Evelyn Yim

Biography Summary

Evelyn Yim joined the Department of Chemical Engineering as an Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo in 2016. Experienced with nanofabrication technologies and stem cell culture, Evelyn and her Regenerative Nanomedicine Lab group are interested to apply the knowledge biomaterial-stem cell interaction to direct stem cell differentiation and tissue regeneration for neural, vascular and corneal tissue engineering. Evelyn is one of the pioneers in studying stem cell-topography interactions and related applications in tissue engineering. She is one of the leading researchers studying the use of synthetic materials for altering stem cell behavior and differentiation.

Evelyn Yim began her education at the University of Toronto, where she earned her BASc in Engineering Science and MASc in Chemical Engineering, under the supervision of Professor Michael Sefton. She pursued her PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University before conducting her post-doctoral training at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and, under Professor Kam Leong, in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University.

Between 2007 and 2015 Evelyn worked in Singapore, where she held a joint appointment from the National University of Singapore, as faculty in the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Surgery, and the Mechanobiology Institute Singapore, a Research Center of Excellence supported by the National Research Foundation Singapore, as a principle investigator studying how chemical and biomechanical cues influence stem cell behavior.

Research Interests

• Modulation of cell behaviour with nanotopography
• Topography-regulation of stem cells lineage commitment and differentiation
• Differentiation of adult and plutipotent stem cells with nanotopography
• Fabrication and application of nano-structure for biomedical applications in neural
• vascular and cornea tissue engineering
• Biomaterial approach to study ex-vivo pluripotent stem cell expansion
• Nanotechnology
• Biochemical engineering
• Biomedical engineering

Education

• 2006, Doctorate, Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
• 2000, Master of Engineering, Chemical Engineering, University of Toronto
• 1999, Bachelor of Applied Science, Engineering Science, University of Toronto