/innovation/articles/rss en /innovation/article/mcgill-innovation-fund-launches-4th-edition-major-support-desjardins <p>Ï㽶ÊÓƵ and Desjardins Group are teaming up to support research-based innovation. North America’s largest co-operative financial group will provide the McGill Innovation Fund (MIF) – the biggest entrepreneurial competition at McGill – with $500,000 over five years.</p> <p>The money will fund $100,000 in prizes each year for teams in the Deploy stage of the competition, for projects that have already started to implement their commercialization plan and can demonstrate that they have the potential to go much further.</p> Thu, 19 Sep 2024 13:24:58 +0000 Junji Nishihata 74438 at /innovation /innovation/article/antibiotic-free-treatment-infection-new-technology-potential-fight-against-antimicrobial-resistance <p>Although they were only used for the first time in 1910, antibiotics have become the foundation of modern medicine. In a world without antibiotics, a simple paper cut could lead to a deadly infection and infectious diseases were the leading cause of death. By some estimates, the invention of antibiotics have extended the average human lifespan by 23 years in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369527419300190#:~:text=In%20just%20over%20100%20years,peaked%20in%20the%20mid%2D1950s.">past century</a>.</p> Fri, 31 May 2024 16:57:28 +0000 Charlotte Bawol 74212 at /innovation /innovation/article/its-air-future-pathogen-detection <p>Four years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise. From the way people interacted, to the way they learned and worked, society changed in fundamental ways, and we are still processing the impact. One outcome was the increased concern about the air we breathe and the particles we inhale on a day-to-day basis. Before the advent of masks and social distancing, little thought was given to the air that surrounds us.</p> Thu, 09 May 2024 16:13:41 +0000 Charlotte Bawol 74170 at /innovation /innovation/article/mif-team-search-unicorn-battery-technology Professor Philippe Ouzilleau and Yee Wei Foong are creating an alternative to lithium-ion batteries which is less environmentally costly, and simpler to both manufacture and recycle. With the help of the McGill Innovation Fund (MIF) the team is getting closer to making this a reality. Fri, 15 Mar 2024 16:39:17 +0000 Charlotte Bawol 74046 at /innovation /innovation/article/matter-fact-it-rocket-science-iron-based-fuel-powered-mif New technology by McGill entrepreneurs and their spinoff Altiro Energy uses iron as a fuel alternative to greenhouse gas producing fossil fuels. With support from the McGill Iinnovation Fund (MIF), they aim to test the project on a commercial scale and decarbonize the future of energy. Thu, 01 Feb 2024 18:35:05 +0000 Charlotte Bawol 73941 at /innovation /innovation/article/shake-it-no-longer-future-energy-absorbers With the support of the McGill Innovation Fund, a team of McGill researchers are seeking to develop and commercialize a multistate lightweight shock absorbing technology that could transform safety equipment, reduce concussions, and contribute to sustainability. Fri, 12 Jan 2024 16:20:24 +0000 Charlotte Bawol and Junji Nishihata 73917 at /innovation /innovation/article/third-running-mif-turns-focus-antimicrobial-resistance <p>Innovation is alive and well at McGill. That is one of the many conclusions one can draw from the latest round of the McGill Innovation Fund (MIF). Now in its third year, the MIF – one of the largest entrepreneurial funding programs at the University – attracted a broad variety of applications from disciplines as varied as Architecture, Genetics and Ophthalmology.</p> Fri, 12 Jan 2024 14:21:36 +0000 Charlotte Bawol and Junji Nishihata 73915 at /innovation /innovation/article/dont-throw-nutrients-out-growing-water-making-hydroponics-more-efficient <p>If you go to the grocery store in Montreal, you will likely buy fresh produce. Let’s say, you get a pack of Driscoll strawberries. You may not realize it, but those strawberries are grown in California and had to travel over 4,500 km to get to you, polluting the environment every kilometer of the way.</p> Mon, 18 Dec 2023 20:50:10 +0000 Charlotte Bawol 73868 at /innovation /innovation/article/longer-cell-life-paves-way-drug-discovery <p>We should all be thankful for the advances of modern medicine, particularly over the last decades. Cancer, for example, once considered a death sentence, is steadily being beaten back. Since 1991 mortality rates from this disease have <a href="https://www.cancer.org/research/acs-research-news/facts-and-figures-2022.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">declined by 33% in the US.</a> Much of this improvement is due to the development of new drugs. </p> Wed, 06 Dec 2023 21:20:29 +0000 Charlotte Bawol and Junji Nishihata 73828 at /innovation /innovation/article/better-coating-better-implants <p>Ever since the first pacemaker was implanted into a human body back in 1958, the use of medical devices has grown to the point where it is now a routine affair. In Canada, there were over 700,000 surgeries to implant some kind of device into a patient in 2018-19. And in the US, it is estimated that as many as 10% of Americans have some kind of medical device implanted in their body. With our society aging and requiring things like hip and knee replacements, this trend is set to continue.</p> Thu, 16 Nov 2023 16:02:52 +0000 Charlotte Bawol and Junji Nishihata 73798 at /innovation