News

We are excited to announce that Zuha, a former research student at the DaCosta Lab, has been accepted to the University of Calgary Medical School! Zuha joined the lab in 2019 while completing her undergraduate degree in Human Biology at the University of Toronto. Zuha demonstrated an ability to quickly learn and apply learned techniques in multiple areas of research, including conducting clinical trial research, using fluorescence technology, and applying microbiology techniques. She approached research with passion, accuracy, thoughtfulness, a willingness to learn, and an ability to quickly apply what she learned. Zuha worked collaboratively as a team member and…

We are very excited to welcome our students back to the lab this summer! Mayowa Akusebo initially joined the lab during the summer of 2022 and she returns this summer in order to gain additional learning experiences as well as continue to contribute to the team.  Mayowa completed her first year of undergrad in Health Sciences at Queens University.  She is still undecided as to her future plans, but she is hopeful that her experiences at the DaCosta lab will provide some guidance.  Thomas Marcon is joining us for a second summer and we are excited to continue to have…

We are excited to welcome a new graduate student, Sadaf Mazhab Jafari, to our team! Sadaf completed a double major in Molecular Biology, Immunology and Disease, and Biochemistry at the University of Toronto and graduated with an impressive GPA.  Sadaf has extensive research experience and has logged over 1000 hours of laboratory benchtop work.  She has developed skills in sample preparation for single cell and single nucleus RNA sequencing, plating and stimulating immune cell activity, PBMC isolation, western blotting, differential centrifugation, PCR, and so forth. Sadaf will be earning her M.Sc degree as part of the DaCosta lab.  Since the majority…

We are very excited to welcome a new member, Xi Lei, to the team as a Research Technician III! Xi earned a M.Sc in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Saskatchewan. She worked as a research assistant, then technician, and quickly moved up to senior technologist at St. Michael’s Hospital. Xi brings with her incomparable expertise in conducting mouse surgeries, harvesting organs, performing injections, and collecting blood. She has experience in maintaining mouse colony of genetic deficient strains, mouse breeding and genotyping, and conducting surgeries on mouse models with thrombosis, DVT, stroke and sepsis. In addition to her…

We are pleased to announce a new publication, “A handheld device for intra-cavity and ex vivo fluorescence imaging of breast conserving surgery margins with 5-aminolevulinic acid,” in the Biomedical Engineering Journal (June 2024). Authors: Christopher Gibson, Shirley C. Wang, Arcturus Phoon, Nayana Thalanki Anantha, Kathryn Ottolino-Perry, Stephen Petropoulos, Zuha Qureshi, Vasanth Subramanian, Anam Shahid, Cristiana O’Brien, Steven Carcone, Suzanne Chung, Teresa Tsui, Viktor Son, Mayleen Sukhram, Fannong Meng, Susan J. Done, Alexandra M. Easson, Tulin Cil, Michael Reedijk, Wey L. Leong and Ralph S. DaCosta. Abstract: Visualization of cancer during breast conserving surgery (BCS) remains challenging; the BCS reoperation rate…

We are pleased to announce a recent publication, “Customizable optical tissue phantom platform for characterization of fluorescence imaging device sensitivity,” in the Journal of Biomedical Optics (August 2023). Link to publication: https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/journal-of-biomedical-optics/volume-28/issue-8/086004/Customizable-optical-tissue-phantom-platform-for-characterization-of-fluorescence-imaging/10.1117/1.JBO.28.8.086004.full Authors: Dr. Christopher Gibson, Arcturus Phoon, Dr. Ralph S. DaCosta Abstract: Optical tissue phantoms serve as inanimate and stable reference materials used to calibrate, characterize, standardize, and test biomedical imaging instruments. Although various types of solid tissue phantoms have been described in the literature, current phantom models are limited in that they do not have a depth feature that can be adjusted in real-time, they cannot be adapted to other…

Dr. Elyse Digby presented at the Canadian Cancer Research Conference 2023, hosted by the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance, in Halifax on November 12-14, 2023.  This conference aimed to showcase “the range and excellence of Canadian cancer research, featuring all areas of cancer research and highlighting emerging and relevant findings from top Canadian and international researchers.” Dr. Digby’s poster, titled “Using Intravital Fluorescence Imaging to Understand How Acute Myeloid Leukemia Remodels the Bone Marrow Microenvironment and Immune Cell Response,” garnered significant interest from a variety of fellow researchers.  She promoted the lab’s latest developments in AML research, engaged with persons affected…

The DaCosta Lab AML program was awarded the Princess Margaret Research Stimulus Grant (RSG) for the project titled, “Unlocking the Potential of AML-Targeted Treatments: Harnessing the Power of In Vivo Optical Imaging Technology.”   The RSG is designed to enable PM researchers to accelerate their programs and continue investing in bold and high-gain projects.  Its purpose is to propel innovative, fundamental and discovery cancer research and support imminent expenditure and needs of research programs. We thank the Princess Margaret Research Institute for its continued support of our programs.

The DaCosta Lab congratulates Dr. Christopher Gibson for successfully defending his PhD on October 27, 2023! His PhD thesis, entitled “Development and clinical translation of a new handheld imaging system for 5-ALA-induced fluorescence guided breast conserving surgery,” describes the work that was done to develop an intra-breast cavity imaging system to detect residual carcinoma at the surgical margins intraoperatively. Another significant portion of his thesis included the development of a new phantom model to characterize the device’s imaging performance which, for the first time, includes (1) an adjustable depth capability using thin film phantoms; (2) a refillable chip containing user-selected…

Lyndsey De Guzman, who is pursuing her Master’s degree in the DaCosta Lab, won 2 awards as part of the World Molecular Imaging Congress (WMIC). The first award was the ORT Conference Participation Award. The Office of Research Trainees (ORT) provides a limited number of conference participation awards that enabled graduate students and postdoctoral researchers to participate in national and international conferences and share their research in oral and/or poster presentations. The objective of the ORT Conference Participation Award is “to advance research, enable knowledge translation and contribute to the career development of UHN research trainees and postdocs.” The second…