ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, UBC SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

Joseph Dahmen founded the Biogenic Architecture Lab at UBC in 2021. He is an expert on low carbon materials for architecture. He is a member of the BioProducts Institute at UBC and a Research Pillar Lead at the Materials Manufacturing Institute, where he is on the steering committee of Accelerating Circular Economy. He has been an Early Career Scholar and a Wall Scholar at the Peter Wall Insitute for Advanced Studies. Prior to joining the faculty at UBC, he co-founded two startups and served as Director of Sustainability at Watershed Materials LLC, a Bay Area developer of alkali-activated soil-based low carbon masonry materials.

ECOSCOPE CO-DIRECTOR, UBC MICROBIOLOGY

Dr. Steven Hallam is the ECOSCOPE co-director and a part of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at UBC. Dr. Hallam co-directs the ECOSCOPE innovation ecosystem consisting of an NSERC CREATE industrial stream training program, a research network, a core facility for high-throughput biology and a curriculum development initiative in data science (EDUCE). His research focuses on the creation of functional screens and computational tools that reveal hidden metabolic powers of uncultivated microbial communities.

CANADA RESEARCH CHAIR, MCGILL ENGINEERING

Dr. Chris Moraes is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Advanced Cellular Microenvironments, McGill University School of Engineering. He leads the Moraes lab, which focuses on macroscale tissue engineering. The Moraes Lab develops microfabricated cell culture tools to simultaneously understand fundamental cell-microenvironment interactions, and construct highly realistic models of biological tissues “on-a-chip”. Recent research activities have used this approach to study the brain, placenta, lung, gut, and breast cancer..

RESEARCH ASSISTANT, SALA

Isobel McLean is a Master of Architecture student at the University of British Columbia. Her research takes a critical approach to space-making, specifically looking at the ways we can design better buildings that focus on community and equity. Along with her work with the Biogenic Architecture Lab at the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture looking at the potential for mycelium biocomposite use in point-source waste management strategies for developing contexts, she works with the Violence Against Women service sector studying emergency shelter spaces.

RESEARCH ASSISTANT, SALA

Lorena Polovina, P.Eng, CPHD, is a Master of Architecture student at UBC and a Research Assistant at the Biogenic Architecture Lab, where she is developing mycelium bio-composites that can be used as thermal insulators that replace non-biodegradable materials such as polystyrene. She holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree from the University of British Columbia (UBC), with professional experience in building science and structural design. She is the founder of Polovina Innovation, a design consultancy that helps clients create healthy, low-carbon products through lifecycle design.

RESEARCH ASSISTANT, SALA

Alireza Makoei holds a Bachelor's degree in Architecture and is currently pursuing a Master of Advanced Studies in Architecture. His academic journey is driven by a profound interest in computational design and sustainability. His aim is to leverage innovative technologies and sustainable principles to shape the future of architectural practice.

POSTDOC, SALA

Dr. Nicholas Lin is a biotechnologist and researcher working at the interface of biofabrication, nanotechnology, and cell-surface interactions. He earned his B.Eng. in 2016 and his Ph.D. in 2023, both from the Department of Chemical Engineering at McGill University (Montreal, Canada). Nick is currently developing 3D bioprinting technologies for the fabrication of architectural biocomposites, a collaborative project between UBC Architecture and UBC Microbiology.

PhD CANDIDATE, UBC MICROBIOLOGY

Juan Santana is a doctoral student in the Hallam Lab at UBC interested in the study of microorganisms and their potential to mitigate environmental challenges caused by human activities. Currently, he collaborates with researchers at the Dahmen Lab to assess the potential of mycelium-based composting toilets (MycoToilet) in eliminating fecal coliforms present in human waste. Using high-throughput sequencing and multivariate statistics, Juan delves into aerobic degradation within MycoToilets, advancing our understanding of sustainable sanitation solutions.