Anastasia Elias, P.Eng., PhD

A curious nature. An incredible tenacity. A strong competitive streak.

With these character traits, Anastasia Elias has achieved success as an innovative and leading-edge engineering researcher in the ever-evolving field of micro- and nanofabrication technology.

They also serve her well when she’s battling her nine-year-old son, Tim, in a friendly game of Unstable Unicorns. The goal of the popular fantasy card game is to be the first player to complete a unicorn army, earning the title Righteous Ruler of All Things Magical.  

“I’m kind of a nightmare to play games with, but we have fun,” laughs Elias.

At the University of Alberta, where she conducts her research and is a professor in the chemical and materials department, Elias’ focus is decidedly more technical than magical.

“In my career, I want to do work that I’m proud of, that’s scientifically correct, that’s making a contribution and hopefully advancing knowledge in my field,” she explains. “You build upon the work that was done before you, and you contribute your own ideas and expertise to help move society forward.”

SCIENCE = SOLUTIONS

Some professional engineers use beams, trusses, and cranes to build massive structures.

Elias uses micro- and nanomaterials—so small they’re invisible to the human eye—to develop helpful new products and technologies that solve complex scientific and medical challenges.

The materials she works with are so tiny they’re measured in nanometres. One nanometre is one-billionth of a metre in size. To put that in perspective, a human hair is around 50,000 nanometres in diameter.

Elias analyzes and tests different nanomaterials in her lab and at the U of A’s high-tech Nanofabrication and Characterization Facility. She’s focused on designing small-scale biomedical devices and other tools that improve public safety and enhance quality of life.

Early in her career, she and a colleague collaborated with researchers at the university’s Faculty of Medicine to prototype a miniature electronic device to help people stand or walk again after suffering spinal cord injuries.

“From a materials-engineering perspective, designing something that can interface with the spinal cord is probably one of the hardest challenges that you can think of,” notes Elias. “There’s a lot of interesting work going on to make spinal implants biocompatible so the body doesn’t reject them as a threat.”

POLYMERS, PATHOGENS, AND PLASTIC ALTERNATIVES

More recently, Elias’ research uses micro- and nanofabrication techniques to improve food safety and formulate environmentally friendly plastic alternatives.

She and a team of undergraduate students are developing sophisticated food-packaging labels that will change colour if bacteria, such as E. coli, is present. Sensors in the labels use smart materials—stimuli-responsive polymers—to detect harmful pathogens.

“In Canada, we’re so lucky that most of the time our food system works very well. But, sometimes, it would be helpful to have an extra piece of information that can give you that assurance that your food is safe to eat,” explains Elias. “The sensors we’ve been working on can travel with individual packages of food through a supply chain to provide real-time monitoring of food freshness and safety.”

Such technology could have other applications, such as easily testing water quality or enabling hospitals to quickly swab for bacteria. Currently, her team is designing a wearable sensor that can analyze a person’s sweat.

“Chemicals in your sweat can be measured to tell you if you’re healthy. Certain biomarkers in sweat analytes can be indicative of a problem or disease,” she expands.

She’s also studying how biopolymers, made from renewable biological sources such as agricultural food waste, could be used as a replacement for plastics made from petrochemicals.

“Plastics are great—they prolong the shelf life of food and reduce food waste. They’re very sanitary, inexpensive, and lightweight. The only thing is, they don’t go away when you’re done with them. If you get a plastic fork with your lunch and then throw it out, it can take hundreds of years to decompose in a landfill,” says Elias.

Biopolymers, on the other hand, break down quickly without accumulating in the environment.

“We’re engineering different types of biopolymers with desirable characteristics for food-packing applications so they can compete with plastics. The challenge is how to control their properties to ensure they biodegrade at the right time and in the right place.”

RANDOM CAREER ADVICE INTO LIFELONG Passion

As a high school student, Elias decided to study engineering on the advice of a friend. She didn’t know much about the profession, but she enjoyed math and science so thought it might be a good fit. She later picked engineering physics as her major, inspired by the enthusiasm of Dr. Michael Brett, the program’s director and a leader in the burgeoning field of nanomaterials technology.

Elias completed her bachelor’s degree in 2002 and a PhD in electrical engineering in 2007, and over the years has spent time building her skills as a visiting researcher at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands and the Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research Dresden in Germany.

She’d like to thank that old high school friend who her encouraged her to give engineering a try.

“Being a professional engineer has been a really satisfying career for me,” she says. “With the work we’re doing now with sensors or biopolymers, we’re trying to solve real-world problems, to apply knowledge to make things better, which is quite exciting.”

A REGULATORY ROLE MODEL

As a member of APEGA, which regulates engineering and geoscience in Alberta, Elias is proud to guide the next generation of professionals to become ethical and competent practitioners.

“Teaching at the University of Alberta, I see how seriously everyone takes our job in educating new engineers and sending them out into the field equipped with the tools they need to practise responsibly and with the public interest at heart,” says Elias.

“As a professor, the thing I’m most proud of is the students I’ve worked with and how I’ve helped them to shape and advance their careers. It’s so invigorating and motivational to teach and interact with students—to see what they’re thinking and where they’re coming from. It often just makes me so hopeful for the future.”