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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.
| Name | Role | Research Interests |
|---|---|---|
| Baldwin, Susan | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Bioprocess engineering, bioremediation, biomedical reaction modelling |
| Bi, Xiaotao | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Biomass and Bioenergy; Multiphase Chemical Reactors; Fluidization; Particle technology; Electrostatics of Powders; Life Cycle Analysis; Green Engineering; Industrial Symbiosis; Fuel Cells Water Management |
| 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) | Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; Chemical Synthesis and Catalysis; Enzymes; polysaccharides; carbohydrates; biomass; cellulose; plant cell walls; microbiota |
| 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 Processes; CO2 capture and utilization; multiphase systems; thermochemical conversion of biomass; Interdisciplinary teaching and learning |
| Eltis, Lindsay | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Microbiology; Enzymes and Proteins; Metabolism (Living Organisms); Bacterial catabolism of steroids and lignin; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; biocatalyst development |
| 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 |
| Lim, Choon Jim | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Biomass and fossil fuels, Spouted bed, Gas-particle system hydrodynamics, heat transfer, Hydrogen production |
| 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) | Inorganic and Organometallic Compounds; Polymers; Chemical Synthesis and Catalysis; Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry; Polymer Chemistry and Characterization; catalysis; Green Chemistry; Bioproducts; Bio-based polymers |
| 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) | Drinking Water; Chemical Pollutants; Used Water; Clean Technologies; Drinking water quality and treatment; Advanced oxidation; UV based water purification and treatment; Water re-use; Electrochemical water treatment processes |
| 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 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) | Proteins; Antimicrobial peptides; Viral membrane proteins; Structure-function; Protein-protein interactions |
| Trajano, Heather | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Biomass (Energy); Wood; Pulp and Paper; Biorefining; Biochemicals; Biomass extractives recovery and utilization; catalysis; Hemicellulose; Pretreatment; Kinetics |
| Wang, Siyun | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | Agri-food Transformation Products; Microbiology; Bioactive Molecules; Food safety; Food microbiology |
| 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) | Biotechnology; Bioinformatics; Biomass (Energy); Bioremediation; Bioactive Molecules; Biomaterials; Structural Tissue Engineering / Biomaterials; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; Synthetic biology; Metabolic engineering; Biocatalysis; Bioprocess engineering; Medical biotechnology; Tissue Engineering; drug delivery; Drug discovery & development; Technoeconomics; Vaccines |
| Zerriffi, Hisham | Faculty (G+PS eligible/member) | 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) | Environmental engineering; Environmental Systems Engineering; Sustainable biological wastewater treatment; Resource recovery; Microbial ecology; Multi-omics; Anaerobic digestion; Biological nutrient removal; Microbial biotechnology |