平特五不中

Development of an Automated In-Field Nutrient Ion Sampling System

Minh Tran and Professor Thomas Szkopek, both Electrical and Computer Engineering, for 鈥淚kei Systems鈥�

Executive summary:

Nutrient imbalance is a significant source of inefficiency in hydroponics and indoor farming. The common approach听to address this issue involves flushing and replacing the water growth medium, which leads to substantial waste of听both water and nutrients. Current nutrient-ion analysis techniques, such as atomic absorption spectroscopy and听conventional liquid-filled ion-selective electrodes, are costly to acquire and maintain, making automated operation听impractical. Our patented ion-selective field-effect transistor and patent-pending solid reservoir reference听electrode provide a cost-effective solution for nutrient-ion monitoring, enabling the development of an automated听nutrient balancing system. This grant will support the creation of an intervention-free sampling system for our听sensors, allowing us to conduct pilot projects with indoor and hydroponic farms across Canada. In turn, this will听elevate the technology readiness level of our sensors and bring us closer to realizing a fully automated nutrient听balancing system.

Biosensor for Detecting Specific Bacteria in Food Safety Applications

Reza Abbasi and Professor Sebastian Wachsmann-Hogiu, both Bioengineering, for 鈥淧hoela Health鈥�

Executive summary:

Ensuring food safety is a critical challenge for the food storage industry, where bacterial contamination can lead to听significant health risks, costly recalls, and reputational damage. Current solutions, such as ATP-based听bioluminescence testing, are costly and limited to detecting the presence of bacteria without identifying specific strains.
Our invention introduces a CMOS-based biosensor that not only detects bacterial contamination but also specifies听bacterial strains, addressing an unmet need in on-site food safety diagnostics. Leveraging a proprietary bioluminescent听immunoassay, our biosensor offers comparable performance to traditional luminometers at approximately 1% of the
cost. This device is portable, cost-effective, and user-friendly, providing essential strain specific information that听enables food safety professionals to make informed, targeted decisions to mitigate contamination. Initial results,听published in a high-impact journal, and recent feedback from industry experts highlight the market demand and听potential impact of our technology in revolutionizing food safety practices. Support from the Chwang Seto Innovation听Fellowship will allow us to advance our prototype to a market-ready solution, validating its performance in real-world听environments with target users in food storage and processing facilities.

This program was made possible thanks to the Chwang Seto family, in honour of the late Ronald Chwang (B.Eng.'72, D. Sc.'12), a pioneering entrepreneur and venture capitalist who served on the Faculty of Engineering Advancement Board.

A high-throughput microfluidic setup for rapid, automated and multiplexed antibiotic susceptibility testing

Dr. Dusan Gostimirovic听and Professor Odile Liboiron-Ladouceur, both Electrical and Computer Engineering, for 鈥淧reFab AI Photonics鈥�

Executive summary:

The semiconductor industry can now integrate light on a chip, leading to higher data capacity in communications and many emerging applicationssuch as sensors, optical quantum computing, and optical neuromorphic computing. Light, however, is more susceptible to fabrication process deviations than its electronic counterpart. Our invention uses machine learning (ML) to predict and correct deviations in the design of photonic (optical) integrated circuits prior to nanofabrication, saving on cost, time, and energy. Since the publication of our paper and recent discussions with potential customers at an international conference earlier in November, it is evident that our solution addresses an invaluable need for better design tools that enable the next generation of photonics. Indeed, our technology is the first ML-based solution to correct design prior to fabrication, which will have considerable impact in the industry. The WRSA grant will enable us to deploy our next minimum viable product to gather feedback and validate its performance with a target group of users.

This program was made possible thanks to the Chwang-Seto families, in honour of the late Ronald Chwang (B.Eng.'72, D. Sc.'12), a pioneering entrepreneur and venture capitalist who served on the Faculty of Engineering Advancement Board.

Dr. Marc-Antoine Campeau and Professor Corinne Hoesli, both Chemical Engineering, for 鈥淭owards the commercialization of a pro-healing bifunctional surface modification to improve endothelialization of prosthetic vascular grafts鈥�

Executive summary:

Prosthetic vascular graft of small diameter remains a challenging type of implants to use due to the high risk of thrombosis and the rapid loss of patency. Coatings have been developed and commercialized to limit these risks but they fail to fully address the current limitation of hemocompatibility, resulting in a lack of proper alternatives to autologous vein graft for bypass surgery. The proposed application aims to translate our patented coating technology to polytetrafluoroethylene, an inherently inert material extensively used in the manufacture of blood-contacting implants. Our coating consists of antibodies and biomimetic peptides which respectively enable the capture and firm adhesion of endothelial progenitor cells promoting the in situ endothelialization of the implant surface. In contrast to current solutions, this approach allows for the rebuilding of the artery lining, the endothelium, which has innate anti-thrombotic properties. Our coating technology has the potential to have broad implications for the manufacture of blood-contacting medical implants where enhanced regeneration and integration into human tissues is critical to avoid long-term complications.

This program was made possible thanks to the generosity of 平特五不中 alum Pasquale Di Pierro.

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Dr. Hamed Rafezi (post-doc) and Professor Ferri Hassani for 鈥淒rill bit condition monitoring system for mining applications鈥�

Executive summary:

The proposed application aims to further develop our patent-pending approach (PCT/CA2018/051236) for tricone drill Bit Condition Monitoring System (BCMS) in surface mining. The mining industry is moving toward automation and autonomous machinery for increasing the efficiency, precision and safety in production. A successful automated blasthole drilling condition monitoring and control system is a vital step forward. Drilling and blasting are two preliminary tasks in large surface mining operations and constitute more than 15% of the total costs. Tricone bits are preferred in most rotary drilling applications for blasthole drilling in a surface mining operation. Bit wear and subsequent failure of drill in the hole create major delays in removing the detached cone(s) from the hole to avoid damage to the rock crusher equipment. Fully autonomous drilling would not be achievable without a machine-sensing system for recognizing when the drill bit is worn and requires replacing.

This program was made possible thanks to the generosity of 平特五不中 alum Pasquale Di Pierro.

Winners of the 2017 Engine Innovation Fellowship Awards Competition
Presented by Professor Benoit Boulet, Director of the 平特五不中 Engine

Dr. William Lepry and Professor Showan Nazhat, both Materials Engineering for their project on "Treating Sensitive Teeth and Beyond: A Multifunctional Bioactive Borate Glass" and Dr. Sajad Arabnejad, along with Professor Damiano Pasini and Dr. Michael Tanzer for their project on "The Engineering and Manufacturing of High Strength Fully Porous Biomaterials and Implants for Orthopaedic Applications".

This program is made possible thanks to the generosity of 平特五不中 alumni Pasquale Di Pierro and听Cesar Cesaratto.