People

Principal Investigator

Emma Master, Ph.D.
Emma Master, Ph.D.
    • 2018 – : Adjunct Professor (Aalto University, Finland)
    • 2016 – : Professor
    • 2011 – 2016: Associate Professor
    • 2011 – : Visiting Professor (Aalto University, Finland)
    • 2005 -: Assistant Professor
    • 2004-2005: PDF. Fungal Genomics Project, Concordia University, Montreal
    • 2002-2004: PDF. Wood Biotechnology, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden
    • 2002: Ph.D. Environmental Microbiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Awards and Recognitions
  • 2021: Connaught Innovation Award
  • 2016: ERC Consolidator Grant (Finland)
  • 2014, 2016: Diran Basmadjian Teacher of the Year
  • 2013: Co-recipient of the Faculty Research Leader Award
  • 2010: FiDiPro Fellowship (Tekes, Finland)
  • 2009: Early Researcher Award (Ontario MRI)

 

Team Members

Thu Vuong (Senior Research Associate & Research Manager)
Cell-free biocatalytic cascades to new products from xylan

thu.vuong(at)utoronto.ca

Olan Raji (Post-Doctoral Fellow)
Discovery and characterization of accessory hemicellulases and carbohydrate-active oxidoreductases

olan.raji(at)utoronto.ca

Anupama Sharan (Ph.D. Candidate)
Discovery of new lignin-active enzymes through metagenomic analyses and application-driven functional screens

anupama.sharan(at)mail.utoronto.ca

Owen Mototsune (Ph.D. Candidate)
Chemo-enzymatic synthesis of oligosaccharide-derived crosslinkers

owen.mototsune(at)mail.utoronto.ca
 

Xuebin Feng
Xuebin Feng (Ph.D. Candidate)
Enzymatic synthesis of aminated cellulose and hemicelluloses

xuebin.feng(at)mail.utoronto.ca
 

Kevin Marrs (Ph.D. Candidate)
Scale-up and validation of enzyme technologies for hemicellulose upgrading

kevin.marrs(at)mail.utoronto.ca

William Chau (Ph.D. Candidate)
Biosynthesis of diamines from C1 precursors

willi.chau(at)mail.utoronto.ca

Alessandra Castro (M.A.Sc Candidate)
Microbial expansin-related proteins for cellulose processing

alessandra.castro(at)utoronto.ca

Khadija Rana (M.A.Sc. Candidate)
Constructing an Actor Map Network for industrial biotechnology in Canada

Khadija.rana(at)mail.utoronto.ca

Rena Chen (M.A.Sc. Candidate)
Microbial expansin-related proteins for chitin processing

rena.chen(at)utoronto.ca

 

     

Team Members in Finland (Aalto University)

Deepika Dahiya (Ph.D. candidate)
Functional characterization of fungal expansin-related proteins on lignocellulosic substrates

 

Taru Koitto (Ph.D. candidate)
Design and engineering of microbial expansin-related proteins

 

Anna Pohto (Ph.D. candidate)
Sequence-functional characterization of fungal loosenins

 

Alumni

 

 

Majid Haddad Momeni (PDF, Aalto U, 2022); Eleni Ioannou (PDF, Aalto U, 2022); Rosaliina Turunen (MASc, Aalto U, 2022); Vilma Jaamuru (MASc, Aalto U, 2022); Eemeli Parviainen (MASc, Aalto U, 2022); Nadia Davoudvandi (MEng, 2022); Maryam Arefmanesh (PhD, 2021); Navya Reddy Mopati (MEng, 2021); Ophela Zhang (MEng,2021); Mareike Monschein (PDF, Aalto U, 2021); Johanna Karppi (PDF, Aalto U, 2020); Leena Penttinen (PDF, Aalto U, 2020); Filip Mollerup (PDF 2019; PhD 2018); Spencer Imbrogno (MASc, 2019); Orysia Meouch (MASc, 2019); Kylie O’Donnell (PhD, 2018); Mabel Wong (PhD, 2018); Vera Kouhi (MASc, 2018); Edita Jurak (PDF, Aalto U, 2018); Kim Kataja (MASc, Aalto U, 2018); Ruoyu Yan (PhD 2018); Ben MacCormick (MASc 2017); Rachel Kwan (MASc 2017); Fakhria Razeq (MASc 2017); Roman Malekzai (MASc 2017); Galina Mai-Gisondi (Aalto University, PhD 2017); Weijun Wang (Research Associate 2016); Julie-Anne Gandier (PhD 2016); Sergei Vilbik (MASc 2016); Maryam Foumani (PhD 2015); Mohammed Sherif (PhD 2015); Cody Sarch (MASc 2015); Manini Roy (MEng 2015); Marie Couturier (PDF 2015); Sedric Pankras (PDF 2014); Alex Tsai (PhD 2014), Resmi Capron (PDF 2013), Hitoshi Suzuki (PDF 2013, RIKEN), Dragica Jeremic (PDF 2012, faculty position), Robyn Goacher (PDF 2012, faculty position), Jacqueline MacDonald (PhD 2012), Sonam Majahan (PhD 2011), Mike Lacourt (MASc 2011), Yaseen Mottiar (MSc 2011), Debbie Waung (MASc 2010), Tom Canam (PDF 2010, faculty position), Liane Catalfo (MEng 2010), Lijun Wang (MASc 2009), Nick Wood (MASc 2008)