Human health news

U of T Engineering is a leader in health care engineering. Together with doctors, medical researchers, policymakers and industry, we are helping people around the world live longer, healthier lives.

At QSperm, U of T engineers use “Sperm Olympics” to help couples get pregnant faster (Photo: Christopher Lance via Flickr).

Fertility startup: a year in the life of the engineer entrepreneur

In vitro fertilization is a costly, invasive process—but what if there was a way to vastly improve a woman’s chances of getting pregnant in fewer in vitro sessions? Enter QSperm, a startup grounded in U of T Engineering-developed research from Professor David Sinton (MIE), PhD student Reza Nosrati (MechE PhD 1T6) and alumna Lise Eamer (MechE 0T8, MASc 1T3). “QSperm is a […]

Bionym-Nymi

Bionym raises $14 million for wearable, password-replacing tech

The Engineering alumni behind a wearable device called the “Nymi” – a bracelet-style product that uses your unique heart rhythm as a password to unlock or active devices – secured $14 million in investment this week from key industry players including Ignition Partners, Relay Ventures and MasterCard. Developers Foteini Agrafioti (ElecE MASc 0T9, PhD 1T1) […]

Mothers_Milk

Engineers take aim at childhood hunger and unclean water with Grand Challenges Canada grants

In Canada, we often take safe drinking water and a stable food supply for granted. But in many parts of the world, people are much less fortunate. Two recently announced Grand Challenges Canada (GCC) grants will allow U of T Engineering researchers to bring their expertise to bear on some of the most urgent global […]

PrintAlive BioPrinter

3D skin printer wins engineering students Canada Dyson Award

While some of us are using the new power of 3D printers to make smartphone cases and chocolate figurines, two engineering students from the University of Toronto are using them to print functional human skin. On September 18, Arianna McAllister (IBBME MASc 1T4) and Lian Leng (MIE MASc 1T0, PhD 1T5) were named the Canadian winners […]

Cathy Zhiu and Linda Liu

Students design innovative, low-cost solution for tricky tracheal intubation

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 + […]

PillThumb

Engineering safer drugs and skin grafts with Grand Challenges Canada grants

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 […]

Aaron Wheeler

Using tiny technology to aid in the fight against cancer

This year’s McLean Award winner Aaron Wheeler (IBBME) believes the solution to the colossal challenge of personalizing medicine for cancer patients may be a tiny one. Funded jointly by U of T alumnus William McLean and U of T’s Connaught Fund, the $100,000 McLean Award is given annually to support outstanding basic scientific research at […]

Medusa

Understanding how wounds heal

Whether you fall off your bike and scrape your knee, or knick your finger cutting onions, you know it’s only a matter of time before your injury has scabbed and healed. But what really just happened – how did your wound actually mend? Using a student-designed software program called MEDUSA, as well as a special […]

Cooking South India

Designing cleaner, safer ways to cook in South India

How do you design an inexpensive stove that’s better than open fires or rudimentary appliances, and then convince people halfway across the world to use it? That’s what a multidisciplinary team of students and professors from across the University of Toronto – including U of T Engineering – went to South India to discover. “According […]