Smart Gas Sensing Platforms for Health and Safety Monitoring

Speaker: Dr. Mina Hoorfar

Dr Mina Hoorfar, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Victoria

• BASc , (Mechanical Engineering, University of Tehran)

• MASc (University of Toronto)

• PhD (University of Toronto)

• PEng

https://www.uvic.ca/ecs/mechanical/faculty-and-staff/faculty/profiles/mina-hoorfar.php

Dr Hoorfar is an academic leader and engineer known for her inspired teaching, highly collaborative approach to research, and strong advocacy of equity, diversity and inclusion, she has begun her five-year term on July 1 as the new Dean of UVic’s Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science. She has 15+ years as a leader and innovator. She is a gifted researcher, educator and advocate for under-represented groups within engineering. Her area of research focuses on advanced thermo-fluidics related to biomedical and health applications.

Smart gas sensing platforms for health and safety monitoring

The monitoring of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is of high importance for many different applications ranging from wastewater treatment to disease diagnostics. Despite recent advances in gas sensing technologies, there are many challenges associated with the selectivity and sensitivity of current detection methods. To address these issues, we are developing a new generation of gas sensing technologies based on patent-pending microfluidic artificial olfaction technology, capacitive microsensors, nanostructured chemiresistors, porous gas sensors, and molecularly imprinted sensors. These technologies have been employed to detect a variety of gases and VOCs such as cannabinoids ( e.g. 𝝙9-Tetrahydrocannabinol, and cannabidiol), natural gas odorant (e.g. Mercaptan), and hazardous gases (e.g. ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and hydrogen) in liquid and gas phases for applications ranging from breath analysis, natural gas monitoring to corrosive gases detection from wastewater.