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Final Year Thesis
In your final year, you'd have to complete a
full-year thesis (ESC489Y or ESC499Y) under the supervision a
faculty member at the University of Toronto. The following is
a list of the projects that Nano students have been working on
(or still working at!):
| Brandon Bouwhuis (0T3 +
PEY) [www|e-mail] |
| Supervisor: |
Prof. S. Davies, IBBME |
| Topic: |
Dynamics of Genetic Reporter Systems |
| Description: |
|
| Andrew Brzezinski (0T4)
[www|e-mail] |
| Supervisor: |
Prof. Zhenghong Lu, Department of Materials Science and
Engineering |
| Topic: |
Scaling Issues of C60 Transistors |
| Description: |
|
| Michael Brougham (0T3 +
PEY) [www|e-mail] |
| Supervisor: |
Prof. Christopher Hogue, Department of Biochemistry |
| Topic: |
Computational protein folding using mathematical
theories from graph and network theory |
| Description: |
The prevailing view of proteins as consisting of primary,
secondary, tertiary and quarternary structure is a convenient
mental construct that assists us in conceptualizing their
structure and function. In actuality, there is significant
overlap between these structural delineations which limits
the applicability of this paradigm. Fortunately, proteins
may equally well be viewed as hierarchical networks. Since
the fields of network and graph theory are well understood
and mathematically advanced, we can leverage its theoretical
results to solve difficult problems associated with proteins
including their folding dynamics. |
| SAM CHAN (0T4) [www|e-mail] |
| Supervisor: |
Prof. Coyle, Department of Chemistry |
| Topic: |
Solution-Precursor Plasma Flame Spray |
| Description: |
The solution-precursor plasma spray method is a new
process to deposit nanomaterials as a coating onto a substrate
surface. The solution precursor plasma spray process is
more commonly used for depositing metallic coatings, but
recently this process has also been found widely use for
the deposition of ceramic coatings. In this process, the
solution feedstocks are atomized injected into the plasma
flame, causing powder particles to melt into droplets that
are propelled toward the substrate. Nanomaterials are synthesized
in the flame and are collected as powder in as a deposit
on the substrate. Solidification of the droplet onto the
substrate acts as “splats” resulting in the
build-up of a thick coating.
My thesis was to develop a “recipe”, to deposit
a thick coating of the electrolyte Cerium- doped Yttrium
onto a substrate surface. Cerium-doped Yttrium has been
shown to have better ionic conductivities at lower temperature
than other zirconia based electrolytes. Therefore, by investigating
the ideal parameters which leads to a thick, porous coating
of the electrolyte, will allow a better ionic conductivity
mechanism and further advance research on fuel cells. |
| Rachel Chang (0T4)
[www|e-mail] |
| Supervisor: |
Prof Abbatt, Department of Chemistry |
| Topic: |
Degradation of Ozone in the Presence of Mineral
Dusts |
| Description: |
Billions of tonnes of dust are put into the atmosphere
each year and can
act as a catalytic surface for chemical reactions such as
the degradation
of ozone to oxygen. My project looks at the kinetics of
this reaction for
different initial conditions such as ozone concentration,
dust particles
present and relative humidity.
|
| Philip Egberts (0T4)
[www|e-mail] |
| Supervisor: |
Prof. J. E. Davies, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical
Engineering |
| Topic: |
in vitro study of osteogenic cell migration
through a fibrin gel |
| Description: |
An injury to bone tissue in the body results in the formation
of a blood clot, composed partly of fibrin, which provides
a matrix for cells to migrate though. Mesenchymal cells that
line the blood vessels are signaled to transform into osteoblasts.
These osteoblasts migrate to a solid surface (such as a dental
implant) and secret new bone tissue. The characterization
of this migration is not the only driving factor to study
this topic, but also to determine which growth factors can
stimulate cells to migrate faster would be an asset, as it
could potentially reduce the amount of time required for wound
healing. |
| Ardavan Farajadpour (0T4)
[www|e-mail] |
| Supervisor: |
Prof. Ozin, Department of Chemistry |
| Topic: |
Self Assembly of Mesoporous Silica |
| Description: |
|
| Brian Fung (0T4)
[www|e-mail] |
| Supervisor: |
Prof. Zhenghong Lu, Department of Materials Science and
Engineering |
| Topic: |
Flexible Organic Light Emitting Devices (FOLEDs) |
| Description: |
An OLED (Organic Light Emitting Device) is a light-emitting
device made from thin-films of organic materials. OLED technology
is poised to challenge conventional LCDs (Liquid Crystal
Displays) in the flat-panel display market because OLEDs
are more lightweight, more robust, and more energy efficient
in comparison. Moreover, OLED technology provides several
advantages not available to LCDs. Since organic materials
are generally flexible, OLEDs constructed on a flexible
substrate (i.e. polyester) can be bent and folded. My thesis
project focuses on the realization of a “Flexible
OLED” (FOLED). We recently realized this goal and
the Lu Group is the first Canadian team to build a FOLED.
Our future goals include the prototyping of a flexible seven-segment
OLED clock display and the characterization and optimization
of the device architecture.
See Also:
NIT
Press Release
Video
of our FOLED in action
U
of T Press Release
|
| Irene Goldthorpe (0T4)
[www|e-mail] |
| Supervisor: |
Prof. S. Sargent, ECE |
| Topic: |
Nonlinear optics |
| Description: |
designing optical signal processing elements |
| Ian HoSEIN (0T4)
[www|e-mail] |
| Supervisor: |
Prof. Geoffrey A. Ozin, Department of Chemistry |
| Topic: |
Optically tunanble silver composite opal-based
photonic crystals
fabricated through Chemical Vapour Deposition |
| Description: |
|
| Kevin Au (0T4) [www|e-mail] |
| Supervisor: |
Prof. H. E. Ruda, ECAN |
| Topic: |
|
| Description: |
|
| Cheuk Chi Lo (0T4)
[www|e-mail]
|
| Supervisor: |
Prof. Zhenghong Lu, Department of Materials Science and
Engineering |
| Topic: |
Carrier transport accross metal-C60 heterjunctions |
| Description: |
|
| Tanya Monga (0T3 + PEY)
[www|e-mail] |
| Supervisor: |
Prof. Ozin, Department of Chemistry |
| Topic: |
Electrical Properties of PBG silicon structures |
| Description: |
I'm devising a method to get ohmic electrical contact
to inverse opal structures to determine their electrical
conductivity.
|
| Raheem Peerani (0T3 + PEY)
[www|e-mail] |
| Supervisor: |
Prof. Zandstra, IBBME |
| Topic: |
Embryonic Stem-Cell Derived Cardiomyocytes |
| Description: |
Interest in embryonic stem (ES) cells stems from their
ability to differentiate into any type of adult cell. The
purpose of my project is to optimize a selection technique
that uses antibiotic resistance to select for cardic heart
muscle cells (cardiomyocytes). This includes varying the
concentration of the antiobiotic reagent, type of antibiotic,
and when to start and end selection. A second aspect to
my project is visualize cardiomyocytes within 3D ES cell
aggregates called embryoid bodies using immunofluoresence.
|
| Johnson Wong (0T4)
[www|e-mail] |
| Supervisor: |
Prof. W. Chan, IBBME |
| Topic: |
Interaction of light with biomolecules |
| Description: |
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