Joint funding shakes off the dust to create new clean fabrication lab

Scott Tsai makes tiny bubbles. The Ryerson mechanical engineering professor has developed lab-on-a-chip technology that creates microbubbles which can be introduced into the bloodstream to enhance ultrasound imagery, diagnosis of disease and drug delivery. But researchers like Tsai need special conditions to develop and build their microstructures. As he explains to Innovation, “When you are fabricating things with very intricate detail and at a very small size, some of the features on the devices are the size of dust particles. For that reason, you need to work in a very clean place.”

Without a clean lab available within the Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Science and Technology (iBEST) (external link) , Tsai has had to fabricate his innovative technology off-site. But now, a joint investment by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and Toronto Metropolitan University will allow Tsai and others working in microfabrication to build within iBEST. With close to $1 million of funding to create the new clean lab, creating future structures smaller than a dust particle will be possible on-site for the Ryerson and St. Michael’s Hospital researchers who collaborate to create new healthcare solutions.