Quirky Canadian bioengineer earns prestigious TED spot
Self-described University of Ottawa “biohacker” Andrew Pelling has figured out how to use apples and Lego toys as the “scaffolds” on to which human tissue can be grown.
His discoveries and his quirky work as a bioengineer who “takes things apart” are leading to the possibility of new ways to more cheaply engineer biotechnology with human applications, such as replacing the use of synthetics and cadaver parts for reconstructive surgery. Now his work has also earned him one of 21 spots as a TED Fellow at this year’s TED Conference in Vancouver.
Pelling, an associate professor in both the physics and biology departments at the University of Ottawa, and a Canada Research Chair, is one of two Canadians invited into the prestigious Fellows program, which offers gifted applicants access to mentoring and exposure to some of the world’s brightest minds, funding organizations and movers and shakers. Among those selected are an asteroid hunter, a sexual health advocate, several biomedical engineers, a Hawaiian geneticist and indigenous rights activist, writers, filmmakers and a solar energy researcher.
They also named 10 “senior” Fellows who are back for more support.
The other Canadian named is Kiana Hayeri, an Iranian-born photographer whose work on the “hidden side of life in the Middle East” focuses on youth culture, migration and sexuality in Iran and Afghanistan.
TED’s organizers have also announced they are once again extending free live web streaming to accredited Vancouver-area secondary schools, universities, libraries, community centres and non-government organizations. The offer extends from Abbotsford in the Fraser Valley to Victoria, and from Tsawwassen to Whistler. The annual conference will be in Vancouver Feb. 15-19, a month earlier than usual.
Pelling, who operates a bioengineering research lab in Ottawa, said the offer comes as his work has taken him to the edge of breakthroughs in biology and physics that are changing biotechnology and genetic engineering.
“What’s happening now is really akin to what happened in the early days of the information technology revolution. Computer components were getting very cheap, so people were at home building their own computers, and it changed the information superhighway,” he said.
“Now what is happening in biology is that the components are getting very cheap. You can order the DNA for different genes and proteins that you want to express, and it is costing pennies.”