Contact Us:
Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology
University of Waterloo, East Campus 4, Room 2001
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo , Ontario, N2L 3G1 Canada
cbb.uwaterloo.ca
519-888-4567 Ext 32732
Research Interests:
Assistive Robotics and Rehabilitation Engineering
Research Interests:
[Waterloo News] September 25, 2018 "Virtual reality motion sickness may be predicted and counteracted"
[ScienceDaily] December 15, 2018 "Aging warps our perception of time, study finds"
[Record] October 12, 2017 "Aging slows perception of falls: UW study"
Research Interests:
Treatment of neurological disorders (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and mental health conditions including schizophrenia and depression)
Molecular pharmacology and pharmaceutical delivery
Intracellular signaling pathways in neurons, and the role of cytoskeletal dynamics in the trafficking of receptors in neurons
Research Interests:
Schlegel Research Chair in Technology for Independent Living
Research Interests:
Confocal microscopy and ophthalmoscopy, measurement of refractive error
Retinal image quality
Optical effects of refractive surgery, reflections from the retina
Optical properties of the eye, monochromatic aberrations of the eye
Refractive properties of the crystalline lens and their changes with growth and accommodation
Eye-imaging systems for treatment and diagnosis
Biophysics, bio-photonics, and Vision Science.
[Research2Reality] May 8, 2015 "Early Alzheimer's Diagnosis: Imaging the Living Eye"
[YouTube Lecture] October 1, 2014 "Optics of the Eye as a Window on the Brain"
[YouTube] February 12, 2013 "Melanie Campbell AAAS Profile"
[Waterloo Stories] February 12, 2013 "An early test for Alzhemer's disease"
[Waterloo Stories] January 22, 2013 "Early test for Alzheimer's may rely on the eyes"
Office of Research - Technology Transfer & Commercialization:
Research Interests:
drug metabolism
pharmacogenomics
drug interactions
bioavailability/bioequivalence
Research Interests:
Intelligent drug delivery system design (dermal, transdermal, transmucosal, ocular, and intranasal) for Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Cancer, Immunology (Glaucoma, neural degenerative disorders, HPV, LSIL/CIN I, cervical cancer, Scleroderma)
Non-invasive drug delivery technologies, biomolecular devices
Gene therapy, protein, and vaccine development
Nanomedicine, pharmaceutical development
Nanotoxicology (nanomaterials, bioimaging, biomarkers)
[Global Impact] [CBC] April 30, 2018 "Working with gene therapy to treat glaucoma"
[Waterloo Stories] July 5, 2012 "Revolutionary drug delivery"
Research interests:
[Science Direct] August 10, 2018 "Revealing the atomistic details behind the binding of B7–1 to CD28 and CTLA-4: A comprehensive protein-protein modelling study"
[Nature] August 27, 2019 "Comprehensive in vitro characterization of PD-L1 small molecule inhibitors"
Research Interests:
Regenerative medicine
Nitric Oxide Synthase (NOS) structure, function, enzyme processes and the effects on blood pressure, neurotransmission, insulin release, memory storage, immune response, septic shock, atherosclerosis, diabetes, and myocardial and cerebral ischemia.
Research Interests:
Assistive technology (physical, cognitive disabilities, dementia)
Health informatics
Artificial intelligence
Computational social science
Affective computing, computer vision
[VJDementia] "The complex issue of emotion"
[Computer Science News] June 29, 2017 "ACT@Home: An emotionally intelligent cognitive assistant to help people with Alzheimer’s disease"
[Waterloo Stories] January 2, 2013 "Making life easier for those living with Alzheimer's"
Research Interests:
[American Chemical Society] January 23, 2012 "Exploring Inhibitor Release Pathways in Histone Deacetylases Using Random Acceleration Molecular Dynamics Simulations"
[Wiley Online Library] July 27, 2013 "Ligand release mechanisms and channels in histone deacetylases"
[Royal Society of Chemistry] December 19, 2013 "A steered molecular dynamics mediated hit discovery for histone deacetylases"
[Nature Methods] May 8, 2017 "ModelFinder: fast model selection for accurate phylogenetic estimates"
[Royal Society of Chemistry] October 24, 2017 "Reverse engineering: transaminase biocatalyst development using ancestral sequence reconstruction"
Research Interests:
Schlegel Research Chair in Nutrition & Aging
[Grand River Hospital News] March 15, 2019 "Good food, better healing: How GRH is studying to improve food for patients in hospital"
[Waterloo News] March 23, 2017 "Survey will reduce rates of malnutrition in hospitals"
Research Interests:
Office of Research - Technology Transfer & Commercialization:
Research Interests:
Biophysics of lipids and lipid-protein interactions
The role of structural changes and physical properties of lipid template in controlling biological processes and diseases
Biomedical nanotechnology (lipid films, molecular mechanism of Alzheimer's disease)
Drug development and delivery systems, antimicrobial peptides in lung disorders
Fluorescence and atomic force microscopy
Kelvin probe force microscopy and single molecule force spectroscopy
[Global Impact] May 2018, studying Alzheimer's at a molecular level to find a cure
[YouTube Lecture] October 1, 2014 "Scanning probe microscopy in biomedical research"
Research Interests:
microrobots
We develop microrobots for medical applications. The goal is to develop more targeted, active, but less invasive strategies for drug or cell delivery with the help of wireless, autonomously moving microrobots. One strategy is to combine biological elements with artificial components in a biohybrid approach. The biological component (cells, molecules) can serve as power source, loading unit or structural unit.
One example is the "spermbot" - a sperm cell remotely controlled with magnetic fields: https://phys.org/news/2014-01-sperm-bots-desired-video.html
Another example is IRONSperm: a magnetically functionalized nonmotile sperm driven by magnetic fields:https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aba5855
Inspired by the motion of sperm, we also develop small scale flexible magnetic robots for noninvasive surgery (coming soon). I am also interested in reproductive biology and research that elucidates reasons for infertility. We look into the mechanisms of sperm migration and some interesting phenomena, such as sperm bundling (publication online soon)
[Google Scholar]
Research interests:
Research interests:
Research Interests:
Proteins: energetics, kinetics, mechanisms, structure, dynamics, folding, function, evolution, engineering and design, thermodynamics, kinetics (ALS, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, prions, cancer)
High resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (fluorescence, CD, NMR, FTIR, DLS)
Optical spectroscopies
Bioinformatics and computational modelling
Biocomputing and protein engineering
[Waterloo News] November 24, 2015 "New insights into protein structure could change the future of biomedicine"
[Chemistry News] August 20, 2014 "Chemist Elizabeth Meiering takes on the ALS ice bucket challenge"
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
[Science News] October 22, 2018 "Nekkar lab determines that depression medications can help treat Alzheimer’s disease"
[Pharmacy News] July 29, 2015 "Waterloo pharmacist examines drug therapies for Alzheimer’s disease"
Research interests:
[National Centre for Biotechnology Information] August 31, 2019 "Key factors for the assessment of mobility in advanced dementia: A consensus approach"
[Ontario Neurodegenerative Disease Research Initiative] September 26, 2019 "Wearable technologies to improve health outcomes in people with neurodegenerative diseases?"
Research Interests:
[CBB researcher story] July 20, 2015 "Computational Perception: How a brain understands its environment"
Research Interests:
Machine learning and reasoning under uncertainty (artificial intelligence, computational statistics, decision and control theory)
Health informatics (assistive technologies, behaviour recognition, smart walkers, Alzheimer’s monitoring)
Natural language understanding (dialogue management, semantic analysis)
[National Post] May 11, 2018, weighs in on how Google's A.I. personal assistant sparks concerns about future of communication
[The Record] May 8,2018, have ties with a new Montreal sports analytics research lab in Kitchener
[Markets Insider] February 5, 2018 "Borealis AI increases brain power by adding top AI talent"
[The Globe and Mail] February 4, 2018 "How we can leverage AI to bridge academia and business"
[Waterloo Stories] April 12, 2013 "Breaking the fall: Smart walker will help prevent injuries"
Research Interests
[Linkedin]
Alternate Location:
Research Interests:
Awards:
[CBB Events] November 15, 2019 "Professor Shaker organizes a Health Canada Regulatory insights Workshop"
[CNN] November 11, 2019 "Scientists develop sensor to save children and pets from hot car deaths"
[Waterloo News] October 29, 2019 "Advancing healthcare through innovative technology"
[Inside Digital Health] June 3, 2019 "Study: Radar Monitors Sleep with Accuracy Comparable to Current Standards"
[Waterloo News] June 28, 2018 "AI and radar technologies could help diabetics manage their disease"
[Engineering News] June 28, 2018 "Researchers developing a prick-free glucose monitor"
[RD Magazine] June 28, 2018 "AI and Radar Technologies Could Help Diabetics Manage Their Disease"
[Engineering News] July 5, 2016 "Waterloo wins big with tiny power device"
Research Interests:
[Applied Mathematics Biomedical Research Group]
[Waterloo Stories] January 16, 2018 "Math can predict how cancer cells evolve"
Research Interests:
Drug discovery, delivery systems and nanomedicine
Gene therapy, microbial genetics
Oncology, Antiviral therapeutics design
Anti-bacterials
Acne cosmeceutical design
Phage-based biotechnology
Viral exclusion systems
Cosmeceuticals
Vaccine design (dementia), bacteriophage-based biotechnology, use of coliphages to design and construct vectors for the development of novel vaccines, pharmaceuticals and gene delivery systems, and the identification and application of novel phage genomic anti-bacterial genes with potential phage therapy applications.
Strategic management in Pharmacy; healthcare reform
Research Interests:
Calcium channel analysis for target drug delivery for treatment of pain, arrhythmias, angina, and potential benefits in treatment of epilepsy and cancer.
Structure, function and pharmacology of calcium channels and sodium channels
Structure and function and analysis of NALCN cation channel and anti-calcium channel toxins
The Spafford Neurobiology Research Laboratory studies voltage-gated calcium channels, molecular physiology, biophysics, cell biology, protein biochemistry, fluorescence microscopy and tissue cultures.
[Science News] April 25, 2014 "Waterloo discovers a key regulator in the pacemakers of our brain and heart"
Research Interests:
Electrophysiological characterization of neuromuscular disorders
Autonomous and knowledge systems
Machine perception and sensors
Image processing and analysis, pattern analysis and recognition
EMG signal decomposition, simulation and quantitative EMG and DQEMG
Biomedical engineering
Research Interests:
Rehabilitation engineering and assistive technologies (gerontology, Osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, fall risk in stroke survivors, and rehabilitation following traumatic brain injury)
Neuromotor control
Biomedical signal analysis
[Waterloo Stories] July 8, 2014 "GPS technology may help detect Alzheimer’s disease earlier"
Research Interests:
Biomedical image processing and analysis (prostate, breast, lung and dermatological cancer analysis, retinal photoreceptor and blood vessel analysis, musculoskeletal kinematic analysis
Remote sensing data processing and analysis (sea ice, underwater object, oil spill analysis)
Perceptual based video and image processing (noise reduction, compression, enhancement)
Computer vision and pattern recognition
Multimedia management systems
3D graphics and game development
Cognitive radio networks
Canada Research Chair in Medical Imaging Systems [Canada Research Chair Profile]
[Daily Bulletin] June 1, 2018, 11 CBB Members Named Outstanding Performance Award Winners
[Waterloo News] [CBC News] [Gadgets] May 16, 2018, Co-authors discuss the use of aerobic fitness data from wearable tech to predict illness
[Waterloo News] May 15, 2018 "Researchers combine wearable technology and AI to predict the onset of health problems"
[Global Impact] [570 news] [Youtube] April 11, 2018 "How AI is helping doctors diagnose Cancer"
[The Star] February 9, 2018 "How TheRedPin aims to take a swipe at the real estate industry"
[Waterloo News] June 7, 2017 "Artificial intelligence-driven imaging research makes diagnosing disease easier"
[Waterloo Stories] January 28, 2017 "Artificial intelligence and the Waterloo-Toronto tech supercluster"
[Waterloo Stories] May 20, 2016 "Breakthrough tech helps doctors more accurately diagnose cancer"
[CBB researcher story] January 9, 2013 "Improving Early Diagnosis to Save Lives"
[Waterloo Stories] January 9, 2013 "Making it harder for cancer to hide"
[YouTube Lecture] October 1, 2014 "Integrative systems for biomedical imaging and analysis"
Research interests:
Research Interests:
Stem cells, nanofabrication and advancement of biomaterials in healthcare technologies to repair, replace or regenerate damaged tissue and organ structures
Fabrication and application of nano-structure for biomedical applications in neural, vascular, and cornea tissue engineering
Biomaterial approach to study ex-vivo pluripotent stem cell expansion
Modulation of cell behavior with nanotopography
Topography-regulation of stem cells lineage commitment and differentiation
Differentiation of adult and pluripotent stem cells with nanotopography
Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology
University of Waterloo, East Campus 4, Room 2001
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo , Ontario, N2L 3G1 Canada
cbb.uwaterloo.ca
519-888-4567 Ext 32732
The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is centralized within our Office of Indigenous Relations.