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Researchers at the University of Waterloo and industrial partner Center for Research on Environmental Microbiology (CREM Co Labs) have advanced research that uses bacteria to target cancer. The research group leveraged synthetic biology to prompt bacteria to “eat” tumors from the inside out to treat cancer. 

The idea began as PhD student Bahram Zargar’s dream to create a therapy that could attack cancer tumors from the inside. He studied under the supervision of Professors Brian Ingalls and Pu Chen. 

 The center of a cancer tumor is made of dead cells with no oxygen present. Clostridium sporogenes is a bacterium that can only grow in the absence of oxygen. These bacteria can grow in the dead, oxygen-free center of tumors and “eat” them from the inside.  

“C. sporogenes will form spores that will grow under "good" growth conditions. These conditions exist in the core of a solid tumour. The challenge is that these organisms die when they reach the outer part of the tumour where oxygen still exists and are unable to complete the job of getting rid of the tumor fully,” says Marc Aucoin a professor in the department of chemical engineering who has continued this work with Ingalls. 

A chemical engineering research group led by Professor Tizazu Mekonnen has developed an eco-friendly super absorbent hydrogel that could dramatically reduce the environmental impact of personal hygiene products like diapers, menstrual pads and tampons.

Unlike current products, which take centuries to break down, this new material degrades harmlessly in soil within three months.

In North America, billions of disposable diapers end up in landfills annually, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) taking up to 450 years to decompose.

Around 1.8 billion women menstruate monthly, and most single-use menstrual pads and tampons also end up in landfills. These products are about 90 per cent plastic and can take up to 500 years to break down, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.

New research shows a smarter way to build artificial muscles for soft robots

A research group led by Chemical Engineering Professor Hamed Shahsavan has developed a method to reinforce smart, rubber-like materials—paving the way for their use as artificial muscles in robots, potentially replacing traditional rigid motors and pumps.

“Artificial muscles are essential for unlocking the true potential of soft robots. Unlike rigid components, they allow robots to move flexibly, safely, and with precision. This is especially important for applications like micromedical robots,” said Shahsavan.

The research group mixed liquid crystals (LCs) often used in displays for electronics and sensors into liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) which are promising building blocks for soft robots.

LCEs are rubbers that experience massive shape-change when heated, in a reversable but programmable manner. When a tiny amount of LCs were mixed with LCEs, they became much stiffer, up to nine times stronger than before.

The Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo is equipping students with cutting-edge tools to advance research in health and biotechnology. Two new pieces of equipment, an Ambr-15 Automated Micro Bioreactor System and a Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) instrument, are opening doors for exciting graduate-level research in bioprocessing and biopharmaceuticals.

Chemical engineers play a key role in designing and optimizing processes for producing vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and other biologic medicines. They also use synthetic biology to engineer cells that produce therapeutic molecules.

Professor Hector Budman, who collaborates closely with industrial partners in biotechnology, recently received an Ambr-15 Automated Micro Bioreactor System through a donation from Sartorius. This advanced system allows students and researchers to grow cells and optimize culture conditions for producing biologics such as vaccines and monoclonal antibodies, which are widely used to treat diseases.

MASc student, CT Murphy’s start-up CELLECT is a finalist in the Odlum Brown Forum Pitch, a Canadian program for women entrepreneurs. Murphy’s partner and COO, Ibukun Elebute presented at the event and secured $44K in winnings for CELLECT.

The product is being designed by Murphy with the guidance of her supervisor, Professor Marc Aucoin. They are developing a menstrual pad infused with nanomaterials that will be able to collect bacterial and cervical cells. The pad would then be sent to a lab for processing.

Professor Valerie Ward is part of a new global coalition to revolutionize vaccine production with disruptive health technology. The technology is designed to enable local vaccine production, reducing production time from nine days to just one day. A breakthrough that has the potential to save millions of lives and significantly lower the cost of vaccine production.

A research coalition led by the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) received $2.8 million from the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI) to fund technology development to combat epidemics and pandemics. The aim is to make small transportable units to manufacture vaccines, making vaccines more accessible and better able to deal with local outbreaks.

Ward is working with researchers and industry partners in Brazil, the UK, and Canada to aid the world in responding more swiftly and equitably to future epidemics and pandemics. 

The grant focuses on developing technology to meet two specific goals. The first is rapid production of vaccines. The second is to decentralize manufacturing so it can be produced at different sites in smaller batches.

Researchers in the Department of Chemical Engineering have developed a new method for engineering bacteria that can be leveraged to improve biomedical applications such as drug delivery, cancer therapy, anti-inflammatory treatments, and vaccine development.

The international research group, led by Professor Yilan Liu, developed a process that enables bacteria to secrete bacterial membrane vesicles (BMVs). BMVs are nanosized bubble-shaped structures naturally released by bacteria. They have significant potential as tools for the development of a variety of therapeutics.  

Currently, the adoption of BMVs has been hindered by low production yields under natural conditions. The technique established by Liu resulted in a 140-fold increase in the secretion of BMVs.

"This advancement in bacterial engineering has the potential to be a transformative platform for next-generation vaccines, therapeutics, and nutrient delivery," says Liu. "This new process could profoundly impact global health by making biomedical treatments more efficient, accessible, and affordable."

The Department of Chemical Engineering is proud to announce the appointment of Professor Evelyn Yim as an NSERC Canada Research Chair in Nanomaterials for Regenerative Medicine.

Yim has also been awarded over $ 1 million to conduct research focusing on understanding and enhancing microenvironments by controlling cell-nanostructure interactions for applications in regenerative medicine.

Her research examines how cells respond to biomaterials, focusing on 2D and 3D systems. The field of regenerative nanomedicine uses nanotechnology to repair or regenerate damaged tissue and organs. She uses principles of engineering and biological science to advance regenerative nanomedicine.

Offering promising solutions for a range of diseases

Yim’s research group is developing different types of nanofabrication materials to mimic natural nanostructures found in the human body to guide cell growth.

Yim conducts pioneering research in nanotopography, cell therapy, and improving the design of neural stem cells.  She has advanced innovations in tissue engineering for vascular and corneal disease.

Professor Milad Kamkar’s research group has developed the first all-graphene water-based ink for 3D printing via direct ink writing. The ink promises to unlock new possibilities for addressing environmental challenges, such as eliminating invisible electromagnetic pollution from our surroundings.

The eco-friendly graphene ink enables groundbreaking applications in advanced fields, including electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, electronics, and environmental protection while providing a scalable solution for next-generation 3D-printed technologies.

Graphene is a material renowned for its remarkable strength, electrical conductivity, and thermal properties. One of the challenges to the widespread utilization of graphene is that it is typically produced in powder form, which is difficult to handle and limits its full application potential.

Researchers overcame this barrier by precisely engineering the nano-scale surface chemistry of graphene nanosheets to make them dispersible in water, creating a room-temperature printable, eco-friendly ink.

Inspired by the movement of water striders cruising on the surface of water, a research group led by Professor Hamed Shahsavan have designed smart, soft microrobots whose movements can be controlled by light, offering exciting possibilities in environmental remediation and biomedical applications.

Imagine autonomous robots deployed to clean up microplastics in bodies of water. The research also has potential in biomedical applications. Microrobots could be guided inside the human body to conduct medical procedures.

“We’re moving toward smart swimming robots with more autonomous behaviour, by making them respond to external cues like light, or magnetic fields,” said Shahsavan, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering