Featured speakers (from left to right) Dr. Gilbert Walker, Dr. Mohsen Akbari and Dr. Mamatha Bhat presented their research at the 2025 iBEST Symposium on May 16.
All photos courtesy of iBEST.
The 2025 Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Science and Technology (iBEST) Symposium, held on May 16, focused on the important theme of Innovative Biomedical Solutions for Organ Injury. The event underscored the urgent need for new approaches to some of medicine’s toughest challenges.
Bringing together scientists, engineers, doctors, industry leaders and students, the symposium spotlighted exciting advances – from leading-edge drug delivery systems to personalized cancer treatments and the growing role of AI in health care.
Dr. Michael Kolios, an iBEST co-director and the associate dean, research, innovation and external partnerships with Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU’s) Faculty of Science, opened the event by welcoming attendees. He emphasized the strong focus on AI in the day’s presentations and the active involvement of trainee researchers. “As we’ve evolved and adapted our research interests and strengths throughout the years, the focus has remained on developing the next generation of innovators, our trainees, and our multi-disciplinary teams and talent,” he said.
Dr. Ori Rotstein, vice president of research and innovation at St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto (UHN), and associate chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto, provided the day’s opening remarks. “iBEST was created to bring together scientists to form multi-disciplinary partnerships between researchers at Unity Health and TMU,” he said. He highlighted a significant multidisciplinary collaboration with St. Michael’s Hospital researchers, Dr. Eno Hysi and Dr. Darren Yeun, which led to the development of the H scan, a new, commercialized ultrasound imaging technique for kidney transplantation.
Dr. Steven N. Liss, TMU’s vice-president, research and innovation, also provided opening remarks, emphasizing the importance of collaborative innovation and technology in addressing complex challenges in health care and sustainability. “Through collaborative research, we are well-positioned to make tremendous contributions to health care using AI and digital technologies to create practical solutions that improve patient outcomes,” he said.
2025 iBEST Symposium signage
Featured speakers
The first featured speaker was Dr. Gilbert Walker, a chemistry professor and co-director of BioHubNet at the University of Toronto (U of T). He discussed his research into treatments for sepsis, a life-threatening condition where the body’s response to an infection damages its own tissues and organs. Dr. Walker’s research explores how microRNAs – tiny molecules that help regulate gene activity – can improve organ function and target the underlying causes of sepsis. His research team has developed two innovative solutions using microRNAs, one targeting heart function and the other lung function.
The second session featured Dr. Mohsen Akbari, a mechanical engineering professor and the director of the Laboratory for Innovations in Microengineering (LiME) at the University of Victoria. He uses micro- and nano-technologies to develop personalized solutions for targeted drug delivery. He discussed his research on treating glioblastoma, a deadly and aggressive brain cancer with no known cure. His work explores how delivering drugs directly to the tumour site can bypass the blood-brain barrier, reduce side effects, allow personalized treatments and provide longer-lasting effects.
In the afternoon session, Dr. Mamatha Bhat discussed her research examining how AI can be leveraged to help improve decision-making around patient candidacy for liver transplants. A hepatologist and clinician-scientist at UHN’s Multi-Organ Transplant Program and U of T’s Division of Gastroenterology, Dr. Bhat explained how she and her research team created AI agents to represent the different voices on a liver transplant selection committee, citing AI’s ability to “bring greater objectivity” to transplant decisions. This benefit can lead to optimized patient candidacy and increased equity for waitlist prioritization.
Trainee competitions
The iBEST Symposium trainee presentation and trainee poster competitions showcased innovative research conducted by biomedical engineering, science and technology trainees from TMU, U of T and UHN. Throughout the day, trainees presented their research, received expert feedback and competed for awards and recognition.
A student explains their research project as part of the 2025 iBEST Symposium student poster competition
Trainee presentation competition
Seven iBEST trainees presented their research focused on one of the three iBEST research themes: Drug Delivery, Translational Models and Machine Learning and AI.
The trainee presenters were:
The Role of Translational Models in Biomedical Innovation
- Yasmin Abdelkader, “Integrated Breast Tumor and Placenta Organ-on-a-Chip Model to Assess Nanoparticle Responses,” supervised by Labouta Lab lead, Dr. Hagar Labouta, U of T.
- Alex Chen, “Assessing the Efficacy of Mitochondria-Based Therapies in Ischemia Reperfusion Injury of Kidney Transplants Using Ultrasound-Guided Photoacoustic Imaging,” supervised by Hysi Lab lead, Dr. Eno Hysi, U of T.
- Omar Nusrat, “Photoacoustic sensing of airborne droplets,” on the Translational Models theme, supervised by Kolios Lab lead Dr. Michael Kolios, TMU.
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Research
- Abdelrahman Abdou, “Novel Infant Heart Rate Detector for Neonatal Resuscitation Efforts,” supervised by the Signal Analysis Research Lab lead and professor, Dr. Sri Krishnan, TMU.
- Somnath Bhattacharjee, “Real-time automated needle insertion feedback using Swin UNETR during transrectal ultrasound-guided High-Dose-Rate Prostate Brachytherapy,” supervised by computer science professor Dr. Elodie Lugez, TMU.
- Juan Liyau, “Effective Tissue Identification in Biomedical Fluorescence Microscopy Hyperspectral Images using Hierarchical Clustering Techniques,” supervised by mathematics professor Dr. You Liang, TMU, and Dr. Yeni Yucel, St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto.
- Kalysta Makimoto, “Sex-specific machine learning with CT imaging for predicting incident COPD,” supervised by physics professor Dr. Miranda Kirby, TMU.
The trainee presentation competition winners were:
First place: Kalysta Makimoto, a biomedical physics PhD candidate at TMU.
Second place: Omar Nusrat, a PhD candidate from TMU’s Department of Physics.
Third place: Alex Chen, a medical biophysics master’s student from U of T.
The 2025 iBEST Symposium Student Presentation winners were, from left to right, Kalysta Makimoto in first place, Omar Nusrat in second place and Alex Chen in third place
Trainee poster competition
This year, 43 teams tackled health topics, from targeted drug delivery and smart diagnostics to functional imaging, responsive systems and AI-assisted disease classification. Competition entrants pitched their designs to a panel of entrepreneurial and scientific experts.
TMU professor and iBEST co-director Michael Kolios reviews a 2025 iBEST Symposium Student Poster Competition entrant’s project
The trainee poster competition winners were:
First place: Omar Nusrat, supervised by professor Kolios, for their project “Characterizing Single Airborne Droplets Using Photoacoustic Sensing and Acoustic Levitation.”
Second place: Undergraduate student Sana Mahmood, supervised by TMU computer science professor Elodie Lugez and TMU physics professor Nathan Churchill, for their project “Classifying MGMT Promoter Methylation Status using Vision Transformers and Radiomics.”
Third place: PhD student Vida Maksimoska from U of T’s Institute of Medical Sciences for their project “TNF-induced VEGF-A release induces keratinocyte migration through GEF-H1 and RhoA.”
The 2025 iBEST Symposium Student Poster Competition winners, Omar Nusrat (first place, left) and Sana Mahmood (second place, right), pose with Tom Schweizer, an iBEST co-director
Learn more about the 2025 iBEST Symposium.
Related links:
2024 iBEST Symposium: Examining the multi-faceted, long-lasting effects of COVID-19 (June 2024)
