Page 7 - Labatt BTRC Annual Report 2020-2021

TIGATORS
LABORATORY PERSONNEL
Zoya Aamir, Graduate Student
Brian Chung, Graduate Student
Ayse Bahar Ercan, Graduate Student
Nicholas Fernandez, Graduate Student
Jacalyn Kelly, Graduate Student
Benjamin Laxer, Research Student
Logine Negm, Graduate Student
Julie Bennett, Postdoctoral Fellow
Anirban Das, Postdoctoral Fellow
Liana Figueiredo Nobre, Postdoctoral Fellow
Victoria Forster, Postdoctoral Fellow
Nuno Miguel Nunes, Postdoctoral Fellow
Reza Mokhtari, Postdoctoral Fellow
Santiago Sanchez-Ramirez, Postdoctoral Fellow
Sumedha Sudhaman, Postdoctoral Fellow
Vanessa Bianchi, Research Project Coordinator
Owen Crump, Research Technologist
Melissa Edwards, Clinical Research Project Manager
Melissa Galati, Clinical Research Project Assistant
Emma Gatoni, Research Technologist
Martin Komosa, Research Project Coordinator Rodney Lyn, Research Project Coordinator Lauren Sambira, Research Project Coordinator Lucie Stengs, Research Technologist
Susie Wang, Research Technologist
Cindy Zhang, Research Project Manager
Dr. Uri Tabori
Senior Scientist, Principal Investigator
Dr. Tabori’s group investigates the genetic mechanisms that control tumour progression and survival and his program has three areas of research: 1) Telomere maintenance in cancer. Since telomeres and telomerase control the ability of cancers to recur, the Tabori lab has been studying how inhibiting this pathway can exhaust the ability of cancer cells to regrow causing relapse. 2) Dr. Tabori is studying factors which contribute to aggressiveness
and spontaneous growth arrest of paediatric low-grade astrocytomas. Together with Drs. Hawkins, Bouffet and others, he established the PLGG taskforce and constructed a database of >1,000 patients and tumours allowing for the utilization of genomic tools and techniques to study specific mechanisms affecting survival in these children. 3) Dr. Tabori established
the International Biallelic Mismatch Repair Deficiency Consortium. Biallelic Mismatch Repair Deficiency is a genetic syndrome that is associated with a high risk of glioma formation during childhood. Using genomic and genetic tools, the Tabori lab is studying which genetic events can be traced and treated to prevent cancer initiation and progression.
Research Support: AACR Stand Up To Cancer, BioCanRx Enabling Studies Program, b.r.a.i.n.child, Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Genome Canada, Israel-Canada Joint Research Program, Making Headway Foundation, Ontario Centres of Excellence, PLGA Foundation, SickKids Garron Family Cancer Centre, SickKids Pitblado Cancer Centre, The V Foundation for Cancer Research
Dr. Michael D. Taylor
Senior Scientist, Principal Investigator
Dr. Taylor’s laboratory uses genetic tools to investigate how normal cells turn into brain tumours. Genomic analyses and genetic tools allow the team to create new animal models
of medulloblastoma and ependymoma so that novel targeted therapies can be developed. This multi-layered approach using laboratory-driven scientific discovery and bioinformatics allows for rapid clinically-important changes to brain tumour therapy, such that the quality of life of patients can be drastically improved.
The Taylor group is in an enviable position, as they have direct access to the more than 2,000 tumours and associated sequencing data that form part of the Medulloblastoma Advanced Genomics International Consortium (MAGIC). MAGIC is a SickKids based consortium that consists of clinicians, scientists, and pathologists from around the world who have collectively contributed medulloblastoma samples to the genomics efforts in Toronto. This sequencing project is likely the largest single RNA-Seq dataset on a specific cancer type sequenced
to date and represents a rich source of data on medulloblastoma for their lab and for others.
Research Support: b.r.a.i.n.child, Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Cancer Research UK (CRUK), Genome BC, Genome Canada, Genome Quebec, Matthew Larson Foundation (IronMatt), Meagan’s HUG, National Institutes of Health US (NIH), Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), Ontario Research Fund, SickKids Garron Family Cancer Centre, Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), SWIFTY Foundation, Terry Fox Research Institute, The Brain Tumour Charity, The Cure Search Foundation, The Pediatric Brain Tumour Foundation, V-Foundation for Cancer Research, Worldwide Cancer Research
LABORATORY PERSONNEL
Polina Balin, Graduate Student
Anders Erickson, Graduate Student
Vernon Fong, Graduate Student
Liam Hendrikse, Graduate Student
Kyle Juraschka, Graduate Student
Kaitlin Kharas, Graduate Student
Sachin Kumar, Graduate Student
John Lee, Graduate Student
Stuart Lithwick, Graduate Student
Bryn Livingston, Graduate Student Michelle Ly, Graduate Student
Ncedile Mankahla, Graduate Student Winnie Ong, Graduate Student
David Przelicki, Graduate Student Alexandra Rasnitsyn, Graduate Student Cory Richman, Graduate Student
Olga Sirbu, Graduate Student
Randy Van Ommeren, Graduate Student Evan Wang, Graduate Student
Namal Abeysundara, Postdoctoral Fellow Stephen Armstrong, Postdoctoral Fellow Chai-Jin Lee, Postdoctoral Fellow
Antony Michealraj, Postdoctoral Fellow Carolina Nör, Postdoctoral Fellow
Olivier Saulnier, Postdoctoral Fellow Hiromichi Suzuki, Postdoctoral Fellow Abhirami Visvanathan, Postdoctoral Fellow Jiao Zhang, Postdoctoral Fellow
Craig Daniels, Senior Project Manager Tajana Douglas, Research Technologist Ning Huang, Research Technologist II Jonelle Pallotta, Research Technologist Patryk Skowron, Bioinformatic Analyst
Raul Suarez, Research Technologist II William (Hao) Wang, Research Technologist Xiaochong Wu, Senior Research Associate
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