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May 10, 2024

Annual Research Symposium Brings MBP Together

The fourth annual MBP Symposium was held on Wednesday, May 1 and Thursday, May 9, 2024 at the Bahen Centre and Hart House respectively. This two-day, student-led affair combines the James Lepock Memorial (JLM) Student Research Symposium with the annual Alumni Networking Reception.

Thanks to the organization of our amazing graduate students, the Symposium was successful in bringing MBP faculty and students together to celebrate the accomplishments of our diverse department.

JLM Symposium

This annual event, organized by the Medical Biophysics Graduate Student Association, fosters scientific debate across disciplines, streams and institutes. The JLM commemorates the significant research contributions of the Dr. James Lepock, a former MBP faculty member, and provides opportunities for MBP students to present their research in a conference setting.

The day featured a student research showcase in the Bahen Centre Atrium consisting of 73 scientific posters. Research posters included most first-year MBP students.

Seminar presentations were delivered in the Bahen Centre Amphitheatre by lower-year graduate students Alejandra Castilla, Zoey Wang, Ben Martin and Eaman Almasri. Seminars were also delivered by upper-year graduate students Peter Lin, Logine Negm, Steven De Michino and Quin Xie.

Presentations and posters were assessed by a group of MBP faculty and postdoc volunteers. Top presenters were recognized with a merit award at the reception following the event. The winners of these awards are as follows:

Top Lower-Year Seminar 

  • Alejandra Castilla

Top Upper-Year Seminar

  • Peter Lin

Research Posters

  • The top highest-scoring poster abstracts: Navona Calarco, Madeline Deane, Richard (Zhi Fei) Dong, Tingxiao Gao, Brian Lin, Lucas Penny and Jason Yuan.

The event also featured inspirational keynote addresses delivered by Dr. Xiao Yu (Shirley) Wu (Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto) and Dr. Aaron Fenster (Scientist, Imaging Director Robarts Research Institute Western University.

Alumni Networking Reception

The MBP Alumni Networking Reception, organized by the MBP Career Development Association and hosted at Hart House on May 9, allowed MBP students to explore various career paths through presentations by career professionals and a networking session featuring a number of MBP alumni.

The Alumni Reception included Keynote speaker Dr. Xue Wu, Co-founder of GeneseeqTechnology Inc., President and CEO of Geneseeq Canada.

The networking reception also featured two round-table networking sessions in which students were able to select from a group of alumni to chat with regarding possible career paths.

Round-table session leaders

  • Dr. Jordan Jarvis

  • Kevin Leung

  • Dr. Ali Madani

  • Natalie Meyer

  • Michael Mielnik

  • Dr. Samuel Oduneye

  • Dr. David Sealey

Symposium a Success

It was truly remarkable to come together and celebrate the achievements of this wonderful department. MBP students enjoyed the opportunity to showcase their work, answer questions, engage in lively discussions with colleagues and learn more about possible career paths after the completion of their graduate degrees. Faculty found the event to be an excellent vehicle to mentor students and learn about graduate research being conducted in our extremely diverse department. 

The department wishes to thank members of the MBPGSA for the hard work and tireless dedication that went into organizing the MBP Symposium: Alejandra Castilla, Ian Cheong, Almas Khan, Janny Kim, Christie Lau, Elizabeth Liedje, Brian Nghiem, Emily Poulton, Foram Vyas, Yuexin Xi, Jonas Yeung and Bowen Zhang,

A huge thanks to the MBP faculty and postdocs who volunteered their time to act as competition judges: 

Special thanks to our sponsors; the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, and the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.

Finally, the department would like to thank the Symposium participants who assisted in setting up the poster session due to an unforeseen delay. 

Learn more about the MBPGSA and how MBP students can get involved.