Six BME Master’s Students Awarded 2025 CIHR CGS-M Scholarships

Six Master of Applied Science (MASc) students from the University of Toronto’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME) have been awarded the 2025 Canada Graduate Scholarships – Master’s (CGS M) from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). These nationally competitive awards recognize outstanding academic excellence, research potential, and commitment to health-related innovation.

The CIHR CGS-M program supports top-tier graduate students in developing strong research skills and contributing to Canada’s future as a global leader in health research and innovation. Each scholarship provides one year of funding, allowing recipients to focus fully on their research and training.

This year’s BME recipients are tackling some of today’s most pressing health challenges—from cancer detection and heart disease to dementia care and equitable diagnostics. Their winning projects include:

• Raegan Allan (Supervisor: Caitlin Maikawa) is developing a CRISPR-powered colourimetric test embedded in menstrual hygiene products to enable private, at-home detection of Chlamydia trachomatis, a common STI.
• Joy Lai (Supervisor: Alex Mihailidis) is enhancing a digital reminder system for people living with dementia by integrating behavioural anomaly detection, aiming to support aging in place and reduce caregiver burnout.
• Daniyal Mahmood (Supervisor: Cristina Amon) is using patient-specific blood flow simulations to predict which individuals with acute Type B aortic dissection are at risk of developing life-threatening complications.
• Isabelle Poulin (Supervisor: Caitlin Maikawa) is creating a hydrogel-based ingestible pill for early colorectal cancer screening that eliminates the discomfort and stigma associated with current testing methods.
• Margarita Savguira (Supervisor: Bowen Li) is advancing mRNA immunotherapy delivery for solid tumours by leveraging extracellular vesicles as secondary carriers, improving treatment penetration and immune activation.
• Zeeshan Siddiqui (Supervisor: Azadeh Kushki) is applying AI to predict optimal medication strategies for children with neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD and autism, reducing trial-and-error approaches in clinical care.

For the full list of 2025 recipients, visit the CIHR CGS-M announcement page.