Page 8 - Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre Annual Report 2022 to 2023

PRINCIPAL INVE
LABORATORY PERSONNEL
Kaviya Devaraja, Graduate Student Shreya Gandhi, Graduate Student Ramneet Kaloti, Graduate Student Rebeca Yakubov, Research Student Parnian Habibi, Postdoctoral Fellow Julio Sosa Omar, Postdoctoral Fellow Andrew Ajisebutu, Clinical Fellow Farshad Nassiri, Clinical Fellow Mathew Voisin, Clinical Fellow
Justin Wang, Clinical Fellow
Jeffrey Zuccato, Clinical Fellow
Hafsah Ali, Research Technician
Severa Bunda, Scientific Associate
Mira Li, Research Technician
Jeff Liu, Research Associate
Sheila Mansouri, Staff Scientist
Vikas Patil, Scientific Associate
Sheela Purandhara, Administrative Assistant Olivia Singh, Lab Manager
Suganth Suppiah, PM Scientist
Qingxia Wei, Scientific Associate Maimaitijiang Yasin, Visiting Scientist
Dr. Gelareh Zadeh
Senior Scientist, Principal Investigator
Dr. Gelareh Zadeh is a neurosurgeon-scientist and Chief of the Department of Surgical Oncology at University Health Network and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. She is
the Chair of Wilkins Family Brain Tumour Research and the director of the Brain Tumour Biobank at Toronto Western Hospital. In 2020, Dr. Zadeh was appointed the Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Toronto. She is the President of the Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO) and the past Chair of the Neuro-Oncology Committee at the World Federation of Neurological Surgeons.
Dr. Zadeh has a dedicated neuro-oncology and skull base practice, which includes a number of multidisciplinary specialized programs including a skull base clinic, brain metastases, pituitary clinic, and neurofibromatosis clinics. In parallel, she has an active research laboratory focusing on integrated multi-platform molecular analysis of brain tumours, together with a focus on understanding molecular response to targeted therapies, such as anti-angiogenesis and metabolic inhibitors.
Research Support: Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Cancer Research Society, National Cancer Institute (USA), University of Toronto
Dr. Vijay Ramaswamy
Scientist, Principal Investigator
Dr. Ramaswamy is currently a staff neuro- oncologist in the Paediatric Brain Tumour Program at SickKids and a Scientist-Track investigator within the Developmental &
Stem Cell Biology Program at SickKids Research Institute. Dr. Ramaswamy’s overall research focus is the translational genomics of medulloblastoma and ependymoma with
a focus on recurrent disease. His previous and ongoing work has been primarily to apply clinical correlates to recent genomic findings, with an overarching goal of identifying new and more robust risk stratification for both entities. In addition to investigating the clinical correlations of genomics, he has an interest in leveraging genomics to identify new and novel therapies for children with recurrent brain tumours, through an integrated functional genomic approach. This is a logical extension of his doctoral work following
his Paediatric Neuro-Oncology training. His current position as a Staff Neuro-Oncologist at SickKids, one of the largest paediatric brain tumour programs in the world, allows him to take the lead in translating the findings into early phase clinical trials.
Research Support: b.r.a.i.n.child, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Meagan’s HUG (Meagan Bebenek Foundation), Nelina’s Hope, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, SickKids Garron Family Cancer Centre
LABORATORY PERSONNEL
Alexandria DeCarlo, Graduate Student Alexandra Riemenschneider, Graduate Student Hallie Coltin, Postdoctoral Fellow Lakshmikirupa Sundaresan, Postdoctoral Fellow Li Qing Shen, Research Technologist
8 IMAGINE 2021-22
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