Team Members
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Omar Alkhatteeb (NSERC-USRA Scholar)Omar was awarded a USRA scholarship to study nano-bio-interactions of lanthanide-doped nanoparticles.
Email: oalkh085(at)uottawa.ca |
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Christopher Patrick Bouraad (Undergraduate Volunteer)Christopher joined the group in summer 2026 to support the synthesis of fluoride-based nanostructures beyond NaLnF4.
Email: cbour124(at)uottawa.ca |
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Letícía Cerqueira Vasconcelos (Visiting PhD Student)Coming from UNICAMP, Brazil, Letícia was awarded a uOttawa Doctoral Mobility Scholarship to spend summer 2026 in our lab, Her project targets the microwave-assisted synthesis of sub-15nm lanthanide-based nanoparticles for biological applications.
Email: l298926(at)dac.unicamp.br |
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Azin Khamesan (Graduate Student - Ph.D. Thesis)Azin joined the team in January 2026. During her graduate studies, she focuses on the surface modification of lanthanide-doped nanomaterials for targeted biomedical applications.
Email: akham077(at)uottawa.ca |
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Faye Khoushinsky (Undergraduate Volunteer)Faye joined the group in summer 2026 to learn about the synthesis of lanthanide-doped nanoparticles and their nano-bio interactions.
Email: fkhou057(at)uottawa.ca |
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Lisa La (Graduate Student - M.Sc. Thesis)Lisa joined the group in Fall 2025 to explore new approaches for the synthesis of lanthanide-based nanomaterials using microwave-assisted heating.
Email: dla037(at)uottawa.ca |
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Raquel Matos (Graduate Student - M.Sc. Thesis)Raquel joined the group in Fall 2024 to study effects of surface chemistry on the spectral features of lanthanide-doped nanoparticles.
Email: rmato037(at)uottawa.ca |
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Hana Mirmajidi (Graduate Student - Ph.D. Thesis)Hana became a Ph.D. candidate at the lab in fall 2021. She is exploring lanthanide-based nanoparticles for biomedical applications, focusing on nano-bio interactions.
Email: smirm082(at)uottawa.ca |
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Kanto Ratsimandresy (Undergraduate Volunteer)Kanto joined the group in summer 2026 to learn about the synthesis of lanthanide-doped nanoparticles and to study their motion sensing capabilities.
Email: krats009(at)uottawa.ca |
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Jamilia Salikhova (Summer Volunteer)Jamilia joined the group in summer 2026 to explore the forth NIR transparency window.
Email: dsali011(at)uottawa.ca |
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Riccardo Speghini (Graduate Student - Ph.D. Thesis)Riccardo became a Ph.D. candidate at the lab in fall 2025. Before joining us, he obtained a Masters in engineering from the University of Padua. He is combining his expertise in microfluidic devices with our lanthanide-based nanoparticles to study lanthanide photo-physics and develop novel sensors..
Email: rspeg027(at)uottawa.ca |
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Sari Warshawsky (Undergraduate Volunteer)After finishing her Honour's project, Sari continues the work towards the microwave-assisted synthesis of fluoride lanthanide-based nanomaterials.
Email: swars021(at)uottawa.ca |
Alumni
Graduate Students
- Chris Steve Conrad (Ph.D. 2022 - 2026; The Effect of Disorder in Crystalline Materials on Structural and Spectroscopic Properties of Ln3+-Doped Alkali Yttrium Fluorides - Quantum Chemical & Experimental Assessment.; co-supervision; supervisor: Prof. Reinhold Fink, University of Tübingen, Germany)
- Jeremy Doucette (M.Sc. 2023 - 2025; Surface Functionalization of Lanthanide-Doped Nanoparticles for Targeted Biomedical Applications)
- Nan Liu (Ph.D. 2019 - 2024; Rare-Earth-Based Nanoparticles: From Microwave-Assisted Synthesis to Potential Applications)
- Abigale Puccini (M.Sc. Candidate 2021 - 2024)
- Fathi Souissi (M.Sc. 2019 - 2023; Fabrication and Optical Properties of Upconverting Nanoparticle/Graphene Hybrids; co-supervision with Prof. Adina Luican-Mayer, Dep. of Physics, uOttawa)
- Nikita Panov (M.Sc. 2017 - 2020; Microwave-Assisted Solvothermal Synthesis and Optical Characterization of M(RE)F4 (M – Alkali Metal; RE – Rare-Earth Metal) Nano- and Microscale Particles)
- Ilias Halimi (M.Sc. 2017 - 2020; Energy Transfer in Lanthanide-based Nanomaterial)
- Nan Liu (M.Sc. 2017 - 2019; Tailoring Crystalline Phase and Surface of Lanthanide-Based Nanoparticles for MRI Applications)
Undergraduate Honours Project Students
- Aya Dannane (September 2025 - April 2026)
- Sari Warshawsky (September 2025 - April 2026)
- Lilianna Wu (September 2025 - April 2026)
- Wunnam Saani (September 2024 - April 2025)
- Jessica Berg (September 2023 - April 2024)
- Lucas Crozier (September 2023 - April 2024)
- Connor Overton (September 2023 - April 2024)
- Ryan Way (September 2023 - April 2024)
- Sabrina Morin (September 2022 - April 2023)
- Connor CampbellSmith (September 2022 - April 2023)
- Anne-Pascale Murebwayire (September 2021 - April 2022)
- Julia Bernard (January - April 2021)
- Justin Crawford-Corriveau (January - April 2021)
- Natalie Millan (January - April 2021)
- Jessica Holmes (September 2020 - April 2021)
- Kusuma Virginna Adiningtyas (January - April 2020)
- Parrish Evers (September 2019 - April 2020)
- Nicholas Gobeil (September 2019 - April 2020)
- Tina Sun (September 2019 - April 2020)
- Itzel Lopez-Carreon (January - April 2019)
- Nathaniel Leslie (January - April 2019)
- Faduma Abdirahman (September 2018 - April 2019)
- Emma Boase (September 2018 - April 2019)
- Fadi Oussta (September 2017 - April 2018)
- Qing Qing (Kinna) Zhao (September 2017 - April 2018)
- Jeffry Colin (September 2016 - April 2017)
- Rebecca Duris (September 2016 - April 2017)
- Alex Therien (January - April 2017)
Undergraduate COOP Students
- Nathaniel Leslie (Mai - August 2017)
- Alex Therien (May - December 2016)
- Rayan Ghadieh (May - August 2016)
Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) Students
- Akash Dahiya (Dec 2022 - April 2023)
- Ghazal Al Saleh (Dec 2022 - April 2023)
- Adam Omari (May 2021 - March 2022)
- Luciana Yu (November 2020 - April 2021)
- Yifei Wang (November 2018 - April 2019)
- Brad Martire (November 2016 - April 2017)
- Kinna Zhao (October 2016 - April 2017)
- Nathaniel Leslie (October 2016 - April 2017)
- Jamal Al-Refaee (November 2016 - March 2017)
Postdocs
- Dr. Nayara deMelo Costa Serge (February 2025 - January 2026)
- Dr. York Estewin Serge Correales (February 2025 - January 2026)
- Dr. Mohammadreza Khodabakhsh (October 2024 - October 2025)
- Dr. Nan Liu (September 2024 - December 2024)
- Dr. Christian Homann (July 2022 - July 2024)
- Dr. Helliomar Barbosa (October 2022 - May 2024)
- Dr. Deepika Jamwal (February - June 2022; Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute Postdoctoral Fellow from February to March 2022)
- Dr. Emille M. Rodrigues (March 2019 - November 2021)
- Dr. Riccardo Marin (November 2017 - November 2018)
Volunteers
- Ebrahim Radwan (January - May 2026)
- Jaida Kurz (January - May 2026)
- Erik Tunang (May 2024 - May 2025)
- Philippe Hébert (September 2024 - April 2025)
- Trinity Berube (August 2022 - May 2023)
- Alexandre Sylvestre (May - August 2021 and June 2022)
- Gabrielle Chong Foo Yuen (May - August 2022)
- Nihar David (May - August 2021)
- Sinedu Dejene (October 2020 - April 2021)
- Amanda Friio (January - October 2020)
- Nelson Rutajoga (May - August 2019)
- Faduma Abdirahman (May - August 2018)
- Joelle Machaalni (June - July 2017)
- Nathaniel Leslie (May - September 2016)
- Fozia Nur (May - August 2016)
Visiting Students
- Tamires Maira Oliveira (visiting PhD student from UNICAMP, Campinas, Brazil; November 2025 - May 2026)
- Swantje Funk (visiting PhD student from Friedrich Alexander University, Erlangen, Germany; February - March 2025)
- Gabriel Moronari (visiting MSc student from UNICAMP, Campinas, Brazil; February 2025)
- Régis Peeters (visiting MSc student from Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium; February - May 2024)
- Manuela Mitroi (visiting PhD student from University of Nottingham, UK; July - September 2023)
- Coline Charrier (visiting MSc Student from Université de Rennes, France; May - July 2023)
- Kevin Soro (visiting PhD Student from Université de Strasbourg, France; funding: Canada Research Fund; July 2022)
- Chris Conrad (MITACS Globalink Student; graduate student from University of Tübingen, Germany, February - April 2022)
- Laura Kelly (RISE Summer Student; undergraduate student from University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Canada, May - August 2021)
- Manjot Grewal (RISE Summer Student & NSERC USRA Scholar; undergraduate student from McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, May - August 2019)
- Nabojit Kar (MITACS Globalink Summer Student; undergraduate student from Indian Research Institute of Science and Education, Kolkata, India, May - August 2019)
- Camille Laot (Undergraduate Student from Lycée Pierre Gilles de Gennes, Paris, France, October - December 2018)
- Steven Maurizio (RISE Summer Student; undergraduate student from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, May - August 2018)
- Yacine Mazouzi (Graduate Student from Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France, April - August 2017)
Visiting Postdocs & Researchers
- Dr. Lesly Jimenez (visiting postdoc from AGH University of Krakov, Poland, July - October 2025)
- Prof. Sixto Giménez (visiting professor from Jaume I University, Castellón de la Plana, Spain, July - September 2025)
- Prof. Beatriz López (visiting professor from Jaume I University, Castellón de la Plana, Spain, June - August 2025)
- Dr. Loic Charbonnière (visiting researcher from Université de Strasbourg, France, July 2022)
- Prof. Pawan Khanna (visiting professor from Defence Institute of Advanced Technology, Pune, India, December 2021)
- Dr. Isabel Gessner (visiting postdoc from University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany, February - April 2019)
- Dr. Nicholas Obitte (visiting researcher from University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria, February - March 2019)
- Dr. Ute Resch-Genger (visiting researcher from the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Berlin, Germany, December 2018)
