Today it’s mostly our smartphones and tablets that are touch sensitive, but soon it could be our desks, car dashes or even our kitchen counters. That’s the technology behind XTouch, a new app from U of T Engineering students.

“XTouch extends the tactile environment beyond the surface of that mobile device,” said app developer Amin Heidari (ECE MASc 1T1). “Two taps in different spots act as two different buttons on the table.” The technology is already in use in two games available on the App Store, with more coming soon.

XTouch was crowned ‘Top App’ in a recent U of T Engineering app competition. It was one of 10 apps selected from more than 100 developed over the past year under the supervision of Professors Parham Aarabi and Jonathan Rose, both of The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. The top 10 most innovative and exciting apps went head-to-head for a $1,000 grand prize, furnished by the Mobile App Lab.

The 10 groups demonstrated their apps Thursday night to a crowd of industry representatives, professors and students, including three judges: Darrell Etherington from TechCrunch, Lenny Freilich from Ontario Centres of Excellence and Arshia Tabrizi (CompE 9T5), technology lawyer and founder of the social video platform Vidoyen.

“The quality of presentations tonight was extremely high,” said Tabrizi. “It’s amazing what these students achieved in a relatively short period of time.” Added Freilich: “I like the interdisciplinary aspect of it—they’re working on, and solving, real problems.”

One contender was Baton, an app that enables teachers to harness the power of the ubiquitous smartphones for good. It invites students to participate in more productive classroom discussion. High-school teacher and M.Ed candidate Zack Teitel, in collaboration Victor Chen, a master’s of information student, and Fiona Zhao, a master’s student studying applied computing, developed the app.

“I’ve worked in inner-city environments and very affluent schools, and in every classroom I’m in—I can’t stress this enough—every single student has a smartphone,” said Teitel. “We need to start presenting opportunities to use the technology in a positive way, rather than a distracting way.” [Listen to an interview with Zack Teitel on CBC’s Metro Morning]

Apps such as Face2Name help doctors and nurses, working in enormous hospitals with rotating staff, find their patient’s caregiver in a hurry. Critter is a virtual pet that stops us from staring at our phones like zombies, sending out barks and purrs whenever we pass another person running the app. SkinLens uses photo-filter technology to keep tabs on that scary-looking mole, checking for symmetry and colour changes.

The runner-up app, called Surgical Trainer and Navigator, or STAN, helps surgeons in training get empirical feedback about their proficiency in the operating room by tracking hand motions during surgery. Competition was fierce—at the end of the night, only a single point separated each of the top six apps.

“It’s thrilling to see this focus on interdisciplinary development really coming to fruition,” said Professor Rose, founder of The Centre for Inter-Disciplinary Mobile Software and Hardware. Professor Rose created a graduate course, ECE1778, to unite non-programmers, or “appers,” and students with programming skills to build mobile apps that solve a real-world problem in the apper’s field. It’s a new research area, built entirely on harnessing the power of the tiny computers we all carry around in our pockets and the sensors that come with them.

“To me, I think we’ve seen perhaps one of the greatest surges of creativity in human history in the last six years,” said Professor Rose, “It spans all different areas of endeavour. One of the beliefs that I think Parham and I share is the insight that there are lots of great ideas to come.”

More information:
Marit Mitchell
Senior Communications Officer
The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
416-978-7997 | marit.mitchell@utoronto.ca

During her undergraduate classes in industrial engineering, Hanna Janossy (IndE 1T3 + PEY) discovered that improving a simple process could spur big change. With this in mind, she led 13 student organizations with new ideas, inspiring her peers to make a difference outside the classroom and beyond.

Hanna was just one of 17 engineering students to receive a 2014 Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award on April 16. The prestigious award – established in 1994 and named after Gordon Cressy, former U of T vice-president of development and university relations – has been presented to over 3,000 students since its inception.

“We are extremely proud of the engineering students honoured by this year’s Cressy Awards,” said Dean Cristina Amon. “Their passionate dedication to enhancing university life beyond the classroom is an inspiration to all of us.”

Find out more about leadership programs at U of T Engineering at the Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering (ILead).

Full list of winners from U of T Engineering:

Afshin Ameri (EngSci 1T4)

Afshin has always been an active member of the university community, most notably as co-president of Students Fighting Cancer (SFC). He organized the first SFC International Food Festival, raising over $4,000 for SickKids Foundation and Movember Canada. Afshin also co-founded the U of T Business Association (UTBA) and served as a panel member of the U of T Tribunal Board.

Zerzar Bukhari (CompE 1T4)

Since his first day at U of T, Zerzar was involved in various business ventures and non-profit organizations. As the president of the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) — one of the largest clubs on campus — he nurtured an executive leadership team that developed programming committed to the welfare of Muslim students.

Maegan Chang (CompE 1T3 + PEY)

As orientation chair for the Engineering Society (EngSoc), Maegan directed a team of more than 50 volunteers and organized F!rosh Week, which hosted more than 1,300 students. She was also co-founder and managing director for the Discovery Series, a networking event for young leaders and professionals, as part of the Nspire Innovation Network.

Andy Chen (MechE 1T3 + PEY)

Andy chaired the 2012 Ontario Engineering Competition (OEC). His passion helped U of T secure the right to host the event, which welcomed over 400 competitors and guests from 16 schools. He also co-founded You’re Next Experience (YouX), an initiative that aims to revolutionize the recruitment space at U of T by providing students with a full-day mentored placement at some of Canada’s top companies.

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Freddy Chen (CompE 1T4)

Freddy spent time as the director of the U of T Engineering Kompetition (UTEK) and U of T High School Design Competition (UTHSDC). He was also vice-president of academics for Engineering Society (EngSoc). Through the You’re Next Career Network, Freddy led mentorship events, hosted interview prep sessions and lectured to first-year students about best practices for career preparation.

Hanna Janossy (IndE 1T3 + PEY)

Throughout her undergraduate studies, Hanna held leadership positions at 13 different student organizations, both in Toronto and abroad during academic exchanges to Zurich and Budapest. Her most significant contributions were to Women in Science & Engineering (WISE). As co-president of the WISE U of T Chapter, Hanna hired 20 new student executives and launched five new programs, inspiring and empowering students at U of T and beyond.

Anmol Kaur (CompE 1T4)

Over the last four years, Anmol focused her co-curricular efforts on improving the quality of life for her peers. She founded the Spark Design Club, a monthly workshop series that provides students with an opportunity to apply classroom learning and design concepts to the creation of interactive installations. She launched the You’re Next Startup Career Fair, engaging over 600 students with more than 35 companies, and for two years she supported and mentored students as a don at Innis Residence.

Kazem Kutob (IndE 1T3 + PEY)

Kazem was heavily involved in the Engineering Society (EngSoc). During his time as the finance manager of the Hard Hat Cafe, he founded a reasonably priced, student-run catering service dedicated to providing high-quality food to student clubs. As the founding member and senior vice-president of the You’re Next Career Network, Kazem co-led the largest student-run career development organization at U of T. He also served as the vice-chair of the Industrial Engineering Club (IEClub).

Kevin Lam (EngSci 1T3 + PEY)

Making music accessible to students was a priority for Kevin during his time at U of T Engineering. He was the musical director of the Skule Jazz Combo, Skule Stage Band and the Skule Nite Orchestra. Kevin also designed and maintained websites as a web developer for the Undergraduate Engineering Research Day (UnERD) and University of Toronto Engineering Kompetition (UTEK).

Alberto Picard-Ami (IndE 1T3 + PEY)

As president of Nspire Innovation Network, Alberto launched an entrepreneurial startup weekend that brought together more than 60 students and mentors. As chair of the National Business and Technology Conference (NBTC), he hosted the largest student entrepreneurship conference. He also co-founded the inaugural Simulation Case Competition for the Industrial Engineering Club (IEClub), served as head leader for Orientation Week, and is a mentor for the MIE Mentorship Program and You’re Next Career Network.

Gabriel Stavros (MSE 1T3 + PEY)

During his time as an undergraduate, Gabriel was an engaged student leader, serving as the drum major of the Lady Godiva Memorial Bnad [sic], chairing the Blue & Gold Committee and holding a position as vice-president of student life for the Engineering Society (EngSoc).

Christopher Sun (EngSci 1T3 + PEY)

Christopher supported and represented the student body as chair of the Engineering Science Discipline Club. As captain of the Skule B coed volleyball team, he coached and supported his teammates to a championship victory. As president of the Engineering Photography Club, and as co-director of Skule Nite 1T3, he also promoted the appreciation of arts and music in a science-driven environment.

Fiona Faang-Yu Tran (EngSci 1T3 + PEY)

Fiona co-chaired the NSight Mentorship Program for first-year Engineering Science students, leading a team of 40 mentors while organizing various workshops and social events. While serving as vice-president of the Women in Science & Engineering (WISE) U of T Chapter, she revamped the organization’s online communications and public relations strategy. Fiona also led a team of 40 student journalists as the news editor for the engineering newspaper, The Cannon.

Chirag Variawa (PhD IndE 1T4)

Chirag served on Governing Council for two terms, in addition to serving in a leadership role as the vice-chair of the University Affairs Board (UAB). He has been an active member of the Committee for Honorary Degrees (CHD), Executive Committee of Governing Council, Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) and Academic Appeals Board (AAB), among others. Chirag also served as the graduate student representative on several committees, including those for the president, vice-president of research, and the warden of Hart House.

Amanda Wai (MSE 1T3 + PEY)

Amanda served as president of the U of T Volunteer Consulting Group (VCG), overseeing pro bono consulting advisory to 10 non-profit organizations. She received the Ontario Professional Engineers Foundation for Education Scholarship for her efforts. She was also co-president of the University of Toronto Consulting Association (UTCA), leading an eight-member executive team to organize informational and networking events for more than 1,500 students.

Bo Zhang (ChemE 1T4)

Since honing his skills with the Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering (ILead) program, Bo has lead a variety of professional development clubs and organizations, including roles as president of the Engineering Athletics Association (EAA) and chair of the Canadian Society of Chemical Engineering (CSChE) U of T Chapter. He also established the Engineering Basketball League.

Victor Zhang (ElecE 1T4)

Victor served as Electrical Engineering class representative, helped to organize the Ontario Engineering Competition (OEC) and successfully ran the U of T Bookstore. As president of the You’re Next Career Network, he helped strengthen relationships with existing industry partners, while fostering new ones with Google, Tesla and Facebook.

Find high-resolution images in our Flickr gallery.

A new study has linked the stiffness of breast tissue to the progression of a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer.

Published in Nature Medicine this month, the study may help clinicians differentiate between aggressive forms of the disease, which tend to have a poor prognosis, and less deadly forms. University of Toronto Assistant Professor Penney Gilbert, a core faculty member at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering and the Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research, was involved in the two studies that led to this discovery.

Back in 2010, Gilbert and fellow researchers in Professor Valerie Weaver’s laboratory at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) discovered a vital link between the presence of a particular protein, HOXA9, and production of the BRCA1 protein. When mutated, the BRCA1 protein malfunctions, and it can trigger particularly deadly forms of breast cancer.

“BRCA1 mutation is one of a handful of known heritable genetic mutations that greatly increase the risk of developing breast cancer,” said Professor Gilbert. “In recent news, when Angelina Jolie learned that she was a carrier of this mutation, she underwent a double mastectomy as a preventative measure to ward off the aggressive breast cancer.”

The researchers, though, found that HOXA9 plays a vital role in the suppression of the disease.

“HOXA9 makes more BRCA1, which [in its non-mutated state] is a tumour suppressor,” Professor Gilbert explained, “and that allowed us to understand why a population of women who didn’t have BRCA1 mutation could have breast tumours that very much resembled those with a BRCA1 mutation. Low levels of HOXA9 were most commonly observed in these types of breast tumours.”

The study concluded that low HOXA9 levels correlated with higher likelihood of metastasis as well as a significantly higher incidence of relapse.

“So the question is,” added Professor Gilbert, “why do they lose HOXA9 expression?”

As it turns out, the mechanical properties of the tissue environment – in particular, its stiffness – may play a major role in the progression of the disease.

Following the 2010 study, Gilbert worked together with Janna Mouw, an associate specialist in the Weaver lab and first author of the Nature Medicine study, to show that HOXA9 protein expression – the protein that leads to tumour suppressing BRCA1 expression – was lost in stiff tissue environments.

“A specific microRNA (miR-18a) – which is neither a protein nor a hormone, but another type of small molecule – appears to dial down the levels of several breast tumour suppressors, including HOXA9,” said Professor Gilbert. This ‘dialing down’ in turn blocks production of BRCA1.

The findings are of particular clinical interest, as they may lead to quicker identification of the difficult-to-treat and aggressive breast cancer subtypes.

“This discovery of the molecular chain of events between tissue stiffening and breast cancer progression may lead to new and more effective treatment strategies that target structural changes in breast cancers and other tumours,” said Valerie Weaver, professor of surgery and director of UCSF’s Center for Bioengineering and Tissue Regeneration.

“Our study indicates that it isn’t enough to treat the genetic defects,” Professor Gilbert argued. “We need to look at how to return the environment surrounding the tumour to its normal softness. It’s important for us to consider both the genetic and the biomechanical aspects of tumour initiation.”

Whether it’s an app to help patients navigate Toronto General Hospital, better planning tools at Salesforce.com, or a machine that throws the elusive knuckleball, this year’s MIE Design, Research & Innovation Showcase was overflowing with ingenuity and new ideas.

On April 3, fourth-year students from the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering (MIE) shared 67 capstone projects with faculty, alumni and the public. The event marked an end to eight months of collaboration between students and many industry and research partners.

This year’s showcase included five projects that were part of a cross-cultural branch of capstone – three from MIE and two from Peking University (PKU) in Beijing, China. Four faculty and 16 students visited PKU last fall, while Chinese students had an opportunity to visit Toronto and present alongside their MIE teammates this month.

Here are three highlights from the 2014 showcase:

An industrial engineering approach to sales tools

Students Julian Brais (IndE 1T3 +PEY), Tarek El Fedawy (IndE 1T3 + PEY) and Kazem Kutob (IndE 1T3 + PEY) presented their project, developed in collaboration with leading technology company, Salesforce.com – which offers companies cloud-based software to best connect with their customers, partners and employees.

“Factories produce what’s needed in a given time,” said Kutob. “So, we asked, ‘What if the sales team represented machines?’”

The first phase of their project resulted in a production planning tool to accommodate scheduling between Salesforce’s marketing and sales departments. The team took into account planning and scheduling variables to develop a customized tool that can help both groups visualize their impacts on each area on a monthly basis.

Using available data from sales calls and staff shadowing, the team also created a best practices model for the sales department managing leads.

“This was something Salesforce wanted to achieve, but didn’t know how to approach,” said El Fedawy. “Because we came to this project with an industrial engineering background, we were able to apply the optimization modeling we’ve learned in our program.”

Salesforce.com is rolling-out the planning tool out across their sales and marketing teams globally, starting in North America and Australia.

Helping patients and their families navigate hospitals

Undergraduates Jieling Yan (IndE 1T3 + PEY), Andy Lin (IndE 1T3 + PEY), William Kwok (IndE 1T3 + PEY), and Sherry Hou (IndE 1T3 + PEY) partnered with Toronto General Hospital (TGH) to find their way through developing a mobile app.

TGH directors were struggling to develop wayfinding maps and signage for the hospital. The process had yet to find an efficient or effective solution, so the industrial engineering students designed a smartphone app to help patients and their families navigate the hospital.

To help determine the most popular areas in the hospital’s first three levels, the students met with the wayfinding committee, and then surveyed patients and hospital volunteers. The resulting app can be used upon arrival at the hospital or prior to somebody’s visit.

“The user-interface – to which applied a lot of our learning from our human factors courses – is just the beginning,” said Kwok. “Now, we want to help develop more of the back-end, the database, to support the functionality of the app.”

Engineering the knuckleball

Professor David Sinton (MIE) has always wondered whether a knuckleball pitch can be perfectly repeated.

A knuckleball is the most difficult ball for players to hit. Typically grasped by the finger nails and raised knuckles, it’s not thrown by many major league players, with Toronto Blue Jays’ R.A. Dickey among the few. A perfect knuckleball can take years to master.

“Mystery has always surrounded the knuckleball pitch,” said Professor Sinton. “Generating truly repeatable and controllable motion from the knuckleball, mechanically, would make history.”

The mystery of the knuckleball is found partly in the baseball’s seams, which create an uneven drag on the knuckleball’s flight path. This makes it move in seemingly erratic directions. Ideal knuckleballs only take a half revolution from the pitcher’s mound to the plate.

Students Martin Cote (MechE 1T3 + PEY), Alex Gordon (MechE 1T3 + PEY), Jessica Tomasi (MechE 1T3 + PEY) and Queenie Yuan (MechE 1T3 + PEY) set out to design a knuckleball-pitching machine.

Building their prototype with PVC tubes, motors, an actuator, sensors and a used pitching machine, the team used slow-motion cameras and radar guns to test the ball’s orientation, spin, speed and flight path. They also took particular note of the ball’s seam positioning.

While the machine successfully throws breaking and wobbling knuckleballs, they’re still striving for repeatability. The team developed their machine in-house using the department’s fabrication lab.

The projects delighted many clients, including Shahan Parshad, Saleseforce’s Director, Sales Strategy & Operations: “The MIE capstone design project was of huge benefit to our company, to me professionally, and to the students. It’s a no-brainer for all parties involved, and we look forward to continuing our relationship with the capstone program for years to come.”

From gum disease to new cancer therapy, health concerns that affect millions are at the heart of two new Collaborative Health Research Projects (CHRPs) involving Professors Warren Chan (IBBME) and Eli Sone (IBBME, MSE).

Making recovery from gum disease “stick”

Assistant Professor Sone and his collaborators, Associate Professor Bernhard Ganss and Professor Chris McCulloch, are targeting a problem that affects an estimated 47% of Americans alone: periodontal gum disease.

This disease causes bacteria to destroy the junction between teeth and gums. When the disease progresses, the bacteria migrate down to the root of tooth and destroy the attachment of the tooth to the jawbone. Treatment for this disease involves scraping the bacteria from the tooth, followed by re-attaching the gum flap back onto the tooth to encourage healing.

“The problem is, there’s really no reliable way to stick the gum flap back to the tooth,” explained Professor Sone. “Without an effective seal, bacteria can re-infect the wound. Epithelial cells routinely invade the wound space and prevent normal healing.”

The joint NSERC and CIHR grant, worth approximately $550K, will create a novel collagen-based membrane that will enable mineralization, cementing the gum flap to the tooth.

So what makes this membrane different from other membranes already on the market?

In a word: amelotin. Amelotin is a natural human protein discovered by Ganss, an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Dentistry, cross-appointed to IBBME. In 2013, Ganss’ lab found that this particular protein promotes mineralization – the same process that bones and teeth undergo for healing and growth.

The third team member, Chris McCulloch, Canada Research Chair in Matrix Dynamics, is a clinical scientist in the Faculty of Dentistry. McCulloch has extensive experience in the development of treatment and diagnostic tools for periodontal diseases, and has developed the models of periodontitis that will be used to test the membranes.

The goal of the project is to progress the research to the point where their industry partner, Octane Biotech, Inc., can move the product through the commercialization process to the market.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity,” said Sone of the win. “The project really brings together a diverse team that has a really good shot of making an impact in this area.”

Nanotechnology cancer therapeutics

Another project, led by Chemistry’s Associate Professor Jumi Shin and co-researched by IBBME’s Professor Warren Chan, involves the creation of a nanoparticle drug-delivery system to combat cancer.

Shin had previously been awarded CHRP grant funding to investigate a “super protein drug” capable of destroying cancerous tumors. Predicated on natural proteins already present in the human body, the drugs interfere with the secretion of a cellular protein called “Myc,” known to researchers for its role in over half of human cancers.

“The problem is,” described Chan, “when you put these [protein drug] peptides in the body they break up. You need a delivery system to carry the drug directly to the cells and release it into the tumor’s nucleus. The target is to have the peptides bind to block Myc, which then destroys the cancer growth.”

Shin has the drug; Chan has the vehicle: nanoparticles. In fact, Chan has already made significant headway in creating a nanoparticle delivery system that can target cancerous cells.

Linda Penn, Canada Research Chair in Molecular Oncology and the third member of the research group, provides expertise in determining how well the system is operating in live systems.

If successful, the researchers will draw upon their corporate partner, Canadian company BioVectra, to bring the drug-delivery system to market.

“We are thrilled that CHRP supports our team, which is a really unusual and diverse collaboration: a nano-engineer, a chemist, and a cancer researcher,” said Shin. “It’s been an eye-opening experience for all of us to work together and learn each other’s fields.”

The team is already hard at work gathering pre-clinical data for their ‘natural’ nanotechnology cancer therapeutics. But the results of this project, which received nearly $900K, could have a wide number of applications for other diseases, as well.

“[Shin’s] system is amazing,” argued Chan, “because it’s based on really simple protein structures. We can generate a lot of peptides for other targets such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.”

Thirteen separate CHRP grants were awarded to IBBME core faculty members in the Institute between 2009 and 2013, with grant monies totalling more than $4M.

If you stood among the crowd at this year’s ECE Design Fair, you’d spot a drone helicopter that can find any charging station, a power grid that can sense its own flaws, a surgeon’s scope that detects internal abnormalities and even an app that helps a child deal with cancer.

This month, U of T undergraduate students in The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering shared more than 75 final-year projects in a four-day public showcase. Their ideas wowed packed audiences of professors, alumni, media and other guests.

Here’s a snapshot of three projects that were included in the event’s grand finale:

A program that spots polyps using machine learning

Nikhil Goyal, Dhaval Miyani and Jyoti Tripathi (all CompE 1T4) designed a program to help surgeons identify lesions and polyps during endoscopic surgery. (See their video – warning: graphic surgery content). Using machine-learning techniques, their image-processing platform identified anomalies in real time, making it much easier for surgeons exhausted during long operations to make sure they catch anything unusual.

“We worked on this project in collaboration with two researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital here in Toronto,” said Goyal. “It was exciting to work on something that has a real application, and get feedback on that.”

Drones that locate nearby charging stations

Lightweight drones could deliver your mail or drop medical supplies into disaster zones, if not for their limited battery life. Kevin Lee (ElecE 1T4), Zerzar Bukhari (ElecE 1T4), Sachin Siby (CompE 1T4) and Pranoy De (ElecE 1T4) tackled that challenge by creating SPARQ, an autonomous charging station for quadcopters. When batteries run low, quadcopters can home in on the nearest charging station, and automatically navigate the entry point and touch down to charge. (Watch SPARQ’s video).

Controlling your home from your smartphone

Want the lights in your creepy basement to turn on when you start down the stairs? Sumbul Alvi (CompE 1T4), Sumit Kumar (ElecE 1T4) and Edmund Phung (ElecE 1T4) designed a home automation system that lets you control your home—including lights, appliances, temperature and more—from your mobile phone. Reconfigurable sensors can operate independently, or be connected together so that, for example, your kettle turns on when you flip on the bedroom light.

“Lots of people have now heard about smart home control systems, such as Google’s Nest,” said Alvi. “We wanted to create something a little easier to use, that you can change around without having to rewire anything within your walls.”

“The quality of projects this year was extremely high,” said ECE Professor Khoman Phang, one of the course coordinators. “I’m always so impressed and inspired by the creativity and ingenuity of our students, and all they accomplish over the course of the year.”

At a reception following the final showcase event, alumnus Arshia Tabrizi (CompE 9T5) congratulated graduating students and encouraged them to stay engaged with the U of T Engineering alumni community.

“Don’t just think of your alumni group as your current classmates,” said Tabrizi. “Think about the ten years of graduates who came before you, and the ten years who will come after. That’s your network.”

Watch for some of the grand finale projects on Space Channel’s InnerSpace later in April 2014.