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…

Dr. Elyse Digby and Lyndsey De Guzman presented their poster at the World Molecular Imaging Congress in Prague, Czech Republic, on September 5-9th. The World Molecular Imaging Congress invites professionals, researchers, and industry leaders from around the world who are dedicated to advancing the field of molecular imaging and offers a unique platform for attendees…

We are pleased to announce that Maryam Naimi, who returned to the DaCosta Lab as a summer student, was awarded a UHN Summer Training and Research (STAR) Outstanding Research Presentation Award! Maryam presented her winning presentation live at the UHN STAR Research and Networking Day on August 10th at the Toronto Rehab Institute. This session…

Our recent publication, “Quantitative intravital imaging for real-time monitoring of pancreatic tumor cell hypoxia and stroma in an orthotopic mouse model,” which was selected for the cover of the journal Science Advances, was announced on the UHN Research News portal. “A research team led by Dr. Ralph DaCosta, Senior Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, recently…

There is a pressing need to improve the ways in which the outputs from scientific research is evaluated. To date, outputs from scientific research, which include research articles, intellectual property, and trained young scientists, are being evaluated based on Journal Impact Factor. The Journal Impact Factor is calculated by Thomson Reuters and was originally created…

Dr. DaCosta presents an oral presentation and Shirley and Arcturus present a poster at the Image-Guided Therapeutics Symposium 2023. This scientific conference, held at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, brings together scholars, students, academic, and industry researchers from the clinical and research communities to share the latest advances in the field of biomedical and diagnostic imaging,…

We are excited to announce that our paper was chosen for the cover of Science Advances! The DaCosta Lab is pleased to announce that our recent publication, “Quantitative Intravital Imaging for Real-time Monitoring of Pancreatic Tumor Cell Hypoxia and Stroma in an Orthotopic Mouse Model” was chosen to be on the cover of Science Advances.…

The DaCosta Lab congratulates Dr. Timothy Samuel for successfully defending his PhD on May 2, 2023! His PhD thesis, entitled “In Vivo Effects of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy on the Pancreatic Tumor Microenvironment,” focuses on improving our understanding of how different elements of the pancreatic tumor microenvironment (e.g., tumor cells, blood vessels, oxygenation and collagen…

Dr. Shirley Wang has been promoted to Clinical Research Coordinator II.  Dr. Wang has worked in the DaCosta lab since 2018, managing several clinical trials, namely the FLIGHT Phase IV trial, the ALA Breast Cancer Phase III trial, and the Wound Area Reduction trial. She has been responsible for ensuring project milestones are met, initiating…

Dr. Elyse Digby successfully defended her PhD thesis on April 4, 2023!  Her PhD research project focused on applying novel small molecule photosensitizers to improve the efficacy of PDT.  She studied the design of photosensitizers that would be selectively activated in cancers overexpressing certain enzyme targets (e.g.., human NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase 1), a photosensitizer that was…