Lab Members2

Principal Investigators

Brad Wouters

PhD

Professor

Marianne Koritzinsky

PhD

Associate Professor

Staff

Stephen Chung

Lab Manager

Julie Owens

Administrative Assistant

Anthony Joshua

MBBS, PhD

Affiliate Scientist

Stefano Marastoni

PhD

Scientific Associate

Stefano is a member of the Wouters and Joshua labs. He completed his PhD in Clinical Sciences in Italy and is currently a Scientific Associate.

Stefano’s research is focused on drug repurposing, drug development and targeting of lysosomal biology in cancer.

Lucie Malbeteau

PhD

Scientific Associate

Lucie is a member of the Koritzinsky lab. She completed her PhD at the Université of Lyon, in France and is currently a Scientific Associate.

Lucie’s project investigates whether disrupting redox homeostasis drives the activation of innate immunity signaling in pancreatic cancer and can be fully harnessed in combination with radio- and immune-therapy. She has a particular interest in one anti-oxidant protein, PRDX4.

Rob Cairns

PhD

Scientific Associate

Rob is a member of the Wouters lab. He completed his PhD in Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto and is currently a Scientific Associate.

Rob has long standing interest in the tumor microenvironment and tumor metabolism, with a focus on the role of oxygen. His work has focused on the effects of the tumor microenvironment on metabolism and on identifying opportunities to manipulate the tumor microenvironment to achieve improved clinical outcomes.

Ronal Wu

PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Ron is a member of the Wouters lab. He completed his PhD in the department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto and is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow.

Jasmine Randhawa

MSc

Research Technician II

Jasmine is a member of the Koritzinsky lab. She completed her Masters at McGill University and is currently a Research Technician.

During her graduate degree, Jasmine’s research was focused on female reproductive physiology. Specifically, she conducted her research on mice models to explore the role of Cnr1 receptor in ovarian granulosa cells. As a technician, she now plays a key role in supporting all in vivo work ongoing in the lab.

Matthew Horn

MSc

Research Technician II

Matthew is a member of the Koritzinsky lab. He completed his Masters at the University of Guelph and is currently a Research Technician.

Gold nanoparticles (GNP’s) are radiosensitizing agents that can be applied to improve the precision and efficacy of radiation damage to cancerous tissues. Matt’s research focuses on the implementation of these particles to counteract the radio resistance of Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) tumours.

Andrea Pyo

MSc

Research Technician I

Graduate Students

Ji Zhang

PhD Candidate

Graduate Student

Ji is supervised by Dr. Wouters. He completed his undergraduate degree in Human Biology from the University of Toronto. He is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto.

The genetic drivers determining an individual tumour’s hypoxia level is currently unknown. Ji’s research is focused on using a matching panel of primary PDAC, patient-derived-xenografts, and organoids, to create a predictive model of tumour hypoxia consisting of the genes/pathways driving cellular oxygen consumption rate, hypoxia tolerance, and perfusion

Saeid Shahidi

PhD Candidate

Graduate Student

Saeid is supervised by Dr. Koritzinsky. He completed his Masters degree from Simon Frasier University. He is currently a PhD candidate in the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto.

Saeid is focused on studying the potential role of the Mitochondria-Associated Membrane (MAM) in the secretome profile of glioblastoma cells

Emily Poulton

PhD Candidate

Graduate Student

Emily is supervised by Dr. Koritzinsky. She completed her undergraduate degree in Human Biology at the University of Toronto. She is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto.

Emily is focused on understanding the role of redox homeostasis and antioxidants within the context of pancreatic cancer.

Vishal Pandya

MSc Student

Graduate Student

Vishal is supervised by Dr. Koritzinsky. He completed his undergraduate degree in Neuroscience from McMaster University. He is currently a Master’s student in the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto.

Vishal’s project involves understanding if/how metabolic stress can initiate anti-tumour immune responses in pancreatic cancer.

Phoebe Lombard

MSc Student

Graduate Student

Phoebe is supervised by Dr. Wouters. She completed her undergraduate degree in physiology from McGill University. She is currently a Masters student in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto.

Phoebe is studying the spatial organization of transcriptional states in glioblastoma.

Favian Retnavarathan

MSc Student

Graduate Student

Favian is supervised by Dr. Koritzinsky. He completed his undergraduate degree in Molecular Genetics and Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Toronto.

Favian’s project looks at the role nutrients and metabolites play in disulfide bond formation under hypoxic conditions. He is looking at whether nutrients or metabolites play a role in being the terminal oxidant to drive protein folding in the absence of molecular oxygen.

Aesha Patel

MSc Student

Graduate Student

Norman Fu

MSc Student

Graduate Student

Norman is supervised by Dr. Koritzinsky. He completed his undergraduate degree in Pharmacology from University of Toronto. He is currently a Master’s student in the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto.

Norman’s project is focused on high-throughput screening to develop a small molecule inhibitor of peroxoredoxin 4 (PRDX4).

Rosemund Ragetli

MSc Student

Graduate Student

Rosemund is supervised by Dr. Koritzinsky. She completed her undergraduate degree in biochemistry with a minor in music from the University of Ottawa. She is currently a Masters student in the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto.

Rosemund’s research is focused on understanding mechanism by which disulfide bonds are formed under hypoxia. Disulfide bonds are required for the stability of most secreted proteins, and given the significant relevance of hypoxia in both pathological and physiological contexts, it would be beneficial to our fundamental understanding to gain a deeper insight into how these bonds are formed in the absence of oxygen.

Undergraduate Students & Volunteers

Habiba Ali

4th Year Thesis Student

Undergraduate Student

Habiba is supervised by Dr. Koritzinsky. She is currently in her 4th year at the University of Toronto.

Habiba is working with graduate student Emily, to further our understanding of the effects of redox disruption in pancreatic cancer cells.

Lab Alumni

Koritzinsky Lab

Undergraduate Education

Ayeisha Desjardins, Summer student

Isabel Hodora, Co-op student

David (Ziyi) Yang, Thesis student

Helia Mohammadi, Thesis student

Jessica Cui, Summer Student

Jenny Liao

Eleni Giannopoulos

Erin Lloyd

Parth Vora

Steven De Michino, Co-op student

Michael Xie

Chantal van Heugten

Wenqiao Jia

Pranathi Ari

Eric Yung

Brandon Sit

Paul Zamiara

Melanie Kalbfleisch

Diana Sun, undergraduate MD

Hala Muaddi, undergraduate MD

 

MSc Graduates

Serina Cheung

Stephanie Hulme

Christine Strelchuk

Marmendia Meester

Erik Mollen

Amy Wong

Manlio Fusciello

Sanjana Chowdury

Selim Chaib

Susan Hilgendorf

Ryan Rumantir

Vanessa Zannella

Anne van Brussel

Yvette Paulis

 

PhD Graduates

Sandy Lee

Lianne Jacobs, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands

Nila Wu

 

Postdoctoral Research Fellows

Pallavi Jain

Michael Cohen

Man Tek Yeung

Fiana Levitin

Mei Ding

 

Technicians

Alina Jaglanian,

Fatima Jessa

Hui Fang

Piriththiv Dhavarasa

 

 

Wouters Lab

Undergraduate Education

Nicolle Rapallo

Harkamal Samra

Patrick Policicchio

Samantha Brazier

Jessie Anne Brazier

Mark Zaidi

Matthew Goldstein

Elisabeth Liedtke

Sarah Elizabeth Tsimerman

Prathiba Thape

Cameron Irani

Lisa Tsimerman

Sarah Ryan

Asm Borham

Andy Seo

Jae Boem Ahn

Hilary Stone

Brandon Sit

Paul Zamiara

Melanie Kalbfleish

Marian Zulueta

 

MSc Graduates

Pedro Boasquevisque

Ryan Rumantir

 

PhD Graduates

Mark Zaidi

Ronald Wu

Elizabeth Koch

Dan Cojocari

Hilda Mujcic

Chantal Ramaekers

 

Postdoctoral Research Fellows

Maria Kondratyev

Elizabeth Koch

Sergio Rey

Luana Schito

Sujeeve Jegananthan

Anthony Joshua

Twan van den Beucken

Sue Li

Yi Wang

Javier Menendez

Fahima Khan

Wissam Assaily

 

Technicians/Scientific Associates

Aleksandra Pesic

Ravi Vellanki, Scientific Associate

Laura Capporicio

Christine Crossman

Zvi Shalev

Kitty Ki

Sri Nair

Zhen Li

Sheng Xue

Natalia Sanina

Mahbuba Meem

Lifang Song

Junyan Zang

Quinquan Li, Scientific Associate

Kenneth Chu, Scientific Associate