News

Dr. Sara Rapic attended the third AACR-SNMMI Joint Conference on State-of-the-Art Molecular Imaging in Cancer Biology and Therapy held in San Diego, USA, from February 14-17, 2018. This focused meeting presented cutting-edge research in molecular imaging research as applied to cancer biology and therapy. Together, attendees explored how new findings in molecular imaging can improve cancer diagnostics, treatment, and patient outcomes. View Conference website

Christopher Gibson‘s abstract on “Development and clinical translation of a handheld imaging device for 5-ALA-induced fluorescence guided breast conserving surgery” was accepted as an oral presentation at the Personalized and Precision Medicine International Conference in Paris, France. View Conference website

Abstract Background and study aims Accurate endoscopic detection of dysplasia in patients with Barrett’s esophagus (BE) remains a major clinical challenge. The current standard is to take multiple biopsies under endoscopic image guidance, but this leaves the majority of the tissue unsampled, leading to significant risk of missing dysplasia. Furthermore, determining whether there is submucosal invasion is essential for proper staging. Hence, there is a clinical need for a rapid in vivo wide-field imaging method to identify dysplasia in BE, with the capability of imaging beyond the mucosal layer. We conducted an ex vivofeasibility study using photoacoustic imaging (PAI) in patients undergoing endoscopic…

Dr. Sara Rapic has joined the DaCosta lab as a postdoctoral fellow in September 2017. She received her doctoral degree at the University of Antwerp in Belgium where she was working on non-invasive imaging of cancer hallmarks to identify predictive biomarkers in a colorectal cancer model. As part of Dr. DaCosta’s Terry Fox New Investigator Grant, she is investigating the radiation response of pancreatic tumors, their vasculature and microenvironment using in vivo imaging to identify new treatment strategies. View Bio

Doctors Tell Us How Terry Fox Is Still Influencing Cancer Research We spoke to doctors affiliated with the Terry Fox Research Institute about the Canadian hero’s legacy. View the Full Article

The DaCosta lab congratulates Niloufar Khosravi on her two recent awards at the 2017 Canadian Microscopy and Cytometry Conference in Montreal, Quebec: Best Oral Presentation Award (Multiphoton Intravital Microscopy for Wound Healing) and Light Microscopy Travel Award

Dr. Sara Rapic has joined the DaCosta lab as a visiting scientist and is funded by a Beligum government “grant for a short study visit abroad” from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). This grant supports researchers who wish to spend a short period abroad to further specialize in their research field or to undertake knowledge-gathering assignments, encouraging mobility and international contacts between research groups.

The DaCosta lab congratulates Kathryn Ottolino-Perry on presenting her poster: “Handheld Fluorescence Imaging Device for Real-Time Intra-Operative Margin Assessment of Breast Cancer: ALA-Induced Fluorescence for the Detection of Breast Tumours” at the 15th St Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference in Vienna, Austria. View Conference website

Chad Pelley is an author, songwriter and journalist whose debut novel, Away From Everywhere, has been adapted into a film now making the festival rounds. But he might never have become the celebrated artist he is today. The 36-year-old resident of St. John’s has arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), a rare heart disorder prevalent in Newfoundland and Labrador where the first and only symptom is often a fatal heart attack. Thanks to genome sequencing that identified the gene responsible for ARVC, Pelley was able to learn through a blood test that he has the disorder. Read the Full Article

Abstract Clinical wound assessment involves microbiological swabbing of wounds to identify and quantify bacterial species, and to determine microbial susceptibility to antibiotics. The Levine swabbing technique may be suboptimal because it samples only the wound bed, missing other diagnostically relevant areas of the wound, which may contain clinically significant bacteria. Thus, there is a clinical need to improve the reliability of microbiological wound sampling. To address this, a handheld portable autofluorescence (AF) imaging device that detects bacteria in real time, without contrast agents, was developed. Here, we report the results of a clinical study evaluating the use of real-time AF…