Other Research Interests
I have very broad interests and enjoy exploring new areas of research. Here are some of the collaborative projects I am involved in right now.- Biomineralization: In collaboration with Harvey Goldberg and Graeme Hunter from the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, I am using dynamic light scattering to study the effect of various proteins and peptides on the growth rate of small crystals of minerals relevant to the growth of bone and kidney stones. The goal of this research is to develop therapies that can either enhance the growth rate - for example to speed the healing a fracture - or inhibit mineralization - for example to prevent the formation of kidney stones.
- Force generation by cells: I am collaborating with Bryan Heit from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology on a project to measure and manipulate the forces generated by macrophage cells when the adhere to a substrate.
- Biomechanics of rowing: I am helping out Volker Nolte and his student Brock Laschowski from Kinesiology with some experiments intended to study the effects of oar stiffnes and length on the rowing speed attained by elite rowers. Brock is doing some field measurements on Fanshawe Lake, while some lab measurments of the physical properties of the oars will be done in my lab.
- Bird Aerodynamics: In collaboration with Greg Kopp from Western's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Western's Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel , I am involved in wind-tunnel experiments to study the turbulent wake produced by the wing of a (stuffed) bird. Western also has a new wind tunnel for the study of live birds, which you can learn about here.
- Deep-penetrating Anchors: I collaborate with Tim Newson from our Civil and Environmental Engineering Department on a project related to the development and understanding of novel anchors designed for offshore use. This work involes scaled laboratory experiments using a geotechnical centrifuge as well as numerical modeling.