• July 2011
    • Schlorship Awarded
      • We 'again' congratulate our gifted students Laura Rose and Nesrine Mostafa for securing new Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) studentships. Laura and Nesrine secured the prestigious CIHR Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships. Nesrine's project was titled "Growth Factor and Gene Delivery for Bone Regeneration in Cleft Palates", while Laura submitted a project titled "Gene Delivery for Bone Regeneration". These are the latest scholarship Nesrine and Laura secured and it will be sufficient to carry them over their PhD studies. Both Laura and Nesrine were ranked in the top 5% of the applicant pool, clearly attesting to the quality research they pursue and the scholarly promise they possess. Congratulations!
    • Personel News
      • We welcome short-term visitors Dr. Selçuk Özcan (Assistant Professor, Bilecik University, Turkey) and Burçin Akgün (M.Sc. Student, Bogazici University, Turkey) to our lab. Selcuk and Burcin will get further research training in Canada, exposing themselves to drug delivery and tissue engineering research. Both will work on biomineralization of scaffolds, developing novel and mineralized scaffolds and exploring their use for applications involving biomineralization, bone regeneration and DNA delivery. We wish them a productive stay in our lab


        Other short-term students spending the summer with us are Anuja Samuel and Michael Leung, both from the Chemical & Materials Engineering Department, U. of Alberta. Anuja is exploring siRNA delivery to leukemic cells, working along with Breanne Landry. Michael is exploring the physicochemical properties of polymer/DNA complexes, working along Laura Rose. Both Michael and Anuja secured NSERC summer studentships to conduct their research projects. Congratulations to both !

    • Project Funded
      • We recently secured Alberta Cancer Foundation funding ($150,000 per annum for 2 years) to pursue a High Risk-High Reward Project. The project is intended to develop siRNA therapeutics for treatment of leukemic cancers. We plan to develop non-viral formulations of siRNA in order to curb uncontrolled growth of leukemic cells in circulation. This is a new project for our lab and we plan to generate proof-of-principle studies in order to explore the efficacy of siRNA in this deadly disease.

        Congratulations to our colleague Dr. Gaetan Laroche (Laval University, Quebec) who successfully secured funding from NSERC for a CREATE Program on Regenerative Medicine. The program funding is $1,650,000 over 5 years. Dr. Laroche organized a highly skilled team of biomaterials scientists and engineers in order to pursue a focused educational program on regenerative medicine. We are delighted to be part of this team, whose investigators include Drs F. Auger (Laval University), D. Mantovani (Laval University), M.J Lee (Dalhousie University), P. Santerre (U. of Toronto), J. Kizhakkedathu (U. of British Columbia), E. Stone (U. of Toronto), and L. Unsworth (U. of Alberta). We look forward to interacting with other labs and gifted students to create innovative materials and therapeutic approaches.
    • New Research Tool
      • We recently acquired a Carestream Animal Imager (FX Pro) to investigate biological events in situ, thanks to funding support from NSERC. This is a powerful system capable of conducting x-ray, bioluminescence and fluorescence imaging in animals. The imager will enable to (i) to visualize bone regeneration, (ii) conduct pharmacokinetics and efficacy studies in tumor models, and (iii) inspect gene expression in biomaterial scaffolds, to name a few examples. We are excited to incorporate this important tool into our research. We envision conducting more comprehensive studies with the availability of the imager as well as probing scientific events that was not possible with our current toolbox.
  • March 2011
    • Graduation
      • Since the last update on our news page, we lost (in the good sense) three 'long-timers' from the lab. Vanessa Incani (now Dr. Incani) completed her PhD degree in the Faculty of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences. Meysam Abbasi (now Dr. Abbasi) completed his PhD degree in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine. Guilin Wang (now Dr. Wang) completed his studies in Chemical & Materials Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering. All three of them have done marvelous jobs during their studies, publishing well-designed studies in good quality journals and paving the way to successful research endeavors for new comers to the lab. While Dr. Incani chose a postdoctoral fellowship at a local institute (NRC National Institute for Nanotechnology), Dr. Abbasi and Dr Wang chose industrial positions to continue their careers. We wish them all the luck in their new endeavors.
    • Personel News and Scholarship Awarded
      • We congratulate Laura Rose for securing an Alberta Innovates Health Solutions (formerly AHFMR) studentship. Laura is the latest in a long line of students in the Uludag lab with funding from this local agency dedicated to supporting Alberta science and technology. With this scholarship, Laura secured funding until the end of her PhD studies, which should allow her to focus on her studies without $$ worries. Congratulations!


        Dr. Hamidreza M. Aliabadi successfully renewed his fellowship from the Alberta Innovates Health Solutions (AIHS) for a total of 3-year period. Hamid is doing groundbreaking research on new ways to silencing drug transporters on cancer cells by using siRNA-based therapeutics. He will be well supported to continue his studies in the Uludag lab, generating proof-of-principle studies from the conceptualization to preclinical testing of novel anti-cancer therapeutics.

  • August 2010
    • Welcome and Goodbye
      • To Gozde Kerman of Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey) who spent 3 weeks at the Uludag lab between July 15th and August 3rd. Gozde is completing her PhD studies on bone regeneration and spent a brief period of time with us, focusing on growing rat bone marrow stromal cells in hydroxyapatite scaffolds. This is Gozde's third visit to the lab (after 2004 and 2005), exposing her to the research environment at a different institution.
    • Personel News and Scholarship Awarded
      • We congratulate Ross Fitzsimmons for securing a prestigious CIHR Master's Award: Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships. Ross is the first student in the lab to secure this scholarship and it will provide him with a one-year funding to complete his M.Sc degree. More importantly, Ross was ranked in the top 8% among the applicants to this competition, clearly attesting to the quality of his background and the project he is working on. Congratulations!

        Breanne Landry has been successful in two different scholarship applications; (i) Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship from the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research (U. of Alberta) and (ii) Graduate Studentship from the Alberta Cancer Board. Congratulations ! Now, Breanne has the hard task of deciding which one to turn down in order to comply with the regulations of each scholarship. Collectively, these scholarships will enable Breanne to complete her PhD degree with the concerns of financial restrictions.
  • June 2010
    • Lab Move
      • We moved - our new home is 2-020 Research Transition Facility (RTF), the home of the Biomedical Engineering. This more was necessary to complete the renovations in our current home at the Chemical & Materials Engineering Building. The new facility is an integrated space where all functional of the lab will be conducted at a single place. It is located right on the subway line as well (Health Sciences stop), so that transportation to the lab will be much easier. See the pictures of the new lab at this link: www.xxx.ca.
    • Personel News and Scholarship Awarded
      • Congratulations to Breanne Landry for successfully passing her PhD candidacy examination on April 27th, 2010. Breanne will devote her studies on siRNA delivery for leukemia (a type of cancer affecting white blood cells) treatment. By passing her candidacy exam, she successfully demonstrated an in-depth of the knowledge of the field, especially on siRNA action, delivery systems for siRNA and cancer biology. To top it off, Breanne recently secured a 2-year WCHRI (Women & Children's Health Research Institute, U. of Alberta) studentship, where she will be supported to work on treatment of childhood leukemias.

        We congratulate Nesrine Mostafa Zakaria for securing a Queen Elizabeth II (QE II) Studentship from the University of Alberta. Nesrine is the first Dentistry student to be awarded the QE II scholarship, a testament to her research potential in a PhD program. Nesrine is already generating exciting data on the cultivation and functional differentiation of human bone marrow stromal cells, which we hope to use for tissue engineering applications.

        Nesrine was also awarded the prestigious Alberta Innovates - Health Solutions Studentship (formerly AHFMR Studentship). Congratulations to Nesrine. This is a highly competitive award that provides full stipend support. The award will enable Nesrine to pursue her graduate studies without the worries of funding support.

        Congratulations to Laura Rose for successfully passing her PhD candidacy examination on June 14th, 2010. Laura is now fully licensed (!) to continue her studies on bone regeneration, in particular focusing on using non-viral methods to induce gene expression and bone repair. Laura has already generated exciting data on the possibility of using our designer biomaterials to deliver plasmid DNA in rats. Now she can continue her cutting-edge studies without the impediment of candidacy examination!

        We also congratulate Ross Fitzsimmons for securing a Queen Elizabeth II (QE II) studentship from the Faculty of Graduate Studies. This is a competitive studentship provided to academically gifted students by the U. of Alberta. Ross secured a QE II for M.Sc. students at his first attempt.
  • April 2010
    • Scholarship Awarded and Other Personnel News
      • After a 1-year stay at Uludag lab, Dr. Kuniharu Utsuno has completed his sabbatical placement and returned to his home institution (Tomakomai National Collage of Technology). Dr. Utsuna devoted his time to interaction of cationic polymers, in particular polyethyleneimine, with DNA. He elucidated several salient features of PEI-DNA interactions by using isothermal titration calorimetry. We will miss Dr. Utsuno's work ethic.

        Two of our recent doctoral graduates, Sufeng Zhang and Basak Açan-Clements, have been granted the prestigious NSERC post-doctoral fellowship. Both Sufang and Basak will be able to hold this award outside Canada, Sufeng at MIT (drug delivery) and Basak at NJ Centre for Biomaterials (tissue regeneration). Congratulations to both and we wish them all the best in their future training endeavors.
  • February 2010
    • Scholarship Awarded
      • We say goodbye to Remant after a 2-year postdoctoral stay at the lab. Remant has made valuable contributions to the design of non-viral gene delivery systems based on polymers. He experimented with (i) peptide conjugations, (ii) disulfide linking and (iii) hydrophobic modification of polymeric carriers, establishing structure-property-function relationships along the way. He plans to expand his horizons at U. of South Carolina, by taking on a new postdoctoral position on drug delivery research. We wish him luck in his new endeavor. See pot-luck pictures held on the occasion of Remant's departure

  • January 2010
    • Personnel News
      • We congratulate Laura Rose and Ross Fitzsimmons for securing a studentship from the CIHR Skeletal Regenerative Medicine Team (SRMT) grant (PI: Derrick Rancourt). Laura successful renewed her studentship after 1 year, whereas Ross secured the scholarship for the first time. Both Laura and Ross are working on gene delivery methods to express therapeutic genes in clinically relevant cells, such as embryonic stem cells, bone marrow stromal cells and adipocytes.

        We welcome Nesrine Mostafa Zakaria to Uludag lab for a PhD program, commencing in January/2010. Nesrine is affiliated with the Department of Dentistry (Faculty of Medicine) and she will conduct her research project in Uludag lab on bone regeneration. Nesrine'a background is in dentistry, with an MSc degree from the Department of Dentistry, University of Alberta. We look forward to supporting Nesrine in her studies.

        Congratulations to Harsh Deep Singh for successfully completing his MSc degree in December/2009. Harsh Deep was co-supervised by Dr. Uludag and Dr. Larry Unsworth (Assistant Professor, Chemical & Materials Engineering) and conducted research on nanoparticle engineering. Harsh Deep will continue to work with Dr. Unsworth after his graduation, and complete several studies important for our research endeavors.
  • November 2009
    • Personnel News
      • We welcome and, at the same time, say goodbye to Zulal Yalinca, who visited us for a 2-month duration between July 15 and September 15. Zulal spent an intense period of experimentation on chitosan-based polymers for gene delivery. This was part of her PhD studies at the Eastern Mediterranean University (www.emu.edu.tr; Famagusta, Turkish Republic of North Cyprus). The project is jointly supervised with Dr. Elvan Yilmaz (chemistry) and Dr. Bahar Taneri (molecular biology).

        We welcome Ross Fitzsimmons to Uludag Lab for his MSc program. Ross is a graduate of the Department of Medical Genetics, U. of Alberta. He comes to us with considerable expertise in molecular design and analysis of gene expression systems. Ross will work on the design of expression systems for Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMPs) and pursue in situ expression of BMPs for therapeutic applications.

        Congratulations to Charlie Hsu who successfully passed his candidacy exam. Charlie is now a fully pledged PhD Student in the Biomedical Engineering Department, which is jointly affiliated with the Faculties of Medicine & Dentistry and Engineering.
    • Project Funded
      • The Uludag lab was granted a 1-year Knowledge Translation Award for $100,000 from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. This short term funding was provided as a result of an unsuccessful grant proposal submitted to NSERC Collaborative Health Research Projects in 2008. The focus of the project is developing siRNA delivery systems to reverse chemoresistance commonly seen in tumors. This is a significant limitation of current chemotherapeutic approaches to cancer therapy, since some tumors ultimately become resistant to therapy and limit the clinicians approach for intervention. This collaborative project is jointly lead with Dr. Afsaneh Lavasanifar and Dr. Kamaljit Kaur (both of Faculty of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences), Dr. Raymond Lai (Department of Laboratory Science and Pathology) and Dr. Charles Doillon (Laval University)
    • New Instrument
      • Uludag lab recently acquired a new fluorescent microscope from Olypmus: FSX100. This is a state-of-the-art-tool to conduct routine studies with fluorescent cells, and it contains a closed chamber for sensitive documentation and analysis of samples. We plan to use this instrument to investigate fluorescent protein expression (such as GFP) and uptake of fluorescently-tagged molecules (such as siRNA and plasmid DNA) in target cells. We thank Alberta Advanced Education & technology (AET) for providing funding for this purpose
  • July 2009
    • Scholarshop Awarded
      • We congratulate Charlie Hsu for securing an Alberta Ingenuity Fund (AIF) top-up award in nanotechnology as a supplement to his Alexander Graham Bell CGS-D Award from NSERC. The top-up award provides additional salary support as well as a small research allowance ($1,500), making Charlie a 'fat cat' among the graduate students!

        Dr. Sufeng Zhang secured a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR). AHFMR provides funding to promising scholars to pursue independent and cutting-edge research in Canada and US. Sufeng plans to join Dr. Derrick Rancourt's lab at the University of Calgary and apply her expertise in drug delivery and nanotechnology for manipulations of the fate of stem cells. We expect Sufeng to make important contributions at the interface of these exciting fields.

        Congratulations to Guilin Wang who secured a studentship from the CIHR Skeletal Regenerative Medicine Team grant ( to supplement his financial support form the Government of China. Guilin will head a project to develop nanoparticulate formulations of growth factors and diagnostic agents to be used in animal models of osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. Guilin will be co-supervised by Dr. Steven Boyd and Dr. Jeff Dunn from the University of Calgary.

        Laura Rose secured the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship from the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Alberta. Laura was recognized for her excellence in academic studies and her potential for future research contributions. This is well-deserved recognition for a budding scientist!
    • Personnel News
      • Vanessa Incani and Meysam Abbasi successfully passed their candidacy exams. A big congratulations! As of June 30th, Vanessa is a fully pledged PhD Student in the Faculty of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, while Meysam has become a Ph.D. student in the Biomedical Engineering Department as of July 8th, now jointly affiliated with the Faculties of Engineering and Medicine. Candidacy exams are difficult to tackle since they examine students on a broad variety of subjects and we are delighted to see both Vanessa and Meysam to overcome this hurdle on their way to a successful PhD program.
  • May 2009
    • Scholarshop Awarded
      • Congratulations to Charlie Hsu for securing the prestigious Alexander Graham Bell CGS-D Award from NSERC. This is one of the highest awards bestowed on a Canadian student for his/her academic excellence, research potential, communication skills and interpersonal and leadership abilities. We congratulate Charlie for this recognition and we are happy to be associated with such a talent.
    • Project Funding Secured
      • The Uludag lab recently secured an Alberta-Shanghai Collaborative Project Grant from the Alberta Advanced Education & Technology. A total of $244,000 was provided for 2009-2011. The focus of the project is developing nanoparticles for gene delivery intended for bone regeneration. The collaborative project will build on the nanotechnology and gene delivery expertise of Uludag lab and the preclinical models developed at the Shanghai 9th People's Hospital (affiliated with Jiao Tong University), headed by Dr. Xinquan Jiang (Associate Professor) and Dean Zhiyuan Zhang (Division of Stomatology, School of Medicine). Dr. Tian Tang (Department of Mechanical Engineering) and Dr. Nadr Jomha (Department of Surgery) from University of Alberta will serve as collaborators.

        The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has also provided $23,000 per annum support (2009-2014) for developing 'Biodegradable Gene Delivery Systems'. While we acknowledge the support provided, this level of funding has been disappointing. Nevertheless, we will strive for securing additional funding to execute this important project effectively. The NSERC funding will provide operational funds to develop novel polymeric materials that will degrade once internalized by the cells.
  • April 2009
    • Visiting Scientist
      • We welcome Dr. Kuniharu Utsuna to Uludag Lab for a 1-year sabbatical period. Dr. Utsuna is an Associate Professor at the Tomakomai National Collage of Technology with considerable expertise in biochemistry and in particular isothermal titration calorimetry of biomolecules. We look forward to his contributions for development of novel gene delivery systems.
    • Equipment Grant
      • We congratulate our colleagues Dr. Zhanghe Xu and Dr. John Nychka for securing Research Tools & Instruments Grants from NSERC. Dr. Xu will acquire a cryomicrotome (Ultracut Ultramicrotome; $119,066) for specialized sample preparation for microscopy. Dr. Nychka will acquire a Multimode Digital Imaging Microscope ($96,184) for analysis of material properties at interfaces. These specialized tools will enhance the infrastructural capabilities of the Chemical & Materials Engineering Department and Dr. Uludag is pleased to act as a collaborator on these projects.
  • March 2009
    • New Instrument
      • We recently acquired two isothermal titration calorimeters from TA Instruments. These instruments (so called nano-ITC) are intended to study interactions of biomolecules in aqueous buffers. We intend to design improved gene delivery systems and nanoparticles for protein and drug delivery.
  • November 2008
    • PhD Defense
      • Congratulations to Baçan Açan Clements for successfully defending her PhD Thesis.
  • December 2008
    • Scholarshop Awarded
      • Congratulations to Charlie Hsu for securing the Faculty of Medicine 75th Anniversary Award. This is the first time Charlie secured this Award during his graduate studies.
    • Post-doctoral Fellowship
      • Congratulations to Dr. Hamid Montazeri for successfully obtaining a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. Dr. Montazeri will join the Uludag lab in 2009 to investigate novel siRNA delivery systems for cancer therapy.
  • November 2008
    • PhD Defense
      • Congratulations to Baçan Açan Clements for successfully defending her PhD Thesis.
  • October, 2008
  • September 2008
    • New Students
      • Uludağ lab welcomes two new Master's student. Laura Rose comes to us from UBC with a BSc in Biochemistry. Breanne Landry graduated from UofA with a BSc in Chemical Engineering.
    • Personal Achievement
      • Congratulations to Sufeng Zhang for successfully defending her PhD Thesis on Sept. 25, 2008. Congratulations to Charlie Hsu and Laura Rose for securing the CIHR Skeletal Regenerative Medicine Team Graduate Studentship.
  • June 2008
    • High School Students
      • Congratulations to our gifted, word-working high school students, Mustafa and Hazel Babadagli. The twins placed 1st in the Provincial Competition of Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge and fourth at the National Competition in Ottawa. Read more about the accomplishments of our students at the following article, which appeared in the Edmonton Journal.
  • March 2008
    • New Instruments
      • The Uludag lab secured a Research Tools & Instruments (RTI) grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC) to acquire a Isothermal Titration Calorimeter (ITC). The project will be funded for $135,000 with a departmental support of $10,000. The following collaborators are part of this grant application: Philip Choi (CME), John Shaw (CME), Larry Unsworth (CME & NRC), John Nychka (CME), William McCaffrey (CME), and Afsaneh Lavasanifar (Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences). We look forward to making best use of this state-of-the art equipment, and collaborating with our colleagues.
    • New Students
      • Welcome to Orawan Suwantong, who joined the Uludag lab for a 6-month internship from Chulalongkorn University (Thailand). Orawan's stay at the University of Alberta is supported by the Thailand Graduate Institute of Science and Technology. Orawan is keeping company to her Thai labmate Art in Edmonton, while improving her English language skills and scientific experience.
      • Welcome to Remant Bahadur K.C., who joined the Uludag lab as a postdoctoral fellow from Korea. Remant obtained his Ph.D. from the Chonbuk National University, and developed a highly sought expertise in nanotechnology from the Department of Bionanosystem Engineering. Remant, a native of Nepal, is feeling right at home in Edmonton, given the large choice of indian restaurants in town.
  • October, 2007
  • February 2007
    • CIHR Operating Grant
      • Congratulations to our collaborator Dr. Aziz Ghahary of University of British Columbia on securing an Operating Grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Funding was provided for 5 years at ~$157,422 per annum on Development and Application of Non-Rejectable Allogenic Skin Substitute as a Wound Coverage. The Uludag lab will be lending the expertise on drug delivery aspects on this project.
      • The Uludag lab recently secured an Operating Grant from the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) on Designing Amphiphilic Polymers for Gene Delivery in Clinically-Relevant Cells. The project will be funded for 4 years with an annual budget of ~$136,634. We look forward to making unique contributions to this exciting field.