蓝莓视频

Mohit Verma graduates this fall but he has already taken up a post-doctoral research position in a renowned lab at Harvard University, supported by a prestigious Banting fellowship. Verma credits his experiences at 蓝莓视频 with helping to set him on his successful research path in George Whitesides Research Group at Harvard.

听鈥淚 think 蓝莓视频 has basically shaped my whole career. I've spent so much time here and had so many different experiences,鈥� says Verma.

Starting out as a student in 蓝莓视频鈥檚 Bachelor of Applied Science in Nanotechnology Engineering program, Verma sampled a couple of different co-op placements before taking up a position as an undergraduate research assistant for . At the time, Gu was just setting up his lab and Verma was one of his first students. It was there that Verma realized how much he loved lab research.听鈥淚 really enjoyed the independence, and Professor Gu听treated me like a colleague,鈥� says Verma.

听鈥淚 enjoy solving important problems. I like that it will actually have an impact on people鈥檚 lives.鈥澨�

Verma started his PhD right after he finished his undergraduate degree in 2012, winning a Vanier Canada Graduate scholarship. Towards the end of his PhD, he spent four months in Australia on an Endeavour fellowship. He鈥檚 also published 14 papers and has four provisional patents.

Gold nanoparticles

You don鈥檛 need a PhD to understand the potential impact of Verma鈥檚 work: his doctoral project investigated the use of gold nanoparticles to detect harmful bacteria on contact lens cases.

鈥淧eople don't clean out their cases often and can get eye infections because the bugs from the case can go onto their eyes,鈥� explains Verma.

His solution involves incorporating nanoparticles to create a case that would change colour if bacteria were present, a clear warning signal to the user.

Verma and his colleagues have already started investigating the technology鈥檚 use in other fields, for example to detect bacteria on spoiling food or in hospitals. At Harvard, Verma will continue his work investigating low-cost health diagnostics, although using other technologies.

While the lab may be his favourite place, Verma鈥檚 is also motivated by projects with real-world potential.听