Dr. Ralph S. DaCosta

  • Senior Scientist, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
  • Faculty, Techna Institute for the Advancement of Technology for Health (Techna)
  • Member, Radiation Medicine Program
  • Assistant Professor, Dept. of Medical Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, UofT
  • Cancer Care Ontario Research Chair in Cancer Imaging (2009)
  • UHN Inventor of the Year (2014)

I am a Principal Investigator in the Department of Medical Biophysics.  I have extensive training and experience in translationally-driven research focused on advanced, optically-enabled imaging technologies for basic and clinical research.  The major focus of my lab is the development and application of next-generation multimodal imaging and molecular probe technology platforms for detection of disease, elucidating disease mechanisms, early monitoring of treatment response, and real-time image-guided interventions.  To this end, I am engaged in several basic research collaborations and clinical trials locally and internationally, which involve image-guided surgery, cancer stem cell biology, cancer immunotherapy, radiation oncology, cell- and virotherapy, diabetes, wound care, endoscopic oncology, and regenerative medicine.

  • Monitoring tumour response to radiation therapy in real-time
  • Detecting cancers earlier with fluorescence endoscopy
  • Detecting bacterial infection in chronic wounds with light
  • Optical molecular imaging applied to stem cell and regenerative medicine
  • Optical molecular imaging applied to neuroscience and neutological disease
  • New technologies for image-guided and minimally-invasive surgery
  • New advances in 3D fluorescence image-guided cancer surgery

Engineering Functional Microvessels in Synthetic Polyurethane Random-Pore Scaffolds by Harnessing Perfusion Flow

1030 1019 DaCosta Lab

Wright ME, Yu JK, Jain D, Maeda A, Yeh SA, DaCosta R, Lin CP, Santerre JS; Biomaterials. 2020 Jun 23;256:120183
doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120183. Online ahead of print.

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Intraoperative Fluorescence Imaging with Aminolevulinic Acid Detects Grossly Occult Breast Cancer: a Phase II Randomized Controlled Trial (Conference Presentation)

838 680 DaCosta Lab

Ottolino-Perry K, Shahid A, DeLuca S, Son V, Liu Z, Rapic S, Thalanki Anantha NWang S, Chamma E, Blackmore K, Gibson C, Medeiros PJ, Majeed S, Chu A, Pizzolato A, Rosen CF, Lindvere-Teene L, Dunham D, Kulbatski I, Panzarella T, Done SJ, Easson AM, Leong WL, DaCosta RS; Proc. SPIE 11070, 17th International Photodynamic Association World Congress, 110701Y (14 August 2019)

doi.org/10.1117/12.2527216

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Intravital Imaging for Tracking of Angiogenesis and Cellular Events Around Surgical Bone Implants

1030 780 DaCosta Lab

Khosravi N, Mendes VC, Nirmal G, Majeed S, DaCosta R, Davies J; Tissue Eng Part C Methods. 2018 Nov;24(11):617-627
doi: 10.1089/ten.TEC.2018.0252

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Improved Detection of Clinically Relevant Wound Bacteria Using Autofluorescence Image-Guided Sampling in Diabetic Foot Ulcers

628 404 DaCosta Lab

Ottolino-Perry K, Chamma E, Blackmore KM, Lindvere-Teene L, Starr D, Tapang K, Rosen CF, Pitcher B, Panzarella T, Linden R, DaCosta RS; Int Wound J. 2017 Oct;14(5):833-841
doi: 10.1111/iwj.12717

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In Vivo Imaging Reveals Significant Tumor Vascular Dysfunction and Increased Tumor Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1α Expression Induced by High Single-Dose Irradiation in a Pancreatic Tumor Model

656 639 DaCosta Lab

Maeda A, Chen Y, Bu J, Mujcic H, Wouters BG, DaCosta RS; Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2017 Jan 1;97(1):184-194
doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2016.09.005

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Point-of-Care Autofluorescence Imaging for Real-Time Sampling and Treatment Guidance of Bioburden in Chronic Wounds: First-in-Human Results

787 1030 DaCosta Lab

DaCosta RS, Kulbatski I, Lindvere-Teene L, Starr D, Blackmore K, Silver JI, Opoku J, Wu YC, Medeiros PJ, Xu W, Xu L, Wilson BC, Rosen C, Linden R; PLoS ONE 10(3): e0116623
doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0116623

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Integrated Biophotonics in Endoscopic Oncology

150 150 DaCosta Lab

Muguruma N, DaCosta RS, Wilson BC, Marcon NE; Integrated biophotonics in endoscopic oncology, Proc. SPIE 7170, Design and Quality for Biomedical Technologies II, 71700B (24 February 2009)
doi:10.1117/12.806591

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