GROUP MEMBERS

DR. PEDRO ORTIZ

Senior Researcher

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

Senior Researcher

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.

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.

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

MSc Candidate

Katelyn has graduated from the lab as a fourth-year thesis student in biology and will be joining the group as a Master’s student in Fall 2026. 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 fluorecent 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

MSc Candidate

Alessandro has graduated from the lab as a fourth-year thesis student in biomedical sciences and will be joining the group as a Master’s student in Fall 2026. He’s studying carbon dots and exploring their metal-enhanced fluorescence by silver nanoparticles.

EILIS WOTHERSPOON

MSc Candidate

(Coming Soon)

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

Katelyn Sowden, BSc (Hons) in Biology 2026

Alessandro Regina, BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences 2026

Sumaiya Soha, PhD (2026)

Armaghan Khosravi, MSc (2025)

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)