Roni Rayes
Translational Lung Oncology Research Manager
Under the leadership of Dr. Jonathan Spicer, I am in charge of running his research laboratory (supervising students, writing grants, building and maintaining collaborations) in addition to being in charge of the thoracic oncology clinical database and biobank (TOCDB) and of the translational research that emanates from his lung oncology clinical trials.
France Bourdeau
Animal Health Technician
As an animal health technician, my tasks are related to the welfare and maintenance of the mouse colony. This includes breeding, weaning and keeping records of each mouse strain and inventory, ensuring that we have enough animals for each experiment. I also take part in ongoing projects and experiments, perform surgeries and take care of pre- and post-operative care, treatments, necropsies, follow-up and data collection.
Simrit Musallyarakath Arakkal
PhD Student
I am pursuing a Ph.D. in Experimental Medicine. My work is centered around elucidating the complex interplay between neutrophils and monocytes in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer. My aim is to improve cancer immunotherapy by emphasizing the role of the innate immune system.
Meghan De Meo
PhD candidate
Through my PhD thesis, our goal is to use the immune system to better equip patients to fight their lung cancer. Normally, the immune system works to protect us from invading pathogens like bacteria and viruses that can make us sick. In cancer, however, the immune system can take on a devastating role. White blood cells, notably neutrophils, get hijacked by the cancer and are transformed to protect the tumour from available anti-cancer drugs. We propose a therapy that prevents the tumour’s ability to interact with these cancer-promoting neutrophils. To test this idea, our lab will use cutting-edge 3D lab chip technologies with patient tissues. Excitingly, these 3D technologies that are now sufficient for FDA-approval of therapies for human drug trials. This work allows us to better educate the use of cancer therapies and better leverage our understanding of the immune system to improve cancer outcomes.
Avik Sengupta
MD, Clinical Research Coordinator
I work under the leadership of Dr. Spicer to recruit patients for Thoracic Oncology Biobank, where samples are collected during surgery for cancer research. I administer Quality of Life questionnaires to provide valuable insights into the holistic effects of being diagnosed and treated for lung cancer. Additionally, I am involved in extensive data entry and regulatory ethics submissions at the MUHC as well as other world-renowned health institutions. In my capacity as a “Personalize my Treatment” (PMT) representative for Exactis (a Canadian non-profit organization), I assist in the maintenance of institution-specific, regulatory, ethical and training documentation in addition to coordinating participant recruitment. This also involves conducting follow-up data collection and data entry for the PMT registry and quality control.
Malcolm Ryan
M.Sc.
My research focuses on elucidating the role of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs) in radio-resistance in the context of non-small cell lung cancer. I explore the mechanisms of radio-resistance in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer treatment. Recently Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs) have shown increasingly significant impacts on the tumor progression and tumor immune microenvironment composition (TIME) in various cancer subtypes. My work further elucidates these relationships in preclinical lung cancer models where in the context of radiation, NET inhibition increases radiation induced T-cell infiltration and tumoral response.
Mark Sorin
MD/PhD trainee
My research focuses on the role of the tumor immune microenvironment in the context of lung cancer. We investigate how to improve the anti-tumor immune response in lung cancer patients receiving immunotherapy. Using preclinical models, we test novel treatment combinations that may synergize with existing immunotherapy regimens.
Simon Milette
PhD Student
I am investigating the role of CXCR2+ neutrophils in the immune microenvironment of lung tumors and metastases to determine if they can be targeted to enhance adaptive immune responses and improve immune-based therapies.
