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.

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

Professor Lesley Warren (standing, at right) and her colleagues are mining the genomes of microbes that thrive in wastewater generated by the resource extraction industry. Insights into how these organisms derive energy from metals and sulphur compounds could lead to new strategies for preventing pollution and optimizing mine reclamation. (Photo courtesy Lesley Warren)

Ancient microbes could offer insight on better mining wastewater strategies

December 8, 2016

Professor Lesley Warren and her team will use genomics to study the microorganisms that live in mine tailings, with the aim of preventing pollution and remediating contaminated sites.

Stanley Ng (IBBME) holds up a cartridge used to measure the gene expression levels of cancer cells. A team led by Ng has developed a new rapid test that can predict the effectiveness of leukemia treatments for a given patient, providing results in 24 to 48 hours. Photo: Luke Ng

New stem cell-based gene test predicts patient risk in acute myeloid leukemia

December 7, 2016

IBBME PhD candidate Stanley Ng applies machine learning background to design smarter, faster test to help leukemia doctors select the best treatment for their patients

U of T Engineering alumnus John Paul Morgan (EngSci 0T1, ECE MASc 0T5) was inspired to found his company, Morgan Solar, by his experiences with Doctors Without Borders in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Morgan is part of a new generation of entrepreneurs helping to bring inexpensive electricity to energy-impoverished regions. (Courtesy: John Paul Morgan).

The next generation of solar pioneers: Electrifying a nation

December 7, 2016

U of T Engineering alumni John Paul Morgan and Shawn Qu are entrepreneurs whose ingenuity is lighting up parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo

Ashton Trotman-Grant, centre, discusses his poster with Medicine by Design symposium attendees. Trotman-Grant won the Blueline Therapeutic Translation Award for presenting the poster with the greatest commercialization potential. (Credit: Neil Ta).

Medicine by Design symposium shines spotlight on regenerative medicine at U of T

November 30, 2016

“We are contributing something new by converging people from diverse disciplines — mathematics, the physical sciences, engineering, biology and medicine — around the big questions in regenerative medicine”

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