Recent clinical trials demonstrated the capacity to partially restore vision of blind patients with retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration by electrically stimulating the remaining neurons based on an image captured by an external camera. However, these implants transmit the data and power through percutaneous cables traversing the eyeball. Although these implants have the promising […]

Study of the core of ancient mountain belts is key to the understanding of current tectonic processes. In Canada and Sweden, the Grenvillian and Sveconorwegian orogenies are the relict of a major tectonic event, similar to the continent-continent collision between India and Eurasia. In both locations, a major tectonic boundary i.e. the Allochthonous Boundary Thrust […]

Surfactant solutions are of immense scientific and technological interest. They can self-assemble into wide variety of interesting and highly dynamic nanostructures including spherical, cylindrical, vesicle, worm-like or lamellar type. Micellar solutions typically contain surfactants and salts that are dissolved in water. Beyond a critical micelle concentration, the addition of salt or surfactant transforms spherical micelles […]

Douglas-fir is one of the most economically important tree species in Canada and it is at risk of maladaptation to local environment due to climate change. Thus, the aim of my project is to understand the adaptation of Douglas-fir to future extreme climatic events. Our group at Ensminger Lab at University of Toronto monitored the […]

Manganese is a critical element in steelmaking – the third most common element after iron and carbon – and has no satisfactory replacement. The conventional process for producing metallic manganese is energy- and carbon-intensive, operating at 1400-1600°C and consuming on the order of 1 tonne of carbon reductant for every 2 tonnes of manganese produced. […]

Flocculation is a chemical treatment to improve the settling of fine particulate suspensions in the food, chemical, agricultural, and mineral processing industries. The size, shape, and density of the flocs influences their mechanical strength and settling rate; which are critically related to the efficiency of solid-liquid separation processes. The objective of this research is to […]

Research has shown that the traditional field of crime and cannabis control is disrupted. Hence, several jurisdictions are moving towards decriminalization and even legalization of cannabis. The Netherlands was one of the first countries to adopt such an alternative approach by allowing small retail of recreational cannabis. In October 2018, Canada decided to legalize cannabis. […]

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a large class of complex organic molecules made of carbon and hydrogen that are ubiquitous throughout the space, accounting for up to 15% of the cosmic carbon. These molecules are made of fused benzene rings resulting in a honeycomb structure with hydrogen atoms at the edges of the molecule. They […]

Research is rapidly progressing in enhancing the Artificial Intelligence of Robotics. One backbone of this rapid change lies in Deep Learning. Deep Learning refers to new algorithms that are capable of learning behaviors after being trained by several thousands or even millions of examples of what should be done given an input. My project will […]

Sarcopenia is a disease characterized by the decline of skeletal muscle mass, muscle strength, and physical performance. To gain a better understanding of this disease and to assess both functional and anatomical effects of sarcopenia, experimental and modeling data have been collected. The neuromuscular models developed in our team and the studies built on them […]

The detection of a biological agent has become paramount to anticipate a possible health threat (epidemic or pandemic), an environmental threat or to combat other contextual threats (bioterrorism, chemical and biological weapons). A cost effective, portable, reliable and safe solution is required to allow detection in location where biological equipment is not available (such as […]

The recovery of facial mimics for patients with facial paralysis allows to improve their living conditions and social identity. Functional rehabilitation of facial disorders is also an important clinical step to improve the quality of surgical interventions and drug therapies. However, the recovery and rehabilitation of facial mimics and expressiveness remains a major scientific and […]