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Dr. Colin Dalton

PhD, P.Eng

Positions

Associate Professor

Schulich School of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Software Engineering

Associate Head (Graduate Studies)

Schulich School of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Software Engineering

Associate Member

Hotchkiss Brain Institute

Contact information

Phone number

Office: +1 (403) 210-8464

For media enquiries, contact

Joe McFarland
Media Relations and Communications Specialist

Cell: +1.403.671.2710
Email: Joe.Mcfarland@ucalgary.ca

Preferred method of communication

Email

I'm looking for...

Research partners

Interested in exploring research partnerships with fellow academics and industry partners in the area of micro/nano fabrication technologies applied to biomedical engineering problems.

Background

Credentials

Professional Engineer (P.Eng), APEGA,

Senior Member, IEEE,

Educational Background

B.Eng (Hons) Electronic Engineering, University of Wales, 1994

M.Sc. Electronic Engineering, University of Wales, 1998

Ph.D. Electronic Engineering, University of Wales, 2002

Research

Areas of Research

Biomedical Engineering

My interests are microfluidics, electrokinetics, Lab on a chip, micro/nano fabrication, MEMS, bioMEMS, microneedles, micro-electrode arrays, brain machine interfaces, technology commercialization, entrepreneurship

Micro Nano Fabrication

I am the Scientific Director of the University of Calgary's microfabrication cleanroom facility, the Microsystems Hub. The facility aids researchers and local industry with their micro/nano fabrication requirements.

https://schulich.ucalgary.ca/research/makerspaces-labs-tech-support/microsystems-hub

Microneedles

See Projects below

Electrokinetics

See Projects below

Brain Machine Interfaces

See Projects below

Courses

Course number Course title Semester
ENGG 503 and 504 Enterprenurial Capstone Fall and Winter 2022/2023; 2023/2024
ENEL 592 and 594 ESE Undergraduate Research Thesis Fall 2023 and Winter 2024
ENEL 616 Micro/Nano System Design Fabrication and Integration Winter 2021, 2022, 2023
ENCM 467 Digital Electronic Circuits Fall 2019, 2020, 2021
BMEN 500 and 503 BME Undergraduate Research Thesis Fall and Winter 2020-2021; 2021-2022; 2022-2023; 2023-2024
ENEL 619.50 Special Problems (Mcr/NanoSysDsgnFbrctn&Intgrtn) Winter 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2020
ENEL 619.65 Special Problems (EleckinMicpumpThr&App) Spring 2013
BMEN 619.28 Special Problems (Multi electrode arrays) Spring 2020
ENEL 619,48 Microsystems Technologies Winter 2005, 2006, 2007

Projects

Microneedles for transdermal drug delivery

Needle-free transdermal delivery systems have long been a goal in biomedical engineering research, to overcome injection pain, increase uptake of pharmaceuticals, and reduce the requirement for trained medical personnel to administer injections. Microneedles create microchannels that pierce the hydrophobic skin barrier and enable transdermal routes for drugs to be transported. Microneedles minimize routes of infection, as the microscale holes rapidly heal, can increase drug efficacy, and overcome many of the issues associated with needle phobia. My research includes hollow, solid and coated microneedles for drug delivery and biosensing applications.


Brain Machine Interfaces

All brain functions ranging from simple reflexes to complex motor patterns, learning, memory, and cognition, rely upon network interactions between large neuronal ensembles. Disruption of these networks, either through trauma, stroke, epilepsy, synaptic perturbation, or neurodegenerative diseases (for example, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, etc.), can render the brain dysfunctional. My collaborative research in this area with the Hitchkiss Brain Institute has made new nano-featured multi electrode arrays for better cultured neuron experiments, 3D microelectrodes for improved signal to noise recording from brain slices and in animal models. This work led to spin out company Neuraura.


Electrokinetics

Electrokinetics is utilizing electric fields in microfluidic devices to move fluids. My focus currently is on the AC Electrothermal (ACET) effect, which induces microflows when joule heating of the solution produces non-uniform electric fields and temperature gradients in the fluids. This technique can work with high conductivity fluids, like biofluids, and my lab is investigating the underlying theory through simulations, and also fabricating and testing new devices.


Cannulae Fabrication

This is an industry linked project with local company Ecmius Biomedical (https://ecmius.com/), developing a manufacturing process for the cannulae (tubes) that are used in the ECMO life support system to remove blood from the body and re-oxygenate it before returning it to the circulatory system.

Awards

  • Undergraduate Training Excellence Award , Schulich School of Engineering. 2023
  • Outstanding Research Impact Award, Schulich School of Engineering. 2023
  • Nominated by SSE Dean, Outstanding Mentor Summit Award , APEGA. 2022
  • Mentoring Excellence Award, Schulich School of Engineering. 2021
  • Outstanding Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program Supervisor of the Year, Biomedical Engineering Program. 2020
  • Early Research Excellence Award, Schulich School of Engineering. 2020
  • Trusted Reviewer Status, Institute of Physics. 2020
  • Finalist, Foundation Award Alberta Science and Technology Leadership, ASTech Foundation. 2019
  • Teaching Achievement, Schulich School of Engineering. 2019
  • Outstanding Laboratory Director, Biomedical Engineering Students Society. 2019
  • Winner, TENET Innovation to Commercialization (i2c) competition, University of Calgary. 2018
  • Graduate, First cohort, Creative Destructions Labs:Rockies, Creative Destruction Labs Program. 2018
  • CMC Success Story, CMC Microsystems. 2018
  • Finalist, Falling Walls Venture of the Year, Falling Walls Foundation. 2018
  • Top 20 Most Highly cited paper, Journal Biomicrofludics. 2015
  • Outstanding Teaching Achievement, Schulich School of Engineering. 2014
  • CMC Success Story, CMC Microsystems. 2009

Publications

In the News

More Information

Scientific Director, Microsystems Hub

Parex Innovation Fellow Allumnus

Co-Founder, Neuraura Biotech

 

Current Graduate Students:

Kazim Haider

Kuri Martinez

Isaac Calivillio

Anthony Demong

Joshua Feddema

 

 

Former Graduate students:

Thomas Lijnse

Stirling Cenaiko

Kazim Haider

Pierre Wijdenes

Ali Syedah

Sara Pishgar

Ali Salari

Michael Purdy

Atefeh Ghazavi

Bhagat Singh

Rumi Zhang

 

Former Post Doctoral Fellows:

Ebenezer Owusu-Ansah

Rumi Zhang

 

Current Technical/Research Staff:

Dylan Finch

Ebenezer Owusu-Ansah

 

Former Technical/Research Staff:

Malcolm Haynes

Laude Bannerman-Akwei

Lisa van de Panne

Louise Neeve

Kazim Haider

Thomas Lijnse

 

Undergraduate student supervision: 53

A mixture of summer students, Thesis Students, Project Students and Capstone Students