#Prairies

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

18 hours ago

🎧 Sha la la la la la live for today 🎶
Mum is vibing this afternoon. This makes me a happy poodle because it means going to a big park for walkies 😊 🐩🐾
#poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors #urbanpoodlecollective

Dave

@albatrossity.bsky.social

1 day ago

Rear view of a small brown-streaked bird perched on a weathered fencepost

Today’s Alt #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Abstract — Any capture showing feather patterns, reflections, or unusual framing.

Grasshopper Sparrow, Nebraska 2022

#Birds #NaturePhotography #Nature #Wildlife #BirdPhotography #Sparrows #Prairies #FlyoverCountry

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

1 day ago

First paw prints! 🐩🐾🐾❄️
#poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors #urbanpoodlecollective

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

1 day ago

Helping mum feed the birds because mum needs the supervision. She's so useless without me. 😉🐾🐩❤️
#poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors #birdfeeder #helping #urbanpoodle

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

2 days ago

Jacket weather is back ☹️🐩
#poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors #urbanpoodle

jmcsphoto

@jmcsphoto.bsky.social

2 days ago

Tall grass //

A deer keeps her eyes on me as we both meander through a meadow in the Alberta foothills.

#deer #whitetail #photography
#wildlife #wildlifephotography
#nature #naturephotography
#prairie #prairies #alberta #canada

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

3 days ago

Just dig your claws in mum. That's how I run without slipping. 🐾🐾🐩 Woof!
#poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors #won'tlookwednesday #urbanpoodle

C.

@cazabon.mindly.social.ap.brid.gy

4 days ago

False spring on the #prairies: out shovelling snow in shirtsleeves.

#spring #SK #snow

Lilu L. Bean 🇨🇦

@lilu-bean.bsky.social

5 days ago

That boney little runners bum😅 #dogsofbluesky #canadianpoodle #greatwhitenorth #prairies #outdoors #hiking

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

5 days ago

Mine & @lilu-bean.bsky.social 's mummies took us on a morning adventure. Notice the exact moment I knew a mouse was under the snow. Apparently because we were in a #provincialpark mum wouldn't let us kill it. Mums are no fun 😤
#poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors #shenanigans

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

6 days ago

Miss Xev got caught in a flash downpour. Be kind. She is sensitive about her rain induced flat top. 🌧🐩☹️
#poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors #urbanpoodle #rainstorm

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

1 week ago

No boots! No jacket! Happy Saturday 😀🐩🐾🎉
#poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors #urbanpoodle

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

1 week ago

Operation Walkies completed with Miss Xev's bark or die, the Yang to her Yin, the bedlam to her order, Miss chaotic good herself, Xev's little sister, Miss Lilu L. Bean @lilu-bean.bsky.social
#poodles #DogsOfBluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors #winter #snow

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

1 week ago

Throwback Thursday to snowshoeing with mum and my baby sister Lilu @lilu-bean.bsky.social
#tbt #throwbackthursday #poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors #snowshoeing #winter

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

1 week ago

Mum took me on a shorter walk this afternoon. Something about "Fluff these snowdrifts!" except she didn't say fluff.
#winterstorm #wontlookwednesday #poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors

LLMs

@llms.activitypub.awakari.com.ap.brid.gy

1 week ago

Syantra’s breast cancer blood test isn’t looking for cancer at all The mammogram has been the gold standard for breast cancer detection since at least the 1960s, helping to lower mortality rates and catch tumours sooner. But what if there’s an even more effective way to screen for tumors? > > “The magic really happens in the technology; having the ability to bring that innovation to a real, user-friendly, and available format.” > > Bob Shepherd, > Syantra Imagine a screening method that’s more accurate in early detection than a mammogram and less expensive than an MRI. That’s the idea behind a breast cancer blood test that Calgary’s Syantra hopes to bring to market this summer. Founded in 2016, Syantra spun out of the University of Calgary, where co-founders Dr. Kristina Rinker and Bob Shepherd were developing a biomarker and drug discovery platform that could detect unique patterns of gene expression. While initially focused on cardiovascular disease, Rinker and Shepherd later applied the technology to breast cancer, developing a proprietary biomarker combination for the disease. Unlike a traditional cancer-catching blood test, Syantra’s test—Onco-ID— doesn’t actually screen for cancer at all. In a standard cancer blood test, physicians look for what’s known as circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), which are dead cells and remnants of DNA sloughed off by cancerous tumours. Onco-ID instead looks for patterns of gene expression in the blood that indicate the body’s immune response to cancer. By measuring those signals, the test can triangulate cancer’s presence long before enough ctDNA has been shed to be detected in a standard test. Based on those signals, Onco-ID uses machine learning to scan for a unique set of biomarkers indicative of breast cancer. “It’s a pretty standard process,” Shepherd told BetaKit. “The magic really happens in the technology; having the ability to bring that innovation to a real, user-friendly, and available format.” ### A problem in need of solutions Syantra’s test comes at a time when breast cancer rates are rising, but also as health officials are increasingly recognizing the limitations of traditional mammography in early-stage detection. Roughly 40 percent of women have what’s known as high breast density—an attribute where the breast is made up of more fibrous and glandular tissues than fatty ones. While incredibly common, women with higher breast density are more susceptible to breast cancer, according to the US Centre for Disease Control. Alarmingly still, the condition can also obscure tumours during mammograms, prompting the US Food and Drug Administration to update its regulations around mammography in 2024 to require breast density reporting. Syantra sees its test as a solution to that problem. The company has been in the process of commercialization for several years, even going so far as to run a pilot project in 2021 that saw the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons approve the test’s rollout in Calgary. Syantra has since ceased that pilot project, choosing to go back to clinical trials in a diversified format after the COVID-19 pandemic ended. In its early days, Alberta Innovates supported the company, and it has also continued its relationship with the University of Calgary throughout its years as a private company, as well as working in concert with Cornell University in the US. Most recently, the company received a $2.4-million USD grant from the US Department of Defence, which Rinker says is interested in the logistical opportunities a non-invasive blood test offers for military personnel stationed away from oncology departments or mammography machines. Onco-ID uses machine learning to scan for a unique set of biomarkers indicative of breast cancer. Now, Syantra is preparing for a more widespread and formal dive into commercialization, as it wraps up years’ worth of human trials in Canada, the US, and the United Kingdom. Rob Lozuk, Syantra’s CEO, told BetaKit in an interview that Syantra is planning to release its updated clinical trial data around May of this year, with its early-access program slated to be available to the public in select locations across Canada, Europe, and the US this summer. “Data is king. You need to establish statistical relevance. You need to establish statistical power. That’s what the last eight years have been spent on. The culmination of all that work and the foundational study that will be released in the coming months has been years of work,” Lozuk said. That work has also been critical in ensuring that provincial healthcare authorities in Canada and private insurers in the US can cover the costs of the tests. Right now, Lozuk said Syantra has comparable testing costs to Cologuard (a stool test for colon cancer), at just over $500 per test. Internally, the company has modelled its cost around a viable cost of around $350. “We’re working with all the organizations, clinicians, and opinion leaders to get [Onco-ID] to more reimbursement, then to more extensive coverage, and then, eventually, to being incorporated into clinical guidelines. Approval and market access are a kind of first step in that pathway,” Rinker said. ### Variants Onco-ID is, thus far, breast cancer specific, and while Syantra has ongoing projects to adapt machine learning toward lung and pancreatic cancer, the company isn’t trying to be everything to everyone. Some tests, like Galleri or CancerGuard’s multi-cancer early detection test, can screen for more than 50 cancer variants. Lozuk said Syantra is trying to focus on tackling problems one at a time. **RELATED:Altis Labs closes $7.9 million CAD to evaluate cancer treatments using AI** “We’re focused as a company on solving very distinct problems like the one with breast cancer,” Lozuk said. “It’s not ‘go get an annual blood test, and we’ll tell you what type of cancer, but we only get it right 10 percent of the time.’ We’re going to get it right, but we’re going to tackle that one by one.” Still, the opportunity exists. As Shepherd puts it, it’s mostly about training machine learning software to recognize the distinct markers of different types of cancer and differentiate between their commonalities and differences. “What we’re doing is leveraging that commonality between how the body or how cancer reacts with immune cells, and now we’re specifying what that patterning looks like,” he said. “What are the particular biomarkers for the different cancers so that the overall concept can now be turned into individual tests?” _BetaKit’s Prairies reporting is_ _funded in part by YEGAF_ _, a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta._ _All images courtesy Syantra._

Syantra’s breast cancer blood test isn’t looking for cancer at all Calgary startup plans a summer launch for Onco-ID, a breast cancer test built around immune signals. The post Syantra’s brea...

#Canadian #Startup #News #Alberta #Calgary #Healthtech #Prairies

Origin | Interest | Match

Jo Weiss

@parisindy.bsky.social

1 week ago

Rabbit footprints in the snow

Hopping down the bunny trail (jack rabbit)

#photography #naturephotography #nature #animalphotography #thewildimages #Canada #prairies #blueskyphotography

LLMs

@llms.activitypub.awakari.com.ap.brid.gy

1 week ago

Manitoba looks to spur more investment with tax credit ceiling raise The Government of Manitoba is hoping an $8-million increase to its venture capital tax credit cap will spur private investment and accelerate growth in the prairie province’s burgeoning startup scene. Late last month, Manitoba announced it would raise the Small Business Venture Capital Tax Credit program’s annual cap from $22 million to $30 million. The tax credit allows investors in Manitoba-based small businesses to receive tax credits equal to a percentage of their investment. By increasing that annual cap rate, the Province will be able to dole out more credits to more investors each year. > The increase is intended to coincide with an uptick in investment in Manitoba companies. Announced by innovation and new technology minister Mike Moroz, the increase is intended to coincide with an uptick in investment in Manitoba companies. In 2025, investment in Manitoba jumped to $127 million, compared to just $4 million in 2024, according to the Canadian Venture Capital Private Equity Association’s recent report. “With increased economic growth and development in Manitoba, this important tax credit change will increase investment to meet market demand,” Moroz said in a statement on Feb. 26. That $127 million spike in investment looks huge on its face, but in context, it’s important to note that the bulk of that figure stems from just a few large deals with Taiv and Conquest Planning, both out of Winnipeg. It’s also worth noting that 2024 was a particularly thin year for venture capital investment in Manitoba, with investment rates plummeting to $4 million in 2024 from $46 million in 2023. Beyond changes to the tax credit program’s annual cap, other revisions were announced. Manitoba will now formally recognize simple agreements for future equity (SAFEs) as eligible investment instruments under the tax credit program. SAFEs are a financing instrument that allows startups to raise early-stage capital without immediately issuing company stock shares. By including SAFEs under its tax credit, Manitoba joins other provinces, such as British Columbia and Saskatchewan, which have formally recognized SAFEs’ eligibility under similar tax credit programs. Other changes to the tax credit program’s investment rules include lowering the minimum investment threshold from $10,000 to $5,000 and expanding eligibility to include limited partnership organizations. _BetaKit’s Prairies reporting is_ _funded in part by YEGAF_ _, a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta._ Image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Mahesh Gupta.

Manitoba looks to spur more investment with tax credit ceiling raise Starting in April, small business venture capital tax credit will be capped at $30 million. The post Manitoba looks to spur mo...

#Canadian #Startup #News #Govt #Manitoba #Prairies #VC #Winnipeg

Origin | Interest | Match

LLMs

@llms.activitypub.awakari.com.ap.brid.gy

1 week ago

Manitoba looks to spur more investment with tax credit ceiling raise The Government of Manitoba is hoping an $8-million increase to its venture capital tax credit cap will spur private investment and accelerate growth in the prairie province’s burgeoning startup scene. Late last month, Manitoba announced it would raise the Small Business Venture Capital Tax Credit program’s annual cap from $22 million to $30 million. The tax credit allows investors in Manitoba-based small businesses to receive tax credits equal to a percentage of their investment. By increasing that annual cap rate, the Province will be able to dole out more credits to more investors each year. > The increase is intended to coincide with an uptick in investment in Manitoba companies. Announced by innovation and new technology minister Mike Moroz, the increase is intended to coincide with an uptick in investment in Manitoba companies. In 2025, investment in Manitoba jumped to $127 million, compared to just $4 million in 2024, according to the Canadian Venture Capital Private Equity Association’s recent report. “With increased economic growth and development in Manitoba, this important tax credit change will increase investment to meet market demand,” Moroz said in a statement on Feb. 26. That $127 million spike in investment looks huge on its face, but in context, it’s important to note that the bulk of that figure stems from just a few large deals with Taiv and Conquest Planning, both out of Winnipeg. It’s also worth noting that 2024 was a particularly thin year for venture capital investment in Manitoba, with investment rates plummeting to $4 million in 2024 from $46 million in 2023. Beyond changes to the tax credit program’s annual cap, other revisions were announced. Manitoba will now formally recognize simple agreements for future equity (SAFEs) as eligible investment instruments under the tax credit program. SAFEs are a financing instrument that allows startups to raise early-stage capital without immediately issuing company stock shares. By including SAFEs under its tax credit, Manitoba joins other provinces, such as British Columbia and Saskatchewan, which have formally recognized SAFEs’ eligibility under similar tax credit programs. Other changes to the tax credit program’s investment rules include lowering the minimum investment threshold from $10,000 to $5,000 and expanding eligibility to include limited partnership organizations. _BetaKit’s Prairies reporting is_ _funded in part by YEGAF_ _, a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta._ Image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Mahesh Gupta.

Manitoba looks to spur more investment with tax credit ceiling raise Starting in April, small business venture capital tax credit will be capped at $30 million. The post Manitoba looks to spur more...

#Canadian #Startup #News #Govt #Manitoba #Prairies #VC #Winnipeg

Origin | Interest | Match

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

1 week ago

Going on an adventure with mum. I don't think this is where the Starbarks is...
#poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors

Columbus - Feeds

@columbus.tomkahe.com.ap.brid.gy

1 week ago

You can now explore Columbus' newest Metro Park - Alissa Widman Neese

Cindy Crosby

@phrelanzer.bsky.social

1 week ago

Bird viewing tower overlooking nature preserve and trails through a sand prairie.

#6 in our “26 in 2026” attempt to hike 26 natural areas new to us in 26 different Illinois counties this year: Sue and Wes Dixon Waterfowl Refuge in Hennipen, IL. (Putnam County) #hiking #birding #nature #prairies #midwest

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

1 week ago

Finally it's no booties and no jacket weather! Happy first day of March!
#poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

2 weeks ago

Xev and her bark pack. Walk number 4! @lilu-bean.bsky.social
#poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors #walkies #shihtzu #friends

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

2 weeks ago

Afternoon walkies around the lake. Mum made me wear a coat because we have squall warnings.
#poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

2 weeks ago

Morning walkies, -5°C, no boots or jacket. Freedom!
#poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

2 weeks ago

I'm helping mum clear the snow off the patio. By helping I mean terrorising the squirrel. Squirrels can't be trusted 😤🐿🐩
#poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors #snow #shenanigans

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

2 weeks ago

Queen of the park ... bench 🐩👑
#poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors #lovemydog #winter

Miss Xev🇨🇦

@xevvex.bsky.social

2 weeks ago

The older she gets the more frosted she looks.
#poodles #dogsofbluesky #prairies #greatwhitenorth #outdoors #frosty #lovemydog

Lilu L. Bean 🇨🇦

@lilu-bean.bsky.social

2 weeks ago

Hi friends. Another cold walk for us, -18°C (-28°C RF), but not as cold as it has been. Have a great day everyone! #dogsofbluesky #canadianpoodle #greatwhitenorth #prairies #cold #winter