A U of T Engineering startup co-founded by Adnan Sharif (ChemE MEng student) has its roots in an experience that is all too common for many of us — he kept forgetting to water his plants.
“I was working in a plant immunity biology lab, so if I didn’t water them, I’d have no plants to do experiments with,” says Sharif.
At the time, Sharif was a U of T undergraduate student working with Professor Keiko Yoshioka in the Department of Cell & Systems Biology. He has since graduated and is now pursuing an MEng in the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry.
“My dad is a mechanical engineering professor at a university in Japan, and he knows a lot about manufacturing materials with porous, three-dimensional structures. So that’s how I got the idea to make my own 3D printed soil construct, which could retain water for a week or more. That way, I wouldn’t have to go into the lab and water the plants so often.”
Today that product is called SmartSoil, and it’s one of the key innovations at the heart of Lyrata, a startup that is producing edible crops for caterers and high-end restaurants across the Greater Toronto Area.
Support from the U of T Engineering community has been key to Lyrata’s success. For example, it was a U of T Engineering alumni connection that recently led to Lyrata launching an installation at Casa Loma, a historic museum and landmark in midtown Toronto.