Sambina Bevilacqua
PhD Candidate
Biology, Specialization in Chemical and Environmental Toxicology
Bio:
Sambina is a PhD candidate in Biology at the University of Ottawa, specializing in Chemical and Environmental Toxicology. She is co-supervised by Dr. Laurie Chan at uOttawa and Dr. Dawn Jin at Health Canada. She also completed her BSc in Biopharmaceutical Science with a specialization in Medicinal Chemistry at uOttawa. Her interest in toxicology began during her time in Health Canada’s Water and Air Quality Bureau, where she was first exposed to the complexities of environmental contaminants and their impacts on human health. She is fascinated by the invisible exposures we all face in daily life – whether through food, air, or consumer products – and how they can interact with our bodies.
Outside the lab, she loves reading, bird watching, and teaching her cats new tricks!
Research Project:
In collaboration with the Food and Nutrition Directorate at Health Canada, Sambina’s research focuses on understanding how confounding variables such as particle size, matrix and dispersion method influence the toxicity and physical properties of food-grade and nano-scale titanium dioxide.
Presentations:
Bevilacqua, S.L. Frahm, G., Johnston, M., Chan, H. M., Jin, X. 2025. Bright pigment, blurry data: titanium dioxide toxicity and the challenges of confounding variables in vitro. Health Canada, Regulatory Toxicology Research Division. Talk Presented at the 8th Health Canada – National Research Council Symposium.
Bevilacqua, S.L. Frahm, G., Johnston, M., Chan, H. M., Jin, X. 2025. Dispersion method and matrix affect the hydrodynamic particle size, particle size uniformity, and surface charge of food-grade and nanoscale titanium dioxide. Health Canada, Regulatory Toxicology Research Division. Poster. Presented at the Health Canada Science Forum.
Bevilacqua, S.L. 2024, Frahm, G., Johnston, M., Chan, H. M., Jin, X., 2024. Dispersion method and matrix influence reactive oxygen species generation during dispersion of food-grade and nanoscale titanium dioxide. Poster. Presented at the Ottawa-Carleton Institute of Biology (OCIB) symposium.
Bevilacqua, S.L. 2024, Raju, J., Frahm, G., Johnston, M., Chan, H. M., Jin, X., 2024. Toxicological research of food-grade TiO2: matrix effects and dispersion characteristics. Talk. Presented at the Health Canada Science Forum.
Bevilacqua, S.L., Frahm, G., Johnston, M., Chan, H. M. L., Jin, X. 2024. Sonication, bead milling, and matrix influence reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation during dispersion of food-grade and nanoscale titanium dioxide. Health Canada, Regulatory Toxicology Research Division. Poster. Presented at the Health Canada Science Forum.
Bevilacqua, S.L., Jin, D., Chan, L. 2023. Effects of sonication, bead Milling, and matrix on reactive oxygen species generation during dispersion of food-grade titanium dioxide. Health Canada, Regulatory Toxicology Research Division. Talk. Presented to Health Canada’s Modernized Approaches to Risk Sciences (MARS) working group.