Current students

Three Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology members are developing a DNA-based vaccine that can be delivered through a nasal spray.

The vaccine will work by using bacteriophage, a process that will allow the vaccine to replicate within bacteria already in the body and is being designed to target tissues in the nasal cavity and lower respiratory tract.

At the Concept $5K Finals - formerly the Velocity Fund Finals - teams featuring nanotechnology engineering students took one of four $5,000 awards, plus the $500 People’s Champ prize, for students with business ideas.

Innovative solutions to serious medical problems took four of six $10,000 prizes up for grabs when student teams competed via video this month in an annual pitch competition for startup companies. Three of the six winning teams consisted of nanotechnology students.

The new format, which replaced in-person presentations at the Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Awards for Capstone Design due to the coronavirus crisis, gave graduating students five minutes to explain their projects instead of the usual three minutes, followed by questions.

Twenty-nine University of Waterloo researchers, including 4 science recipients, 3 of which are members of WIN, will receive $3.4 million from the provincial government to further research innovation in Ontario. 

Former undergraduate student, Dawn Ng, worked a co-op position at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada. During this term she studied and learned the vehicle painting process and she noticed every time a new color was applied to a bumper, a solvent-water mixture was used to clean the nozzles of the high-tech spray robots. The cleaning agent contained about 10 percent solvent.

Congratulations to three WIN members for winning the WIN-MESA+ Seed Funding Award for $75,000 each to support international joint research projects with faculty members from the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Twente, Netherlands.

A new, battery-free sensor can detect water leaks in buildings at a fraction of the cost of existing systems.

The tiny device, developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo, uses nanotechnology to power itself and send an alert to smartphones when exposed to moisture.

By eliminating a battery and related circuitry, researchers estimate their sensor could be commercially produced for $5 each, about a tenth of the cost of current leak detection devices on the market.