The School of Biomedical Engineering is proud to congratulate six faculty members on receiving prestigious 2026 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) awards in support of their innovative research programs.
These awards are part of NSERC’s 2026 Discovery Research Program, through which the Government of Canada is investing $630 million to support discovery-driven research and research infrastructure across Canada. At UBC, 199 new research programs and projects received a total of $47.6 million in funding through the 2026 competition.
School of Biomedical Engineering recipients include:
NSERC Discovery Grants
- Dr. Peter Zandstra – Engineering Cell and Gene Therapy Bioprocesses through Systematic and Computational Approaches
- Dr. Yanpu He – STING Signaling in CD4+ T Cells
- Dr. Carolina Tropini – Phage-Bacteria Interactions During Oxidative Stress: Mechanisms and Co-Evolutionary Outcomes
- Dr. Fabio Rossi – Modulators of Stromal Cell Function
- Dr. Babak Shadgan – Wearable Intelligence for Human Performance: Engineering Precision Sports Monitoring Technologies
NSERC Research Tools and Instruments Grant
- Dr. Christopher Moraes – Projection-Based Adhesive Micropatterning System for Regenerative Tissue Scaffold Development
These awards recognize research excellence and provide sustained support for innovative, investigator-led research. Together, these projects span cell and gene therapy, immunology, regenerative medicine, microbiome science, stem cell biology, wearable health technologies, and advanced bioengineering tools—demonstrating the breadth and impact of research at the School of Biomedical Engineering.
Congratulations to Peter, Yanpu, Carolina, Fabio, Babak, Chris, and their research teams on this well-deserved recognition. We look forward to seeing the impact of their discoveries in the years ahead.