Four University of Waterloo researchers, including Dr. Michael Reimer, a faculty member at the Institute for Quantum Computing and a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, were awarded funding earlier this month from the Ontario government for innovative research that ranges from cleaning up arsenic-laden mine waste, treating potential virus outbreaks, and using artificial intelligence to protect valuable financial data.

The funding earmarked for Waterloo researchers totalled nearly $8 million and is provided through the Ontario Research Fund, which focuses on advancing the development of innovative new products and technologies. The money will broadly support the Waterloo researchers to attract top talent, cover the cost of operations, and help build, renovate, or equip research facilities with the latest technologies.

Reimer was awarded $1.7 million for work developing a special camera that will help take more efficient images of the eye.

“This grant allows us to build efficient single photon detectors and cameras that are portable, which will be able to detect single photons over an unprecedented wavelength range, including the wavelength range of interest for eye imaging where other detector technology has limited efficiency,” says Reimer. “This new technology could aid ophthalmologists in seeing key things in eye tissue, and may help them detect diseases earlier.”

Reimer will be collaborating with Dr. Zbig Wasilewski and Dr. Peter Levine, both from Waterloo’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Dr. Kostadinka Bizheva from Waterloo’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.