Q&A with Alison McGuigan

Professor Alison McGuigan (PhD 2005) will return to the Department as an Assistant Professor this April. After completing her doctorate under the supervision of University Professor Michael Sefton, McGuigan has completed Postdoctoral Fellowships at Harvard University and Stanford University. She spoke with INTERFACES about her research and coming home to U of T.

INTERFACES: Having been a student, how does it feel to return to Chemical Engineering as a professor?
Alison McGuigan: It is pretty strange I have to say - but after 14 years in university it definitely feels great to have a "real job". It has been amazing how welcoming the faculty and department support staff have been and I feel really excited and fortunate to be back.

I: What is the focus of your research?
AM: A central theme of my research is cell organization and how to engineer the appropriate cell organization to create functional artificial tissues. My lab will attempt to recreate in a petri-dish processes that normally organize cells during tissue development in an embryo. By mimicking tissue development we hope to engineer tissues with the specific organization necessary for correct tissue function.

I: What course would you most dread teaching?
AM: I did not really take many courses in Chem-Eng when I was a student here so choosing one course I dread most is tricky - I would say however that any course being taught in WB112 will be a challenge since the room is so huge that the entire class can sit in the back row.

I: Complete this sentence: Michael Sefton is a...
AM: Character!