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.

Measurements taken by U of T Engineering researchers show that levels of certain airborne particles can be up to nine times higher in train cars pulled by diesel locomotives than on busy city streets. (Photo: Kevin Hiscott, via <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/portway-ave/110344606/" target="_blank">Flickr</a>)

Diesel trains may expose passengers to exhaust

February 7, 2017

Levels of certain airborne pollutants are up to nine times higher in train cars directly behind diesel locomotives than on busy city streets.

Professor Erin Bobicki researches new methods for extracting valuable minerals that use less energy and water than current methods. Her innovations could also enable the extraction of useful metals from materials previously discarded as waste. (Credit: Kevin Soobrian)

Can microwaves make mining more sustainable?

February 1, 2017

Professor Erin Bobicki (MSE, ChemE) is developing more sustainable ways of extracting valuable minerals from ore, including material previously discarded as waste.

TBEP and MbD: Engineered smart scaffolds could help repair damaged hearts and muscles

January 25, 2017

Two multidisciplinary partnerships led by U of T Engineering researchers are developing implantable biomaterials that accelerate injury recovery, from car accidents to heart attacks.

Professor Marianne Touchie (CivE, MIE) is working with Toronto Community Housing and The Atmospheric Fund to better understand how changes to energy use affect indoor environmental quality in multi-unit residential buildings. Toronto Public Health is collaborating to use their data to inform policy. (Photo: Kevin Soobrian)

Heat, housing and health: Marianne Touchie and the complexity of multi-unit residential buildings

January 25, 2017

Professor Marianne Touchie is working with Toronto Community Housing and The Atmospheric Fund to better understand how changes to energy use affect indoor environmental quality in multi-unit residential buildings

Professor Milica Radici (IBBME, ChemE, left) develops lab-grown human tissues that could be used to test new drugs or repair damaged organs. (Photo: Neil Ta)

New frontiers in health-care innovation

January 25, 2017

This article originally appeared in the 2016 issue of Skulematters magazine. Interdisciplinary research from U of T Engineering is helping us live longer, healthier lives. These projects from across our Faculty illustrate leading-edge innovations that will improve health care, from planning and prevention to diagnosis and treatment: Optimizing surgical schedules Long wait lists for elective surgeries […]

Klein (left) and his NRC colleague Robert Owens with an early prototype. Photo courtesy National Research Council of Canada.

The Maker: George Klein and the first electric wheelchair

January 25, 2017

Alumnus George Klein (MechE 2T8) had a hand in more than a thousand 20th century inventions, including the world’s first electric wheelchair.

A U of T Engineering research team led by Professor Matthew Roorda (CivE) are assessing the safety impact of Bloor Street bike lanes. (Photo by Dylan Passmore via Flickr).

Bike lanes on Bloor Street: U of T Engineering partners with Miovision, City of Toronto to help evaluate pilot and track traffic safety

January 12, 2017

Matthew Roorda (CIvE) performing conflict analysis to help cities evaluate the impact to safety of any changes to a streetscape

A pine forest in Finland. Professor Emma Master (ChemE) is collaborating with researchers around the world (including at Aalto University in Helsinki) to create new materials from trees that could replace fossil fuel-derived substances in everyday products, from adhesives to food packaging. (Photo: Emma Master)

Paper, not plastic: Leveraging microbial genes to make greener materials

December 16, 2016

Professor Emma Master receives grant from Genome Canada’s Large Scale Applied Research Projects program

Dr. Lewis Reis (IBBME PhD 1T6, at left) and Professor Milica Radisic (IBBME, ChemE) used their unique peptide-hydrogel biomaterial to heal chronic wounds up twice as quickly as commercially available products. (Credit: Marit Mitchell).

Skin cells ‘crawl’ together to heal wounds treated with unique hydrogel layer

December 14, 2016

Research team led by Milica Radisic uses their patented peptide to close non-healing chronic wounds caused by diabetes

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