Here are some research projects available to undergraduates in various contexts (e.g. USRA). If you're interested in any of these, of if you have ideas of your own to discuss, please get in touch! Link back to my home page, with contact details

Project: Automated interpretation of video for detecting respiratory response in zebrafish

The goal of this project is to analyze/propose potential machine learning solutions which could automate and greatly improve the efficiency of video analysis of the behaviour of small organisms. The specific application is the determination of respiratory and heart rates from video footage of zebra fish embryos under a range of ambient conditions. Currently this is done by human assistants sequentially in small batches of individual embryos. If automated, this process could be performed across a wide range of chemical concentrations and help create a neurochemical profile of control of the hypoxic response in this model organism. Long-term aims of this are both to understand this control with its evolutionary implications, as well as to inform policies aimed at the preservation of water ecosystems. This project will be structured as a feasibility study. The student will analyze potential solutions and determine whether existing approaches can be customized to this application or whether a novel approach is warranted. In the latter case, a design sketch of this approach would form part of the final report and could lead to the future development - in a larger-scale subsequent project - of a prototype system in collaboration with the Department Biology at uOttawa and possibly an industrial partner.

This project is co-supervised with Dr. Maia Fraser



Project: Aerial spins of athletes

Click here for details

Project: Detecting lesions in neuroimages with neural networks

Click here for details