Jay Werber

Background

About Jay Werber

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry at the University of Toronto. My lab focuses on membrane separations, with our work mostly centered around aqueous separations. Our expertise spans materials synthesis, materials characterization, and process design, with relevance for several industries, including water engineering, mining & metals, oil & gas, bioprocessing, and pulp & are always open to new collaborations with industrial I received my PhD in Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale University, working with Prof. Menachem Elimelech. My graduate research was broadly focused on membrane-based desalination, with projects on biomimetic desalination membranes, polymer-based membranes, and process modeling. My thesis was on the permeability and selectivity limits of biomimetic and polymeric desalination membranes. Following the PhD, I conducted postdoctoral research on polymer chemistry in the Dept. of Chemistry at the University of Minnesota, working with Prof. Marc Hillmyer. My postdoctoral work involved polymer synthesis, evaluation of polymeric materials for ion-selective separations, and the synthesis and applications of porous polymeric materials with narrow pore-size distributions. Previously I was an Engineer at Genentech, a leader in the biopharmaceutical industry. At Genentech, I spent two years in the Protein Purification department and two years in the prestigious Process Development Rotational Program. Through these roles, I gained expertise in bioseparations, process engineering/manufacturing facility fit, and protein chemistry. Specialties: Membrane separations; water treatment; desalination; polymer science; protein chemistry; chromatography