Research news

Learn more about the latest discoveries and innovations from the U of T Engineering community. Our researchers are developing new ways of capturing and storing clean energy, medical devices that can save and extend lives, smarter ways to design and build cities and much more.

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

August 19, 2020

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

In this simulation, atoms of five different chemical elements within nanoparticle are represented by different coloured spheres. A computer algorithm developed at U of T Engineering analyzes thousands of possible geometric configurations of these elements in order to predict which ones will have the best performance as industrial catalysts. (Image courtesy Zhuole Lu)

U of T Engineering researchers use machine learning to design smarter industrial catalysts

August 18, 2020

Team led by Chandra Veer Singh (MSE) has created an algorithm that accurately simulates catalysts made of five different metals

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

August 13, 2020

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.

Bipasha Goyal (Year 3 EngSci, Biomedical Option) conducts research on a protein that could fight vision loss by encouraging the growth of photoreceptor cells in the eye. She is one of the dozens of students presenting at this year’s Undergraduate Engineering Research Day, held online August 14, 2020. (Photo: Carter Teal)

‘A world of possibilities’: U of T Engineering undergraduate students host virtual summer research conference

August 10, 2020

Undergraduate Engineering Research Day (UnERD) 2020, to be held online August 14, features participants from across Canada and beyond

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

August 10, 2020

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

A crowd spills along Bloor street after a transit disruption in November 2009. U of T Engineering research have designed an algorithm that they say can more efficiently dispatch buses to deal with downed subway lines. (Photo: Sweetsop, via Flickr)

Is there a better way for transit systems to deal with service disruptions?

August 5, 2020

U of T Engineering research aims to optimize the deployment of shuttle buses to replace downed rail service

A new model, created by Professor Swetaprovo Chaudhuri (UTIAS) and his international collaborators, uses fundamental physics to predict the behaviour of the microscopic droplets that spread the COVID-19 virus. (Photo: Fusion Medical Animation via Unsplash)

Understanding the spread of COVID-19 through physics-based modeling

July 16, 2020

An international collaboration led by U of T Engineering professor Swetaprovo Chaudhuri leverages fundamental physics to model the aerosol droplets that spread the COVID-19 virus.

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

July 15, 2020

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

“The talent gap isn’t closing,” says U of T Engineering alumna Kimberly Ren (EngSci 2T0), who led the first study to quantitatively establish predictors for women pursuing ML/AI careers. (Photo courtesy of Kimberly Ren)

What’s contributing to the striking gender gap in the AI field? U of T Engineering study takes a closer look

July 2, 2020

Gender discrimination from teaching staff found to have significant impact on female students’ decisions to pursue ML/AI careers, with discrimination from peers more prevalent for women than men

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