Professor Milica Radisic (IBBME, ChemE) is among three U of T researchers named to the inaugural cohort of the Royal Society of Canada’s new College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists – an initiative that recognizes the emerging generation of Canadian intellectual leaders.

Radisic, a researcher in both the Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) and the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry (ChemE) at U of T, is a world leader in the field of cardiovascular tissue engineering. She was cited by the RSC for her innovative techniques in designing and developing new heart tissue derived from stem cells. Her contributions have been recognized by multiple national and international prizes, most recently an NSERC Steacie Fellowship.

“Milica Radisic has made exceptional contributions in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine” said Dean Cristina Amon. “Her pioneering research has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of cardiovascular disease. She is most deserving of this prestigious new honour from the Royal Society of Canada.”

Radisic joins three other U of T researchers in the College, including religious studies professor Amira Mittermaier and historian Nathalie E. Rothman. In total, the RSC has named 91 members to the College from 52 Canadian universities and other institutions.

The College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists was created to gather scholars, artists and scientists at a highly productive stage of their careers into a single collegium where new advances in understanding will emerge from the interaction of diverse intellectual, cultural and social perspectives.

The initiative’s mandate is to address issues of particular concern to the group of interdisciplinary collaborators, for the advancement of understanding and the benefit of society, taking advantage of the interdisciplinary approaches fostered by the RSC.

Learn more about RSC’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists.

What do soap bubbles and grasshoppers have in common? As it turns out, they can both be used to help students learn about modern materials and their engineering applications.

This summer, Dr. Scott Ramsay and Professor Uwe Erb (both MSE) each led an undergraduate student team from the Department of Materials Science & Engineering (MSE). Students teamed up to develop new educational kits that will help fellow students learn introductory engineering concepts.

The first group worked with Ramsay on a project called Materials One as part of the engineering course, MSE101. They collaborated on new methods to help first-year students grasp challenging concepts in materials science. The other group, part of the nanOntario outreach program led by Erb, developed instructional kits for high school students.

“The concepts we teach in materials engineering are often new to our students and can be challenging to grasp,” said Ramsay. “There isn’t really an equivalent prerequisite course at the Ontario secondary school level. That’s why we have students come up with educational aids – to facilitate learning at a level that speaks to other students. And, it’s really a lot of fun for everyone.”

Take a look at the two groups that came up with fun – and sometimes sticky – learning activities.

Materials One

Undergraduate students Anastasia Alksnis (MSE 1T6), Roberto Aurilio (MSE 1T5), Daniel Levitt (MSE 1T7), and Xiaoji (Iris) Zhang (MSE 1T5) developed a series of hands-on activities and learning aids that complement MSE 101 – the first-year materials science and engineering course offered across the Faculty.

One of the activities the group came up with asks students to blow soap bubbles onto a flat surface forming a so-called ‘bubble raft.’ Developed in the late 1940s, this technique was first used by researchers to model atoms in solids. Now reimagined for MSE 101, students will be challenged to take photos of their bubble rafts, which show the best examples of various microstructural features – features that contribute to materials properties and performance.

“Working on the Materials One project was a great way for me to reinforce what I had learned in MSE 101,” said Levitt, whose group was supported by the Faculty’s Engineering Instructional Innovation Program. “I hope our efforts will help future students engage with the curriculum and build a solid foundation for their upper year studies.”

Watch Dr. Scott Ramsay perform the elephant toothpaste experiment at a local elementary school, illustrating catalyzed decomposition of hydrogen peroxide – an experiment prepared by Materials One project student Xiaoji (Iris) Zhang.

nanOntario

Now in its fifth year, nanOntario is a youth outreach program led by Professor Uwe Erb (MSE) aimed at educating secondary school students about bio-inspired nanotechnology found in Ontario’s outdoors.

Tasked with designing instructional kits to facilitate the course, undergraduates must think deeply about materials science subjects in order to best deliver the information. In this way, the learning is two-fold, as both high school and university-level participants benefit from the course.

This year’s theme was “Hexagonal Structures”. Participants investigated the prevalence of six-sided surface structures in nature, and how humans have mimicked these shapes to enhance technologies.

For example, katydids – an insect similar to the grasshopper – have hexagonal micro-patterns on their legs that help them attach to surfaces when jumping from place to place. A similar pattern can be found in certain winter tires to improve traction for driving safely in slippery conditions.

Partnered with Hitachi High-Technologies Canada (HHTC), participants of the course have access to a portable scanning electron microscope that enable discovery at the atomic level, including a close-up look at the surface structure of insect legs.

“As students shift more of their studies towards the use of online materials, one of the best functions of classroom and tutorial time is to make use of demonstrations and hands on activities to facilitate different modes of learning,” said Professor Jun Nogami, Chair of the Department of Materials Science & Engineering. “The ideal way to develop these new teaching materials is to involve students in their development from the very beginning.”

A piece of string, a $1 spring and some 3D-printed plastic – it doesn’t sound like much. Yet, when brilliantly combined, these items can make a new tracheal intubation guide system for hard-to-intubate patients costing under $20.

It’s an innovative design that has netted its designers, then-fourth-year engineering students Qian (Linda) Liu (EngSci 1T3 + PEY) and Kaiyin (Cathy) Zhu (EngSci 1T3 + PEY) this year’s John W. Senders Award for Imaginative Design. From U of T Engineering, the award is “for the imaginative and successful application of the principles of human factors to the design of a medical device.”

Tracheal intubation is the placement of a flexible plastic tube into somebody’s windpipe (the trachea) to ensure that a patient can continue to breathe. They are often needed in high-risk situations in emergency wards or intensive care units.

But if the intubation is not done properly, or the patient is particularly vulnerable because of age or another circumstance, intubation can cause a great deal of internal damage.

Submitted by anesthesiologist Dr. Sherif Eskander, the project was intended to improve both the function and design over current tools, but also to keep costs low.

The students’ solution? Simplicity.

Leveraging the capabilities of 3D printing, the intubation tool (seen above) improves on current devices, and its novel design is intended to help tricky patients.

“He looking for a tool with the rigidity of a bronchial scope and the flexibility of a stylette,” explained Liu, who has just begun a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Design at John’s Hopkins University.

“There are some models out there that work,” she added, “but they cost $10,000.”

The project began as a final assignment for BME 489, a Capstone project-based course run through the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (IBBME), part of the Division of Engineering Science’s Biomedical Systems Engineering Option. Students in the course worked in teams to tackle real-world biomedical engineering problems submitted by industry and health care professionals as well as professors looking to solve a particular problem.

Working with Dr. Eskander, the pair developed the tool to the point where it was ready for mannequin trials, already performing extremely well. Currently, Dr. Eskander and the inventors are working with other experts to perfect the design.

“The Senders award is an outstanding achievement for Cathy and Linda,” said course instructor Professor Rodrigo Fernandez-Gonzalez (IBBME). “Their project was selected over other capstone projects in the Faculty as the one with the greatest relevance for human health. With their tenacity, adaptability, and ingenious design, Cathy and Linda set an inspiring model for the incoming BME489 class.”

In a meeting with the young inventors, Professor Emeritus John W. Senders (MIE), namesake of the award, shared: “The history of mechanical engineering goes back to the Greeks. The Greeks might have invented something similar: straightforward, obvious – and that’s a good invention.”

 

 

Engineering professors Ted Sargent (ECE) and Peter Zandstra (IBBME) have been elected Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada.

Professor Sargent, of The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE), was elected to the Academy of Science in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Division. His research has resulted in advances in nanotechnology and materials chemistry, which he has translated into new engineered devices for energy harvesting, light sensing and medical diagnosis. He pioneered solution-processed solar cells that absorb the sun’s full spectrum, including both its visible and infrared components. He has also created exceedingly sensitive light detectors to enable image acquisition in low light.

“It is a great privilege – particularly in light of the number of superb U of T scholars who have joined the ranks of FRSC, both from within and beyond the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering,” said Sargent.

Professor Zandstra, of the Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (IBBME), was elected to the Academy of Science in the Applied Science and Engineering Division. Zandstra is a pioneer in the field of stem cell bioengineering, an area that applies engineering principles to stem cell biology. He has discovered new ways to grow stem cells in clinically-relevant bioreactors and used mathematical modeling to study stem cell behaviour. He has also employed micro-fabrication technologies to generate functional human stem cell-derived cardiac micro-tissues. Zandstra’s work has advanced our understanding of difficult-to-access developmental processes and catalyzed development of novel cell-based technologies.

“Professors Sargent and Zandstra’s groundbreaking research contributions have earned them reputations as leaders in their fields, not just in Canada but on a global level,” said Dean Cristina Amon. “Their remarkable achievements exemplify the calibre and impact of the research conducted by our faculty members. On behalf of the Faculty, I congratulate them on this richly deserved honour.”

Sargent and Zandstra were among 21 new Fellows from University of Toronto – more than the university has ever seen inducted in a single year. Ninety new Fellows were named in 2014 in total, including three Foreign Fellows, three Specially Elected Fellows and one Honorary Fellow. [Read the Citations for all 2014 Fellows here]

The Royal Society’s mission is to recognize scholarly, research and artistic excellence, to advise governments and organizations, and to promote a culture of knowledge and innovation in Canada. Membership in the RSC, which comprises the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada, is one of the highest honours a researcher can achieve, and the 21 U of T new Fellows join the nation’s most distinguished scholars, artists and scientists in an organization that dates back to 1882.

The Fellows will be formally inducted at a ceremony in Ottawa on November 22, 2014.

In Canada, the pharmaceutical drugs we find at the pharmacy are rarely cause for concern. We don’t worry about what has been added or if they’ve turned toxic because of improper storage.

But according to researchers at the Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering (IBBME), other areas of the world aren’t so fortunate – and that needs to change.

Professor Peter Zandstra (IBBME) and PhD students Yonatan Lipsitz (IBBME PhD 1T6) and Nimalan Thavandiran (IBBME PhD) are one of two groups at IBBME that were recently awarded Grand Challenges Canada grants. The team is developing a new tool for drug sellers to test heart medication for additives or other problems.

The federal grant program encourages top researchers to use scientific or technical, social and business innovation to address some of the most pressing global health challenges.

This year’s recipients also include Lian Leng (MIE MASc 1T0, PhD 1T5) and Professor Axel Guenther (MIE, IBBME), who created a 3D skin printer to provide burn victims with skin grafts.

Counteracting counterfeit drugs

“In many parts of the developing world, counterfeit drugs are a huge problem,” said Lipsitz. “A very high number of drugs can have adverse health effects or have no effect.”

How serious is the problem? In a word: staggering.

“There are some classes of drugs, such as malaria drugs, where up to 50% of what you find in the market is counterfeit,” Lipsitz added.

For their project, the team is collaborating with the Center for Pharmaceutical Advancement and Training (CePAT) in Accra, Ghana, in conjunction with the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention – the governing body for pharmaceutical standards in the States.

Simply put, the team is building testing plates. The researchers have found a method to derive large numbers of heart cells (cardiomyocytes) from human pluripotent stem cells (stem cells that can be used to generate any cell type), which are then seeded on plates in tiny wells. Each tiny well – 96 to a plate – can test for a different toxic material and its effects on the heart cells.

Why heart cells?

According to the researchers, cardiotoxic drugs, or drugs that adversely affect the heart, are among the most severe and highly publicized drug reactions involving substandard or counterfeit drugs – with high mortality rates.

If successful, the technology could provide unexpected benefits to the pharmaceutical industries in both developed and developing countries.

“If we can manufacture the heart cells on a large scale, and in a cost-efficient manner, this testing platform could definitely be useful here,” said Thavandiran.

But for the developing world, its implementation could be tricky.

“Ghana doesn’t have a huge infrastructure, and the regulatory landscape is not quite there,” shared Thavandiran. The next decade will be crucial to developing the conditions to make the testing platforms widely accessible, such as creating the means to manufacture the cells and the plates within the country.

Skin to order

A second U of T project funded through this grant this year is the “Skin Printer,” developed by Leng and Professor Guenther. The technology prints a steady stream of skin cells derived from the patient’s own cells, which can be used as a wound dressing on-site – and could revolutionize burn care in developing nations.

Developed in partnership with Dr. Marc Jeschke, the head of Sunnybrook Hospital’s Ross Tilley Burn Centre, the machine forms large, continuous layers of tissue that recreate natural skin. The printed product includes hair follicles, sweat glands and other essential complexities of human skin.

The funding will be used to allow the team to partner with researchers at the Children’s Surgical Centre in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

“90 per cent of burns occur in low and middle income countries, with greater mortality and morbidity due to poorly-equipped health care systems and inadequate access to burn care facilities,” said Dr. Marc Jeschke. “Regenerating skin using a patient’s own stem cells can significantly decrease the risk of death in developing countries. This funding will enable us to transfer part of our skin regeneration technology to Cambodia.”

“Our team is determined,” said Guenther, “to move this exciting technology towards its clinical applicability.”

Read more about this year’s Grand Challenges Canada grants on their website.

 

Last week, U of T Engineering welcomed 1,254 new undergraduates and 740 graduate students to campus with a number of exciting events including parades, fairs, campus tours and a Plenary Lecture from entrepreneur and alumnus Mike Branch (ECE 0T3).

Dean Cristina Amon was proud to welcome the record-breaking group of students at the lecture, who join U of T Engineering from over 50 countries and nine provinces.

“I would like to extend my warmest welcome to all of you on behalf of the Faculty. We are delighted that you have decided to join our dynamic community here at the University of Toronto,” she told students in her opening remarks on September 4, 2014. “As a group, you have the highest admission average in the history of our Faculty at over 93%.”

She closed her welcome remarks by reminding students to make the most of their undergraduate degrees: “During your time here at the University of Toronto and throughout your career, immerse yourself and get involved wherever you can.”

With over 80 clubs to choose from, it is easier than ever to get involved with the Faculty.

“This year, students in the Faculty have so many choices for getting involved that appeal to many interests, from academics to extracurricular activities,” said Engineering Society president Teresa Nguyen (CivE 1T5).

And getting involved on campus is not only a great learning opportunity; it is also a great chance to meet other students.

For first year engineering student Sharpay Hanxing Yu (ChemE 1T8), choosing U of T meant leaving her family and friends in Shanghai, China, uprooting her life and moving to an unfamiliar city thousands of kilometers away.

It was a big risk, but she says she already feels at home because of the welcoming community and opportunities to get involved around campus.

“I’ve met so many people from so many different cultures,” Yu said. “Coming to Toronto is like travelling the world – everything is right here.”

In fact, over one third of new undergraduate students join from outside Canada, and 30.6 per cent are females. This diversity enriches the undergraduate experience both in and out of the classroom.

In addition to extracurricular activities, the Faculty is also thrilled to announce new and innovative learning opportunities for the 2014-2015 academic year.

“We are always looking for new and exciting ways to engage students,” said Susan McCahan, vice dean, undergraduate. “This year, for example, we’ve added online course options, which allow for more flexible scheduling and the option to get involved from anywhere.”

With new learning initiatives, clubs and activities, students like Yu have a wealth of opportunities to make the most of their time at U of T. And if the first week is any indicator, this undergraduate cohort will be an engaged and energetic group, eager to avail themselves of new possibilities.

“F!rosh Week has been amazing,” said Yu. “This was truly the first time I felt proud that I was on the path to becoming an engineer.”

Learn more about the many clubs and activities offered by U of T Engineering.