Frank Gu

Frank Gu is a Professor at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, serving as Director of the Institute for Water Innovation (IWI) and Principal Investigator of the Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Water Sustainability. He holds the NSERC Senior Industrial Research Chair in Nanotechnology Engineering, focusing on interdisciplinary solutions for health and environmental challenges.

His educational background includes a B.Sc. from Trent University, a Ph.D. from Queen's University, and postdoctoral training at MIT-Harvard. Key research areas span nanomedicine for ophthalmic drug delivery, pathogen diagnostics using nanomaterials, and industrial wastewater treatment via photocatalysis. His lab develops mucoadhesive nanoparticles for sustained drug release, gold nanoparticle-based pathogen detection platforms, and solar-driven photocatalysts for removing toxicants like selenium and naphthenic acids from water.

Recent publications reveal strong trends in environmental nanotechnology (40%), COVID-19 transmission dynamics (20%), and biomaterials for drug delivery (30%), with emerging work on self-driving laboratories for materials discovery. His research directly addresses critical issues in vision care, pandemic response, and oil sands sustainability.

Scientific recognition includes:

• NSERC Senior Industrial Research Chair
• Member of the College of the Royal Society of Canada
• Canada Research Chair (Tier II)
• Ontario Early Research Award

Actively mentoring graduate students (accepting PhD and MASc candidates), his research is supported through industrial partnerships and major grants including the NSERC Chair. Current projects involve self-driving labs for agricultural materials, ML-based surface property analysis, and novel hyaluronic acid polymers. His Mixture Lab accelerates materials discovery using autonomous systems for applications in health, energy, and sustainability, with a focus on droplet behavior and complex mixtures.