CAMEF Team
 IMG_1857_edited_edited |  NIdhi-1_edited |  Rakesh sahu-2017 |
|---|---|---|
 SnehaShanbhag_edited |  IMG_1861 |  Anand |
 photo_2022-10-05_17-20-14_edited |  Mehraneh |  Pegah |
 Shayan_edited |  Nusrat photo |  BVolynets_Photo_edited |
 Sruthi |  Daniel_edited |  Mukesh_edited |
 Saira_edited_edited |  Esha_edited |  Iqra |
 Mohammad_edited |
Principal Investigator
Prof. P. Ravi Selvaganapathy
Dr. P. Ravi Selvaganapathy is a Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at McMaster University, Canada. He is also the Canada Research Chair in Biomicrofluidics. He completed his B.S. in chemical and electrochemical engineering (1998) from Central Electrochemical Research Institute, India. He then obtained his M.S and Ph.D in electrical engineering (2002) from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Sandia National Laboratories from 2003-2004 and joined McMaster University in 2005. He has more than 20 years of extensive experience in the micro/nano fabrication and microfluidics in the areas of medical and environmental diagnostics, drug delivery and drug discovery.
Laboratory Manager
Dr. Nidhi Jain
Born and raised in India, Dr. Nidhi Jain arrived in Canada after receiving her doctoral degree from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Dr. Jain did her post-doctoral fellowship at Queens University where she investigated mechanisms of platinum drug resistance in small cell lung cancer. After moving to Hamilton Ontario, She joined Thrombosis and Hemostasis research group at Henderson hospital and studied the role TAFi (Thrombin Activatable Fibrinolytic Inhibitor) in blood coagulation. Her current research focuses on microfluidics and tissue engineering.
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Staff
Dr. Rakesh Sahu
Dr. Rakesh Sahu is the Director of Operations at Centre of Excellence in Protective Equipment & Materials at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He completed his B.E. in mechanical engineering (2010) from Jadavpur University, India. He then obtained his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering (2014) from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois at Chicago (2015) and McMaster University (2016-2018). Since he joined McMaster in 2016, he has been working on developing academic-industry partnerships for translational research. He works at the interface of both academia and industry, fostering innovation and further commercialization. His research interests comprise nonwovens, tissue engineering, nanomaterials, and cultivated meat.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr. Sneha Shanbhag
Sneha is a postdoctoral fellow in Mechanical Engineering at McMaster University. Prior to joining McMaster, Sneha completed her PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2019 at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA focusing on electrochemical technologies for water remediation. At McMaster University, she is working on sustainable processing of biomaterials for nonwovens and smart textile development. Sneha has extensive research experience in materials and process engineering, energy storage, water treatment and process cost modeling.
Dr. Seyedaydin (Aydin) Jalali
Dr. Aydin Jalali is a dedicated biomedical engineer with expertise in advanced biofabrication techniques and 3D in vitro tissue modeling. Aydin's doctoral work focused on developing self-assembly-based methods to engineer high-density tubular tissue constructs for drug transport and barrier studies. His innovative research provided significant advancements in understanding and mimicking physiological tissue barriers, such as the placental barrier.
As a postdoctoral fellow, he is working on a groundbreaking project to fabricate a novel 3D brain tissue model integrated with a muscle component. This model aims to investigate the effects of exercise on neurodegenerative diseases in vitro, contributing to a better understanding of disease mechanisms and therapeutic strategies. With extensive experience in histological analysis, immunofluorescence staining, live/dead cell assays, and confocal microscopy, Aydin has developed and validated protocols for tissue modeling and cellular assays. His teaching and mentorship experience spans both McMaster University and Purdue School of Engineering, where he has guided students and collaborated on multidisciplinary research teams. Aydin is committed to advancing biomedical research through innovation and practical application.
PhD Students
Anand Sojan
Anand is a PhD candidate in the department of mechanical engineering, specializing in the development of compact, multi-layer microfluidic oxygenators and integrated dialyzer assemblies. He has a background in computer-aided design (CAD), additive manufacturing techniques and clinical testing of biomedical devices. His research bridges engineering and clinical application, with the goal of advancing life-support technologies for neonatal care. He is a direct PhD student and earned his bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kerala Technological University, India. Beyond research pursuits, he is enthusiastic about cooking and weight training.
Maedeh Khodamoradi
Maedeh khodamoradi is a PhD candidate in the School of Biomedical Engineering at McMaster University. She joined the group in May 2021. She is working on developing biofabrication techniques that can be employed in biomedical applications as well as lab-grown meat cultivation. She has obtained her master’s and bachelor's degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology.
Mehraneh Tavakkoli Gilavan
Mehraneh is a PhD candidate in the School of Biomedical Engineering. She joined the group in September 2021. She is currently working on the fabrication of robust chemiresistive sensors for analyzing water quality. She is also interested in fabrication of carbon-based biosensors. She obtained her master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from York University in 2021, and her bachelor’s degree in Material Science from University of Tehran in 2017.
Pegah Saraf
Pegah is a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering at McMaster University, with research interests spanning tissue engineering, meat culture, and fiber science. She began her academic journey with a degree in Textile Engineering from AmirKabir University of Technology in Iran, followed by a master's in biomedical engineering in the same university. Her current research focuses on developing protein-based scaffolds for meat culture (cultivated meat), tissue regeneration and sustainable food applications, exploring how materials like proteins and fibers can be engineered to mimic biological tissues and address real-world challenges in healthcare and food sustainability.
Shayan Jahangirifard
Shayan, graduated as a chemical engineer from Sharif University of Technology (Tehran), has started his studies since May 2023 at McMaster. As a Biomedical Engineering PhD student, his research focuses on radiotracer production in small volume reactors and microfluidic fabrication under the supervision of Dr. Sadeghi and Dr. Selvaganapathy.
Nusrat Helali
Nusrat Helali earned her bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in 2014. Following graduation, she gained industry experience at Syngenta Crop Protection AG, a multinational agrochemical company. In 2020, she completed her master's degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Alberta, where her research focused on developing superhydrophobic and underwater oleophobic membranes for oily wastewater treatment. In 2022–2023, Nusrat worked as a lab technician at McMaster University, contributing to the development of hierarchical structured repel wrap. She is now pursuing a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at McMaster University’s CAMEF lab, with her research primarily focused on creating colorimetric sensors for detecting hazardous environmental pollutants. Outside of her academic and professional pursuits, Nusrat enjoys travelling and exploring new places in her spare time.
Bohdan Volynets
Bohdan Volynets is a PhD student working on cultivated meat project at McMaster University. The end goal is design and simulation of a pilot/industrial scale production vessel that would be able to produce feasible yield at minimal cost. Preliminary research is done on small scale cell culture bioreactors to test plausible improvements that could be transferred to a large-scale cell culture bioreactor. These modifications include controlling bioreactor parameters such as shear stress, microcarrier suspension and oxygen transport.
Sruthi Sasidharan
Sruthi is a PhD student in the School of Biomedical Engineering at McMaster University, and she joined the group in September 2024. She is currently doing her research on finding ways to reduce the accumulation of metabolic cell-by products such as Lactate and Ammonia from the bioreactor spent media so as to improve the productivity of cultivated meat. She is currently applying electrochemical techniques to achieve this reduction. Her research interests lie in biomaterials, bio-fabrication, scaffold-fabrication, hydrogels, medical device development, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine. Before her PhD studies, she was working as Project Scientist in Poylmeric Biomedical Devices, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Kerala, India. She completed her Master of Science (MSc) in Advanced Chemical Engineering from The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom and her Bachelors (B.Tech) in Chemical Engineering from University of Kerala, India.
Daniel Sim
Daniel is a PhD student in biomedical engineering, currently working on edible microcarrier scaffolds to scale up cell culture for cultivated meat production. He has a passion for learning and creating, which led him right into the world of biomaterials, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine! He enjoys working out at the gym, making tasty food, reading books and doing his art as his hobbies when he is not in lab.
Master's Students
Mukesh Singh
Mukesh is a Research Assistant in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at McMaster University. Before joining McMaster, he earned his undergraduate degree in Textile Engineering from NIT Jalandhar in 2016, followed by post-graduate certifications in Project Management and Process Quality Engineering in 2019. His current work at McMaster focuses on advanced polymer processing, conductive nonwovens, and the development of smart textiles.
Saira Shivji
Saira is a first year Master's student in Biomedical Engineering, researching the application of gelatin scaffolds in cultivated meat production and carbohydrate glass structures in tissue engineering. Prior to graduate school, Saira completed a Bachelor's degree in Honours Health Sciences at McMaster University.
Esha Patel
Esha is pursuing her Masters degree in Neuroscience at McMaster University. Her research focuses on fabrication techniques to create 3D neural tissue models. Currently, she is working on engineering functional brain tissue models that resemble the neocortical layers, as well as working on neurodegenerative disease modeling. Esha completed her BSc in Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour right here at Mac, before joining the CAMEF group in 2024 to work on neural tissue engineering.
Iqra Nawaz
Iqra Nawaz is a first year MASc student in Biomedical Engineering, working under the supervision of Dr. Ravi at McMaster University, she earned her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering from American International University, Kuwait in 2024. Iqra is part of the CEPEM team and is working on protective equipment related to non-woven manufacturing such as PPEs and wearable functional textiles as well as electrospinning and other methods for fabrication of non-wovens.
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Mohammad Riaz
Mohammad is a MASc. student in the School of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at McMaster University. He is also a recent graduate from McMaster University where he completed his undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering. Mohammad first joined the CAMEF (Center for Advanced Micro ElectroFluidics) Research Group in November 2024 where he worked as a Research Assistant II from November 2024 to April 2025. As a MASc. student in BME, Mohammad will work on the Melt Blowing of Plant-based Protein Fibers Project as well as investigating the applications of Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) in fiber fabrication techniques like Electrospinning and Draw Spinning. Mohammad’s research interests lie in the area of Biopolymer & Material Science and Processing, specifically for Biomedical and Environmental applications. In his free time, Mohammad likes to spend time with his Family & Friends, as well as visiting the McMaster Pulse Fitness Centre.
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