PhD Candidate, MSE

Alessandra received both her B.Eng and M.Eng in Materials Science and Engineering from Politecnico di Torino, Italy, with exchanges in the US and Sweden. Her research, co-supervised by Prof. K Sask, focuses on correlative techniques for the characterization of proteins and cells at biomaterials interface.

PhD Candidate, MSE, NSERC Vanier Scholarship

Liza holds the NSERC Vanier Canadian Graduate Scholarship and completed an Honours B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering with a Materials Specialization (UWindsor) and a M.A.Sc. in Engineering Materials (UWindsor). Her research focuses exploring the mechanisms behind biomineralization processes as well as using and developing advanced electron microscopy (EM) methods to characterize biological materials, with a focus on liquid-EM.

PhD Candidate, MSE

Chiara received a B.Eng. in Mechanical and Materials Engineering (University of Brescia, Italy) and a double Master’s degree in Materials Science, Engineering and Nanotechnology (McMaster University and Politecnico di Milano, Italy). She is now pursuing a double Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering at McMaster University, and in Medical Science at the Sahlgrenska Academy (University of Gothenburg, Sweden), co-supervised by Prof. A Palmquist and Dr. F Shah. Her Ph.D. research focuses on the multimodal and multiscale (micro-to-nano) characterization of bone and bone interfaces in both healthy and compromised conditions (e.g., osteoporosis and diabetes).

Postdoctoral Fellow, MSE

Dr. Zhang completed her Ph.D. (2022) at Huazhong Agricultural University, China under the direction of Prof. Lijun Wang. Her scientific interests were focused on the crystallization and phase transformation of biological materials (especially calcium-based minerals), attempting to reveal the formation of biominerals (e.g. bone, teeth and pathological minerals). Her current research, co-supervised by Prof. Eli D. Sone (University of Toronto), focuses on understanding the molecular control of collagen biomineralization with advanced electron microscopy (EM), such as liquid-EM, and to apply these insights in bioinspired materials design.

Potdoctoral Fellow, MSE

Dr. Scott’s work focusses on imaging protein structure in vitro and in cells using light and electron microscopy techniques, in co-supervision with Prof. Kyla Sask. Dr. Scott characterized protein hydrogels with tunable mechanical properties under Prof. James Harden (University of Ottawa). He obtained his PhD while supervised by Prof. Sabrina Leslie (McGill University), where he used a novel single-molecule imaging technique to characterize DNA structural dynamics and their related molecular interactions. Next, he imaged DNA origami using super-resolution microscopy as a guest researcher at LMU with Prof. Philip Tinnefeld. As a postdoctoral fellow, he developed a novel means of dynamically and reversibly tuning polymer hydrogel mechanical properties with Prof. Christine Selhuber-Unkel in Germany (Kiel University), where he also built a light-sheet microscope to image neurons firing in living box jellyfish brains with Prof. Peer Wulff and Prof. Heinrich Terlau.

PhD Candidate, BME and Cotutelle Université Grenoble Alpes

PhD Candidate, BME, NSERC CGS D

Alyssa currently holds an NSERC CGS D  scholarship and completed an Honours BSc. in Biological Sciences with a specialization in Life Sciences and a minor in Chemistry from Ontario Tech University.  Her research, co-supervised by Prof. N Bassim, focuses on the imaging of biological and biomaterial nano-scale interactions and events using advanced 3D electron microscopy techniques.

Alyssa Williams

Ariana Hurley

Bryan Lee