BioProducts Institute
UBC is one of the world’s leading academic centres for bioeconomy research. The BPI network represents deep knowledge from the seeds of the trees to cutting-edge bio-refining technologies and novel bio-based products. There are substantial research groups focusing on the two key bio-refining conversion processes: the thermochemical and bio-conversion pathways. Further down the value chain, UBC BPI has an exceptional group of 57 researchers working on development of advanced biomaterials, ranging from specialty paper applications to fibre and fibril reinforced materials and carbon fibres from lignin. The differentiating factor of Bioeconomy Research at UBC is the high level of internal and external collaboration, with researchers and practitioners combining knowledge throughout a fully integrated ‘seeds to solutions’ bio-refining value chain.
Campus
Vancouver
Affiliated UBC Faculty & Postdocs
| Name | Role | Research Interests |
|---|---|---|
| Baldwin, Susan | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Bioprocess engineering, bioremediation, biomedical reaction modelling |
| Bi, Xiaotao | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Chemical engineering; Biomass and Bioenergy; Electrostatics of Powders; Fluidization; Fuel Cells Water Management; Green Engineering; Industrial Symbiosis; Life Cycle Analysis; Multiphase Chemical Reactors; Particle technology |
| Bohlmann, Joerg | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | plant biochemistry, forestry genomics, forest health, conifers, poplar, bark beetle, mountain pine beetle, natural products, secondary metabolites, terpenes, floral scent, grapevine, Conifer genomics Forest health genomics Mountain pine beetle, fungus, pine interactions and genomics Chemical ecology of conifer, insect interactions |
| Brumer, Harry | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Biochemistry; Chemical sciences; Genomics; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; biomass; carbohydrates; cellulose; Chemical Synthesis and Catalysis; Enzymes; microbiota; plant cell walls; polysaccharides |
| Bull, Gary | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | international forest policy, environmental services markets, carbon markets, Government and economic systems |
| Cranston, Emily | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Nanoparticle synthesis, properties and applications; Bio-based materials and nanocellulose; Atomic force microscopy (forces, adhesion, friction, imaging); Colloid and interface science; Polymer chemistry; Cellulose nanocrystals; Bioproducts; Foams, emulsions, aerogels |
| Dahmen, Joseph | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | technical methods and cultural effects of resource use at the scales of architecture and territory. |
| Ellis, Naoko | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Chemical engineering; Chemical Processes; CO2 capture and utilization; Interdisciplinary teaching and learning; multiphase systems; thermochemical conversion of biomass |
| Eltis, Lindsay | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Biochemistry; Genomics; Immunology; Microbiology; Bacterial catabolism of steroids and lignin; biocatalyst development; Enzymes and Proteins; Metabolism (Living Organisms); Mycobacterium tuberculosis |
| Englezos, Peter | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Carbon capture engineering; Natural gas hydrates and other clathrates: science, engineering and novel applications; CO2 capture & storage; Novel materials from forest bio-resources, High-value papermaking |
| Gates, Derek | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Inorganic chemistry, materials science, polymer chemistry, catalysis |
| Grecov, Dana | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Rheology, Rheometry, Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, Computational Fluid Mechanics, Liquid Crystals, Biolubricants, Lubricants, Journal Bearings, Multi-Phase Flow, Synovial Joints, Synovial Fluid, Arthrithis, Liquid crystals and nanomaterials, Biofluid Mechanics |
| Green, Sheldon | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Fluid Mechanics; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; building ventilation; railroads; papermaking |
| Hallam, Steven | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | methanogenesis, methane oxidation, methyl coenzyme M reductase, metagenomics, environmental microbiology, genomics, proteomics, microbial ecology, systems biology, archaea, energy, bioinformatics, Microbial communities, construction and interpretation of environmental genomic libraries, generation of computational tools and workflows for taxonomic and functional binning, population genome assembly, and comparative community analysis, development and functional screens to interrogate environmental genomic libraries for bioactive small molecules and biocatalysis |
| Hatzikiriakos, Savvas | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Polymer melt and suspension rheology, food rheology, polymer melt processing, superhydrophobicity, surface science, winter sports expert, ski/skate performance and snow/ice friction. |
| Hudson, Zachary | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Synthesis of materials; Functional materials in materials chemistry sciences; Organic chemical synthesis; Optical properties of materials; Luminescent materials; Organic electronics; Polymer chemistry; Organic chemistry; Organic light-emitting diodes |
| Jetter, Reinhard | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Analytical Chemistry; Plant Ecophysiology; Plant Biochemistry; Molecular Genetics; Biological Chemistry |
| Jiang, Feng | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | bio-based nanomaterials, carbohydrate chemistry, chemistry, sustainability, wood science |
| Ko, Frank | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Textile Structural Composites |
| Kozak, Robert Antal | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Forest-dependent communities in transition, international development & poverty alleviation, value-added strategies, forest certification & corporate social responsibility, forest sector sustainability & competitiveness, marketing, management & consumer behaviour |
| MacLachlan, Mark | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Supramolecular inorganic chemistry; Inorganic materials; Supramolecular organic chemistry; Synthesis of materials; Functional materials in materials chemistry sciences; Supramolecular Chemistry; Nanomaterials; Biomaterials; Cellulose nanocrystals; Chitin; Materials Chemistry; Inorganic Chemistry |
| Mansfield, Shawn | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | plant metabolism, cellulose biosynthesis, lignin biosynthesis, wood formation, wood quality, cell wall biochemistry, tree biotechnology, transgenics, Tree biotechnology |
| Mehrkhodavandi, Parisa | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Chemical sciences; Inorganic and Organometallic Compounds; Polymers; Chemical Synthesis and Catalysis; Bio-based polymers; Bioproducts; catalysis; Green Chemistry; Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry; Polymer Chemistry and Characterization |
| Mohn, William | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | pollutant biodegradation, pollutant bioremediation, biological treatment of forest industry effluents and wastes, microbial ecology, environmental biotechnology, forest soil microbial ecology, tuberculosis, microbial genomics, Microbial ecology |
| Mohseni, Madjid | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Chemical engineering; Drinking Water; Chemical Pollutants; Used Water; Clean Technologies; Advanced oxidation; Drinking water quality and treatment; Electrochemical water treatment processes; UV based water purification and treatment; Water re-use |
| Olson, James | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Application of Physics and Fluid Mechanics to Problems Associated with the Pulp and Paper Industry, Mechanical Energy Reduction in Mechanical Pulping |
| Renneckar, Scott | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Advanced renewable materials, biopolymer structure characterization, Clean fractionation of biomass, Electrospinning Fibers, Nanocellulose, Self-assembly of biopolymers |
| Saddler, John | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Biotechnology, microbiology |
| Samuels, Anne Lacey | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Plant biology; plant cell biology; plant cell walls |
| Schafer, Laurel | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | catalysis, chemical synthesis, heterocycles, titanium, zirconium, yttrium, tantalum, hydroamination, hydroaminoalkyltion, biodegraable polymers, sustainable synthesis, Green Chemistry, Organometallic and organic chemistry |
| Servati, Peyman | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Energy Systems, Emerging Micro/Nano Technologies |
| Smith, Kevin | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Fossil Fuels; Biomass (Energy); Chemical Processes; Applied catalysis |
| Sowlati, Taraneh | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Wood Science, Industrial Engineering in Wood Science |
| Straus, Suzana | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Chemical sciences; Proteins; Antimicrobial peptides; Protein-protein interactions; Structure-function; Viral membrane proteins |
| Trajano, Heather | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Chemical engineering; Biomass (Energy); Wood; Pulp and paper; Biochemicals; Biomass extractives recovery and utilization; Biorefining; catalysis; Hemicellulose; Kinetics; Pretreatment |
| Wang, Siyun | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Food sciences (including food engineering); Agri-food Transformation Products; Microbiology; Bioactive Molecules; Food microbiology; Food safety |
| Withers, Stephen | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Enzymes and Proteins; Blood Substitutes; Organic Molecules and Biomolecules; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; Diabetes; Drug development; enzyme inhibition; carbohydrates; glycobiology; metagenomics; directed evolution |
| Yadav, Vikramaditya | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Chemical engineering; Genomics; Medical and biomedical engineering; Bioactive Molecules; Biocatalysis; Bioinformatics; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; Biomass (Energy); Biomaterials; Bioprocess engineering; Bioremediation; Biotechnology; drug delivery; Drug discovery & development; Medical biotechnology; Metabolic engineering; Structural Tissue Engineering / Biomaterials; Synthetic biology; Technoeconomics; Tissue Engineering; Vaccines |
| Zerriffi, Hisham | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Forestry sciences; Biomass (Energy); Energy Transformation and Energy Using; International development; Environment and Society; Ideological, Political, Economical and Social Environments of Social Transformations; Social and Cultural Factors of Environmental Protection; energy poverty |
| Ziels, Ryan | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Civil engineering; Genomics; Anaerobic digestion; Biological nutrient removal; Environmental engineering; Environmental Systems Engineering; Microbial biotechnology; Microbial ecology; Multi-omics; Resource recovery; Sustainable biological wastewater treatment |