On May 9, 2025 the Centre for Research and Applications in Fluidic Technologies (CRAFT) Symposium brought together a community of more than 150 scientists, clinicians and innovators at St. Michael’s Hospital in downtown Toronto. This two-day event featured guest speakers in academia and industry from around the world to share their latest breakthroughs in microfluidics research. The event featured over 30 poster and podium presentations, spotlight sessions, and five keynote addresses from internationally renowned experts and industry leaders.

This year’s symposium marked a milestone as the first to be held at Unity Health Toronto, which became a CRAFT partner along with University of Toronto and the National Research Council of Canada in 2024 as part of CRAFT 2.0, reinforcing CRAFT’s mission for clinical translation of microfluidics research. The research community came together to celebrate the spirit of collaboration between clinicians, scientists and engineers that defines our tri-institutional partnership.

Photo by Michael Dryden.

Keynote lectures included speakers in industry and academia from across Canada and around the world. Dr. Andrew deMello of ETH Zurich opened the event with insights into microfluidics for blood-based diagnostics, drawing on his extensive academic and entrepreneurial experience. Dr. Athina Markaki from the University of Cambridge followed with a compelling presentation on bioengineered vascular networks, highlighting interdisciplinary advances in tissue engineering.

From the University of British Columbia, Dr. Sarah Hedtrich shared her work on human disease models for inflammatory and genetic conditions, emphasizing the translational potential of organ-on-a-chip systems.

Dr. Andrew deMello, Professor of Biochemical Engineering and Deputy Chair in the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences at ETH Zurich gives keynote lecture: Microfluidics for blood-based diagnostics. Photo by Michael Dryden.

On day 2, innovations from industry took centre stage, with Dr. José Garcia-Cordero of Roche’s Institute of Human Biology. His keynote on scalable organoid culture platforms underscored the role of microtechnologies in pharmaceutical development and the challenges of creating suitable models for drug development. The final keynote by Dr. Elliot Chaikof of Harvard University bridged drug discovery and device design, addressing challenges in thrombosis and bleeding with a systems-level approach.

The symposium highlighted incredible work in the community, with spotlight presentations including Unity Health’s Dr. Hagar Labouta (Unity Health and University of Toronto) demonstrating organ-on-a-chip models for prenatal medicine including preeclampsia, and Dr. Yimu Zhao (Acceleration Consortium) showcasing a platform for automation-driven biomedical research. Furthermore, over 30 poster and podium presentations from trainees and staff demonstrated the depth and diversity of research being conducted across CRAFT’s campuses.

Dr. Hagar Labouta, Keenan Professor of Medical Discovery at Unity health Toronto and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto at Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and Institute of Biomedical Engineering gives her spotlight presentation on Prenatal nanomedicines on a chip. Photo by Michael Dryden.

With over $50 million in infrastructure and a growing network of over 350 users, CRAFT continues to be a hub for microfluidics innovation. The 2025 symposium not only celebrated scientific excellence but also reaffirmed CRAFT’s mission to accelerate the translation of microfluidic technologies from lab to clinic.