Research Projects

Currently Open Research Projects

This list of possible research projects is non-exhaustive. It only shows positions that are specifically advertised in the G+PS website.

Position Title Supervisor(s) Faculty Research Classification
Postdoctoral Position - Ecological Modeler Lori Daniels Faculty of Forestry Other natural sciences, Quantitative methods for environmental sciences
Postdoctoral Fellowship: Atomistic modeling of amorphous films with exceptionally low mechanical loss Joerg Rottler Faculty of Science Condensed matter physics
Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Single Cell Genomics, Molecular Biology Samuel Aparicio Faculty of Medicine Genomics, Molecular genetics, Cancer genetics
Postdoctoral Fellow in Bioenergy Systems Analysis Xiaotao Bi Faculty of Applied Science Process control and simulation in chemical engineering
Postdoctoral Fellow - Wearable Sensors for Detecting Cardiac Arrest Brian Grunau Faculty of Medicine Electrical engineering, computer engineering, and information engineering
Postdoctoral fellow in neuroinflammation research Jacqueline Quandt Faculty of Medicine Neuroinflammation, Autoimmunity, Neurodegeneration, Neurological disorders (except neuromuscular diseases), Immune tolerance
PhD positions in Chemistry available in the Huan lab Tao Huan Faculty of Science Analytical spectrometry
Postdoctoral Fellowships in Pharmacogenomics, Bioinformatics, and Clinical Pharmacology with a Focus on Adverse Drug Reactions to Cancer Treatment Colin Ross Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences Genomics

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Faculty Members Recruiting Students

This list shows a selection of faculty members who are currently looking for new graduate students. They may have specified particular projects they wish to fill. Please ensure to review the departmental profile of each faculty member to learn more about their research interests and to ensure a good fit to your intended studies at UBC.

Last namesort descending First name Research Interests Desired start dates: Project areas
Harris Leila Critical identity, ethnic and race studies; Gender, sexuality and education; Human rights, justice, and ethical issues; Africa; Development Policies; Drinking Water; Environmental justice; equity and social justice; Ethics and Fundamental Issues of Law and Justice; Fresh Water; Gender Relationship; gender and social difference; Ghana; International development; participatory resource management; Resources Management; Social Contract and Social Justice; Social and Cultural Factors of Environmental Protection; South Africa; Turkey and Middle East; Water; water governance; water politics

Please see www.edges.ubc.ca and www.watergoveranance.ca for ongoing research efforts. There are currently funded research opportunities with the decolonizingwater.ca project on Indigenous water governance issues (in Canada and elsewhere) and there may be upcoming support for analysis of non material dimensions... Read More

Haughn George Molecular Genetics; Plants; Cellular Differentiation; plant cell wall biology; seed coat differentiation

Molecular Genetic Analysis of Plant Cell Walls Using Seed Coat Mucilage, Targeted Induced Local Lesions in Genomes (TILLING), Seed Coat Differentiation, for details see Haughn lab website.
Hayden Michael Genetic medicine; Health counselling; Neurosciences, biological and chemical aspects; Neurosciences, medical and physiological and health aspects; Diabetes; Disease progression; Drug development; Gene Therapy; Genetic Diseases; Huntington disease; Neurodegenerative diseases; Neurodegenerative disorders Any time / year round

Hayden Lab Research Projects

Huntington Disease (HD) is a devastating incurable neurodegenerative disease that affects about 5,000 Canadians. Inheriting a single mutant copy of the Huntingtin (HTT) gene from either parent is sufficient to cause HD. The mutated HTT gene codes for production of the toxic, mutant huntingtin protein (mHTT) that is responsible for killing... Read More

Hedtrich Sarah Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences (except clinical aspects); Nanotechnologies; Structural Tissue Engineering / Biomaterials; Inflammatory Respiratory Diseases; Skin; New Biomedical Approaches - Alternatives to Animal Testing; Novel therapies for inflammatory and genetic diseases of human epithelia; Tissue Regeneration and Wound Healing; Topical drug delivery and Nanomedicine Any time / year round

1. Development and characterization of complex, human-based organ models

2. Development of novel treatment options for inflammatory skin disease
Henry Gregory H Social and economic geography; Biodiversity and Biocomplexity; biogeography; Ecological and Ecophysiological Processes; Climate Changes and Impacts; Environment and Habitats; Plants; Genotype and Phenotype; Arctic environments; experimental climate change; plant traits; plant-animal interactions; tundra ecosystems; vegetation change

1. Synthesis of tundra plant community changes to nearly 30 years of experimental warming using a suite of plant traits, including ecophysiology. PhD or postdoctoral study to involve 2-3 years of fieldwork and working with long-term data sets from an experimental study established in the Canadian High Arctic in 1992. 2. Ecological relaxation response of tundra after 30 years of experimental... Read More

Hirsh Elizabeth Sociology; Law; Structures and Organization; Inequality, Gender and Race Discrimination, Work Organizations, Law Any time / year round
  • Analzying the impact of diversity policies on gender and race workplace diversity
  • Case studies of employment discrimination and human rights complaints
Hodges Nicola Sport and exercise psychology; Natural sciences; action anticipation and observation; coaching and motor skill expertise; skill acquisition; Motor learning; observational learning and instruction Any time / year round

Sport development pathways, women's and men's soccer, action observation and prediction, observational learning of perceptual motor skills, optimizing practice conditions through practice manipulations and instructions, motor skill expertise and associated processes
Hohl Corinne Emergency Medicine; Epidemiology; Pharmacoepidemiology; Health Information Systems; Health Care Organization; Decision Making; Patient Safety; Medication Safety; Adverse Drug Events; Drug safety and effectiveness; Health Information Technology; Clinical Decision Making; Health services research; Adverse Event Reporting

My research group is working with Ministry to develop, implement and evaluate a new provincial medication safety information technology we have developed. This work will provide multiple opportunities for graduate students to be involved in. With the implementation of this technology more robust data will become available on adverse drug events experienced by patients. Future projects include... Read More

Holsti Liisa Medical, health and life sciences; premature infants; neurodevelopment; stress; pain; measurement; technology transfer; sucrose; rehabilitation; pediatrics Any time / year round

neonatology, pediatrics, occupational therapy, measurement, rehabilitation
Howe Leann Biochemistry; chromatin; Epigenetics; Gene regulation Any time / year round

inheritance of gene expression states, maintenance of genome stability
Huan Tao Bioinformatics, n.e.c.; Analytical spectrometry; Cancer progression and metastasis; Metabolomics; Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; Cellular Metabolism; Bioinformatics Any time / year round

Our research interests include:

  • Integration of metabolomics with other ‘omics’ (epigenomics, genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics) data for the systems-level interrogation of biological problems
  • Application of state-of-art metabolomics technologies in various biological challenges, such as mechanistic understanding of cancer metabolism and disease biomarker discovery... Read More
Hubley Anita Depression; Drug Abuse; Social Determinants of Health; Homelessness and Homeless People; Mental Health and Society; Quality of Life and Aging; Cognitive Neuropsychology of Aging; Social Aspects of Aging; Executive Functions; Dementia; Aging Process; Identity Building; Learning and Memory; Psychological and health measurement; Test development and validation; Adult neuropsychological, personality, and mental health topics and assessment; Research with general community and vulnerable populations (e.g. elderly, homeless, drug addicted)

The field of measurement is a graduate area of study that does not exist at the undergraduate level. This is not statistics but rather focuses on test/measure/instrument development, reliability, and validation. Many students don't discover this field until they take a (usually required) course at the graduate level and are often surprised by how fascinating this area can be and how they can... Read More

Hudson Zachary 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 2021, 2022

1) Luminescent materials design for applications in organic electronics.

2) Fluorescent polymer nanoparticles for biological sensing with high sensitivity.

3) Ultrastable fluorophores for catalysis, electroluminescence, and two-photon fluorescence.

 
Hung Lillian Geriatric nursing; Medical and biomedical engineering; Impact of technology and environment on the care experiences of persons with dementia; dementia education; quality improvement; Participatory action research 2021

Robotics and digital health for dementia care
Huot Suzanne Occupational therapy; Rehabilitation medicine; asylum seekers; bilingualism; community-engaged research; critical theory; francophone minority communities; francophones; french; Gender; immigration; intersectionality; Migration Studies; Migrations, Populations, Cultural Exchanges; occupational science; Qualitative research; refugees; social inclusion; social integration 2022

global migration, occupational science, francophone minority communities
Hurd Laura Social sciences; Aging; health; Gender; body image; embodiment or embodied experience; disability; chronic illness or chronic conditions; Assistive technology; sexuality; gender identity; sexual orientation; Physical Activity; qualitative methods; LGBTQ older adults; media representation; ageism; heterosexism; ableism; sociology of aging; social gerontology 2021

I supervise students with backgrounds in sociology or socio-cultural studies. Students under my supervision typically conduct research in the areas of aging, health, gender, body image, embodiment, disability, and/or physical activity.
Illes Judy Ethics and Health; Ethics, Law and Responsibilities; Neurological Diseases; Biomedical Ethics; Aging and dementia; Neurodevelopmental disorders; Brain Injury; Stem Cells; Neurotechnology; Neuroethics Any time / year round

I am open to inspiring and supporting research in any area at the intersection of biomedicine, neuroscience, and ethics.
Irwin Darren Zoology; evolutionary genetics; genomic differentiation; hybridization; ornithology; seasonal migration; speciation Any time / year round

Please see: https://www.zoology.ubc.ca/~irwin/irwinlab/

 
Ishiguro Laura British Columbia, Canada, and the British Empire; settler colonialism; migration; family; gender; Publications Any time / year round

I supervise graduate students working on a range of topics, including related to the history of British Columbia or Canada, settler colonialism and empire, gender, race, and/or migration.
Iurascu Ilinca Cinema studies; Film, television and digital media; Artistic and Literary Theories; Arts and Cultural Traditions; Arts and Technologies; critical theory; Cultural Studies; film studies; German literature; Media and Society; media archeology; media theory; Theories and Philosophies; visual studies Any time / year round

media theory; cutlural studies; Frankfurt School; film history; history of the book; German cultural studies; comparative literature; history of technology
Jan Eric Biochemistry; Virus; Nucleic Acids; Proteomics; Antiviral innate immunity; coronavirus; coxsackievirus; enterovirus; Innate immunity; molecular biology; picornavirus; protease; Protein synthesis; RNA; RNA structure function; RNA virus; ribosome; SARS; tRNA; translation; Virology; virus host interactions 2021

Projects include

  • elucidating virus host interactions such as antiviral innate immunity and viral proteins that modulate cellular processes
  • identifying host protein substrates by viral proteinases
  • non-canonical protein synthesis mechanisms used by viruses and cellular mRNAs

Approaches include biochemical, molecular and cell biology methods, proteomics... Read More

Jarus Tal Occupational therapy; Rehabilitation medicine; art-based research; disabled practitioners;; Disabled students;; diversifying health and human service professions Any time / year round
  • diversifying the health professions
  • decolonize the health professions
Jean Francois Medical virology; Protein trafficking in cell biology; Proteomics; Enzymes (including kinetics and mechanisms, and biocatalyst); Organelle function; Virology; Systems biology; Cellular virology; Emerging human viruses; COVID-19; Host-virus interactions; Broad-based antiviral agents; Antiviral agents; Natural products as antiviral agents; Lipid-modulating drugs; Cellular protease inhibitors; Viral protease inhibitors; Human coronaviruses; SARS-CoV-2; Human flaviviruses; Dengue virus; Zika virus; West Nile virus; Influenza A virus; Human microRNAs; Therapeutic microRNA; Viral and cellular biomarkers; Molecular diagnostics for detecting viral infection; Circulating exosomes; Exosomal microRNAs; Proteomics-based technologies; Multiplexed and Mass Spectrometric quantitation assays Any time / year round
  1. Discovering circulating microRNAs as novel biomarkers for severe human diseases
  2. Developing broad-spectrum therapeutic microRNAs for human viral diseases
  3. Developing a new mass spectrometry (MS)-based technology for detecting and quantifying mosquito-borne flaviviruses
  4. Discovering novel broad-spectrum antiviral agents from natural product libraries
  5. ... Read More
Jelovica Jasmin Civil engineering; Mechanical engineering; Finite element analysis; Metals and Alloys; Production and Process Optimization; Sandwich structures; Solid Mechanics; Stress Analysis; Structural optimization; Ultimate, fatigue and impact strength; Welding and joining of metals Any time / year round

1) New finite element analysis techniques for lightweight structures;

2) Development of optimization algorithms for structural optimization; 

3) Machine learning methodology for reduced order modeling of mechanical systems.
Jenstad Lorienne Other health sciences; hearing aids; Aging; audiology; hearing health; amplification Any time / year round

New ways of assessing hearing aid outcomes; encouraging older adults to seek and use hearing health care services; acoustic and behavioural assessment of hearing aid processing.

Communication between audiologists and patients.
Jiang Xiaoyan Cancer drug development and therapeutics; Basic and translational leukemia research; Leukemic stem cell biology; Gene regulation; Drug resistance; Proteomics; Immunotherapy Any time / year round

The overall goal of my research program is to understand the molecular mechanisms and cellular functions of specific oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, miRNAs and their target genes in the regulation of the properties of cancer/leukemic stem cells, signal transduction events, initiation and progression of human leukemia and drug resistance. The ultimate objective is to identify molecules and... Read More

Jin Xiao Liang Mechanical engineering; Manufacturing Processes; Solid Mechanics; Machining Mechanics and Dynamics; Manufacturing Processes for Advanced Materials; Material Characterization; Surface Integrity; Vibration Assisted Machining

Surface integrity in vibration assisted machining process.
Surface texturing process.
Chip formation stability in high-speed machining process.
Jones Steven J Bioinformatics, genome science, mutations, cancer progression Any time / year round

Bioinformatics Cancer Genomics
Kalia Sunil Skin Cancer; Optics and Photonics; Skin Disorders; Epidemiology; optics; photobiology; dermatoepidemiology; Cancer Any time / year round

Dermatoepidemiology; Examining the epidemiology of skin cancer in the general population and identifying high risk population groups Skin cancer prevention; Using national surveys conducted by Statistics Canada, I have examined skin cancer prevention behaviours practiced by Canadians; Spectoscopy; Using imaging to differentiate skin cancer from benign lesions. Photobiology to study properties... Read More

Kamat Vinay Ramnath Anthropology; Global Health and Emerging Diseases; Dispossession; East Africa; ethnography; Extractive Industry; Global Health; India; Malaria; marine conservation; Medical Anthropology; Outsourcing of Clinical Trials; political ecology; Tanzania

Politics of marine conservation and natural gas extraction in East Africa; Behavioral Aspects of Tuberculosis and Dengue in India.
Karim Ehsan Biostatistical methods; Survey methodology and analysis; Statistical learning; Epidemiology (except nutritional and veterinary epidemiology); Public and population health, n.e.c.; Causal inference; Biostatistics; Statistics; Machine Learning; data science; Survey data analysis; multiple sclerosis Any time / year round, 2021, 2022

I am currently looking for multiple graduate students/postdocs for the following two projects (with methodologic focuses within epidemiologic contexts): (1) Improving Causal Inference Methods in Statistics for Analyzing High-dimensional / Big Data. (2) Developing and Evaluating Causal Inference Methods for Pragmatic Trials to address nonadherence. Graduate students in statistics, biostatistics... Read More

Karsan Aly Hematological tumours; Cancer molecular targets; Leukemia; Hematopoiesis; Genomics and epigenomics; Noncoding RNAs; Aging Any time / year round

The major research focus of my lab revolves around acute myeloid leukemia, and preleukemias referred to as myelodysplastic syndromes. Within this context we are interested in various posttranscriptional mechanisms that drive these cancers, how aging increases the risk of developing leukemias, and how to potentially target genomic and epigenomic vulnerabilities.
Kiefl Robert Physical sciences; condensed matter physics; magnetism; multiferroics; polarons; quantum phenomena; superconductivity Any time / year round
  • controlling magnetic and electric properties with electric fields
  • diffusion of Li in battery  electrode materials
Klein Peter Media Types (Radio, Television, Written Press, etc.); Video and New Media; Global Health and Emerging Diseases; Large International Projects; Media and Democratization; Global Journalism; Innovation in Journalism; Documentary Production; Investigative Reporting Any time / year round

Investigative reporting on global supply chains
Klein Geltink Ramon Pathology (except oral pathology); Metabolism; Immunotherapy; Cell Signaling and Infectious and Immune Diseases; Auto-Immune Diseases; Cell Therapy of Cancer; Adoptive cellular therapy; Immunometabolism; T cell function Any time / year round

My research program at UBC/BCCHRI aims to better understand how the immune system can be used to treat childhood diseases. In children with cancer, the immune system is no longer able to rid the body of cancerous cells. In children with autoimmune diseases the immune system gets rid of healthy cells of the body. We are particularly interested in the metabolism of immune cells. 

Cellular... Read More

Klinkenberg Brian Geomatics; Biogeography; Bioinformatics; Environmental Health; Geographic Information Science; Environmental Remote Sensing; Spatial Analysis; Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) and Citizen Science Initiatives Any time / year round

Please view my home page for a listing of current projects.
Kopp Janel Genomics; Modeling cancer; Pancreas; Pancreatic cancer; Pancreatic development Any time / year round

Tumor biology
Kronstad James Bioinformatics; Immunology; Microbiology; Plant biology; Fungal diseases of plants; Genomics and Proteomics; Medical Mycology; Molecular Genetics; Pathogenesis of infectious diseases; Plant-Microbe Interactions Any time / year round
  • Characterization of iron uptake and regulatory functions in Cryptococcus neoformans
  • Analysis of virulence factor export to the cell surface in Cryptococcus neoformans
  • Characterization of the chloroplast as a target of fungal attack
  • Analysis of nutrient acquisition during fungal pathogenesis
Kruecken Reiner Physical sciences; Elementary Particles; Neutrino Physics; Nuclear Astrophysics; Nuclear Physics; Universe Structure

Structure and Dynamics of Rare Isotopes relevant for the synthesis of the heavy chemical elements in the universe Detector Technologies for the next generation neutrinoless double beta-decay search experiment nEXO
Kubota Ryuko Specialized studies in education; critical applied linguistics; culture and language; Language Rights and Policies; language education; language ideologies; multicultural education; race and language teaching Any time / year round

Historical study on meta discourse on language and language learning among Japanese students in China from 1900-1945.
Kuo Calvin Biomechanical engineering; Medical devices; Biomedical instrumentation (including diagnostics); Sensing human motion; How humans make sense of their own motion; Sensorimotor Neutrophysiology; Wearable Sensing; Musculoskeletal Modeling 2021

Cardiac arrest sensing and emergency response.
Kwakkel Erik Archival, repository and related studies; Library science and information studies; Audiovisual, Visual, Audio and Written Communications; Codicology; Communication Contexts; Cultural Heritage; Cultural Institutions (Museums, Libraries, etc.); Digital Humanities; History of Libraries; History of the Book; Medieval Manuscripts; Paleography; reading 2021

Manuscript studies; History of the Book; History of Reading; History of Libraries; Materiality of Information (Book Design); Digitization in Rare Books and Special Collections environment; Digital Humanities where it intersects with the History of the Book.
Laffin Christina Humanities and the arts; premodern Japanese literature; medieval Japanese history; women's writing; Japanese women's history; travel writing; autobiography; Japanese poetry; Literacy; socialization; wet nursing; narratology Any time / year round

Heian and Kamakura-era literature, late Heian and medieval women's history
Lallous Nada Cancer drug development and therapeutics; Cancer progression and metastasis; Cancer molecular targets; Biochemistry; Biophysics; Cancer biology; Therapeutics; Protein research; Drug resistance; transcription factors 2021

Expression, purification and biophysical characterization of various prostate cancer targets.
Lamers Yvonne Human nutrition and dietetics; Nutrition; Nutrients; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; Breast Feeding and Infant Nutrition; Clinical Chemistry; Maternal and child health; Micronutrients; Newborn Screening; Nutritional Biochemistry; Nutritional Biomarker; Periconceptional folic acid supplementation; Pregnancy; Prenatal Supplements; Toddler Nutrition; Vitamins Any time / year round

My enthusiasm for research draws from my interest in the biochemistry and physiology of nutrition-related diseases and in targeted and population-based strategies of chronic disease prevention and optimal health promotion. My research focuses on micronutrients and specifically B-vitamins and their kinetics and functions in human metabolism. B-vitamins are required for normal cell growth and... Read More

Lange Philipp Bioinformatics; Genomics; Pathology (except oral pathology); Cell Signaling and Cancer; mass spectrometry; pediatric cancer; personalized medicine; post translational protein modification; Proteomics Any time / year round
  • translational portoemics in childhood cancer
  • advancing precision medicine in childhood cancer
  • proteolytic regulation of cell-cell communication
  • computational and experimental approaches to better understand and classify proteoforms
  • new algorithms in quantitative mass spectrometry data analysis  
Laronde Denise Cancer; oral cancer screening; malignant transformation; early detection; oral premalignant lesions 2021

oral cancer screening

early detection

markers of progression
Lazrak Ali Finance and Accounting; Economic Phenomena on an Individual or Organizational Level; Asset pricing, Corporate Finance, Behavioral Finance, Household portfolio choice

Different research projects in the finance area are available
Leavitt Blair Genetic medicine; Neurosciences, biological and chemical aspects; Neurosciences, medical and physiological and health aspects; Alzheimer's disease; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis; Ataxia; Dementia; Experimental Therapeutics; Frontotemporal Dementia; Gene regulation; Gene Silencing and Gene Editing; Gene Therapy; Huntington disease; Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells; Medical Genetics; Mouse models of disease; Neurodegenerative diseases; Neurogenetics

Mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases
Clinical biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases (Imaging, CSF, Blood)
Gene silencing, gene editing and gene therapy for brain diseases
Transcriptional regulation of disease genes
Experimental therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases
Induced pluripotent stem cells models of human brain diseases
Lee Jae-Hyeok Plant biology; Molecular Genetics; evolutionary genetics; cell and molecular biology of cellular differentiation; evolution of developmental mechanisms; molecular genetics of microalgae for robust biomass production Any time / year round

Our work aims to explore evolutionary potential of microalgae using Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as a model system. 1) Functional genomics projects to improve photosynthetic productivity of microalgae under stressors like excess light and poor nutrient. 2) Molecular genetics projects to analyze mutants defective for sexual development in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. 3) Comparative genomics projects... Read More

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