GROUP MEMBERS

DR. PEDRO ORTIZ

Research Associate

Pedro Ortiz was born in Havana, Cuba. He received a BSc in Chemistry (summa cum laude) at the University of Havana, under the supervision of Dr. Alex Fragoso. He obtained his PhD in Chemistry, with Cuban Science Academy’s Award, at the University of Havana, under the supervision of Dr. Pedro Ortiz del Toro, and Dr. Gunther Hennrich (from the Autonomous University of Madrid). He joined the Department of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Havana as an Assistant Professor. Later, he joined Dr. Eduardo Schott’s Group at the Catholic University of Chile as a PDF and one of the winners of the Fondecyt/ANID grant. He also collaborated as an associate researcher on several projects devoted to nanostructured materials for catalysis and photocatalysis applications. At TMU, he joined the group of Dr. Bryan Koivisto, and recently that of Dr. Stefania Impellizzeri.
His scientific interests are related to the design, preparation, and characterization of organic and inorganic materials, and composites for a broad scope of applications.

DR. RYAN HUTCHINS

Research Associate

Ryan Hutchins earned a BSc and MSc from the University of Waterloo and a PhD from the Université du Québec à Montréal. Following the PhD, Ryan completed post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Alberta and the University of Waterloo. Ryan's research has focused on understanding the water chemistry and biogeochemistry from diverse impacted and unimpacted environments using a wide variety of analytical instruments and methods. Dr. Hutchins’ current research projects at Toronto Metropolitan University focus on the analytical aspects of ice-making and water quality (part of the Jet Ice Chair in Sustainable Materials Chemistry initiative) and in collaboration with Urban Water TMU.

SUMAYA SOHA

PhD Candidate

Since completing her undergraduate studies, Sumaiya was involved in teaching undergraduate biochemistry and high-school biology. Jointly with the Antonescu and Botelho labs at Ryerson, her research project focuses on the investigation of silver nanostructures to enhance fluorescence imaging of biological systems, bridging nanomaterial chemistry and biology.

ARMAGHAN KHOSRAVI

PhD Candidate

Armaghan completed her bachelor's degree at Lorestan University and MSc degree at Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch (Tehran, Iran) with a thesis on the mechanochemically synthesis of Cu-MOFs as a catalyst and its application in aerobic Chan–Lam coupling. Currently, her research focuses on the assembly of photochromic metal-organic frameworks (P-MOFs) and urea-based MOFs (TMUs).

EMMANUEL FAGBOHUN

PhD Candidate

Emmanuel earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, and a Master of Science in Engineering (Applied Chemistry) from the University of the Chinese Academy of Science (UCAS), Beijing, China. He did two years of research in materials science at the Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Science. He was awarded the Chinese Government Scholarship and the University of Chinese Academy Scholarship for his master's program. His previous research focused on synthesizing nanomaterials and their applications in energy and hydrogen storage, and wastewater treatment. His research is focused on the synthesis of carbon-based materials for water splitting and hydrogen production.

OSEMUDIAMEN IBAZEBO

PhD Candidate

Osemudiamen (Ose) completed her undergraduate studies at Toronto Metropolitan University. During her time there, she served as a peer mentor and tutored high school biology. Jointly with the Antonescu lab, Ose’s research project bridges cell biology and nanomaterial chemistry by investigating how size and shape define functional requirements of clathrin endocytosis using inorganic nanoparticles.

ANTHONY FASULO

PhD Candidate

Anthony holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Trent
University and a Master of Science in Molecular Science from Toronto Metropolitan
University. His graduate research centered on developing sustainable bioplastic food
packaging through the functionalization Sargassum derived alginate materials.
Currently, his work in collaboration with the Jet ice Chair in Sustainable Materials
Chemistry initiative focusses on advancing sustainable alternatives to traditional ice
paints with bioderived materials.

ISHPREET CHANA

MSc Candidate

Ishpreet completed her Bachelor of Science in chemistry with honours at McMaster University. During her undergraduate studies, she worked on synthesizing a magnetic hydrogel composite containing iron oxide nanoparticles and her thesis focused on synthesizing a photothermal responsive hydrogel waveguide. Currently, her MSc project focuses on encapsulating dye molecules into metal-organic frameworks using both experimental and computational approaches in collaboration with Prof. R. Stephen Wylie.

KATELYN SOWDEN

Research Assistant and Thesis Student

Katelyn is a fourth year biology student at TMU. She previously worked in a vaccine research co-op at Sanofi, developing ELISA replacements for animal testing, and contributing to their Next Gen flu project. Additional research interests include MOF-dye composites, and the synthesis of florecence organic dyes for bioimaging. Her current work investigates optimal purification pathways for carbon quantum dots, and their nanothermometry applications.

JIANI (JENNY) WANG

Research Assistant

Jenny is a graduate of University of Toronto who majored in chemistry and biology. Her research focuses on the optimization of ice making and water quality for indoor ice rinks. She is passionate about analytical chemistry and developing sustainable practices in the industry. Her hobbies are music production, painting, skiing and cooking.

MARTIN ZHEN

MSc Candidate

Martin graduated from TMU with a BSc in Chemistry and a minor in Biology. During his journey, he conducted research from drug and catalyst development to creating sustainable food packaging materials from food waste. Now partaking in his MSc, his research in collaboration with Jet Ice aims to analyze water quality and ice-making processes to develop sustainable strategies for the industry. When he is not in the laboratory, he spends his time hiking or exploring the outdoors, fishing, watching movies, and trying new cooking recipes. He also loves anything Pokémon related, especially Snorlax.

ALESSANDRO REGINA

Thesis Student

Alessandro is a fourth-year undergraduate student at Toronto Metropolitan University. He’s currently studying carbon dots and exploring their metal-enhanced fluorescence by silver nanoparticles.

DR. YANAN LI

Postdoctoral Fellow

Yanan is an analytical chemist specializing in advanced chromatography and mass spectrometry. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry (University of Waikato, New Zealand), an M.Sc. in Food Science (University of Leeds, United Kingdom), and a B.Sc. in Applied Chemistry (Northern China University of Science and Technology). Yanan’s research develops and implements high-resolution LC/GC-MS/MS methods for trace-level organics via targeted and non-targeted analyses. Currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at TMU, his work focuses on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), plastic additives, and microplastics in environmental matrices, including rink ice-shaving waste, with an emphasis on rigorous sample preparation and QA/QC for complex compositions. Beyond research, Yanan is active in EDI-focused outreach and serves on the Executive of the Chemical Institute of Canada’s Pride Member Resource Group.

ALUMNI

Katrina Ramos

BSc (Hons) in Chemistry 2025

Rushil Amin

Visiting Student, Universtity College London (UK), 2024

Sarah Emmanuel

Research Assistant, 2023-2024

Marissa Gilbert

Visiting Student, 2024 Inorganic Chemistry Exchange

Armaan Goraya

BSc (Hons) in Chemistry 2024

Julien Gagnon

Visiting Student, Inorganic Chemistry Exchange

Swaminathan Thrisha

Visiting Student, 2023 MITACS Globalink

Reese Grandy

BSc (Hons) in Chemistry 2023

Talha Mahmood

BSc (Hons) in Chemistry 2022

Araniy Santhireswaran

BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Science (2022)

Nicholas Dogantzis

NSERC USRA (2018), BSc (Hons) in Chemistry (2019) and MSc (2022)

Karol Golian

MSc (2021)

Dr. Gregory Hodgson

Postdoctoral Fellow (2018-2021)

Aaron Erlich

BSc (Hons) in Chemistry (2021)

Valeria Morozova

BSc (Hons) in Chemistry (2021) and NSERC USRA (2021)

Philip Januszyk

BSc (Hons) in Chemistry (2021)

Lavinia Trifoi

URO (2020), BSc (Hons) in Chemistry (2020) and MSc (2022)

Ali Yaghoubian

BSc (Hons) in Chemistry (2020) and MSc (2022)

Aviya Akari

BSc (Hons) in Chemistry (2020) and MSc (2022)

Laraa Al Nubani

URO Research Assistant (2019)

Iselina Cascone

URO Research Assistant (2018) and BSc (Hons) in Chemistry (2019)