memories of Fire, the book uncovers a study to show how disease articulated and
less stand out. The book opens with an critical, living history of conflict. helped to re-define boundaries of social
examination of the extreme forms this The Red Indians, with its polyvalent
difference. Esyllt W. Jones examines the
nature may take – from the Dutch legend title that points to the many issues cov-
impact of the pandemic in this fragmented
of the false child Sooterkin, to two- ered in the text, introduces readers to the
community, including its role in the erup-
headed calves, Zip the Pinhead, and other history of colonial oppression in Canada,
tion of the largest labour confrontation in
medical curiosities, particularly those and looks at contemporary examples of
Canadian history, the Winnipeg General
captured by 19th century photographic resistance. Kulchyski clarifies the unique
and specific politics of Aboriginal resis- Strike of 1919. Arguing that labour histo-
techniques.
tance in Canada. rians have largely ignored the impact of
The disquieting feelings created by
these subjects persist, causing the reader Peter Kulchyski is a leading Canadian infectious disease upon the working class,
to proceed watchfully, even when the po- Native Studies scholar and has published Jones draws on a wide range of primary
et’s attention switches to more common numerous books on Aboriginal issues, sources including mothers’ allowance and
themes and images – plastic clotheslines, including Like the Sound of a Drum: Ab- orphanage case files in order to trace the
wildflowers of western Canada, snow original Cultural Politics in Denendeh and pandemic’s affect on the family, the public
geese, the Porta Nigra in Trier, Germany. Nunavut, which won the 2005 Alexander health infrastructure, and other social
A selection of poems from this manu- Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction. institutions. This study brings into focus
script received the Bronwen Wallace the interrelationships between epidemic
Memorial Award for writing excellence disease and working class, gender, labour,
by a writer under the age of 35. A section and ethnic history in Canada.
biopsies
Beware
They made the world take note when they began biopsying
every patient despite what blood tests said, and now they
are on their way to making biopsies a thing of the past.
By Sean Moore
Tamara Nathaniel
It was a good match. It was15 years ago when a Winnipeg man in his 40s received a kidney with blood and
tissue types similar enough to his own that his body was unlikely to reject it. Indeed, if things went the way
textbooks suggested, this allograft would still be employed as his body’s full-time chemist and maid. A long
career to be sure, but one that appeared possible in the first few months following surgery when his blood
tests continually had fine results. But then something peculiar happened. So some University of Manitoba
researchers began asking some questions. The answers were difficult for many to first accept, but textbooks
have nevertheless since been revised.
“Let’s say your car is running beauti- An adult has about five litres of blood, go to check on it. Sure enough, the fuse
fully and then one day you take it for a yet its kidneys filter about 180 litres of blew, but the basement has flooded too.
routine checkup to the mechanic,” inter- blood a day. The two fist-sized organs “And so you ask, ‘Well, when did this
nal medicine’s David Rush said. “And exquisitely control salt and water levels, happen?’ It was completely unexpected,”
the mechanic says this car is completely discarding whatever is in excess via the Rush said. “There were no clues to the
destroyed and you have to sell it. And you urine and reabsorbing whatever is needed other processes. We expected to find
say, ‘What? But it’s running fine. There through tubules, a network of small tubes something wrong, but how did the com-
was no indication there was something some 80 kilometers long. Nestled among plete scarring of the kidney tissue take
wrong.” these tubules are the glomeruli, tufts of place without any clues? It was mind-
“Well, that is what happened here,” the capillaries that do the actual filtering. boggling. That is the best way to put it.
patient’s doctor said. The index case had blood tests show- And that’s when we decided we had to do
For years blood tests were used to ing perfect levels of creatinine. But biopsies at regular, scheduled intervals
determine if the grafted organ was get- doctors also measure levels of serum despite what blood test showed.”
ting rejected or working improperly. albumin, a protein floating around blood This idea, although straightforward,
It seemed a good indicator since our in abundance. When its levels drop, the was a paradigm shift. Rush and Nick-
muscles release a substance called creati- sieve-like structures of the glomeruli are erson began their program of “protocol
nine and this gets filtered by kidneys. So likely letting it slip past, and if that’s the biopsies” and discovered that 20-30 per
the issue is simple: when creatinine levels case, urine becomes frothy – a symptom cent of kidney transplants quietly suc-
increase in the blood, kidney function is the index case had. cumb to “subclinical rejection”, a term
likely waning. “There was no question this man was they coined. In short it means the body’s
But as Rush and his colleague Peter sick,” Rush said. “The issue is when we immune system acutely rejects the kidney
Nickerson observed, the anatomy of the did the biopsy we were expecting to find without giving much evidence of it.
kidney ensures blood tests are far from a problem in the compartment contain- Ideally, each graft should last as long
foolproof because, like a car’s engine, the ing the glomerulus, the filter. But what as possible to ensure effective use of
kidney consists of many compartments we found was the compartment with the limited resources. About 500 Manitobans
performing independent tasks. Parts tubules was completely scarred.” are living with a transplanted kidney;
may fail, but overall it still runs. Indeed, To understand his surprise, imagine many more are awaiting one. A kidney
you only need about 30 per cent of your you’re reading in bed one night when transplanted from a deceased donor, on
kidneys to function properly before you suddenly all the lights go out. You suspect average, will last 12 years. If it’s from a
start feeling sick. something is wrong with the breaker and living donor it’s 16 to 20 years. But that
Tamara Nathaniel
20-year lifespan hasn’t changed much in “The whole process takes about five because it was quoted a couple of times,”
the last 20 years, even with the new drugs minutes for them to use an ultrasound to Rush said. “And, in fact, when we started
added to doctor’s arsenals. find your kidneys, and then a long needle publishing our stuff the authors of this
“Part of the reason for this, we feel, is is used to take the kidney sample. And if paper said, ‘What are you doing, this is
that we aren’t being aggressive enough they need to take another sample, they silly. Why are you paying so much atten-
and looking for these early rejections. poke you a second time. You don’t feel tion to this?’ And the first few times we
If we could detect them and change our anything because you are anesthetized sent our work to international meetings
drug therapies early and accordingly, locally. And when it’s done, you lay on the we were refused because they thought
we could prolong our grafts. And that’s table for three or four hours, keeping very our work was unimportant.”
the whole focus of our research,” still, and then you go home and you’re But in 1997, renal pathologists,
Nickerson said. not supposed to do anything for nephrologists and transplant surgeons
Nickerson is currently developing a 24 hours,” she said. from around the world gathered in Banff,
tool to replace biopsies (more on this Alberta, for a conference that has since
later) because biopsies are an unpleasant, ••••••• been held every two years. Here the ex-
and somewhat expensive, necessity. Mi- perts developed a working classification
nor complications from a biopsy include In 1984 a research team from John Hop- of renal allograft pathology. “This,” Rush
blood in the urine. This happens five per kins University published a paper in the said, “was fortuitous.”
cent of the time. Major complications in- journal Transplantation that reported on The subclinical rejections Rush and
volve internal bleeding, resulting in clots their findings garnered from a series of Nickerson found were all, according to
and the stoppage of kidney function. unsystematic biopsies. They found white the Banff 97 schema, officially rejection.
One in 2,000 patients will die. blood cells in some transplanted kidneys. “So when we showed our results to our
“It’s nothing to be scared of,” These do not reside in properly function- colleagues, they scratched their heads and
Marlene DeFoort, a 65-year-old mother ing kidneys, but the researchers neverthe- said ‘no.’ They intended for this Banff cri-
of three and one of Rush’s patients said. less dismissed them because they found teria to apply only to kidneys that weren’t
She received a kidney from one of her that some of these kidneys worked well working properly. But here we were
sons in January of 2008 and has had later on. telling them we had a seemingly healthy
three biopsies since, her most recent one “I think that paper did a disservice to kidney that met their criteria. They did
in October. the follow-up of patients with transplants not like this,” Rush said.
Caroline
Peters
Showcasing
ecoregion related to human activities
in agriculture (farming and ranching),
industry, communications (roads),
Student
energy (hydroelectric dams) and also
sociodemographic tendencies.
Research
Caroline Peters
social work
Jamie Penner
nursing
By Sean Moore
StORY
THE
Y
Everyday people invent narratives, repackage old ones, corrupt
others, and preserve, by various means, those narratives that matter
most to them, because, perhaps, they provide that otherwise
unobtainable quality accurate self-definition requires. Stories
abound because humanity seems to depend on them. Such
fundamental things need study; the University of Manitoba has
a scholar dedicated to understanding them – or some of them
at least.
Warren Cariou is the university’s newest philosophy, so much practical knowledge people who they are and it’s not a negative
Canada Research Chair (CRC); his Chair of how to be on the land is contained in thing. It’s something they can be proud of.”
in Narrative, Community and Indig- their stories.” “I don’t see it as a straightforward ‘here,
enous Cultures began on April 1, 2008. As CRC, Cariou will approach his task teach these people these stories and they’ll
His role as such will be to foster respect from various angles, one of which involves be well-adjusted and able to shed stereo-
for cultural differences by re-evaluating resuscitating books Aboriginal authors types.’ But by reevaluating and giving more
what “Canadian community” means and penned without much fanfare in the pub- attention to Aboriginal peoples, it gives a
he does this by examining the stories and lishing world. validation to those stories that they didn’t
stereotypes people tell and hold onto. By “I would really like to bring them back have in academic culture before.”
looking at these narratives, Cariou finds to the public eye,” Cariou said. Many Academia, Cariou said, has historically
effective ways to accommodate different publishers prior to the 1980s had interests treated Aboriginal stories as something
communities within our understanding of in printing Aboriginal books, but the edi- akin to gallery pieces – quaint relics good
a multicultural Canada. tors (not used to dealing with authors who for admiration, but not necessarily as
“I’m interested in smaller communities, were rooted in oral traditions), and the valuable ways of interpreting the past
in particular the ones where storytelling writers (who were better oral than textual and present. Since many stories weren’t
is important,” Cariou said. “So my own communicators), did not find the success written down they were viewed as having
focus is on Aboriginal cultures and the they both hoped for. As a result, the stories little value.
ways oral storytelling has really preserved fell to the wayside. “But I think it’s really been discovered
and been, in effect, their culture, because “There are a lot of stories that get left in the last generation or so, that there
so much of Aboriginal culture is contained out or marginalized. But these stories is just so much important knowledge
in the stories – so much teaching, so much have a lot of powerful, positive ways to tell embedded in these stories from all First
By Tamara Ansons
Tamara Nathaniel
Can you remember high school and how great to some external source, such as luck? According to Leboe’s
times were back then? You probably had valuable friendships, research, the answer depends on the amount of effort you believe
more leisure time to watch television and perhaps you were even you have put into generating the answer. Counter-intuitively,
valedictorian. But, was the past really as good as you remember however, the more effort people put into solving an answer, the
it? Research by Jason Leboe in the Department of Psychology more likely they are to conclude that the answer came from some
suggests that our perceptions of the past are influenced by the external source, and not from their own ability to generate the
ease with which these thoughts come to mind. In fact, Leboe’s correct answer!
research indicates that the mere ability to remember seemingly Together with his team of graduate and undergraduate stu-
mundane details from our past may produce positive feelings for dents, Leboe is examining these and other perplexing errors that
past events, even when those events were neutral or even some- occur during remembering and perceptual tasks. By determining
what negative. As a consequence, if upon thinking back on your the rules that govern these errors,
high school years you are able to produce a surprising amount of they hope to uncover a common
detail about your old chemistry teacher; you may find yourself set of principles that lead to both
feeling strangely nostalgic for your old chemistry class, irrespec- correct and incorrect recollections
tive of how you actually felt about chemistry at the time! of past events and perceptions of
This finding is one example of a bias that occurs from the use our current environment.
of rules in remembering tasks. For example, people often use the
amount of detail remembered about a past event as evidence of Tamara Ansons
the authenticity of the event. Although the use of this rule gener- Tamara is a student in the
ally leads to correct remembering judgments, it can also lead Department of Psychology studying
to systematic errors, like the perception that the past was more in the brain and cognitive sciences
positive than it actually was. area under the supervision of
Similarly, other attributions influence how we experience the
Jason Leboe. n
world. For example, imagine solving a crossword puzzle that
appears in Saturday’s newspaper. To what extent do you feel Jason Leboe and
that you solved the puzzle through your own skill, as opposed Tamara Ansons
The KEYHOLE PROJECT started out of frustration I experienced trying to find within any
of my movies a single central image strong enough to go directly onto a movie poster. I was
always happy with the overall look of the films, but I began to lament the absence of an iconic,
unforgettable shot within them. So, I promised myself I would start my next script, not
entirely with words, but with images – strong, original compositions – instead.
My Collage Party doyen friend Paul The new feature film, co-written by unique mono-edition props and jewelry,
Butler assembled for me an exciting George Toles and myself, is itself called courtroom sketch artist accounts of the
group of extremely gifted Canadian art- KEYHOLE, and it will be ready next fall. shoot, even some on-set composed po-
ists – Michael Dumontier, Shary Boyle, During its projection it will be accompa- etry, and both written and filmed diaries.
Simon Hughes, Brad Phillips, Jeff Fun- nied by live performance elements – live I’m also going to make a series of 13
nell, Caelum Vatnsdal, Krisjanis Kaktins- music and sound effects, holographic four-minute films, which I’m calling Par-
Gorsline, Alicia Smith – and with them projections of a naked ghost wandering allels, with the collaboration of poet John
we set out to make collage pieces based throughout the theatre, perhaps gunfire, Ashbery. These films are little parallel
on a simple two-sentence outline of my and, going wholly Grand Guignol, universe narratives that use the same set-
next movie’s story. A collection of gallery- maybe even that old William Castle tings and characters as the feature-length
worthy work was the delightful result! prostate-tingler will be dusted off for KEYHOLE, but offer little narrative core
The work has already shown at Montreal’s long-overdue use! samples of the same world, but altered by
Dazibao Gallery and University of I’m determined to throw the kitchen the removal or radical alteration of cer-
Manitoba’s Gallery 111. sink – tastefully, innovatively – at this tain important story elements - intriguing
Not only have these new works from cinematic happening. little what-if glimpses into a conjectured,
other, brilliant sensibilities thrilled me, I’m also determined to gather as much conditional, film universe, one in which
they have actually steered my story into of the movie’s fascinating collateral mate- the feature’s main premises are turned
important new directions. Now, images, rial as I can and organize it into a show upside-down. n
not just words, are nudging, bumping, in- which will be installed at a gallery near
fluencing and sometimes even wrenching the movie’s exhibition venue. This will
the steering wheel of the new narrative! include all the collage work, the film’s
Shirley Gelskey
The Art of Innocence:
Children in Medicine
umanitoba.ca/research
30
2003/04
2004/05
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
0
Research Funds by Source 2007-08
Provincial
technology transfer office
Government other invention disclosures
12% 42% 80
73
70
60
54
50 46
Federal
Government 40 39
40
46% 35
30
Total: $161.7 million
20
2002/03
2003/04
2004/05
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
10