Openings

The research team is seeking a new PhD or Master’s student to develop new biomarker sensors for diagnostic applications. The student will conduct research at the Burnaby campus of SFU under the direct supervision of Dr. Michael Adachi in the School of Engineering Science and will interact with collaborators in the Dept. of Physics and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, and clinical and industrial collaborators.

Biomarkers are measurable indicators that help determine if a person may have or be at risk of developing a disease, or help doctors select a treatment.  We have developed two types of sensors (diode sensor and liquid-semiconductor heterojunction) that can detect fluid biomarkers at femtomolar concentrations, or well below typical concentrations found in healthy blood, using ultrathin materials called 2D materials. Our goal is to develop new sensing methodologies, enhance the sensing specificity and repeatability. We are currently working with GFAP and neurofilament light, important biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease and traumatic brain injury (TBI). This a multi-disciplinary project involves team members or collaborators from different disciplines including electrical engineering, materials science, physics, molecular biology, validation, and neurology.  Students are also encouraged to propose new research directions.

Desired Qualifications:

  • Interest in diagnostic sensors for early detection of disease
  • Experience or interest in device fabrication equipment in a cleanroom environment (e.g. evaporation, lithography, etc.)
  • Expertise with electrical/optical measurements
  • Experience with material characterization
  • Demonstrated communication skills

Semester: Fall, 2025

The Nanodevice Fabrication Group is seeking a Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Technician to operate a new high temperature CVD chamber, which was newly installed and designed for the growth of 2D material silicene (crystalline monolayers of silicon). The CVD Specialist will operate and maintain the new CVD vacuum chamber and help grow silicene materials on Burnaby campus of SFU under the direct supervision of Dr. Michael Adachi in the School of Engineering Science.  This position involves interacting with and training/mentoring graduate students and working on an interdisciplinary team.

The Nanodevice Fabrication Group fabricates new devices in the Engineering Science cleanroom facilities for developing new fluid biomarker sensors, gas sensors, and electronic devices. The group synthesizes and characterizes 2D materials, and incorporates them in new sensing applications. One of the challenges of 2D materials is upscaling high qualify 2D material growth at the wafer-scale. CVD is a promising method to grow high qualify large scale 2D materials.

Desired Qualifications:

  • Experience with vacuum deposition equipment (chemical vapor deposition, evaporation, mass flow controllers, inductive heating systems, water cooling, etc.).
  • Expertise working with or maintaining vacuum equipment (e.g. rotary and turbo pumps)
  • Interest in novel material growth and sensor development.
  • Demonstrated communication skills.

Position type: Part-time or Full-time

Semester: Fall, 2024 or Spring, 2025

Students and researchers interested in joining our team, please send your CV and brief description of your research interests to mmadachi(at)sfu.ca.