Research highlights
The Sentinel North teams are joining forces to generate knowledge and technological advances that lead to a better understanding of the changing northern environment. Below are a few selected impact research results.
Recent outcomes
Nanoparticles-doped Optical Fibers
In this study published in Scientific Reports, Fuertes et al. demonstrate as first time the possibility of fabricating tunable Rayleigh scattering enhanced nanoparticles-doped optical fibers. This is achieved by the tailoring of nanoparticle features during the fabrication process, opening a new path for future works in the field of long-range distributed sensing, from 5 m to more than 200 m.
Read the article
Bioclimatic Design in the Arctic
Master of Architecture students win two awards in the American Institute of Architects' annual competition. This interdisciplinary success combines architecture, computer vision, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, acoustics and plant science.
Read more on Ulaval Nouvelles (French only).
Key Role of Viruses in Northern Ecosystems
Université Laval researchers specializing in ecology and genomics, along with Anne Jungblut, a researcher at the Natural History Museum in London, have produced the first genomic portrait of cyanobacteria that play a key role in northern ecosystems, using state-of-the-art CRISPR-Cas technology.
Read the full news
Health-Environments Interactions in the North
Early results from Sentinel North are shedding light on the complex interactions between human health and the environment in the North through convergence research and the development of new approaches and innovative technologies.
View full version
Selected results
Below are a few selected impact research results that have been released as scientific articles, publications or presentations.
We also invite you to check out the complete Sentinel North Publications list, as well as our Activity Reports.
A decadal perspective on north water microbial eukaryotes as Arctic Ocean sentinels
- In Scientific Reports, Freyria et al. provide a decadal perspective of the phenology and diversity of microbial eukaryote communities in Northern Arctic waters. Through their work, they show the persistence of summer sentinel microbial taxa and a subset of fall sentinel oceanic dinoflagellates
- In this study published in Limnology & Oceanography, Pilla and Couture present an update to the MyLake ecosystem model that dynamically links changes in organic carbon in lakes with responses in water clarity and penetration of both visible light and ultraviolet radiation.
Perspective: Nutritional Strategies Targeting the Gut Microbiome to Mitigate COVID-19 Outcomes
- In this Advances in Nutrition review, Daoust et al. explored the role of potential nutritional strategies, that is polyphenol, probiotic, vitamin D and omega-3, to target the gut microbiome and mitigate COVID-19 disease outcomes. The authors refer to two groups of the population at higher risk of developing a severe form of the disease: elderly people and individuals with pre-existing metabolic comorbidities.
Communicating with Northerners on the absence of SARS-CoV-2 in migratory snow geese
- This study published in Écoscience by C. Frederick et al. explains how, from 1000 snow geese samples, the absence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was confirmed in these migratory birds. This project allowed to rapidly communicate the results with Northerners before their hunting period.
- Based on lipid analyses in filter-feeding benthic molluscs, Amiraux et al. were able to demonstrate the effectiveness of pelagic-benthic coupling in the Arctic as well as the importance of sympagic production in the supply of essential fatty acids to benthic organisms.
Deep learning-enabled framework for automatic lens design starting point generation
- In Optics Express, Côté et al. present a deep learning framework to generate high-quality lens design starting points. The framework is readily accessible through a web application.
- In Limnology & Oceanography, Vilgrain et al. used images from an underwater imaging system deployed under the ice and showed how copepod morphology (size, color) and posture (activity, rest) vary with sea ice dynamics and spring phytoplankton growth.