Department news

Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME) news

A student from George Harvey Collegiate Institute presents a diabetic foot brace designed as part of the Discovery outreach program in June 2019. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s program successfully pivoted online. (Photo: Bill Dai)

How one U of T Engineering educational program kept thriving during COVID-19

Discovery, delivered by U of T Engineering graduate students, engages high school science students in inquiry focused learning

A microfluidic chip shown with a single droplet which can carry contents of individual cells for genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic analyses. (Photo courtesy Wheeler Lab)

U of T researchers develop new tool for scooping contents of individual cells from local environment

The new tool will enable a deeper study of stem cells and other rare cell types for therapy development

A health-care worker from Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami, Fla. with a package of donated Kerra skin cream. (Photo courtesy Quthero, Inc.)

Skin-care product based on U of T Engineering research donated to health-care workers fighting COVID-19

A U of T Engineering spinoff company has donated its entire stock of skin-care product to health-care workers fighting the global pandemic. Several years ago, Professor Milica Radisic (BME, ChemE) and her team developed a peptide-hydrogel biomaterial that prompts skin cells to “crawl” toward one another. The material was initially designed to help close the […]

A3MD researchers will combine high-throughput experimentation and artificial intelligence to accelerate the discovery of new energy conversion materials and consumer electronics. Ziliang Li (ECE PhD candidate, pictured) holds a next generation light-emitting material in the Sargent Lab at the University of Toronto. (Photo courtesy of Ziliang Li)

New academia-industry partnership to accelerate the search for materials for sustainable energy and smartphones

A new consortium of world-leading researchers and industry partners looks to use artificial intelligence to flip the materials discovery process on its head

In this rendering of the enzyme chondroitinase ABC, point mutations are represented by red balls. This re-engineered form of the enzyme is more stable and more active than the wild type and could be used to help reverse nerve damage caused by spinal cord injury or stroke. (From Hettiaratchi, O’Meara et al., 2020. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abc6378 This work is licensed under CC BY-NC)

Re-engineered enzyme could help reverse damage from spinal cord injury and stroke

A team led by Professor Molly Shoichet has modified an enzyme from bacteria to promote regrowth of nerve tissue

A precision flight-control test in wind with a hexacopter drone from Professor Steven Waslander‘s (UTIAS)  lab. Waslander will use the funding to acquire the latest in motion-capture technology in order to develop next-generation drones. (Photo courtesy of Steven Waslander)

Five U of T Engineering projects receive funding boost for state-of-the-art research tools

Motion-capture equipment to explore and develop robust autonomous drones is among five infrastructure projects receiving funding support

Nick Mitrousis is a recent PhD graduate from the lab of University Professor Molly Shoichet (ChemE, BME). Mitrousis and Shoichet have just published a paper that describes a new strategy for repairing eye damage caused by conditions such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or retinitis pigmentosa. (Photo: Mindy Ngyuen)

U of T Engineering researchers develop cell injection technique that could help reverse vision loss

A team led by Professor Molly Shoichet has demonstrated the first co-injection of both retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) cells and photoreceptor cells in a mouse model of blindness.

Researchers in Professor Warren Chan’s (BME) lab. Ben Ouyang (second from top left) and team, under the supervision of Chan (top left), discovered the dose threshold that improves drug delivery to tumours. (Photo courtesy of Ben Ouyang)

How to get more cancer-fighting nanoparticles to where they are needed

Study shows that by injecting above a certain threshold of nanoparticles, the tumour delivery improves vastly, from 0.7 percent to 12 percent

BME PhD candidate Betty Li holds up the microfluidic device she designed for growing breast cancer cells in an environment that mimics conditions inside the human body. The device could offer new insights into complex processes such as cancer metastasis. (Photo: Michael Dryden)

Credit-card sized tool provides new insights into how cancer cells invade host tissues

U of T Engineering researchers developed a microfluidic device that mimics the environment in which breast cancer cells grow and metastasize.