News & Stories
Explore the latest news, stories, and groundbreaking research happening at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering. Stay updated on innovative projects, impactful discoveries, and the achievements of our talented students, faculty, and alumni shaping the future of biomedical science and engineering.
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Two BME students awarded prestigious 2022 Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships
Mohammadamir Ghasemian Moghaddam and Meghan Rothenbroker are two of the BME Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship winners of 2022.
Faces of BME – Soowan Choi
Inspired by the need to help others, MASc candidate Soowan Choi is developing tools that incentivize children’s rehabilitation through video games. Ultimately, he wants to make these technologies more accessible to people, regardless of their background.
Dr. Elaine Biddiss named Bloorview Childrens Hospital Foundation Chair in Pediatric Rehabilitation
Elaine Biddiss, a senior scientist at BRI and faculty member at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, creates new pathways to improve kids’ wellness through play using affordable, accessible technologies
KITE trainee earns multiple awards for asthma and obstructive sleep apnea research
Shaghayegh Chavoshian, a PhD student in BME, will receive $20,000 in combined funding to support her research at KITE.
The Quintessential Game Changer
Dr. Geoff Fernie’s legacy is one that’s related to the positive outcomes people experience in their lives: helping people live their lives to the fullest following life-altering disease or illness.
Solving healthcare problems through strategic consulting
Completed her Ph.D. in Dr. Paul Santerre’s lab in 2019, Dr. Meghan Wright always had a passion for entrepreneurship, business, and science. After graduating, Meghan interned briefly with the life sciences investment firm Bloom Burton & Co. as a consultant before joining Shift Health, a life sciences and healthcare strategy consulting firm located in Toronto. Now Meghan is working on projects across a wide range of areas – from the private sector to academia, to help transform healthcare.
U of T Engineering lab partners with Moderna to develop RNA-based tools to treat and prevent disease
A team of U of T Engineering researchers, led by Professor Omar F. Khan (BME), has partnered with biotechnology company Moderna to develop next-generation RNA platform technologies.
Seeing smaller than light: How an advanced microscopy technique can help in the fight against cancer and other diseases
Microscopes are some of the most powerful tools in cell biology — but what if the cell component that needs to be imaged is smaller than the wavelengths of visible light? A new study from Professor Chris Yip (ChemE, BME) proposes a solution, one that could help advance research into cancer and other diseases.
New insight into how nanoparticles form could advance technologies from solar cells to medical tests
A research team from U of T Engineering has discovered previously unknown phenomena in the growth of nanoparticles. The insights could open new ways of engineering these tiny structures for a variety of purposes, from designing next-generation solar cells to developing new medical tests and treatments.
Faces of BME – Ali Howidi
Working as a MASc student in Dr. Paul Yoo’s lab, Ali is researching a novel method of recording continuous blood pressure through AI and machine learning. In his downtime, he finds solace in vinyl records.
New CRAFT Tissue Foundry provides infrastructure dedicated to bioengineering innovation
The Centre for Research and Applications in Fluidic Technologies (CRAFT) has opened a new and expanded Tissue Foundry at the University of Toronto. The new facility builds CRAFT’s fabrication capacity following the launch of its Device Foundry in 2021.
BME welcomes the 2022 MasterCard Scholar cohort
Three students funded by the MasterCard Scholars program joined BME in 2022 to pursue their degrees in Masters of Engineering. As a part of the MasterCard Foundation initiative, this Scholarship aims to further education, leadership, and skill development for young people from Africa, while working to address systemic barriers in higher education. We asked the MasterCard Scholars what they look forward to at the University of Toronto, and how they will advance their knowledge in the field of biomedical engineering.
Meet the incoming class of 2022
In September, BME welcomed 100+ students into our graduate programs. We asked some of these students why they chose our programs, and what they are looking forward to in this unusual year. Here’s what they have to say.
Milica Radisic joins Donnelly Centre
The Donnelly Centre is swelling its ranks of leading researchers with two new faculty appointments.
When the researcher becomes the patient
KITE Scientist Dr. Alex Mihailidis experienced the rehab system first-hand after a devastating spinal cord injury. The ordeal altered how his team works with patients and clinicians.
Recipients of third round of Medicine by Design’s Pivotal Experiment Fund announced
Dr. Omar Khan is one of four researchers are the latest to receive support to spin-off aspects of their Medicine by Design-funded research into an early-stage product or venture as part of Medicine by Design’s Pivotal Experiment Fund, which has distributed more than $2.5-million in funding since its launch in early 2021.
Making academic articles more accessible
Graduated from BME in 2021, Dr. Lazar Jovanovic is now developing a platform, Summations, which allows researchers to efficiently communicate their work with large and broad audiences by enhancing the reader’s understanding of academic articles.
New strategy for delivery of therapeutic proteins could help treat degenerative eye diseases
A U of T Engineering research team has created a new platform that delivers multiple therapeutic proteins to the body, each at its own independently controlled rate. The innovation could help treat degenerative diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of vision loss for people over 50.
U of T grad Ben Ouyang wants to answer the ‘questions that matter most to patients and their families’
Dr. Ben Ouyang shares his journey in medicine, how mentorship inspired his research in cancer nanomedicine and what his future holds.
Faces of BME – Shaurya Gupta
For his research, Shaurya Gupta aims to develop imaging and robotic technology to facilitate the regeneration of severed nerve fibres. In his spare time, he pursues his passion for sailing.
U of T Engineering team designs new hydrogel that opens pathways to more targeted cancer treatments
A team of U of T Engineering researchers, led by Professor Molly Shoichet (ChemE, BME, Donnelly), has designed a new way to grow cells in a laboratory that enables them to better emulate cancerous tumours.
Faces of BME – Amber Xue
Having exposure to biomedical sciences at a young age, Amber Xue continued her passion for clinical research at Molly Shoichet’s lab. She is also actively engaged in knowledge translation from academia to industry.
BME PhD Candidate receives WFIRM Young Investigator Award
Erik Jacques was one of the recipients of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine Young Investigator Award.
Reverse engineering the heart: U of T Engineering team creates bioartificial left ventricle
U of T Engineering researchers have grown a small-scale model of a human left heart ventricle in the lab. The bioartificial tissue construct is made with living heart cells and beats strongly enough to pump fluid inside a bioreactor.