Campus Notices
Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in Canada and every three days, someone on PEI is diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
March is Colorectal Cancer Screening Month. Current colorectal cancer screening guidelines on PEI recommend a FIT test (fecal immunochemical test) every two years for Islanders aged 50-74 years of age for average risk individuals. If you are at a higher risk for colorectal cancer (positive family history, blood in the stool, history of colorectal cancer, notice a change in bowel movements, unexplained weight loss, vomiting, experience long-standing diarrhea or constipation) then you should have a colonoscopy and this can be arranged at the 乐发IV Health & Wellness Centre.
The FIT test is available for anyone who is average risk and aged 50-74 at the 乐发IV Health & Wellness Centre, located on the second floor north at the W.A. Murphy Building (above the bookstore). If you identify as being higher risk, make an appointment to see a nurse practitioner at the health centre and they can review the screening that is best for you, referring for gastroenterology consult if necessary.
Detecting colorectal cancer at an earlier stage improves your chances of survival and avoidance of treatment. For more information, check out .
The Robertson Library invites the campus community to a candidate presentation for the library鈥檚 permanent-track position of Clinical Librarian.
Candidate: Mr. Jarrod Irwin
Title: evidence-based medicine for undergraduate medical learners
When: Friday, March 28, 2025
Where: Robertson Library, Room 264
At 10:30, Mr. Irwin will give a 45-minute demonstration, on evidence-based medicine for undergraduate medical learners, with 15 minutes for questions and answers.
Jarrod holds an ALA-accredited Master of Library and Information Studies degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently the Behavioral and Health Sciences Librarian at Eastern Michigan University.
Library Appointments Committee: Kim Mears, (Chair), Rosie Le Faive, Lisa Chilton (History), Sarah Peddle (Medicine), Tammie Muise (Medicine), Joe Gordon (AVC/Medicine)
The third in this series of President's town halls for the 2025 winter academic semester is called "It's Easy 'Bein' Green'!"
For this town hall, we have invited students to bring forward their ideas for actions that 乐发IV and its community members can take quickly and easily to enhance our environmental sustainability and reduce negative environmental impact on the University campus.
Students will provide very brief presentations on what actions could be taken from their points of view. The audience will be able to commit to green-enhancing activities too!
President's Town Hall: It鈥檚 Easy 鈥淏ein鈥� Green!鈥�
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
11:00 am鈥�12:00 pm
Amphitheatre, Performing Arts Centre and Residence building (PAC121S)
If you are unable to attend in person, you are welcome to join us virtually at this .
The Faculty of Science Graduate Committee invites the campus community to two student seminars on Friday, March 21, at 12:30 pm in the Duffy Science Centre, Room 204.
Tayah Sommer (MSc-HB, Murphy's Lab, Biology), will be presenting "Investigating the role of 3-Hydroxyanthranilic acid in breast cancer metabolism" while Dylan MacLennan (PhD-ESC, Feneque's Lab, SCCA) will be presenting "Achieving energy sovereignty in First Nations".
Everyone is welcome.
On March 27, the 乐发IV Wind Symphony, under the direction of Dale Sorensen, will present a concert of music on the theme of exploration-of nature, space, sound, and self. The program will include an arrangement of Bedrich Smetana鈥檚 Vltava (The Moldau), alongside evocative works by Julie Giroux (Mystery on Mena Mountain), Judith Zaimont (City Rain), and Canadian composer Nova Pon (Tilting Sunward). Of special note will be the performance of Rescue by PEI-born composer E.K.R. (Evan) Hammell, a former student at 乐发IV. Rounding out the program will be works by Andrew Boysen, Jr. (I Am), Giovanni Gabrieli (Canzon in Double Echo for three antiphonal brass choirs), Yukiko Nishimura (Star Ship), and Dana Wilson (Sang!).
Tickets are available in advance at or by cash at the door. Admission is $20 for adults and $10 for students.
Accessible parking is available, and the recital hall has an accessible entrance via elevator.
Title: Repurposing Biomass and Organic Waste into Engineered Biocarbon Materials
Presenter: Dr. Yulin Hu, assistant professor, Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering, 乐发IV
Date and Time: March 21, 2025, 1:30鈥�2:30 PM (Atlantic Time)
Registration: (The webinar is free, but registration is needed to receive the Zoom link).
Join the Catherine Callbeck Centre for Entrepreneurship for an engaging session on risk mitigation delivered by Permjot Valia! This in-person workshop will provide insight on what types of risk exist, how startups and organizations can categorize and prioritize risks, how risks can be perceived as opportunities, and what tools can be used to demonstrate risk to external stakeholders.
This event is part of the Harry W. MacLauchlan Entrepreneurship Program, but anyone from the public is welcome to attend!
The workshop is taking place in Catherine Callbeck Centre for Entrepreneurship, 201 Robertson Library on Wednesday, March 26 from 1:00-3:00 pm. You can register to attend the in-person workshop !
Permjot Valia (he/him) is a globally recognized mentor, facilitator and business coach. He founded MentorCamp and was Lead Mentor of Cape Breton鈥檚 Navigate Startup House. He served as a Mentor-in-Residence at the University of Arkansas Sam Walton School of Business and has helped multiple researchers commercialise their research. This work continues through the 3 day Lab2Market program he delivers across Canada to researchers. He is an expert pitch coach, with companies he has coached winning over $10m in prize money. Permjot serves on Boards of several startups, works with Dal Innovates, and lectures globally on business modelling, strategy and leadership.
The Catherine Callbeck Centre for Entrepreneurship is hosting a virtual workshop on pitching fundamentals on Tuesday, March 25, from 12:00-2:00 pm with world-renowned pitch coach Permjot Valia! Participants will learn tools, tips, and tricks around executing a business pitch effectively, efficiently, and engagingly!
This event is part of the Harry W. MacLauchlan Entrepreneurship Program, but anyone from the public is welcome to attend! Please note: AI notetakers will be prohibited from joining the session.
Register to attend the virtual workshop!
Permjot Valia (he/him) is co-founder at Nava Develop Inc., a business development firm serving innovation focused corporates, startup organizations and academic institutions. A globally recognized mentor, facilitator and business coach, he has led strategic planning successes for organizations throughout Canada鈥檚 innovation ecosystem. He founded MentorCamp and was Lead Mentor of Cape Breton鈥檚 Navigate Startup House. He is an expert pitch coach with companies he has coached winning over $10m in prize money. Permjot serves on Boards of several startups, works with Dal Innovates, and lectures globally on business modelling, strategy and leadership. He is passionate about contributing to Canada鈥檚 economic development and cultural success.
Join the Catherine Callbeck Centre for Entrepreneurship for an engaging session on risk mitigation delivered by Permjot Valia! This virtual workshop will provide insight on what types of risk exist, how startups and organizations can categorize and prioritize risks, how risks can be perceived as opportunities, and what tools can be used to demonstrate risk to external stakeholders.
This event is part of the Harry W. MacLauchlan Entrepreneurship Program, but anyone from the public is welcome to attend! Please note: AI notetakers will be prohibited from joining the session.
The workshop is taking place virtually on Tuesday, March 25 from 4:00-6:00 pm.
You can register to attend the virtual workshop !
Permjot Valia (he/him) is a globally recognized mentor, facilitator and business coach. He founded MentorCamp and was Lead Mentor of Cape Breton鈥檚 Navigate Startup House. He served as a Mentor-in-Residence at the University of Arkansas Sam Walton School of Business and has helped multiple researchers commercialise their research. This work continues through the 3 day Lab2Market program he delivers across Canada to researchers. He is an expert pitch coach, with companies he has coached winning over $10m in prize money. Permjot serves on Boards of several startups, works with Dal Innovates, and lectures globally on business modelling, strategy and leadership.
The 乐发IV Faculty of Education invites all to attend the public presentation of Paulina Huayamave Hernandez's PhD dissertation defense, "Transformative Teacher Education in Search of the Sumak Kawsay (the Good Living): A Mixed-Methods Study on Critical Global Citizenship Education in Ecuador" on March 27 at 11:30 am.
Please join us in person in Memorial Hall, Room 417 or via Zoom at
The Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre (SJDAWC) at the Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC) invites you to its three-part webinar series exploring animal welfare issues in small mammals kept as pets. This series will provide participants with insights on the care and welfare of small companion animals, with an emphasis on rabbits and rodents.
The webinars feature Dr. Lee Niel, Dr. Carol Tinga, and Dr. Dan O鈥橬eill, and will take place on April 15, 22, and 29, beginning at 4:00 pm.
Veterinarians and veterinary technicians are eligible for continuing education credit. The webinar cost is $50 per webinar, or $120 for all three. There will be no charge for students.
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: Participating veterinarians and veterinary technicians are eligible to earn one hour of RACE-accredited continuing education per webinar. Participants are required to attend the live webinar to earn this credit. RACE-program number: 20-1286545.
The third in this series of President's town halls for the 2025 winter academic semester is called "It's Easy 'Bein' Green'!"
For this town hall, we have invited students to bring forward their ideas for actions that 乐发IV and its community members can take quickly and easily to enhance our environmental sustainability and reduce negative environmental impact on the University campus.
Students will provide very brief presentations on what actions could be taken from their points of view. The audience will be able to commit to green-enhancing activities too!
President's Town Hall: It鈥檚 Easy 鈥淏ein鈥� Green!鈥�
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
11:00 am鈥�12:00 pm
Amphitheatre, Performing Arts Centre and Residence building (PAC121S)
If you are unable to attend in person, you are welcome to join us virtually at this .
The Faculty of Science Graduate Committee invites the campus community to two student seminars on Friday, March 21, at 12:30 pm in the Duffy Science Centre, Room 204.
Tayah Sommer (MSc-HB, Murphy's Lab, Biology), will be presenting "Investigating the role of 3-Hydroxyanthranilic acid in breast cancer metabolism" while Dylan MacLennan (PhD-ESC, Feneque's Lab, SCCA) will be presenting "Achieving energy sovereignty in First Nations".
Everyone is welcome.
The 乐发IV Philosophy reading group will meet on Thursday, March 20, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. in downtown Charlottetown (the exact location is TBD). All are welcome.
During this gathering, we will discuss Mark Fisher's Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? The following passages capture the spirit of the book:
"It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism"
"Capitalist realism insists on treating mental health as if it were a natural fact, like weather (but, then again, weather is no longer a natural fact so much as a political-economic effect). In the 1960s and 1970s, radical theory and politics (Laing, Foucault, Deleuze and Guattari, etc.) coalesced around extreme mental conditions such as schizophrenia, arguing, for instance, that madness was not a natural, but a political, category. But what is needed now is a politicization of much more common disorders. Indeed, it is their very commonness which is the issue: in Britain, depression is now the condition that is most treated by the NHS. In his book The Selfish Capitalist, Oliver James has convincingly posited a correlation between rising rates of mental distress and the neoliberal mode of capitalism practiced in countries like Britain, the USA and Australia. In line with James鈥檚 claims, I want to argue that it is necessary to reframe the growing problem of stress (and distress) in capitalist societies. Instead of treating it as incumbent on individuals to resolve their own psychological distress, instead, that is, of accepting the vast privatization of stress that has taken place over the last thirty years, we need to ask: how has it become acceptable that so many people, and especially so many young people, are ill?" - M. Fisher
If you would like to attend, please reach out to Dr. Max Schaefer at mschaefer@upei.ca for more information.
Title: Repurposing Biomass and Organic Waste into Engineered Biocarbon Materials
Presenter: Dr. Yulin Hu, assistant professor, Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering, 乐发IV
Date and Time: March 21, 2025, 1:30鈥�2:30 PM (Atlantic Time)
Registration: (The webinar is free, but registration is needed to receive the Zoom link).
The 乐发IV Bookstore now has Class of 2025 hoodies and crews along with grad bears, key chains, mugs and more. Shop online 24/7 at .
The call for Three Minute Thesis (3MT) participants is now open. To check eligibility and register, complete the 2025 乐发IV Three Minute Thesis participant . Deadline to register is Monday, April 21, 2025 at 4:00 pm.
What is Three Minute Thesis?
The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) challenges thesis-based master's and doctoral students to explain their research project to a non-specialist audience in just three minutes.
Prizes for the top three presenters, and the winner of the 乐发IV 3MT progresses to represent 乐发IV at the regional competition.
Participants will develop presentation and communication skills and share their research with a broad audience.
Participants will be supported by three optional workshops, including:
- Planning your 3MT
- Designing your visuals
- Presentation skills and practice
The Faculty of Graduate Studies will be hosting the 3MT competition on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, from 5:00-7:00 pm at the Fox & Crow, W.A. Murphy Student Centre.
Check eligibility and register by completing the 2025 乐发IV Three Minute Thesis participant .
The Catherine Callbeck Centre for Entrepreneurship is hosting a virtual workshop on pitching fundamentals on Tuesday, March 25, from 12:00-2:00 pm with world-renowned pitch coach Permjot Valia! Participants will learn tools, tips, and tricks around executing a business pitch effectively, efficiently, and engagingly!
This event is part of the Harry W. MacLauchlan Entrepreneurship Program, but anyone from the public is welcome to attend! Please note: AI notetakers will be prohibited from joining the session.
Register to attend the virtual workshop!
Permjot Valia (he/him) is co-founder at Nava Develop Inc., a business development firm serving innovation focused corporates, startup organizations and academic institutions. A globally recognized mentor, facilitator and business coach, he has led strategic planning successes for organizations throughout Canada鈥檚 innovation ecosystem. He founded MentorCamp and was Lead Mentor of Cape Breton鈥檚 Navigate Startup House. He is an expert pitch coach with companies he has coached winning over $10m in prize money. Permjot serves on Boards of several startups, works with Dal Innovates, and lectures globally on business modelling, strategy and leadership. He is passionate about contributing to Canada鈥檚 economic development and cultural success.
Join the Catherine Callbeck Centre for Entrepreneurship for an engaging session on risk mitigation delivered by Permjot Valia! This virtual workshop will provide insight on what types of risk exist, how startups and organizations can categorize and prioritize risks, how risks can be perceived as opportunities, and what tools can be used to demonstrate risk to external stakeholders.
This event is part of the Harry W. MacLauchlan Entrepreneurship Program, but anyone from the public is welcome to attend! Please note: AI notetakers will be prohibited from joining the session.
The workshop is taking place virtually on Tuesday, March 25 from 4:00-6:00 pm.
You can register to attend the virtual workshop !
Permjot Valia (he/him) is a globally recognized mentor, facilitator and business coach. He founded MentorCamp and was Lead Mentor of Cape Breton鈥檚 Navigate Startup House. He served as a Mentor-in-Residence at the University of Arkansas Sam Walton School of Business and has helped multiple researchers commercialise their research. This work continues through the 3 day Lab2Market program he delivers across Canada to researchers. He is an expert pitch coach, with companies he has coached winning over $10m in prize money. Permjot serves on Boards of several startups, works with Dal Innovates, and lectures globally on business modelling, strategy and leadership.
Title of the Thesis 鈥淚mmunomodulatory and Antimicrobial Properties of Peptide-modified Surfaces鈥�
Abstract:
Macrophages are critical regulators of immune response, inflammation, and tissue repair. Modulating macrophage behavior by physical (nanopatterned surfaces) and chemical methods (host defense peptides, HDPs) offers significant therapeutic potential, particularly in controlling infections, inflammation, tissue regeneration, and cancer immunity. In this study, HDPs and nanopatterned surfaces are combined in a single approach to modulate macrophage polarization and antimicrobial efficacies. mCA4, an HDP developed in Ahmed laboratory at the 乐发IV (乐发IV) was evaluated for its mechanism of immunomodulation upon macrophage treatment, and was found to trigger intracellular signaling pathways, including (phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase) (PI3K)/ protein kinase B(Akt), extracellular signal-regulated kinase(ERK), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-魏B), via toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4). To improve peptide stability and bioavailability, mCA4 was immobilized on thermally cross-linked PVA and poly (MAAc) cicada wing-inspired nanopatterned surfaces, via a Layer-by-Layer (LbL) deposition method demonstrating controlled peptide release over time.
The antimicrobial properties of untreated nanopatterned surfaces showed significantly higher antimicrobial activity due to their topographical features. However, immobilization of mCA4 on the surfaces, had detrimental effects on antimicrobial properties, likely due to peptide release dynamics and enhanced bacterial attachment, preventing direct mechanical damage by nanopillared surfaces to the bacterial membranes. Furthermore, macrophages polarization studies revealed on anti-inflammatory profile of bare surfaces and mCA4-modified surfaces shifted macrophage polarization towards a pro-inflammatory state, as a function of peptide concentration deposited on the surface. This study demonstrates the potential of integrating both chemical and physical strategies to modulate macrophage response and enhance antimicrobial activities for inflammatory disease treatment.
Friday March 21, 2025, 1:00 pm via web conference
If you wish to attend the public presentation, please contact the Graduate Studies Coordinator at gsc@upei.ca to receive the link.
