EDUCATION

Masters-to-PhD Fast Track (Mining and Materials Engineering) McGill University (September 2017 - present)

Bachelors in Science and Engineering (Chemical and Biological Engineering), Princeton University (June 2015)

?      Certificates in Neuroscience and Engineering Biology

?      Graduated with honors and elected to Sigma Xi Research Society based on research experience

PUBLICATIONS

1. G. Jalani, V. Tam, F. Vetrone, M. Cerruti, Seeing, targeting and delivering with upconverting nanoparticles, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2018, 140, 35, 10923-10931.

2. Skripka, V. Karabanovas, G. Jarockyte, R. Marin, V. Tam, M. Cerruti, R. Rotomskis, F. Vetrone, Decoupling theranostics with rare earth doped nanoparticles, Advanced Functional Materials, 2018, 29, 12, 1-12.

3. R. Liu, Y.W. Yeh, V.H. Tam, F. Qu, N. Yao, R.D. Priestley, One-Pot Stober Route Yields Template for Ag@Carbon Yolk-Shell Nanostructures, Chemical Communications, 2014, 50, 9056-9059.

4. V.H. Tam, R. Liu, C. Sosa, N. Yao, R.D. Priestley, Nanomedicine as a non-invasive strategy for drug delivery across the blood brain barrier, International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 2016, 515 (1-2), 331-342.
5.  

V.Tam, M. Cerruti, Building effective case studies for materials engineering, Proceedings 2019 Canadian Engineering Education Association Conference, 2019, Paper 94.

PRESENTATIONS
 

Invited Speaker, “Upconversion nanoparticles for seeing and delivering drugs inside the body,” 2^nd Global Forum on Advanced Materials and Technologies for Sustainable Development (GFMAT-2) and 4^th International Conference on Innovations in Biomaterials, Biomanufacturing and Biotechnologies (Bio-4) (July 21 – 26, 2019)

Oral Presentation, “Building effective case studies for material engineering,” Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA-ACEG) (June 9 – 12, 2019)

Oral Presentation, “Toward a more personalized treatment of aggressive brain cancer: light-controlled delivery of chemotherapy drugs,” Biological and Biomedical Engineering Student Symposium (May 13 – 14, 2019)

Poster Presentation, “Translating Innovative Technology to Patient Care”, Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences (CSPS) (May 22-25, 2018)

Vivienne calls Waterloo, Ontario, home, though she was born in Singapore and completed her bachelor’s degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering with a minor in Neuroscience at Princeton University, NJ. During her study there, she became interested in drug delivery to the brain, especially theranostic solutions. Her thesis project developed super paramagnetic iron oxide theranostic nanoparticles for MRI imaging and targeted drug delivery to the brain. She has also completed research internships at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, working on layer-by-layer nanoparticles, as well as liposomes, for anti-fibrotic treatment following glaucoma filtration surgeries. Then, she spent two years in Fuzhou, China, at a special needs foster home teaching and developing its creative arts program. She is now back in Canada as a Masters/PhD student working on developing upconversion nanoparticles for on-demand drug release upon NIR irradiation, and other biomedical applications, like bioimaging and biosensing. In her free time, she volunteers at an art co-operative, cooks experimentally with various cuisines and camps out at cafes where she writes and does all things creative.