Chris Backhouse
Biography
Chris Backhouse is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo. His research focuses on nano-biological technology-based quantum devices, medical diagnostics, and the development of miniaturized, microfluidic lab-on-a-chip systems.
After earning his degree from the University of British Columbia, Dr. Backhouse pursued academic and industrial fellowships in electrochemistry at the university and in non-invasive medical imaging with CTF Systems. He collaborated with Applied Biosystems, a life sciences company, to develop large-scale microchips and fabrication technologies for the Human Genome Project. Additionally, he led a research team that created genetic analysis instruments now sold internationally.
Dr. Backhouse’s work has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the Summit Award for Project Achievement from the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta in 2008, and the National Award for an Engineering Project of 2009 from Engineers Canada. He has also published numerous articles in IEEE journals and other professional publications.
After earning his degree from the University of British Columbia, Dr. Backhouse pursued academic and industrial fellowships in electrochemistry at the university and in non-invasive medical imaging with CTF Systems. He collaborated with Applied Biosystems, a life sciences company, to develop large-scale microchips and fabrication technologies for the Human Genome Project. Additionally, he led a research team that created genetic analysis instruments now sold internationally.
Dr. Backhouse’s work has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the Summit Award for Project Achievement from the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta in 2008, and the National Award for an Engineering Project of 2009 from Engineers Canada. He has also published numerous articles in IEEE journals and other professional publications.
Research Interests
- Quantum devices
- Biomedical engineering
- MEMS/MOEMS and CMOS integration
- Lab on chip
- Medical diagnostic devices
- Microfluidic devices
- Radio astronomy
- Sensors
- Microfabrication
- Remote sensing
- MEMS/NEMS
- Nanotechnology
Education
- 1992, Doctorate Electrical Engineering, University of British Columbia, Canada
- 1987, Master of Science Physics/Radio Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Canada
- 1985, Bachelor of Science (BSc) Physics, University of Alberta, Canada
Selected/Recent Publications
- Martinez-Quijada, Jose and Caverhill-Godkewitsch, Saul and Reynolds, Matthew and Sloan, David and Backhouse, Christopher J and Elliott, Duncan G and Sameoto, Dan, Deterministic Design of Thin-Film Heaters for Precise Spatial Temperature Control in Lab-on-Chip Systems, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, 508, 2016
- Hall, Gordon H and Glerum, D Moira and Backhouse, Christopher J, Light emitting diode, photodiode-based fluorescence detection system for DNA analysis with microchip electrophoresis, Electrophoresis, 406, 2016
- Martinez-Quijada, Jose and Ma, Tianchi and Hall, Gordon H and Reynolds, Matt and Sloan, David and Caverhill-Godkewitsch, Saul and Glerum, D Moira and Sameoto, Dan and Elliott, Duncan G and Backhouse, Christopher J, Robust thermal control for CMOS-based lab-on-chip systems, Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 075005, 2015
- Williams, Graeme and Backhouse, Christopher and Aziz, Hany, Integration of organic light emitting diodes and organic photodetectors for lab-on-a-chip bio-detection systems, Electronics, 43, 2014
- Hall, Gordon H and Sloan, David L and Ma, Tianchi and Couse, Madeline H and Martel, Stephane and Elliott, Duncan G and Glerum, D Moira and Backhouse, Christopher J, An optical relay approach to very low cost hybrid polymer-complementary metal-oxide semiconductor electrophoresis instrumentation, Journal of Chromatography A, 122, 2014