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Franklin Research Lab

The Franklin Research Lab (FRL) employs optics, engineering, and biology to produce the next generation of materials and devices for fundamental medical science and clinical translation. We also partner with industry leading semiconductor and health companies to develop and leverage new sensor technologies.

Advanced Wearables

Wearable health devices for advanced hemodynamic monitoring, such as blood pressure, cardiac output, and systemic vascular resistance. Applications include our fundamental understanding of heart disease and commercial/clinical health telemetry.

Wireless Implants

Wireless implants for physiological monitoring and closed-loop stimuli/feedback. Applications include disease models, animal behavioral studies and neuromodulation.

Biophotonic Materials

Exploration of novel materials, such as liquid crystal, which can self-assemble into bioresorbable temperature sensors with applications in imaging and photodynamic therapy.

Through the multidisciplinary study of these bioelectronic and biophotonic systems, we aim to shed light on unexplored aspects of human physiology.

News

2024
  • Our team wins a Data Sciences Institute (DSI) and Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport (TISS) Catalyst Grant in collaboration with Prof. Chris McIntosh on motion artifact reduction in optical wearables using machine learning
2023
  • As part of a team led by Prof. Aaron Wheeler, we won a Canadian Foundation for Innovation award to upgrade the CRAFT facility
  • Hugo and Samantha win CaRDM Eq Trainee Awards
  • Our team wins a National Research Council – CRAFT project award for developing novel stretchable optoelectronic sensing devices
  • Matthew wins an Ontario Graduate Scholarship – MASc award
  • Our work is published in Nature Biomedical Engineering on the Classification of Hemodynamic States via Time Synchronized Wearables
  • Dr. Franklin publishes with other optical wearables experts on, “The 2023 Wearable Photoplethysmography Roadmap” in Physiological Measurement
  • Megh and Anat win Poster Awards from the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research HF Symposium
  • Our team becomes Open Oximetry Finalists! Allowing us to validate experimental oximeters in collaboration with the Hypoxia Lab at UCSF.
  • Samantha Unger, Matthew Lee, and Brynn Voigt joins the lab and the Institute of Biomedical Engineering
  • Our team wins a Translational Biology and Engineering Program (TBEP) Translation Team Grant and Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research Innovation Fund in Collaboration with the Centre for Digital Therapeutics at UHN on the development of novel wearables
  • Jonathan wins an Ontario Graduate Student Scholarship – PhD award
  • Tenzin wins the ECHO Discovery Pitch Competition
  • Publication in Science Advances on Plasmonic Paint gets highlighted by the World Economic Forum, NSF, Forbes, Wired, NPR, Phys.org, and Nature Nanotechnology.
  • Our team wins a NSERC Discovery Grant which will help support us in developing novel wearable devices for the next 5 years
  • Nicholas wins a TRANSFORM HF Undergraduate Summer Research Program Scholarship
  • Megh wins Best Presentation Award in the Cardiovascular Sciences Collaborative Specialization – Annual Student Research Day
  • Megh is a University of Toronto – 3 Minute Thesis Finalist
2022
  • Our team wins a Heart & Stroke Foundation and Brain Canada, Heart-Brain IMPACT Grant as part of a team led by Prof. Doug Lee on the connection between heart failure and vascular dementia
  • Our team wins a Canadian Foundation for Innovation-JELF and Ontario Research Foundation grant to help establish a biophotonics and electronics lab
  • Megh publishes an article on pulse oximetry in JACCS: Advances
  • FRL highlighted in Groundbreakers Season 2, Episode 3
  • Anat Usatinsky wins the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Health Trainee Day Poster Competition
  • Our team wins a NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) Grant in collaboration with Prof. Azadeh Yadollahi, Prof. Craig Simmons, and more
  • Jonathan Wu wins an EPIC-AT Fellowship
  • Dr. Franklin highlighted in UCF Today
  • Jonathan Wu wins an Ontario Graduate Student Scholarship – Masters award
  • Megh Rathod wins a Translational Biology and Engineering Program (TBEP) 3 Minute Thesis Award
  • FRL wins an EMH Seed Grant in collaboration with Alexander Koven, MD and Monica Farcus, MD
  • Megh Rathod wins a TRANSFORM HF Masters Trainee Award
  • Jason Park wins a Translational Biology and Engineering Program (TBEP) Summer Scholarship award
  • Hannah Kim, Nicholas Chan, and Jason Park join the lab and receive a summer Engineering Science Research Opportunities Program (ESROP) Scholarship
  • Alexander Koven wins the Dr. Allan S. Tauber Graduate Student Award and the Draxis Health Inc. Surgeon Scientist Fellowship
  • FRL wins a TRANFORM HF Seed Grant on equitable pulse oximeters
  • Alexander Koven wins an NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship – Masters award
  • Megh Rathod wins an NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship – Masters award
2021

“The way medicine approaches human suffering has always been determined by the technology available at any given time.” 

Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.
Office Hours

All the time

Location

University of Toronto
Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research
661 University Ave, 14TH Floor, RM 1434
Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1M1

Contact

416-946-0955
Dan.Franklin@utoronto.ca