The University of Alberta's commitment to bold, interdisciplinary research was strengthened by recent federal government grants which will support innovative research underway at the U of A.
Engineer Mahdi Hamidi and chemist Michael Serpe (along with co-principal investigator Satya Kar) in the College of Natural and Applied Sciences have received prestigious 2024 New Frontiers in Research Fund grants which support world-leading interdisciplinary, high-risk / high-reward, transformative Canadian-led research. Each was successful in the 2024 Exploration competition (NFRF-E), which brings together diverse disciplines for exploratory research with the potential for significant impact.
Since the implementation of the One University model in 2020, which is focused on shared goal-building, the number of applications for these highly competitive national competitions has increased considerably. The 2025 NFRF-E competition currently underway underscores this energy, with almost double the number of applications submitted by the U of A from the previous year.
Research on the microscopic scale
Hamidi, cross-appointed in the departments of mechanical and electrical and computer engineering, is developing microrobots, too small for the naked eye to see, that someday may be used as precision tools for advanced biological interventions, including cellular surgery, targeted drug delivery and diagnostics.
The NFRF-E funding, he says, is a game-changer.
“It lets us pursue a very high-risk, truly exotic direction that regular programs rarely support, and also, hire exceptionally capable researchers,” says Hamidi, whose co-applicants on the project are biomedical engineer Svetlana Komarova and mechanical engineer David Nobes, along with project collaborators Anastassia Voronova, a medical geneticist, and Kambiz Moez in electrical and computer engineering.
Over the last year, Hamidi’s research has advanced significantly, with fully biocompatible materials and more sophisticated manufacturing techniques.
“We’ve built a micron-scale ‘hand’ with multiple electrochemical micro-actuator ‘fingers’ that can open/close together,” he says. “We’re now pushing to control each finger independently, then place live cells in contact to demonstrate manipulation, and ultimately explore tele-operation with a haptic glove. Bryant, my student, is fully focused on this, advancing the micro-actuators that drive the micro-hand.”
The materials themselves add another layer of difficulty, most notably the integration of these minute components. The process involves creating compliant nano-metre thin hinges — metal stacks patterned to be flexible — and ensuring their precise alignment and bonding with fluidic channels and on-chip interconnects. Everything must fit perfectly at this microscopic scale.
“It makes the micro/nanofabrication very challenging, but also very powerful,” says Hamidi. “If successful, our work could set new standards in single-cell analysis and manipulation, with wide-reaching implications for both scientific research and healthcare.”
As Hamidi notes, the feasibility of his project would not be possible without the robust interdisciplinary framework at the U of A and the collective expertise of his team, as well as the additional help provided by the Research Partner Network (RPNet) at an early stage of the application process.
“It ensures that we can navigate the inherent challenges and deliver impactful results,” he says, adding that blending engineering and biomedical sciences “exemplifies the power of interdisciplinary research to create innovative solutions for complex biological challenges.”
Like Hamidi, chemist Michael Serpe, Associate Dean (International Relations) in the Faculty of Science, along with his co-principal investigator Satya Kar (a neuroscientist in the College of Health Sciences), are also working at the micro-scale investigating polymers and nanoparticles and their potential use in the detection and treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease.
“Finding a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) constitutes one of the greatest challenges to modern medicine, and a major limiting factor in developing effective treatment strategy for AD is the blood-brain barrier (BBB) preventing entry of drugs/agents into the brain,” says Serpe.
Over the last decade, nanoparticles (engineered materials less than 100 nm in diameter) have been extensively explored as novel therapeutics capable of crossing this barrier.
“Satya found that synthetic, biocompatible polylactide glycolide (PLGA) particles can cross the BBB and actually attach to and degrade amyloid beta plaques, which is the pathology for Alzheimer’s disease,” explains Serpe, adding that their co-applicant, radiochemist Ralf Schirrmacher, an expert in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, is working with Kar and the rest of the project team to generate nanoparticles that can be used to both detect and treat Alzheimer’s.
Serpe, a collaborator on another NFRF-E supported research project with mathematician Vakhtang Putkaradze, says the NFRF-E funding is enabling his team to do research and make connections that would have not been possible otherwise.
“It’s through these unique connections, forged by this kind of funding, that real innovation occurs,” he says. “In addition, working with the internal team of advisors in the Research Partner Network allowed us to tune the language used in the grant application to make our submission more competitive.”
Feiyue Akishyn, research partner lead for the NFRF-E, agrees that this competition serves as a great example of cross-college interdisciplinary collaborations. “Hopefully, the funded projects can inspire more researchers to pursue NFRF and interdisciplinary collaboration in general at the U of A.”