Inside this issue:

Manning Young Canadian

Innovation Award Winners

Pages 2-3

Manning Innovation

Achievement Winners

Page 4

Happy Anniversary!

Page 4

The 2006 Canada-Wide Science Fair

(CWSF) in Saguenay, Québec was

a fermentation vat of innovation. The 460

finalists presented 369 projects in

areas ranging from

Biotechnology and

Pharmaceuticals to Earth and

Environmental Science.

Manning Innovation Awards

totaling $20,000 went to nine

CWSF finalists.

This year’s science fair, held at

the University of Québec at Chicoutimi

campus in May, was the first ever “zero

waste, carbon neutral” CWSF. Facilitators

and participants joined in an effort to cre-

ate as little waste as possible by compost-

ing, recycling, and using less

printer paper. This summer,

black spruce trees are being

planted to compensate for

greenhouse gas emissions pro-

duced from fair-related travel,

cooking, and heating.

The CWSF is a project of the

Youth Science Foundation of Canada.

This is the 15th year that the Manning

Awards Foundation has supported the fair.

Saluting Young Canadian Innovation

IINNNNOOVVAATTIISS

Volume 7, Issue 2August 2006

Students Give 100 Percent Effort at

“Zero Waste, Carbon Neutral” Science Fair

The Alberta Ingenuity

Fund is helping us to mark

our silver anniversary with

the support of special

events and publicity.

Welcome to the

25th Anniversary

Sponsor

As part of its 25th AnniversaryCelebrations, the Ernest C.

Manning Awards Foundation is hostingthe first interactive presentation eventInnovate! Celebrate!! Educate!!! withpast Manning Innovation AwardLaureates and science students (juniorhigh through post secondary) on theS.A.I.T. campus, Orpheus TheatreThursday, September 28 and Friday,September 29. Laureates will speak withyoung Albertans about their experience

and the process that they followed indeveloping their innovative ideas. Inaddition, six of the 2006 Young CanadianInnovation Award winners will be pres-ent with their winning projects from theCanada-Wide Science Fair.

This will no doubt be an interesting andinspirational program for those who wishto see by successful example how toadvance their ideas and dreams.

Our thanks to Alberta Ingenuity Fundfor their support of the “ICE” program.

Want something cool this fall? “ICE” it…

Ingenuity knows no limit...

Saluting Young Canadian InnovationPage 2

Targeting Cancer Cells

Winnipeg, Manitoba’s Ted

Paranjothy came away with a

Manning Innovation Award for taking

on cancer-treatment at the level of the

cell. He also won the Silver Medal—

Biotechnology and

P h a r m a c e u t i c a l

Sciences for his non-

toxic approach to

chemotherapy.

Paranjothy, now 17, is entering

Grade 12 this fall. He completed his

research at the Manitoba Institute of

Cell Biology at CancerCare Manitoba.

Using genetic engineering,

Paranjothy harnessed the natural anti-

cancer properties of a viral protein to

kill cancer cells. The protein, called

apoptin, can induce programmed cell

death in cancer cells without harming

nearby healthy cells. Natural apoptin

is not useful for cancer-treatment,

however, in part because it cannot pen-

etrate cancer cells.

Paranjothy analyzed the structure of

apoptin to see if a segment of it

could be used to target cancer

cells. He then designed

apoptin fragments that

looked promising and

added a piece of another

virus to allow the apoptin

fragments to get inside tumor cells.

The success of the apoptin-derived

fragments to penetrate cancer cells and

induce their destruction makes

Paranjothy hopeful that a similar tech-

nique could one day be used to treat

cancer patients.

Ted Paranjothy

All Natural Cornboard for

Environmentally Sound Building

Fields of cobless cornstalks were

on Philip Schmidt’s mind

when he developed and

tested cornboard, an envi-

ronmentally-friendly alter-

native to wood and particle

board.

Schmidt, 18, received

the Canadian Commission

for UNESCO—Science

for Peace and Development

Award, and the Silver

Medal—Biotechnology and

Pharmaceutical Sciences in

addition to the Manning

Innovation Award.

Schmidt, who has one more year of

high school in Woodville, Ontario,

invented cornboard for a previous

science fair.

In his most recent science

fair project, he demonstrat-

ed that cornboard has the

benefits of light-weight

particleboard and medium-

density fibre board, without

the toxic, sometimes carcinogenic

chemicals. Cornboard, which is

made of corn fibres and hide glue

left over from agricultural process-

ing, can be more flame-retardant and

water-resistant than traditional boards.

Philip Schmidt

$4500 Young CanadianInnovation Award

Winners

Proud Sponsor of theManning Young Canadian

Innovation Awards

Colby Mainil &Michael Ehman

Donated by The Dave Mitchell Family

Saluting Young Canadian InnovationPage 3

“Rebirthing” Neurons to

Fight Parkinson’s Disease

Sami Obaïd of Laval, Québec, won

a Manning Young Canadian

Innovation Award for showing how the

neural degeneration causing

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) might be

reversed.

PD symptoms result from the

loss of dopamine-producing

neurons of the brain. Without

the chemical messenger

dopamine to carry signals

from one neuron to another,

the patient loses vol-

untary muscle control.

Obaid’s project chal-

lenges the standard

notion that brain damage

is irreversible because

neurons cannot divide.

For his project, which he completed at

the Montreal Neurological Institute of

McGill University, Obaïd

coaxed rat brain stem

cells to develop into

neurons, and then back

again into neural stem cells.

After adding a gene for

dopamine-production, he used

them to grow new adult neu-

rons.

Obaïd, who has a final year

of CÉGEP before university,

won several awards and poten-

tial scholarships for his proj-

ect, Renaissance du neu-

rone!, including the Silver

Medal—Health Sciences

and an Undergraduate

Research Scholarship from the

University of Ottawa.

Sami Obaid

sponsored byThe Arthur J. E. Child

Foundation

Weyburn, Saskatchewan’s Michael

Ehman and Colby Mainil shared

a Manning Innovation Award for their

design of a step-climbing wheelchair. The

chair allows someone in a standard, man-

ual wheelchair to safely climb a single step

or curb in just 30 seconds.

We climb so many steps in a day, notes

Ehman. For someone

in a wheelchair “a

three-inch step can

be like a 10-foot

wall.”

Ehman and

Mainil, now both

18, used Computer

Aided Design (CAD) soft-

ware to design a climbing

apparatus that would need no electronics

or hydraulics. They built prototypes using

two donated manual wheelchairs and

scrap iron and wood. After testing the pro-

totypes they improved on their design and

hit on one that would allow the wheelchair

to easily back up over a step.

The user need only move some pins and

levers to get the chair to climb. The climb-

ing apparatus is easily installed and can be

tucked out of the way when not in use.

Ehman and Mainil, who will be attend-

ing the University of Saskatchewan this

fall, say they want to improve the climb-

ing apparatus by making it even lighter,

safer, and more user-friendly. Even so,

the simple mechanics of the current

design make it inexpensive and effective.

Step-Climbing Wheelchair

$4500 Young CanadianInnovation Award

Winners

Saluting Young Canadian InnovationPage 4

$500 Manning Innovation

Achievement Award Winners

What do photodynamic anti-cancer

therapy, biogas, bullet proof

vests, and teaching tools have in common?

These were the topics tackled by the 2006

Manning Innovation Achievement Award

Winners.

Grade 11 student Kayla Cornale from

Burlington, Ontario won an Achievement

Award for the

second phase

of her teaching

s y s t e m ,

Sounds into

Syl lables™.

The system

employs musi-

cal sounds to

help children

with autism

o v e r c o m e

social and

communica-

tion difficulties.

Cornale also

won the Encana Best in Fair Award and the

EnCana Platinum Award for Best Senior

Project.

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan’s Benjamin

Leis won an Achievement Award for find-

ing a more effective way to capture energy

from waste. The grade 11 student experi-

mented with ways to optimize the amount

of biogas produced by the microbial break-

down of agricultural waste.

Darren Schulte, a grade 11 student from

Edmonton, Alberta received an

Achievement Award for developing a

unique armored vest. The vest, which is

made of high-strength fibres and polycar-

bonate, held up

in professional

tests.

Sean Bhalla, a

high school sen-

ior from

Miss i ssauga ,

Ontario was

recognized with

an Achievement

Award for his

p r o j e c t ,

“Photodynamic

Therapy: A Red

Light for

C a n c e r . ”

Photodynamic therapy uses light-activated

drugs to destroy tumors. A drawback of the

therapy is its phototoxicity to healthy skin

cells. Bhalla developed and tested two pig-

ment-based drugs, and found one that

specifically targets tumor cells, thereby

reducing the risk of skin damage.

For 25 years, the Ernest C. ManningAwards Foundation has recognized and

encouraged innovation in Canada. The Laureates/Science Student Program will

bring together Manning Award Laureates andstudents for presentations and discussion.

Special publicity will highlight the achieve-ments of this year’s award winners. Publicservice announcements airing across the coun-

try will tell Canadians about their nation’sinnovators.

Production of a video tribute is also under-way. The video will highlight a quarter centu-ry of awards and the contributions of foundersDavid Mitchell and the Honourable Ernest C.Manning. The video will be premiered at theCalgary Awards Gala on September 29th,2006.

Manning

Innovation

Awards

Mailing address:

PO Box 2850,

Calgary AB T2P 2S5

Street address:

38th Floor,

421 - 7th Ave. SW,

Calgary AB

T2P 4K9

Telephone:

(403) 645-8277

Fax:

(403) 645-8320

Established in 1980, theErnest C. Manning AwardsFoundation was named inhonour of, and under the

patronage of, a statesmanwhose own innovative ideasprovided much inspiration

during half a century of public service.

L-R, Sean Bhalla, Kayla Cornale, Benjamin Leis, Darren Schulte

Celebrating 25 Years of Innovation

We’re on the web:www.manningawards.ca