Dr. Ralph DaCosta is featured in the Meet PMResearch story series, which features Princess Margaret researchers and aims to showcase “the research of world-class scientists, as well as their passions and interests in career and life—from hobbies and avocations to career trajectories and life philosophies.” In this story, Dr. DaCosta discusses his work towards transforming the invisible world of cancer into vivid, real-time visuals, revealing how tumors behave and respond to treatment at the cellular level.
His team’s groundbreaking imaging platform uncovered dynamic, hypoxic pockets within pancreatic tumors – regions starved of oxygen and surrounded by dense collagen that hinder blood vessel access. These findings, published in Science Advances, offer new insights into how pancreatic cancer evades treatment and progresses.
In a follow-up study in Scientific Reports, the team tracked how patient-derived pancreatic cancer cells responded to radiation, using fluorescent markers to visualize cell viability and hypoxia. Their quantitative analysis provided valuable data to optimize treatment timing and dosing.
This imaging technology has since expanded to blood cancers, in collaboration with Drs. Mark Minden, John Dick, Stephanie Xie, and Tak Mak. The team developed a novel fluorescent marker to detect leukemia cell death and visualized immune cell populations within the bone marrow – opening new frontiers in understanding leukemia-immune interactions and treatment response.
Dr. DaCosta’s journey from building lasers in his garage to designing clinical imaging tools reflects a lifelong passion for light and discovery. His innovations have led to real-world impact, including the founding of MolecuLight Inc., which commercialized a handheld device for detecting bacterial hotspots in wounds.
Beyond the lab, Ralph is a gardener, fisherman, and mentor who encourages curiosity and cross-disciplinary thinking. His story exemplifies the spirit of discovery and the transformative power of imaging in cancer research.
Full story: Meet Dr. Ralph DaCosta @PMResearch | Research Intranet