In order for a COVID-19 vaccine and antiviral drugs to be developed, scientists first need to understand why this virus spreads so easily and quickly, and why it invades our bodies with seemingly little resistance from our immune system.

To understand how COVID-19 enters the body and does its damage, a team of top researchers from universities, hospitals and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) at the Centre for Research and Application in Fluidic Technologies, or CRAFT (a collaborative centre between the University of Toronto and the NRC), are adapting an approach developed by U of T’s Milica Radisic, Axel Guenther and Edmond Young to create miniscule models of the nose, mouth, eyes and lungs.

The focus will be on understanding why this virus is so effective at breaking through the body’s natural defenders against viral and bacterial invaders, otherwise known as epithelial barriers. These barriers – created by epithelial cells that pack themselves tightly together – are present throughout our bodies.

“Normally, these epithelial barriers do a good job of helping us fight infections,” says Radisic, who is a professor in the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

“But this virus has found a way to invade the barriers. That’s our focus – why is this?”

In recent years, Radisic’s research has allowed her to make important progress in developing models of the heart on computer chips. The hearts – made from human cells – capture the key functions of an actual heart. That research, in turn, has been extremely effective in regenerating heart cells. Radisic has also used this organ-on-a-chip model to study how nanoparticles from air pollution damage our organs.

Now, by creating mini-models of other human organs,the researchers can take a detailed view of just how COVID-19 is working.

“This method allows us to study the problem without having to touch a human and potentially harm someone,” says Radisic, who is also Canada Research Chair in Functional Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering.

“That’s the beauty of it. We can do our research early in the viral infection. You can’t do that with a human, because once you know you have COVID-19, you’ve been infected for two weeks. With organ-on-a-chip, we can study what happens within 24 hours of COVID-19 entering the body.”

A big part of the challenge with COVID-19 is that it’s new and no one is immune.

“There isn’t anyone who has developed the T and B cells that are part of what we call ‘adaptive immunity’ – the cells you build up as you are exposed to diseases. We are all born with innate immunity. This works early when we are invaded with a virus. It finds things that don’t belong in your body and tries to clean it up.”

Radisic says having a lung-on-a-chip will enable the team to study the innate early response of the immune system to COVID-19.

Once the models are built with commercially available cell lines to set the groundwork, the human cells for the organs-on-a-chip will be supplied by CRAFT members Tereza Martinu (respirology) and Ana Konvalinka (nephrology) of University Health Network and U of T’s Faculty of Medicine. The live virus will be acquired from Karen Mossman, a researcher in pathology and molecular medicine at McMaster University. Mossman was involved in isolating the virus with U of T scientists Samira Mubareka and Robert Kozak, who are based at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

“Karen has the live virus, so we will give her the chips and she will infect the organs in a special level three facility,” Radisic says.

Other CRAFT team researchers include Teodor Veres and his colleagues Daniel Brassard, Lidija Malic and Sue Twine from the NRC; Guenther and Young, both of U of T’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering; and Wolfgang Kuebler of the Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science, St. Michael’s Hospital and surgery and physiology at U of T.

The group will also experiment with the “Powerblade,” a technology the NRC in Montreal is using to test the blood of astronauts while on space missions. It will be repurposed by the research team to examine its potential for testing people with COVID-19 when they arrive at a hospital.

“Once we figure out which molecules are biomarkers for a severe case of COVID-19, the Powerblade will be able to read that at point-of-care,” Radisic says.

“The health-care providers will then know how your innate immunity is reacting and if the virus will be severe or not. The problem with COVID-19 is that it works fast. You look good one minute and then, suddenly, you can be in real trouble. So getting earlier markers is important.”

-This story was originally published on the University of Toronto’s News Site on April 8, 2020 by Paul Frameni

A multi-disciplinary team of researchers has launched a project to co-ordinate and deploy equipment from across the University of Toronto to produce medical supplies like masks, face shields and ventilators for health-care workers on the front lines of COVID-19.

Kamran Behdinan, a professor in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, is working to design and manufacture assisted bag ventilator devices – equipment that isn’t in short supply at present, but could become scarce if the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations continues to increase.

Behdinan says these low-cost devices could be useful as “last-resort ventilators” that take the place of manually inflated ventilators that are operated by hand by nurses and paramedics.

“We want to make the mechanism as simple as possible, with a minimum number of components, using off-the-shelf parts and easy to fabricate and assemble, so that it’s easily scalable and we can use it on a mass scale if we need to quickly,” says Behdinan, who is director of U of T’s Institute for Multidisciplinary Design & Innovation.

The devices are designed to meet key respiratory parameters, and have features such as the option to be manually operable when required.

Behdinan and collaborators at the department of mechanical and industrial engineering have already carried out a rapid trial and have created a working prototype, using equipment including water jets. He is now working with experts at Toronto General Hospital to prepare an advanced device for clinical trials.

“If this gets out of control – hopefully not – they’ll need something to not get caught off guard, and I’m extremely optimistic that this can be a back-up solution,” Behdinan says.

Read the full story by Rahul Kalvapalle on the U of T News website.

–  This excerpt taken from the story originally published on the University of Toronto’s News Site on April 15, 2020 by Rahul Kalvapalle.

Professor Yu Sun has been elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows in recognition of his outstanding contributions to robotics and device technologies for cell manipulation and management. Dr. Sun was remotely inducted along with 156 colleagues who make up the AIMBE College of Fellows Class of 2020.  The College of Fellows is comprised of the top two percent of medical and biological engineers.

Sun is a Professor in the Mechanical Engineering program at MIE and holds the Canada Research Chair in Micro and Nano Engineering Systems. He is also the founding Director of the recently launched University of Toronto Robotics Institute. He holds joint appointments with the University of Toronto’s Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, the Department Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Computer Science.

His research lab, the Advanced Micro and Nanosystems Laboratory, specializes in developing innovative technologies and instruments for manipulating and characterizing cells, molecules and nanomaterials.

His election to the AIMBE College of Fellows adds to a growing list of accomplishments  including his status as a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, US National Academy of Inventors, Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society of Canada.

 

 

 

Graphene is a paradox: it is the thinnest material known to science, yet also one of the strongest. Now, research from U of T Engineering shows that graphene is also highly resistant to fatigue — able to withstand more than a billion cycles of high stress before it breaks.

Graphene resembles a sheet of interlocking hexagonal rings, similar to the pattern you might see in bathroom flooring tiles. At each corner is a single carbon atom bonded to its three nearest neighbours. While the sheet could extend laterally over any area, it is only one atom thick.

The intrinsic strength of graphene has been measured at more than 100 gigapascals, among the highest values recorded for any material. But materials don’t always fail because the load exceeds their maximum strength. Small repetitive stresses can weaken materials by causing microscopic dislocations and fractures that slowly accumulate over time, a process known as fatigue.

“To understand fatigue, imagine bending a metal spoon,” says Professor Tobin Filleter (MIE), one of the senior authors of the study, which was recently published in Nature Materials. “The first time you bend it, it just deforms. But if you keep working it back and forth, eventually it’s going to break in two.”

The research team — consisting of Filleter, fellow U of T Engineering professors Chandra Veer Singh (MSE) and Yu Sun (MIE), their students, and collaborators at Rice University — wanted to know how graphene would stand up to repeated stresses. Their approach included both physical experiments and computer simulations.

“In our atomistic simulations, we found that cyclic loading can lead to irreversible bond reconfigurations in the graphene lattice, causing catastrophic failure on subsequent loading,” says Singh, who along with postdoctoral fellow Sankha Mukherjee (MSE) led the modelling portion of the study. “This is unusual behaviour in that while the bonds change, there are no obvious cracks or dislocations, which would usually form in metals, until the moment of failure.”

PhD candidate Teng Cui, who is co-supervised by Filleter and Sun, used the Toronto Nanofabrication Centre to build a physical device for the experiments. The design consisted of a silicon chip etched with half a million tiny holes only a few micrometres in diameter. The graphene sheet was stretched over these holes, like the head of a tiny drum.

Using an atomic force microscope, Cui then lowered a diamond-tipped probe into the hole to push on the graphene sheet, applying anywhere from 20 to 85 per cent of the force that he knew would break the material.

“We ran the cycles at a rate of 100,000 times per second,” says Cui. “Even at 70 per cent of the maximum stress, the graphene didn’t break for more than three hours, which works out to over a billion cycles. At lower stress levels, some of our trials ran for more than 17 hours.”

As with the simulations, the graphene didn’t accumulate cracks or other tell-tale signs of stress — it either broke or it didn’t.

“Unlike metals, there is no progressive damage during fatigue loading of graphene,” says Sun. “Its failure is global and catastrophic, confirming simulation results.”

The team also tested a related material, graphene oxide, which has small groups of atoms such as oxygen and hydrogen bonded to both the top and bottom of the sheet. Its fatigue behaviour was more like traditional materials, in that the failure was more progressive and localized. This suggests that the simple, regular structure of graphene is a major contributor to its unique properties.

“There are no other materials that have been studied under fatigue conditions that behave the way graphene does,” says Filleter. “We’re still working on some new theories to try and understand this.”

In terms of commercial applications, Filleter says that graphene-containing composites — mixtures of conventional plastic and graphene — are already being produced and used in sports equipment such as tennis rackets and skis.

In the future, such materials may begin to be used in cars or in aircraft, where the emphasis on light and strong materials is driven by the need to reduce weight, improve fuel efficiency and enhance environmental performance.

“There have been some studies to suggest that graphene-containing composites offer improved resistance to fatigue, but until now, nobody had measured the fatigue behaviour of the underlying material,” he says. “Our goal in doing this was to get at that fundamental understanding so that in the future, we’ll be able to design composites that work even better.”

 

-This story was originally published on the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering News Site on January 28, 2020 by Tyler Irving

 

U of T researchers have developed a new strategy to remove tiny oil droplets from wastewater with more than 90% efficiency, in just 10 minutes. Their secret weapon: a sponge. 

 “Oil extraction operations such as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, produce nearly 100 billion barrels of oil-contaminated wastewater each year,” says Professor Chul Park (MIE). “Because the oil is in the form of tiny droplets rather than a large oil slick, we can’t use the same strategies we would use to clean up a surface spill.” 

Park’s graduate student, Pavani Cherukupally (MIE MEng 1T4, PhD 1T8), decided to take on the challenge. She drew on Park’s expertise in microcellular foams, as well as the water technology experience of her co-supervisor, Professor Amy Bilton (MIE). 

Cherukupally focused on the use of ordinary polyurethane foams — similar to those found in couch cushions — to separate tiny droplets of oil from wastewater. By carefully controlling the porosity and other properties, she designed sponges that would adsorb the oil droplets onto its surface while letting water flow through efficiently. Two years ago, she reported a prototype that could remove more than 95% of the oil in the samples she tested. 

But there were two major drawbacks to this system. The first was a slow rate of removal: it took three hours to remove oil droplets from water, which would not be fast enough for an industrial-scale process.  

The other had to do with the pH of the water. 

“The optimal pH for our system was 5.6, but real–life wastewater can range in pH from around 4 to 10,” says Cherukupally. “As we got toward the top of that scale, we saw removal drop off significantly, down to maybe 6 or 7%.” 

U of T researchers have developed a chemically modified sponge that can remove emulsified microdroplets of oil from wastewater with more than 90% efficiency in just 10 minutes. (Photo: Kevin Soobrian)

In her latest work, published today in Nature Sustainability , Cherukupally partnered with U of T chemists Dr. Wei Sun and Annabelle Wong, in the lab of Professor Geoffrey Ozin (Chemistry) to chemically modify the foams. By adding tiny particles of a material known as nanocrystalline silicon to the foam’s surface, they were able to control its critical surface energy. 

“The critical surface energy concept comes from the world of biofouling research — trying to prevent microorganisms from attaching to surfaces such as the hulls of ships,” says Cherukupally. “Normally, you want to keep critical surface energy in a certain range to prevent attachment, but in our case, we are manipulating it to promote attachment of oil droplets.” 

Cherukupally also reached out to Professor Daryl Williams at Imperial College London. His lab group provided specialized surface characterization techniques validate the team’s approach to controlling the critical surface energy, as well as advice on oil recovery. She continues to work in his lab as a postdoctoral fellow today. 

The current prototype works over a much wider pH range than the previous version. It’s also faster: at the optimal pH 5.6 the system removes more than 92% of the oil in just 10 minutes. The oil is easy to extract using common solvents, enabling it to be recovered for use. The sponge can be used again — the team tested it 10 times and saw no degradation in performance. 

After absorption, the chemically modified sponge can be treated with a solvent. The oil is released for recycling and the sponge is ready to be used again. (Image courtesy Pavani Cherukupally)

The work has spawned two new collaborations. The first, between Park and researchers at Natural Resources Canada, looks at scaling up the system and adapting it for salt water, with the aim of using it to clean up marine oil spills. The other, between Bilton and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, focuses more specifically on marine spills in low-temperature environments, where changes to oil’s viscosity makes it even harder to remove.  

 “Current strategies for oil spill cleanup are focused on the floating oil slick, but they miss the microdroplets that form in the water column,” says Bilton. “Though our system was designed for industrial wastewater, adapting it for freshwater or marine conditions could help reduce environmental contamination from future spills.” 

 

-This story was originally published on the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering News Site on December 16, 2019 by Tyler Irving

 

MIE Professors Michael Carter and Craig Simmons and alumnus David Poirier (IndE 8T1) were recently elected fellows of the Engineering Institute of Canada.

 

Professor Michael Carter (MIE)

Carter is the founder and director of the U of T Centre for Research in Healthcare Engineering. Carter is recognized internationally as a leader in systems engineering approaches to healthcare, and his research has influenced health policy and practice throughout Canada.

Together with his team, Carter is using simulation modelling and other operations research tools to help the healthcare industry make decisions that will improve quality, reduce costs and increase efficiency. He has been a pioneer in demonstrating the important role of engineering in Canada’s health care system, and the tools he has created are used by government and healthcare organizations throughout the country. Carter also created one of Canada’s first healthcare engineering courses and spearheaded the creation of the Master of Health Care Engineering program at UofT.

He is a fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and a recipient of the Canadian Operational Research Society Award of Merit for lifetime contributions to operations research. He has also received several teaching awards, including the UofT Northrop Frye Award.

 

Professor Craig Simmons (MIE, IBBME)

As the UofT Distinguished Professor of Mechanobiology, Craig Simmons’ research in cardiovascular engineering has revolutionized our understanding of the critical role of biomechanics in heart valve disease and regeneration. He is also recognized for inventing novel microfluidic technologies that have been commercialized to improve drug discovery.

As a Scientific Director in the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research, Simmons established the UofT Translational Biology & Engineering Program, an initiative that integrates over 100 researchers from engineering and medicine to find new ways to detect and treat heart disease. He has led several educational initiatives in biomedical engineering, founding a nationally-unique curriculum in Biomedical Systems Engineering and a graduate training program in microfluidics and cardiovascular health, and has co-authored a popular biomedical engineering textbook.

Simmons is a fellow of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering and the American Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering, and has received several awards for research and teaching, including the Canada Research Chair in Mechanobiology, the Ontario Professional Engineers R&D Medal, and the UofT Northrop Frye Award.

 

David Poirier (IndE 8T1)

Poirier is the founder and CEO of The Poirier Group, a global company that specializes in helping organizations to successfully implement and integrate significant change.

Prior to founding The Poirier Group in 2005 he held senior executive roles in the retail, general merchandise, food distribution, health and life sciences and manufacturing sectors. He has published articles and reference materials and is a sought-after speaker on organizational change, values-based leadership and international business. Throughout his career, Poirier has been active in supporting and developing the next generation of industrial engineers.

He served on the Advisory Board for the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering from 1995-2009 and has served as Chair of their Industry Advisory Board since 2010. He is also Chair of the Wardens of Camp 1 – Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer and a member of the UofT College of Electors. Poirier is President-Elect of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). He is a Fellow of IISE and received their Outstanding Management Award in 2010 and their Medallion Award for Exceptional Achievement in 2011. He has been honored by UofT with the Arbor Award and the Engineering Alumni Network 2T5 Mid-Career Achievement Award.

 

 

–This story was originally published on the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering News Site on December 13, 2019

 

Products created by MIE alumni Charlie Katrycz, Amol Rao, Andrew Gillies and Rob Brown were included in the 2019 U of T Engineering Holiday Gift Guide.

 

Banana Phone

In a world where everyone has a similar-looking smartphone, a banana-shaped phone is sure to make a statement. Co-created by grad student Charlie Katrycz (MIE MEng 1T8, MSE PhD candidate), the wireless handset brings a dash of fun to each phone call.

And just in time for the holidays, Katrycz and his team launched the Banana Phone 2.0, featuring extended battery life, and a Bluetooth speaker — so yes, you can play “Banana Phone” on your banana phone.

The banana phone is among Katrycz’s many ventures. He is also leading a team to develop the world’s thinnest hot water bottle for menstrual pain relief. For those looking for a gift idea for next year, the team plan to release Undu for presale in the first half of 2020.

“We are working on manufacturing the packets and optimizing the design so that it is user friendly and easy to wear and reheat,” says Katrycz.

 

 

Blue Block Glasses

We’ve all been guilty of scrolling through our phones before bed or falling down the “just one more episode” wormhole, only to toss and turn in restless sleep afterward.

Blue light emitted by electronic devices can affect levels of melatonin (a hormone associated with sleep), shifting circadian rhythms and delaying sleep. Blue Block Glasses by Somnitude are designed to filter out the harsh blue lights and mitigate its effects.

Created by MIE alum Amol Rao (MIE MASc 1T8), the glasses should be worn two to three hours before bed for a better sleep.

Somnitude’s glasses have received a Medical Device Approval from Health Canada and counts Canadian Olympians among its clients.

 

Kamigami

Andrew Gillies (MechE 0T7) co-founded Dash Robotics, Inc. with the mission of creating affordable, educational robots designed to inspire students to get involved in robotics and engineering.

The company’s six-legged Kamigami Robots are easy to fold and snap together from flat sheets into insect-like creations — no tools required.

The free companion smartphone app enables users to remotely control their robot, battle with friends, play interactive games and more.

They’re perfect for the budding maker (or future engineer) on your list.

 

 

Vinyl records

The vinyl renaissance continues — sales of vinyl records have grown every year for at least a decade, and may now have eclipsed sales of CDs. But if you want to start up a new label, there are only two companies in the world from whom you can buy your vinyl pressing machinery.

Etobicoke-based Viryl Technologies is one of them. Founded by James Hashmi, Chad Brown and U of T Engineering alumnus Rob Brown (MechE 0T0), the company has more than 50 presses in operation around the world.

Among the labels that use Viryl’s machines are Dine Alone Records, which has offices right here in Toronto as well as in Nashville, Los Angeles and Sydney. If you buy an LP copy of Smaller Chairs For The Early 1900s by Moneen, On A Wave by Dave Monks, or A Pill for Loneliness by City and Colour, you will be spinning a small piece of U of T ingenuity.

 

 

–This story was originally published on the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering News Site