Researchers at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto have demonstrated a new way to monitor transplanted stem-cell-derived heart cells using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The method allows researchers to visualize where transplanted cells survive over time, which could help scientists evaluate and improve emerging stem cell therapies for heart damage such as those caused by heart attacks. 

Professor Hai-Ling Margaret Cheng (BME) and her team have shown that an imaging platform known as “bright ferritin MRI” can be used to track transplanted human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes in the hearts of rats for up to eight weeks. The findings were published in a recent issue of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes can form new heart muscle and integrate with existing tissue. However, many transplanted cells do not survive in clinical trials, and researchers currently lack reliable tools to monitor transplanted cells over long periods inside the body. Existing imaging methods either work only in small animals, or rely on labels that fade or produce misleading signals as cells divide or interact with the immune system.

“Tracking therapeutic cells inside the living body has been a scientific endeavour for decades,” says Cheng.

“The gap in the field, however, has been a failure to visualize surviving cells without losing signal beyond a few days or weeks, and with sufficient signal. Our goal is to address these critical gaps. We want to visualize and spatially map therapeutic cells as long as they are alive, wherever they are in the body.”

To test the approach, lead author Keyu Zhuang (BME PhD 2T5) and colleagues engineered stem cells to overexpress ferritin, a protein that stores iron in cells. These modified stem cells were then differentiated into cardiomyocytes and assessed in laboratory experiments to confirm that they maintained normal cell structure, contractile proteins and electrical properties.

The researchers then transplanted the engineered cardiomyocytes into the left ventricular heart muscle of immunodeficient rats, including animals with heart injury. Using MRI scanners, the team tracked the cells over eight weeks.

By administering manganese chloride, the researchers could trigger a bright MRI signal from the ferritin-expressing cells, allowing them to map the location of surviving transplanted cells in three dimensions. The MRI findings were confirmed using tissue analysis after the experiments. Additional echocardiography tests showed that the manganese treatment did not impair overall heart function.

“The next step is to use the information garnered from the bright-ferritin cell tracking technology to optimize stem cell research directly,” says Cheng.

“Now that we can reliably pinpoint when and where stem cells are surviving, stem cell scientists are better equipped to develop strategies for increasing cell survival.”

On April 1, U of T Engineering students were recognized for their outstanding leadership and service at a celebration hosted by the U of T Engineering Office of Advancement, the Engineering Society (EngSoc), and the offices of the Vice-Dean Undergraduate and Vice-Dean Graduate. 

The annual event honours student leaders who dedicate their time to enhancing the engineering student experience — whether through clubs and design teams, conferences, mentoring, school leadership, outreach initiatives or community-building events. 

Their collective efforts strengthen academic support, promote mental wellness and inclusion and help sustain a vibrant Skule™ community. 

This year, 18 students received the prestigious University of Toronto Student Leadership Awards (UTSLA). Established in 1994 by the University of Toronto Alumni Association in honour of Gordon Cressy, former vice-president, development and university relations, the awards recognize students whose volunteer service has made a meaningful and lasting impact on their peers and the university. 

Also at the event, members of EngSoc and the Graduate Engineering Council of Students (GECoS) celebrated their outgoing student leaders, and recognized the contributions made to student life with the EngSoc Awards.

“Student leaders are so important to the U of T Engineering experience,” says Chris Yip, Dean of U of T Engineering. 

“Their dedication powers the clubs, teams and co-curricular activities where students connect with their peers in pursuit of their passions. These experiences spark life-long friendships, as well as innovative new ideas that lead to new technologies, products and business ventures.”  

“We are so proud of our student leaders who have stepped up to enhance the educational experience, not only for themselves, but for those who will come after,” says Julie Audet, Vice Dean, Graduate. 

“We know they will continue this work even after graduation, acting as key nodes in our vibrant, global network of more than 60,000 alumni.”  

The UTSLA recipients for 2026 are:   

• Mai Ali 

• Lauren Altomare 

• Zeineb Ben Rejeb 

• Ruonan Cao 

• Matthew Du 

• Olivia Fredrickson 

• Vedant Gupta 

• Kenneth Hilton 

• Ava Jakob 

• Harvi Karatha 

• Shaba Khan 

• Lincoln Macdonald 

• Ainsley Ross-Howe 

• Sharini Sam Chee 

• Tess Seip 

• Aryan Singh 

• Kenneth Sulimro 

• Michelle Sun 

Outgoing EngSoc Leadership  

• Kenneth Lloyd Hilton, President  

• Kenneth Sulimro, Vice-President of Finance  

• Ethan Mao, Vice-President of Communications  

• Jim Xu, Vice-President of Academics  

• Shosh Lebo, Vice-President of Student Life 

Outgoing GECoS Leadership  

• Sharini Sam Chee, Co-President  

• Aryan Singh, Co-President 

• Chaitanya Ahuja, Vice President of Finance  

• Anna Nguyen, Vice President of Communications  

• Mymoon Bhuiyan, Vice President of Student Life  

• Uyen Hua, Vice President of Professional Development  

EngSoc Award Winners   

• Engineering Society Centennial Award: Ammar Hasham and Ryan Hammer 

• Engineering Society Semi-Centennial Award: Justin Fang 

• Engineering Society Award: Kenneth Lloyd Hilton 

• Skule™ Cannon Award: Shosh Lebo 

• Discipline Club of the Year: Indy Club 

• Affiliated Club of the Year: University of Toronto Nuclear Energy Association 

• Director of the Year: Christina Pizzonia (Cannon Editor), Michael Atkinson (Design Team Association Director), Justin Fang  (Hi-SkuleTM Director) 

• Representative of the Year: Firdaus Ansari and Justin Fang 

• Joe Club Award: Hayden Groer 

• L.E. Jones Award for Arts in Engineering: Liam Krestow 

• Valedictorian: Abdullah Fawzy 

In mid-March, four U of T Engineering students — Rafael Jabbour, Alina Khan, Lavneet Sidhu and Daniel Rolfe (all Year 3 CompE) — took first place at the Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC). 

The team designed an augmented reality platform that enables building inspectors to quickly spot defects using a smartphone. Their solution earned the top spot for programming, U of T’s first win in that category in more than two decades, and the first in any category since 2022. 

“It felt absolutely surreal,” says Sidhu.  

“We went into the competition aiming to place top three, but at the start of the awards ceremony we had no expectations, only hopes. The moment itself was just ecstatic.” 

“We completely lost it, jumping and screaming,” says Jabbour. 

“What really got to me was seeing other universities celebrating with us — the teams that didn’t win were genuinely happy for us. That made the CEC experience even better.” 

The win marked the culmination of a journey that began over a year ago. The four teammates had been friends since their first year, but it wasn’t until their second year that they first heard about the University of Toronto Engineering Kompetitions (UTEK). 

“Rafael and I were in a lecture one day when the UTEK directors presented to the class, and it just immediately felt like the perfect competition for us,” says Sidhu. 

“I hadn’t done a hackathon before, but it sounded like a great opportunity, so I was in,” says Khan. 

The foursome competed at UTEK 2025, winning first place and a chance to compete at the 2025 Ontario Engineering Competition (OEC), which was held January 25–26, 2025 at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. 

Though the team did not advance any further that year, they knew they were onto something. 

“Even though we came up short, it definitely fuelled us to come back stronger and try to win this time around,” says Rolfe.  

“By this year, we already had that chemistry, so it was an easy decision to run it back with the same team.” 

 The team competed at UTEK for the second time this past January. 

The challenge selected for the programming competition was to design a hospital inventory automation system, which would enable robots to navigate via building blueprints and transport supplies between rooms. 

“I think what set us apart was that we actually deployed our system to the cloud,” says Jabbour. 

“You could access it through a URL, so it wasn’t just running locally on a laptop. It made a big difference during the presentation because the judges could interact with it live, and everything worked smoothly without any bugs.” 

After that design placed first, the team headed to the 2026 Ontario Engineering Competition (OEC), which took place at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ont. 

This time, the design challenge involved creating an interplanetary route planner that calculates fuel-efficient trajectories between planets using real orbital mechanics. 

“OEC was a big level up from UTEK,” says Rolfe. 

“Last year, we weren’t fully expecting that jump in difficulty, but this time around we had a much clearer execution plan, and we were a lot more intentional about things, like setting up a clean architecture early, defining interfaces between components and avoiding last-minute integration issues. We also came in with a stronger presentation plan and a lot more confidence overall.”

This time, the team placed first at OEC, earning the opportunity to advance to CEC 2026, which was hosted by the Université de Sherbrooke from March 20–23. 

“At CEC, the challenge was quite open-ended,” says Khan. 

“They asked us to use augmented reality (AR) to support building inspectors and address real-world problems. Given the short timeline of only 8 hours, we focused on balancing ambition with execution.” 

“We designed an AR solution where you point your phone around a room, see defect markers overlaid, track damage over time and collaborate with property owners,” says Jabbour. 

“What really set us apart though was that we were the only team with true 3D AR, which is extremely hard to pull off on the web, alongside a web app with 2D AR. It was a gamble because we split the team in half, two on the web app and two on the 3D AR, knowing that if the 3D didn’t come together, the 2D project might not be enough. But it worked out.” 

The team plans to keep the momentum going for the next UTEK event, set to take place in November 2026. 

“Daniel and I will be the programming directors for UTEK this year, while Rafael will be the webmaster,” says Sidhu. 

“Given our experience, we’re going to try our utmost to prepare and challenge the UTEK competitors in a way that will prepare them to go big and to show off the talent here at the University of Toronto.” 

The team is also looking forward to 2028, when U of T is scheduled to play host to the provincial competition. 

“After competing for two years, we’ve seen what works and what doesn’t,” says Jabbour. 

“We proved this year that U of T can compete at the national level, and I don’t want that to be a one-off. It would be nice if we can build something that helps the next group of competitors feel more prepared and more supported.”

Ali Asgarian has joined the Department of Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) at the University of Toronto as an assistant professor. He specializes in the integration of advanced simulation with AI, sensing and automation to transform materials processes and powder technologies.  

Before joining U of T, Asgarian led the Materials Design, Scale-up, and Optimization team at the National Research Council Canada (NRC). In that role, he oversaw research initiatives advancing materials and devices for batteries, hydrogen production and the decarbonization of heavy industries. His own research focused on plasma-based methods for powder synthesis and modification, targeting next-generation batteries and sustainable industrial applications.  

Prior to his time at NRC, he spent a decade at Hatch Ltd., a global engineering firm where he contributed to technology development as well as the design and construction management of numerous mineral and metallurgical plants. 

Writer Sherry Esfahani spoke with Asgarian about his career and what led him to MSE.  

What sparked your interest in materials science and engineering, and what attracted you to U of T’s MSE department? 

I studied mechanical engineering, where thermodynamics sparked my interest in materials science by showing how turbine-blade materials limit the efficiency of power plants, underscoring the field’s role in technological advancement. After moving to Canada and recognizing its vast mineral resources, I shifted fully into materials science, spending a decade at Hatch developing metals and minerals processing technologies, completing a PhD at U of T’s MSE department on additively manufacturable metal powders with Rio Tinto, and later leading novel materials design, scale up, and optimization at the National Research Council Canada. Having earned my PhD at MSE, returning felt like coming home, and its outstanding faculty, collaborative environment, and motivated students make it an ideal place to teach, researchand mentor the next generation. 

Can you tell us more about the vision and goals for your ASPiRE Lab, and what you hope students will take away from working on projects there? 

ASPiRE (ASgarian’s Process and Powder Intelligent REsearch) Lab integrates materials science, transport phenomena, process modeling and AI-based optimization to make metallurgical and powder processing more sustainable, efficient and semi-autonomous. It bridges the gap between material innovation and industrial scale-up. Our work addresses major challenges such as resource scarcity, decarbonization and large-scale production of critical and energy materials. Through projects like digital twins for steel processing, hydrogen-based recycling of critical minerals and machine vision for defect monitoring, students learn to model and optimize complex systems using experiments and computational tools while translating their work into real industrial impact. Equally important, they develop professional skills through collaboration with industry and government partners, gaining insight into how engineering innovation operates in real-world contexts. 

Your research spans sustainable materials and advanced manufacturing — what emerging technologies or challenges in materials science excite you most right now? 

I’m particularly excited by AI and self-driving labs, which are accelerating materials discovery and transforming how we design and optimize processes. At the same time, the field faces urgent challenges such as resource scarcity, critical minerals and decarbonization, all of which require advances in materials production. In my team, we address these by integrating AI and automation into processing systems, for example, developing digital twins and semi self-driving platforms for faster optimization and adaptive control, while also advancing cleaner, more sustainable routes using technologies such as hydrogen and plasma-based methods. 

How does your experience leading research teams and projects at NRC influence how you structure collaboration and innovation in your lab at U of T?  

At NRC, projects were multidisciplinary, industry-driven and aligned with government mandates, so I learned to align diverse expertise around clear milestones and partner needs. I’ve brought that approach to my lab by building teams that integrate researchers with diverse backgrounds and expertise, and by co-developing projects with industry and government, ensuring the research remains both fundamental and impactful. 

What advice would you give to students interested in combining materials science research with real-world applications in energy, sustainability or advanced manufacturing? 

There’s no single recipe, but a few principles help. Always connect materials knowledge to large-scale applications and consider how materials are produced, processed and used in practice. Even transformative discoveries like graphene required scalable integration into real technologies. Engage with industry early through internships or collaborations to frame research around real-world constraints and accelerate deployment. Think beyond technical performance by considering economic viability — techno-economic analysis is essential for scalability — and develop cross-disciplinary skills in modeling and systems design to translate materials insights into practical, impactful solutions.

Last month, Professor Justin Hess of Purdue University delivered the final installment of the Fred Kan Distinguished Lecture in Engineering Ethics. 

Since its establishment in 2019, the series has served as a unique platform for thought leaders from across North America to share their research and insights. It has also inspired enhanced discourse around ethics within the U of T Engineering community and beyond.  

Designed as an annual forum for critical reflection, the series brings together faculty, students, alumni and practitioners to examine the societal dimensions of engineering practice. 

The series was made possible through the generous support of U of T alum, Fred Kan (MechE 6T4). Kan is a double graduate of U of T, first earning his BASc in mechanical engineering in 1964 and returning to earn his JD from the Faculty of Law in 1967.  

Kan’s commitment to engineering ethics provided the vision on which this lecture series was created. 

“Engineering ethics isn’t about being restrictive — it’s about being thoughtful,” says Kan. 

“Most engineers I’ve met want to do the right thing; they just need the space and encouragement to think about the broader impact of their work. When that happens, the solutions they come up with are not only innovative but genuinely responsible. That was always the central vision for this lecture series, and I’m thrilled that it has been able to accomplish this”. 

Distinguished speakers featured in the series work at the intersection of technical and social domains. They represent a diverse range of fields, such as biomedical engineering, infrastructure, machine learning and self-driving vehicles — all of which present unique insights into the central theme of ethics.  

These lectures included:  

• 2019 – 2020: Beyond the Code: How Should we Teach Engineers about Ethical Decision Making? Featuring Professor Robert Irish (ISTEP) 

• 2022 – 23: Ethics and the Future of Automated Mobility – Two Challenges. Featuring Professor Jason Millar, University of Ottawa 

• 2023 – 24: Audits and Accountability in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Featuring Deborah Raji (EngSci 1T9) 

• 2024 – 25: Just, Creative, and Cooperative: Our Shared Infrastructural Future. Featuring Professor Deborah Chachra, Olin College of Engineering 

• 2025 – 26: What Inspires Ethical Research? Lessons from Biomedical Engineering Faculty. Featuring Professor Justin Hess, Purdue University 

Through diverse perspectives, these talks have illustrated how technical decision-making interacts with political, cultural and ethical dimensions of engineering work. 

The series has also led to new encounters that have led to further scholarly collaboration, underscoring the series’ role as a catalyst for academic and professional exchange. 

Professor Cindy Rottmann (ISTEP), academic lead of the lecture series, emphasizes the impact of this kind of collaboration.  

“The Fred Kan lecture has been a phenomenal vehicle for engineering ethics education, research and professional practice, providing us with the opportunity to catalyze connections between faculty, staff, students, alumni and international scholars engaged in this work,” says Rottmann. 

“It invites us to pause for a moment and consider why we do what we do, not just how we do it. The lectures reinforce what we teach here at ISTEP: that engineering challenges are never purely technical. They are always both social and technical. 

“I’m grateful to Fred Kan for helping amplify the impact of our teaching and research programs, and bringing leading thinkers in AI, infrastructure and engineering education to the U of T community,” she says.   

“Thanks to Fred Kan’s generosity, the profile and reach of our scholarship continues to grow — helping future engineers engage with ethical dilemmas in professionally relevant ways.” 

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has approved a Minerals Skills Network Grant to the University of Toronto’s Mining Industry Management Program to offer scholarships and training to mining professionals in four South American countries.

The $984,400 grant — offered through NRCan’s Global Partnerships Initiative and as part of the Mineral Skills Network established during Canada’s 2025 G7 Presidency — will be used to develop and support an online training program on financial and economic planning for sustainable critical mineral projects.

The two-year initiative aims to equip participants in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru — key international mining partners for Canada — with skills and knowledge in mining finance. Training will also emphasize Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards, helping participants understand compliance requirements and best practices for responsible mining.

“This initiative gives professionals access to the practical financial and economic tools they need to evaluate and advance responsible mining projects,” says Professor Kamran Esmaeili (CivMin).

“With the online nature of the program, we’re able to connect with learners around the world, and this new funding will allow us to extend our expertise more broadly to strengthen talent in the critical minerals sector.”

Esmaeili is director of the Mining Industry Management Program in the Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering at U of T. Launched in 2023, the program has four online courses and another in development, and includes topics that cover all aspects of mining from exploration and studies to practical mine operations. Each course can be completed independently within a set period and offers multiple modules on a topic.

Canada has 40% of the world’s public mining companies listed on the TSX and TSXV., with roughly $10 billion in mining equity capital raised in 2024 alone. Canadian mining companies operate in more than 100 countries and play a major role in mineral exploration and critical minerals development.

This project aims to develop a skilled mining workforce, promote sustainable mineral value chains and support long-term regional growth in South America by offering specialized training and targeted outreach to professionals in the public and private sectors of partner countries.

“Canada is a trusted global leader in mining and is committed to shaping a sustainable and reliable ecosystem through strong partnerships,” says the Honourable Tim Hodgson, Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.

“By investing in this initiative, delivered through a world-class mining program at U of T, we’re strengthening the mining industry among partner nations, which will spur more reliable, secure access to sustainable critical minerals for Canada and allies for decades to come.”

The specialized training in mining finance is designed to enable transparent, data-driven investment decisions that attract capital and support long-term sustainability. A focus on critical minerals education aims to strengthen global supply chains and reinforce Canada’s leadership in the green energy transition.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with NRCan in rolling out this program that not only builds global mining capacity, but also positions Canada as a leader in sustainable mining innovation,” says Professor Marianne Hatzopoulou (CivMin), Chair of the Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering at U of T.

“As countries around the world work towards higher environmental standards, initiatives like this highlight the important role that institutions like U of T have in enabling the global transition to a more sustainable future.”