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In the spotlight

Celebrating the latest accomplishments and achievements of our trainees, such as published papers, awards and honours for the excellence and impact of their research programs, defended theses, talks given or prizes won at meetings, etc. Please check this page regularly to keep up to date with the latest news pertaining to trainees and the trainee program at the LDI.

2024

March

In the spotlight 1

LDI trainees obtain Tremplin Ambassador 2024-2025 award

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Open to supervisors, postdocs, and employees from the RI-MUHC, Structural Biology Research Center, Douglas Research Center and LDI, the Tremplin Ambassador Award program provides funding (up to $2,000 per project) for skills and career development activities to support trainees’ professional growth. This year, LDI trainees were recipients of this award:
  • Kathryn Bozek, PhD student, and the LDI Trainee Committee, for the McGill Centre for Translational Research in Cancer (MCTRC) Translational Research Podcast Series, which will start in December 2024.
This award is a token of recognition, honoring these exceptional individuals for their leadership and dedication to fostering the professional growth of biomedical trainees.

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March

Jennifer Maxwell

Jennifer Maxwell receives Phil Gold Scientific Award

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Jennifer Maxwell, a PhD student in April Rose‘s laboratory, is the recipient of the Phil Gold Scientific Award within the framework of the Prix des Grands Sages initiative of the Chief Scientist of Quebec. These awards are given to one doctoral student in each of the three FRQ sectors (FRQS, FRQNT, FRQSC) on the basis of their exceptional doctoral application in the FRQ doctoral awards competition in May 2024. As a recipient of this award, Jennifer will receive a $10,000 supplement for each of the 4-years of her FRQS doctoral award ($40,000 total).

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LDI Trainees awarded Cancer Research Society 2024 Doctoral Research Awards

Each grant is in the amount of $70,000 over two years.

In the spotlight 2Emma Ciccolini
PhD student in the laboratory of Josie Ursini-Siegel
Project: Investigating the impact of PGC-1alpha-coupled metabolic reprogramming on breast cancer metastasis
In the spotlight 3Elias Maldonado
PhD student in the laboratory of Josie Ursini-Siegel
Project: The role of p66ShcA and PKR in promoting breast cancer malignancy through adaptation to chronic oxidative stress
In the spotlight 4Theodoros Papadopoulos
PhD student in the laboratory of Marie Hudson and Sonia del Rincon
Project: Examining the role of the JAK-STAT pathway in ICI-arthritis and the effects of JAK inhibition on ICI in a novel tumor model of ICI-arthritis

Congratulations to the following LDI trainees who were the recipients of
2024 Canadian Cancer Society Research Training Awards!

In the spotlight 5Maryam Ahmadi
Postdoctoral fellow in Wilson Miller’s laboratory
Project: Understanding why skin cancer spreads to other parts of the body
$220,000 over 3 years Postdoctoral Research Training Award
In the spotlight 6Islam Elkholi
Postdoctoral fellow in April Rose’s laboratory
Project: New treatment strategies for people with BRAF mutations in their tumours
$220,000 over 3 years Postdoctoral Research Training Award
In the spotlight 7Olivia Kovecses
PhD student in François Mercier’s laboratory
Project: A new, innovative treatment strategy for acute myeloid leukemia
$94,000 over 2 years Doctoral Research Training Award

March

Mirta Dumancic

Mirta Dumancic receives the Accelerated Computing for Women award

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Mirta Dumancic, Postdoctoral fellow in Shirin Enger‘s laboratory, received the Accelerated Computing for Women award through the DRI EDIA Champions program from Digital Research Alliance of Canada. The award aims to increase awareness and uptake of the Alliance’s digital research infrastructure (DRI) by equity-seeking groups, and provides an amount of up to $35,000 that is to be used primarily for stipends.

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March

In the spotlight 8

Rachelle Haber, Omotayo Olaoye and Stephen Ogbodo awarded first place in ISPE Student Council RWE Research Proposal Competition

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Rachelle Haber, PhD student in Kristian Filion‘s laboratory, Omotayo Carolyn Olaoye, PhD student in Christel Renoux’s laboratory, and Stephen Ogbodo, PhD student in Laurent Azoulay‘s laboratory, were awarded first place in the global real-world evidence (RWE) Research Proposal Competition of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE) held on August 26-28, 2024 in Berlin, Germany. Their proposal was entitled Real-world comparative effectiveness and safety of GIP/GLP1 dual agonist and GLP1 receptor agonist among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

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March

Jonathan Kalinowski

Jonathan Kalinowski awarded TransMedTech 2023 Excellence Scholarship

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Congratulations to all LDI trainees who received Canada Graduate Scholarships as part of the November 2023 competition!

Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship Doctoral Award
Name Supervisor Graduate Program Project Title
Omotayo Olaoye Ranked 2 out of 188 Christel Renoux & Samy Suissa Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Occupational Health Prescribing Trends of Central Nervous System Depressants and the Risk of Adverse Respiratory Events in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral Award (CGS D)
Name Supervisor Graduate Program Project Title
Ariana Arduini Chen Liang Experimental Medicine Investigating the role of accessory protein ORF8 secretion and immunomodulation in the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants
Alexandra Goudreau Mark Basik Experimental Medicine Characterizing the molecular and spatial interactions between carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAF), immune cells, and tumour cells in metastases of triple negative breast cancer
Paige McCallum Sonia Del Rincon & Wilson Miller Experimental Medicine Investigating the Role of the MNK1/2-eIF4E Signaling Axis by Spatially Profiling the Human Breast Cancer Tissue Tumor Microenvironment using Phenocylcer (CODEX) Multiplex Imaging
Ryan Tobin SSHRC David Dunkley Clinical Psychology Self-Critical Perfectionism, Daily Emotion Regulation, and Well-Being Over Two Years
Yujing Zou NSERC Shirin Enger Medical Physics From Bench to Bedside: multimodal learning-based cancer treatment outcome prediction modelling
Canada Graduate Scholarships Masters Award (CGS-M)
Name Supervisor Graduate Program Project Title
Megan Araujo Sabrina Wurzba Experimental Medicine The Evaluation of Circulating Tumor Cells in Predicting Treatment Response for Patients with HPV Oropharyngeal Cancer
Monica D’Onofrio Brett Thombs Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Occupational Health An Updated Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis of the Geriatric Depression Scale to Determine Its Diagnostic Accuracy
Brianna Murray Christel Renoux & Samy Suissa Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Occupational Health Trends in the prescription of oral anticoagulants in adults with COPD in UK Primary Care (2010-2022)
Elliot Wadge Shirin Enger Medical Physics Predicting Patient-Specific Radiosensitivity With Machine Learning and Genetic Profiling

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Jonathan Kalinowski

Jonathan Kalinowski awarded TransMedTech 2023 Excellence Scholarship

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Jonathan Kalinowski, a PhD student in Medical Physics supervised by Shirin Abbasinejad Enger, Tier II Canada Research Chair in Medical Physics and Principal Investigator at the LDI, was awarded a TransMedTech Excellence Scholarship within the framework of the 8th TransMedTech Excellence Scholarships Competition 2023-24, for his project entitled Toward the clinical translation of intensity modulated brachytherapy for the treatment of rectal cancer.

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March

Sahil Sharma

Sahil Sharma receives 2023 FRQS Student Award

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Sahil Sharma, a postdoctoral fellow in Marc Fabian‘s Laboratory at the LDI, and postdoctoral candidate in Experimental Medicine at McGill University, is the recipient of the 2023 FRQS Student Award. The award is remitted to one student based on the best student author from all LDI Papers of the Month produced from January to December 2023 inclusively. Congratulations to Sahil who will receive $1,000!

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February

In the spotlight 9

Saleena Gul Arif awarded 2nd place at McGill Dobson Cup Competition Social Impact Stream

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Saleena Gul Arif, a master’s student in Experimental Medicine supervised by Jonathan Afilalo, Principal Investigator at the LDI and Cardiologist at the Jewish General Hospital (JGH), and her teammates were awarded 2nd place in the Social Impact Stream at the McGill University Bootcamp and Dobson Cup in April 2024, with their startup project entitled SimpliCITY- digital hub for the homeless population. The 2nd place award comes with a prize of $12,000.

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Undergraduate Research Day Prize Winners

Please join the Undergraduate Research Day committee in congratulating the following students as winners of the top oral presentations:

Adelina Dobromir Angheluta

“3-Year Outcomes of Drug-Coated Balloons Versus Drug-Eluting Stents for Small Caliber Coronary Arteries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials”

Supervisor: Mark Eisenberg

Carolina Lopez Naranjo

“Adoptive transfer of T regulatory cells to understand disease biology”

Supervisor: Sonia Del Rincon

Lucy An

“Evaluating the Efficacy of SHP2 Inhibitors in Combination with MAPK and CDK4/6 Inhibitors in Class 1 BRAF-Mutant Tumors”

Supervisor: April Rose

Thank you to all students who participated and congratulations again to the winners. Hope to see you all next year!

Congratulations to Edgar Pinedo-Carpio, who just completed his PhD in Experimental Medicine at McGill University with Alex Orthwein as supervisor, for his first author paper in Science Advances: FIRRM cooperates with FIGNL1 to promote RAD51 disassembly during DNA repair

LDI Scholarship Award Winners

The LDI is pleased to announce the winners of the LDI Scholarship Awards February 2024 competition:

StudentSupervisor / Co-SupervisorProgram yearProject TitleAward
Ahmadi, MaryamSonia del Rincon / Wilson Miller PDF year 1Deciphering the roles of MNK1 and MNK2 in the melanoma immune microenvironment Inaugural Desjardins/LDI Postdoctoral Fellowship
Bouassaly, Jenna Sabrina Wurzba MSc year 1Understanding the genetic factors associated with treatment response and prognostic stratification in HPV-related head and neck cancer Eileen and Louis Dubrovsky Graduate Fellowship
Brillinger, Julia Kristian Filion PhD year 2 Opioids and the Risk of Cardiac Arrhythmias: A Population-based Study TD Canada Trust Graduate Scholarship
Deamond, Haley Melissa Henry PhD year 4 Biopsychosocial Risk Factors for Cancer-Related Pain in People Newly Diagnosed with Cancer: A Prospective Longitudinal Study Eileen and Louis Dubrovsky Graduate Fellowship
Dos Santos, Erika Cristina Mark Basik PDF year 2 Isolation and characterization of lipid droplets from drug resistant breast cancer cellsInaugural LDI Director’s International Scholar Award
Giles, Braeden Koren Mann / Bernard Robaire PhD year 4 Organophosphate esters disrupt the phenotype and function of macrophages Galina Dorfman Graduate Fellowship
Gloeckler, SaraKyle Greenway / Soham RejPhD year 2 Toward patient-tailored psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for treatment-resistant depressionTD Canada Trust Graduate Scholarship
Jiogo, Holly Colin CristMSc year 2 Post-transcriptional Regulation of Muscle Stem Cell Activation by the NoBody MicroproteinEileen and Louis Dubrovsky Graduate Fellowship Award
Kim, HyungDongAntonis Koromilas PhD year 3Molecular, biological, and therapeutic implications of the translation initiation factor eIF2B in the stimulation and treatment of mutant KRAS tumorigenesisDr. Mark Wainberg Memorial Graduate Fellowship*
Lopez Naranjo, Carolina Sonia del Rincon / Wilson Miller MSc year 1 Investigating the role of PEX3 in the tumor microenvironment. Eileen and Louis Dubrovsky Graduate Fellowship
Moiz, Areesha MarK EisenbergMSc year 1GLP-1 Receptor Agonists and Co-Agonists for Weight Loss Among Individuals without Diabetes TD Canada Trust Graduate Scholarship
Nassour, HassanUri SaragoviPDF year 1Neuro-protective and anti-degenerative pharmacological strategies for therapy of retinal diseasesInaugural Desjardins/LDI Postdoctoral Fellowship
Orozco-Alonso, Eduardo Volker BlankMSc year 2The function of the MAFF and NRF2 transcription factors in myometrial cells and preterm labor TD Canada Trust Graduate Scholarship
Pallotto, Linda Chantal AutexierMSc year 2Role of the human telomerase insertion in fingers domain in telomerase activation at telomeresEileen and Louis Dubrovsky Graduate Fellowship
Rahbaran, Maryam Shirin EngerMSc year 2Design and Development of a Novel Intravascular Brachytherapy SystemEileen and Louis Dubrovsky Graduate Fellowship
Rahimirad, ShimaErnesto Schiffrin PhD year 2 CD28 expressed by yo T cells plays an essential role in Angil-induced BP elevation, vascular injury and T cell activation.Eileen and Louis Dubrovsky Graduate Fellowship
Zapata-Bravo, Estefania Kristian Filion PhD year 2Comparative Effectiveness of Long-Acting Insulins wersus Intermediate-Acting Neutral Protamine Hagedorn (NPH) Insulin for the Prevention of Macro- and Microvascular Complications in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes MellitusEileen and Louis Dubrovsky Graduate Fellowship

* The Dr. Mark Wainberg Memorial Graduate Fellowship is awarded to the top ranked application in the LDI Scholarships competition.

LDI Scholarships are open to highly qualified graduate students at the LDI who are registered full-time at McGill University in a research training program leading to a MSc, a PhD or a Postdoctoral degree. They are made possible thanks to the support of the following generous donors: Desjardins Financial Group, TD Bank, the Dubrovsky Family, and Galina Dorfman.

The LDI is committed to the ideal that research excellence is greatly enhanced by ensuring equity of opportunity in research and every graduate that met the merit criteria were funded this year. Winners of the postdoc competition were selected by Melissa Henry and Shirin Enger; those of the PhD competition by Volker Blank and Christel Renoux and those of the master’s competition by April Rose and Kostas Pantopoulos. Chantal Autexier and Michael Witcher, Associate Director for Faculty Development at the LDI, coordinated the process. Criteria used in the selection process were weighted differently for MSc, PhD and postdoc students, and included: Academic Record, Awards and Studentships/Fellowships, Peer-Reviewed Publications, Presentations (Oral and Poster), Research Project and Training Environment/Expectations.