Current Students
Current Ph.D and M.Sc students and candidates
Mr. Abbas Fazel Anvari Yazdi BSc, MSc PhD student in Biomedical Engineering
Abbas is currently a Ph.D. student in Biomedical Engineering and has begun his studies in September 2020 under the supervision of Prof. Daniel Chen at the University of Saskatchewan. He got his master's degree in Biomedical Engineering, Biomaterials, and bachelor's degree in Materials Science Engineering, Metallurgy. Abbas possesses progressive research experience in the field of Biomaterials since 2013. He is a highly motivated, creative, and energetic researcher with strong project management skills. During his bachelor’s thesis, Abbas synthesized hydroxyapatite nanoparticles and evaluated their biocompatibility by using Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cells for tissue engineering applications. His master project was synthesizing of novel biodegradable Magnesium alloys and studied the biocompatibility, bio-corrosion, physical and mechanical properties of synthesized Mg-Zn-Ca alloys and Bioceramics for orthopedic implants and minimally invasive surgeries applications. His Ph.D. project mainly focused on 3D Bioprinting of tissue-engineered scaffolds.
Dr. Adam McInnes MSc, MD PhD student
Adam is a medical doctor currently researching in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, and he also works as a pre-clinical instructor in the College of Medicine. Outside of his research, Adam has numerous interests, but his passions are in STEM promotion, Global Health, entrepreneurship, and interprofessional education. He performs a lot of volunteer work in these areas, including founding Med Hack Enterprises Inc., serves as the president of the Saskatoon Métis Local 126 and a director of the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce, and is a mentor to Indigenous students. Due to his work, Adam has received numerous Indspire Scholarships, the University of Saskatchewan MSc Devolved Graduate Scholarship, and the Indigenous Graduate Leadership Award. Adam grew up on a small farm in rural Southwestern Saskatchewan.
Ali Malekpour BSc, MSc MEng student in Mechanical Engineering
Ali is currently a MEng student in Mechanical engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. He began his study in September 2018 under the supervision of Prof. Daniel Chen and Prof. Donald Bergstrom. He got his Master`s and Bachelor`s degrees in Mechanical Engineering as well. He worked on natural convection in nanofluid numerically. His research interests include Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Heat Transfer and their applications in Biomedical Engineering and his current project is developing a model to visualize cerebral aneurysms treated with stents based on CFD.
Amanda Zimmerling BSc PhD student in Biomedical Engineering
Amanda began her studies in biomedical engineering in September 2020 under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Chen and Dr. Yan Zhou. She attained her undergraduate degree in Materials Engineering from the University of Alberta. Amanda is also involved in the campus community as Vice President Graduate of USask WiC and is an organizing member of Med.Hack(+). Her research is focused on the 3D bioprinting of in vitro models for use in vaccine development. Separate from research, Amanda loves the outdoors, and spends her time hiking, fishing, and hunting.
Emilia Olivares Conraud BSc M.Sc. student
Emilia is currently a MSc. student in Biomedical Engineering and has begun her studies in September 2020, under the supervision of Prof. Daniel Chen. She attained her undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Guanajuato, in Mexico, with a year abroad at INSA Lyon, France, in 2017, specializing in modeling and experimentation. She did a MITACS research internship at the University of Saskatchewan during summer of 2019, working with 3D bioprinting of myocardial tissue scaffolds under the supervision of Prof. Daniel Chen. Outside of research, she works in a hot air balloon team, as crew member. Her MSc research is focused on CFD simulations on bio-inks through the 3D bioprinter extruder.
Farinaz Ketabat BSc, MSc PhD student in Biomedical Engineering
Farinaz is a Ph.D. student in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. She started her program in September 2018 under the supervision of Prof. Silvana Papagerakis, Prof. Petros Papagerakis, and Prof. Daniel Chen. Farinaz is working on oral drug delivery in the college of dentistry and the College of Engineering. Her main interests include dentistry, tissue engineering, and drug delivery systems. She worked on myocardial tissue regeneration as her master’s project at the University of Amir Kabir, Iran.
Fatemeh Mohabatpour BSc, MSc PhD student in Biomedical Engineering
Fatemeh began her PhD in Biomedical Engineering at University of Saskatchewan (U of S) in January 2018 under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Chen and Dr. Petros Papagerakis. Her research focuses on developing 3D printed dual-compartment scaffolds and gene delivery systems to induce differentiation of dental stem cells into ameloblasts and odontoblasts and promote enamel and dentin regeneration. Fatemeh received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Biomaterial Engineering and Tissue Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology (AUT), Tehran, Iran in 2013 and 2015, respectively. Her bachelor project was on deferoxamine conjugated nanoceria and its antioxidant effects on an in vitro model of diabetic neuropathy and as her master thesis, she worked on fiber-hydrogel composite scaffolds for cartilage tissue engineering.
Hamed Alizadeh Sardroud BSc, MSc PhD student in Biomedical Engineering
Hamed has started his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan since September 2018. Currently, he is working on fabrication of hybrid 3D-bioprinted constructs for the application in cartilage tissue engineering under the supervision of Dr. Chen and Dr. Eames. He also got his degree of B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Sahand University of Technology (Tabriz, Iran). Before starting his Ph.D., he has worked on encapsulation of cells for different goals including expansion and co-culturing of cells, modular tissue formation, angiogenesis, maturation of cells and so on. Based on these projects, he has got experience in incorporation of different cell types with hydrogels for Tissue Engineering applications. He is also very welcome to do teamworking and collaboration.
Meenakshi Pundir PhD student in Biomedical Engineering
Meenakshi Pundir is a Ph.D. student in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Chen, Dr. Petros Papagerakis, and Dr. Silvana Papagerakis. She has completed her M.Tech in Nanotechnology from Vellore Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu, India in 2015 and her B.Tech in Electronics engineering from Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun in 2010. She has an experience in the field of Nanomaterials, Nanostructured Composites for fabrication of biosensors, hybrid Nano adsorbent, her master’s dissertation was on Electroporation studies of liposomes laden with nanoparticles. She is currently working on fabrication of saliva based biosensors and detecting potential biomarkers for oral cancer detection.
Nicholas Betancourt BSc
Nicholas currently pursuing his MSc in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Chen. He began his graduate studies in September 2018 following the completion of his Bsc in Mechanical Engineering, also from the University of Saskatchewan. As an undergraduate student, Nicholas worked with Dr. Chen’s group to assist in characterizing cell damage during the bioprinting process. His current research within tissue engineering include novel biofabrication techniques, and the architectural design of tissue scaffolds.
Rafaello Duarte Luciano BSc, MSc PhD student in Mechanical Engineering
Rafaello is a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, who started his program in September 2018 under the supervision of Professors Donald J. Bergstrom and Daniel X.B. Chen. He got his bachelor's and master's degrees in Chemical Engineering at the University of Blumenau (FURB) in Brazil. The subject of his master's thesis was on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) with a focus on CFD-based optimization studies for industrial gas-solid cyclone separators, and his PhD project is about CFD applications to blood flow. His current research interests include CFD, turbulence, optimization and biomedical flows.
Mr. Xavier Tabil B. Eng M.Sc. student in Biomedical Engineering
Xavier is an M.Sc. student in Biomedical Engineering under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Chen at the University of Saskatchewan since September 2020. He also received his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. He has experience in agricultural biomass processing for transportation and treatment processes; his current areas of interest are in biomaterials, tissue engineering, and scaffold fabrication.
Xiaoman Duan PhD student in Biomedical Engineering
Xiaoman is a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, who started her program in September 2020 under the supervision of Professor Daniel X.B. Chen and Doctor Ning Zhu. She got her bachelor's and master's degrees in Biomedical Engineering at the Southern Medical University in China. Her research interests include Synchrotron X-ray imaging, medical image processing and analysis. In her PhD study program, she mainly focus on developing advanced methods for low-dose Synchrotron CT imaging.
Yasi Delkash BSc M.Sc. student in Biomedical Engineering
Yasaman started her MSc. program in biomedical engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, in September 2018. Previously, she had worked in fields of cardiac and skin tissue engineering for her BSc. experimental thesis and internship in Iran. Tissue decellularization and electrospinning are some of the technical skills that Yasaman gained at that point. Currently, she is developing and characterizing new 3D printable natural materials for different tissue engineering applications. Bioinspired tissue engineering, microorganisms, and cancer therapy are her other fields of interest.
Zahra Yazdanpanah BSc, MSc PhD student in Biomedical Engineering
Zahra has started her PhD in Biomedical Engineering program under Dr. Chen’s supervision at the University of Saskatchewan since September 2018. She completed her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in the field of Materials Science and Engineering with the first and third rank, respectively in Iran. Currently, her project is focused on development of 3D-printed biomaterials for bone tissue engineering application. Her main research interests include materials science, tissue engineering, 3D printing, advanced materials and biomaterials.