BIRC News

CONGRATULATIONS

to our trainees on their success at the

ISMRM-SNMMI Co-Provided Workshop on PET/MRI

26-29 October 2023

USC Health Sciences Conference Center,
Los Angeles, CA, USA
A statement from Dr. David Faul, Biograph mMR Collaborations Manager, North America Siemens Healthineers, “At the recent ISMRM-SNMMI MR PET Workshop at USC in Los Angeles, Lawson Health Research Institute won both the Best Poster and Best Oral Presentation Awards.  This is an astonishing achievement for the Lawson team and a recognition of the scientific excellence of its research, especially considering that oral talks and posters were presented at the Workshop by the world’s leaders in MR PET research and development including Stanford, MGH Martinos Center, Mayo Clinic, and Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele.  Lawson’s success at the Workshop left me feeling that the Siemens Healtineers support of Lawson research is well justified.”
 
Abstracts/presentations given by Western/Lawson post-doctoral fellows and graduate trainees
 

Monitoring Bacteria Post-ingestion: PET/MRI of 89Zr-labeled Lactobacillus crispatus. Ranganathan VT, Donnelly SC, Rabbath E, Fox MS, Gelman N, Thiessen JD, Jago H, Brown T, Biernaski H, Huston Y,  Suchy M, Kovacs MS, Thompson RT, Prato FS, Burton JP, Goldhawk DE. 2023. ISMRM-SNMMI Co-Provided Workshop on PET/MRI, USC Health Sciences Conference Centre, Los Angeles, USA. Winner of the Best Oral Presentation Award
 

Prognostic Implications of Inflammation and Perfusion Post-Myocardial Infarction: A Hybrid PET/MRI Study. Wilk B, Smailovic H, Biernaski H, Kovacs M, Wisenberg G, Thiessen JD, Prato FS. 2023. ISMRM-SNMMI Co-Provided Workshop on PET/MRI, USC Health Sciences Conference Centre, Los Angeles, USA. 


Comparing voltage mapping and hybrid PET/MRI in a canine model of atrial fibrillation. Wilk B, Skanes A, Lim H, Biernaski H, Sykes J, Kovacs M, Hicks J, Thiessen JD, Prato FS. 2023. ISMRM-SNMMI Co-Provided Workshop on PET/MRI, USC Health Sciences Conference Centre, Los Angeles, USA. 
 

Hybrid PET/MRI for Respiratory Motion Corrected, ECG-Gated, sequential 13N-Ammonia PET Perfusion in Myocardial Infarction Animal Model. Lim H, Wilk B, Moran G, Faul D, Thiessen JD, Prato FS. 2023. ISMRM-SNMMI Co-Provided Workshop on PET/MRI, USC Health Sciences Conference Centre, Los Angeles, USA. Winner of the Best Poster Award

Non-Invasive Imaging of [18F]FDG Extraction Fraction by PET/MRI: a Potential Glucose Transporter Expression Biomarker. Deller G, St. Lawrence K, Liu L, Soddu A, Narciso L. 2023. ISMRM-SNMMI Co-Provided Workshop on PET/MRI, USC Health Sciences Conference Centre, Los Angeles, USA. 

A combined FDG-PET/resting-state fMRI study investigating disruptions in effective connectivity in behavioural-variant Frontotemporal Dementia. Dassanayake P, Cakmak J, Joshy M, Liu L, Aiello M, Finger E, Anazodo U, St. Lawrence K. ISMRM-SNMMI Co-Provided Workshop on PET/MRI, USC Health Sciences Conference Centre, Los Angeles, USA

Simplifying Cerebral Aerobic Glycolysis Imaging by Hybrid PET/MRI. Narciso L, Deller G, Liu L, St. Lawrence K. ISMRM-SNMMI Co-Provided Workshop on PET/MRI, USC Health Sciences Conference Centre, Los Angeles, USA.

 

Dr. Paula Foster named WMIS Fellow

On September 8, 2023, at the World Molecular Imaging Congress (WMIC) in Prague, Dr. Paula Foster was named a Fellow of the Society. 

The WMIS Fellows are a group of distinguished scientists that have contributed significantly to both the molecular imaging field and to the World Molecular Imaging Society (WMIS). They are accomplished scientists that have been involved in molecular imaging since the very early days, have worked across the spectrum of molecular imaging, have made significant contributions including instrumentation and probe development and continue to contribute to the field with new technologies and insight into understanding the biology that drives the future of molecular imaging.

Dr. Foster is the first scientist at a Canadian university to be named a WMIS Fellow. 

Dr. Foster's students, Samantha Flood won a poster award at the WMIC and student Nitara Flood had the highest scoring abstract from Canada at WMIC in Prague and was appointed as a WMIS Ambassador for Canada

 

PET/CT Installation 2023
St. Joseph’s Hospital, Nuclear Medicine

 

The Discovery VCT PET/CT Scanner, purchased in November 2008, was decommissioned and removed from the site and a new, state-of-the-art GE PET/CT scanner was installed. 

The purchase of the new PET/CT machine was supported, in part, by a $1 million grant from St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation through the Spirit of St. Joseph’s Fund. The machine combines two imaging platforms in one: the computerized tomography (CT) scan provides an anatomical view of the body, while the positron emission tomography (PET) scan shows the body’s organs and tissues at work and is faster, reducing time required from 30 minutes to less than 10 minutes per scan; improving the patient experience and providing opportunity to reduce wait times.

St. Joseph’s physicist Ting-Yim Lee (Director of PET/CT Research at Lawson Health Research Institute (Lawson) and medical physicist at St. Joseph’s Hospital) received the inaugural Career Achievement Award presented by WorldDiscoveries which was highlighted in a news story by St. Joseph's Hospital

St. Joseph’s in partnership with Lawson to become Canada’s first centre of excellence in molecular imaging and theranostics

In a Canadian first, Lawson Health Research Institute (Lawson) and St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s), in partnership with GE HealthCare, will become a centre of excellence in personalized treatment of cancer and other diseases by advancing the powerful blend of precision diagnostic imaging and targeted therapy.

FULL STORY HERE

Cubresa Installs First BrainPET Insert System at Lawson Health Research Institute

 

Cubresa has installed the first BrainPET Insert System at St. Joseph’s Health Care London, in partnership with the hospital’s research institute – Lawson Health Research Institute.

FULL MEDIA RELEASE

CFMM to welcome new magnet

 

Western’s Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping is well into preparations to site a new 15.2 T 11 cm bore preclinical MRI system for mouse and ex-vivo sample imaging. Construction meetings and planning have been led by CFMM Managing Director Joe Gati with Schulich and Facilities Management interfacing with the architects and consultants.

MORE HERE

 

New biopsy method at London, Ont., research centre makes breast cancer screening easier

A team of radiologists, led by Dr. Anat Kornecki, lead breast radiologist at the Lawson Health Research Institute in London, Ont., have found that a new breast cancer biopsy method may provide more accurate results and comfort for patients. 

Lawson is the first site in North America to offer the streamlined procedure to patients at the St. Joseph's Breast Care Program.


Read the full story HERE

ImNO 2023

 

Congratulations to all the ImNO award winners! 
 
The 2023 ImNO held in London, Ontario was attended by 260+ registrants from across Ontario and included a joint ImNO/Western/Siemen's event "Siemen's Innovation Think Tank" and the ImNO student committee ran the successful ImNO themed Jeopardy event. 

Two Western U researchers receive grants to find solutions for arthritis

Arthritis Society Canada is trying to uncover more solutions to arthritis disease which is currently affecting six million Canadians, according to Dr. Sian Bevan.
The national charity has announced two researchers from Western University have been awarded grants to further research how to prevent and treat this disease.
Dr. Matthew Teeter is one of the eight recipients. He is a professor in medical biophysics, medical imaging and surgery at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. He is also a scientist at Robarts Research Institute and Lawson Health Research Institute.

FULL STORY HERE

Congratulations to Robert Bartha, PhD, who has been appointed as Vice Dean, Research & Innovation, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry effective September 6, 2022, to September 5, 2027. FULL STORY HERE

LIDD 2022 Award Winners

Faculty Awards presented at LIDD 2022 on June 9, 2022

Annual Award for Academic Excellence:
  • Dr. Keith St. Lawrence (Research)
Lifetime Achievement Award:
  • Dr. Ian Cunningham 
  • Dr. Roman Kozak 
Chair’s Award of Inspiration:   for demonstrating Exemplary Volunteeris: Emily Mol, Kathy Lott, Penny Healey
Poster Certificate Award Winners:Honourable Mention:
Edward Wang – Cardiothoracic, Maksym Sharma – Cardiothoracic, Rachel Wagner – Neuroradiology, Olivia Tong – Neuroradiology, Lucas Narciso – Nuclear Medicine, Elise Woodward – Nuclear Medicine
Certificate of Merit:Marissa McIntosh – Cardiothoracic, Rajan Leung & Aidan Fry – Cardiothoracic, Lipika Abbareddy – Neuroradiology, Sebastian Aniol – Neuroradiology, Lisa Garland – Vascular Interventional Radiology, Samuel Xu – Vascular Interventional Radiology, Claire Park – Body, Lisa Xuan – Body, Osama Smettei – Nuclear Medicine, Mina Swiha – Nuclear Medicine
Magna Cum Laude:Harkiran Kooner – Cardiothoracic, Jaryd Christie – Cardiothoracic, Kevin Chung – Neuroradiology, Luke Helpard – Neuroradiology, Sydney Wilson – Body, Qin Sun – Vascular Interventional Radiology, Josephine Tan – Nuclear Medicine, Seva Ioussoufovitch – Nuclear Medicine

Awards presented at the Graduation Ceremony, on June 13, 2022

Residents’ Choice Award for Best PGY5 Board Exam Review:  Dr. Ian Chan
Residents’ Choice Award for Best Rounds Presentation:  Dr. Leandro Leite
Residents’ Choice Award for Best Academic Half Day Presentation:  Dr. Ian Chan
Residents’ Choice Award for Outstanding Radiology Role Model:  Dr. Andrew Leung
Residents’ Choice Award for Teacher of the Year:  Dr. Harry Marshall
Neuroradiology Award:   Dr. Alexander Anishchenko
Rankin Singh Award:   Dr. Sebastien Robert
Carey Singh Award:   Dr. Victor Lam
Jason Ashley Award:   Dr. Lubna Siddiqi
Mark Landis Award:   Dr. Timothy Miao
RSNA Radiology Award:   Dr. Omar Daher
Nuclear Medicine Residents’ Choice Award for Outstanding Role Model:  Dr. Irina Rachinsky
Nuclear Medicine Residents’ Choice Award for Teacher of the Year:  Dr. David Laidley
RSNA Nuclear Medicine Award:   Dr. Rami Abazid

2022 ImNO Award Winners

Congratulations to the 2022 ImNO (Imaging Network Ontario) award winners that included 14 Western students.

List of award winners HERE

2022 Grants Awarded

CIHR Project Grants

Keith St. Lawrence has been awarded a CIHR Project grant titled “Does Impaired Cerebral Metabolism Link Vascular Dysfunction to Cognitive Decline?”. The 5-year grant includes co-applicants Justin Hicks; Drs. Vladimir Hachinski, Reza Azarpazhooh, David Spence and Felix Wehrli (University of Pennsylvania).

Corey Baron has been awarded a CIHR Project grant titled “Microstructural MRI in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy”. The 5-year grant includes co-applicants Jorge Burneo, Ali Khan, Jonathan Lau and Qi Zhang.

Lauren Flynn has been awarded a CIHR Project grant titled “Harnessing adipose-derived stromal cells for subcutaneous soft tissue regeneration: targeting regenerative and immunomodulatory functionality”. The 1-year grant includes co-applicants Gregory Dekaban, Maria Drangova, Gilles Lajoie, John Ronald and Aaron Grant.

NSERC Idea to Innovation Phase I Grant

Aaron So has been awarded an NSERC Idea to Innovation Phase I Grant for his project titled “Quantitative Dynamic Angiographic Imaging with Computed Tomography”

BIRC Director

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Jean Théberge, Lawson Imaging Scientist, has been selected to be the Director of the Biomedical Imaging Research Centre (https://westernubirc.uwo.ca), effective January 2022.  
For the last 15 years, Dr. Théberge has been an MRI physicist for the London hospitals, and leads the NeuroPsychiatry Imaging Lab (NeuroPIL) at the Lawson Health Research Institute. He holds appointments in the departments of Medical Imaging, Medical Biophysics and Psychiatry at Western. Being involved in clinical, research and teaching activities, he brings a wealth of city-wide experience from these realms of biomedical imaging to elevate the profile of BIRC in bringing together the various biomedical imaging groups in London. He hopes to develop BIRC as a research centre where researchers can develop new and existing lines of research; students and fellows can further their training and develop lab leadership experience; and residents and physicians come to imagine and do the impossible. In doing so, Dr. Théberge will lead the “One London” approach to biomedical imaging and will also raise the profile of Imaging research within Canada and the world. His vision will present a united London front to biomedical imaging industrial partners, thus promoting the development of virtual environments for innovation and remote collaboration for our increasingly connected world.  
The Imaging research communities of Western and Lawson look forward to Dr. Théberge’s implementation of his vision for BIRC in further advocating for Imaging research in London.

2021 London Imaging Discovery Day Faculty Awards

Congratulations!

Annual Award for Academic Excellence: Dr. Mike Kovacs (Research), Dr. Manas Sharma (Teaching, Role Modeling & Administration)

Lifetime Achievement Award: Dr. Ting-Yim Lee

Promotions: Dr. Stephany Pritchett (Associate Professor), Dr. Sachin Pandey (Associate Professor), Dr. Anat Kornecki (Professor)

Emerita: Dr. Catherine Yoshy

Chair’s Award of Inspiration:

  • The MRI - Pathology Team for Fanshawe College
  • Dr. Mohamed Abdelrazek
  • Dr. Mousumi Bhaduri
  • Dr. Michael Jurkiewicz
  • Dr. Nasir Khan
  • Dr. Stephanie Leung
  • Dr. Michael Mayich
  • Dr. Pavlo Ohorodnyk
  • Dr. Sachin Pandey
  • Dr. Keng Yeow Tay

Dr. Frank Prato celebrates 45 years of medical imaging ingenuity

Over the course of his career, Dr. Prato has become a visionary, mentor and leader who has made Lawson a national and international leader. Among Dr. Prato's landmark discoveries was working into how magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to view the extent of permanent heart muscle damage caused by a heart attack – a method now used extensively throughout the world.
MORE HERE

Congratulations to the Robarts Cellular and Molecular Imaging Group

Congratulations to the Cellular and Molecular Imaging Group at Robarts for winning the 2019 This Is Our Lab competition of the World Molecular Imaging Society! The video was just released (COVID production delays) so please enjoy!

Technique gives new insight on brain disorders

A new technique that flattens the wrinkles and folds in the brain's hippocampus for a 2D view could make it easier to understand brain disorders LEARN MORE HERE

2021 CIHR Project Grant Success

Paula Foster (co-applicants – Adam Shuhendler, Greg Dekaban, Carlos Rinaldi, Tim Scholl) for her grant titled “Development of magnetic particle imaging for in vivo cell tracking”
John Ronald (co-applicants – Greg Dekaban, Mansour Haeryfar, Tim Scholl, Jonathan Thiessen, Justin Hicks) for his grant titled “Development of molecular imaging tools to monitor the fate of an off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor natural killer (CAR-NR) cell immunotherapy
Donald Welsh (co-applicants – Mamadou Diop, Christopher Ellis, Daniel Goldman) for his grant titled “Reimagining O2 demand-to-O2 supply coupling in the microcirculation cellular mechanisms to disease application
Shawn Whitehead (co-applicants - Greg Dekaban, Ting-Yim Lee) for his grant titled "Evaluationg the relationship between age-dependent white matter microglia activation and post-stroke cognitive impairment

2021 Ontario Research Fund Award

Congratulations to Aaron Fenster, PhD & Fenster Translational Lab who have been awarded a $2.65Million Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence to continue their groundbreaking imaging research to advance innovation and advance 3D testing for personalized medicine

LEARN MORE

2021 Awards of Excellence

Congratulations to Drs. Keith St. Lawrence and Jonathan Thiessen on their CFI grant award for their project titled "Revealing the Functional and Molecular Mechanisms of Brain Disease with Better Imaging Tools" and receiving the Schulich Award of Excellence for Faculty: Team Award. 

More information HERE

New Frontiers in Research Fund 2020 Exploration

Congratulations to Justin Hicks PhD, Leonard Luyt PhD and Dr. Shehzad Ali on their NFRF grant award for their project titled "Assessing and addressing barriers for rural and remote Canadian communities to access nuclear molecular imaging of dementia" 

ISMRM Senior Fellowship Award

Paula Foster PhD, Director of the Collaborative Specialization in Molecular Imaging program and the Magnetic Particle Imaging Lab and Co-Director of the Translational Imaging Research Facility at Robarts Research Institute, has been awarded a Senior Fellowship from ISMRM in recognition of her achievements in cellular and molecular imaging. Paula has been closely involved in the activities of the ISMRM, teaching educational sessions and organizing workshops for both cancer imaging and molecular and cellular imaging. She also served as Chair of both the ISMRM Molecular and Cellular Imaging study group and the Cancer Imaging study group.

She is one of only 10 Canadians to ever receive this honour. Congratulations!

MRM Highlights Magazine

Udunna Anazodo is an Assistant Professor at Western University and an Imaging Scientist at the Lawson Health Research Institute and was featured as a rising MRI Canadian scientist.

Interview can be found HERE

NSERC Grant Success

NSERC Alliance Grant 
Dr. Frank Prato, (Lawson Imaging, Medical Biophysics), “Motion correction in hybrid PET/MRI cardiac imaging”
NSERC Discovery Grants Fall 2020 
Dr. Lisa Hoffman (Lawson Imaging, Medical Biophysics), “Muscle homeostasis: Role of the microvascular niche”
Dr. Alexei Ouriadov (Physics and Astronomy), “Hyperpolarized 129Xe MRI: Development of hardware, software and its PET-based validation”
Dr. Andrea Soddu (Physics and Astronomy, Brain and Mind), “Role of brain dimensionality in altered states of consciousness" 
NSERC Research Tools and Instruments Fall 2020 
Drs. Emma Duerden, Soume Bhattacharya, Sandrine de Ribaupierre, Keith St Lawrence “Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and the developing brain” 

ImNO 2021 Awards

Congratulations to all the award winners at the 2021 ImNO virtual conference! The 19th annual Imaging Network Ontario symposium was held on March 23rd and 24th, 2021. 

Impact of COVID-19 on the brain

Dr. Robert Bartha, acting director of Strategy and Scientific Integration at the Robarts Research Institute, has received a grant from Western University’s Research Catalyst Grant: Surviving Pandemics program. The team is hoping to recruit 60 patients who have experienced neurological symptoms from COVID-19.
https://london.ctvnews.ca/loss-of-taste-and-smell-from-covid-19-has-researchers-looking-at-other-impacts-on-the-brain-1.5349662

INOVAIT Spring 2021 Funding Round

INOVAIT is pleased to announce its upcoming Canada-wide call for applications from industry and academic members for its first open round of pilot funding for collaborative research and development projects in the image-guided therapy (IGT) and artificial intelligence (AI) space. The application period opens on Monday, March 8.
INOVAIT is a new pan-Canadian network funded by the Government of Canada and hosted at the Sunnybrook Research Institute with the objective of strengthening Canada’s leadership in the IGT sector by supporting and encouraging collaborative development and the integration of AI and data advances into medical technologies.
More Information

CIHR Success

Congratulation to BIRC Researchers on their successes in the Fall 2020 CIHR Project Grants competition! 
 
Maria Drangova (Allan Skanes): “Contact force controller to eliminate the effects of motion during cardiac radiofrequency ablation” 
John Ronald (Greg Dekaban, Paula Foster, Timothy Scholl, Jonathan Thiessen, Justin Hicks, Mansour Haeryfar): “Development of molecular imaging tools to monitor the fate of an off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor natural killer (CAR-NK) cell immunotherapy for breast cancer”. 

John Ronald (co-applicant with Michael Boffa (PI) and David Hess): “Development of a novel therapy to prevent breast cancer metastasis: modulation of TAF1, a master regulator of extracellular proteolysis”.  

Congratulations

Congratulations to Qin (Daisy) Sun, PhD candidate, on receiving a third place award from the Molecular Imaging in Nanotechnology and Theranostics Interest Group (MINT IG) at the World Molecular Imaging Congress 2020 for her presentation titled "Developing magnetic resonance reporter gene imaging: trajectory analysis of co-expressed magnetosome genes mamI and mamL".

January 4, 2021

Welcome to Medical Imaging

Dr. Amir Awwad (Diagnostic Radiologist) – Dr. Awwad is a Cardiothoracic Radiologist who joins the Department of Medical Imaging as an Assistant Professor.

November 3, 2020

2020 Dean’s Awards of Excellence – Faculty Research

Congratulations to Dr. Paula Foster, Robarts Imaging Scientist, for receiving the 2020 Dean's Award of Excellence: Faculty Research
Paula is the Leader of the Cellular and Molecular Imaging group at Robarts, and the Director of the Collaborative Graduate Program in Molecular Imaging. Her research focusses on cellular MRI for immune and cancer cell tracking, and more recently, she is the Canadian leader in the new technology of magnetic particle imaging. She is also an outstanding mentor for her students and is a champion of diversity and inclusion in imaging.
Follow Paula on Twitter @PJ_Foster, and her research group at @RobartsCMIGroup.

October 28, 2020

EU Joint Programme on Neurodegenerative Disease (JPND) Research in Partnership with CIHR

Congratulations to Dr. Udunna Anazodo (Canadian partner, site PI) and Dr. Justin Hicks (co-applicant) on their recent grant award. The project, titled DEBBIE, is to develop a non-invasive biomarker for early blood-brain barrier breakdown in Alzheimer's. The project was one of 12 that were recommended for funding by an independent, international Peer Review Panel based on scientific excellence with input from the JPND advisory board on patient and public involvement

More information

Welcome to Medical Imaging

Dr. Jaron Chong (Diagnostic Radiologist) – July 17, 2020 - Dr. Chong is a Body Radiologist who joins the Department of Medical Imaging as an Assistant Professor.

Dr Leandro Cardarelli Leite (Interventional Radiologist) – August 21, 2020 - Dr. Leite is a Vascular Interventional Radiologist who joins the Department of Medical Imaging as an Assistant Professor.

Dr. Harry Marshall (Diagnostic Radiologist) – September 1, 2020 - Dr. Marshall is a Body Radiologist who joins the Department of Medical Imaging as an Assistant Professor.

Dr. Vishal Kalia (Diagnostic MSK Radiologist) – November 1, 2020 - Dr. Kalia is a Musculoskeletal Radiologist who joins the Department of Medical Imaging as an Assistant Professor

July 23, 2020

LRCP Chief Medical Physicist

Dr. Stewart Gaede, PhD. Associate Professor in the Departments of Oncology, and Medical Biophysics with the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University has been named Chief Medical Physicist at LRCP effective July 31st, 2020.

LRCP Chief Medical Physicist

July 23, 2020

Robarts Research Acting Director

Robert Bartha, PhD, has been appointed as Acting Director, Strategy and Scientific Integration at Robarts Research Institute, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry effective July 27, 2020.

https://www.robarts.ca/announcement-acting-director

HSF Bridge Grants

Congratulations to co-principal investigators Udunna Anazodo (Lawson Health Research Institute) and Stephanie Frisbee (Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Western) on their Heart and Stroke Foundation Bridge Grant success titled "Exploring the inflammatory heart-brain connection: An In vivo imaging study of associations of myocardial inflammation to neuroinflammation and early cerebrovascular degeneration in patients with ischemic heart disease." Co-investigators: Frank Prato, J. Kevin Shoemaker, Krishna Singh, Jefferson Frisbee, Peter Prior, Neville Suskin
Congratulations to Frank Prato (Lawson Health Research Institute) on his Heart and Stroke Foundation Bridge grant titled "Improving Non-Invasive Imaging of Myocardial Ischemia and Inflammation". Co-investigators: Gerry Wisenberg, Rohan Dharmakumar

May 14, 2020

Western Research Catalyst Grant Success

Congratulations to Rob Bartha and David Holdsworth on their Western Research Catalyst Grant success!
PI: Robert Bartha (Robarts Research Institute) - "Long Term Neurologic Effects of Severe COVID-19 Illness"

Co-investigators: Ravi Menon, Corey Baron, Doug Fraser, Elizabeth Finger, Stephen Pasternak, Michael Silverman, Marko Mrkobrada, Michael Jurkiewicz, Erin Spicer, Don Welsh. Additional Investigators Contributing to project: Luciano Sposato, Anthony Tang, Megan Devlin

PI:  David Holdsworth (Robarts Research Institute, Depts. of Surgery and Medical Biophysics) - "Emergency ventilator system using additive manufacturing"

Co-investigators: Gord Campbell, Ana Luisa Trejos, Christopher DeGroot, James Lacefield, Christopher Harle, Marat Slessarev

April 27, 2020

Congratulations to BIRC researchers on their NSERC Discovery Grant Success!

Rob Bartha, Paula Foster, Stew Gaede, David Holdsworth, Sarah Mattonen, Terry Peters, Frank Prato

April 22, 2020

Joint study on PTSD treatment for first responders gets $1M in funding

A joint study between Western and McMaster universities is looking at a new approach to treating public safety personnel (PSP) such as nurses, doctors, and first responders suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

https://london.ctvnews.ca/joint-study-on-ptsd-treatment-for-first-responders-gets-1m-in-funding-1.4905119

CanCOVID

CanCOVID is an expert network of Canadian COVID-19 researchers, clinical collaborators, and healthcare stakeholders from across the country. Canada’s Chief Science Officer mandated the creation of CanCOVID to expedite communication and collaboration between the scientific, healthcare and policy communities during the COVID-19 crisis.

cancovid.ca 

Western advanced manufacturing medical face shields for fight against COVID-19

Western University is supporting production of low-cost, substantively effective medical face shields that could be in hospitals for healthcare workers (HCW) within days if not hours.

Learn more

First magnetic particle imaging paper in Canada published by Robarts Cellular and Molecular Imaging Group

In a first-in-Canada study led by Olivia Sehl and Dr. Paula Foster, magnetic particle imaging (MPI), together with iron-based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and fluorine-based MRI, was used to demonstrate quantitative monitoring of mesenchymal stem cell engraftment and the resulting inflammation over time. This is the first paper to combine these imaging technologies to study the fate of two different cell populations (MSCs and macrophages) simultaneously in vivo. This is also the first publication to feature MPI data acquired at a Canadian institution, after the installation of an MPI system at the Robarts Research Institute in August of 2019.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6935990/

CIHR Grant awards

Congratulations to Dr. Ting-Yim Lee,  Dr. Aaron So and Dr. Rob Bartha
Dr. Ting-Yim Lee - "Selective Brain Hypothermia via Intranasal Cooling to Limit Brain Injury Post Cardiac Arrest"
Dr. Aaron So - "Multi-centre diagnostic performance of dynamic CT perfusion for functional assessment of multi-vessel coronary artery disease with dense coronary calcification"
Dr. Rob Bartha (co-investigator, PI Dr. Neil Duggal) - "The Role of Neural Plasticity in Rehabilitation for Reversible Spinal Cord Compression in Elderly Patients"

Medical study aims to better detect breast cancer through 3D imaging

Dr. Anat Kornecki, Lawson scientist and radiologist at St. Joseph's, London, Ontario leads the medical study to better detect cancer through 3D imaging

Breast Cancer 3 D Imaging

Newsmakers 2019

Imaging scientist, Dr. Grace Parraga, is a Western University Newsmaker of the Year 2019

https://news.westernu.ca/2019/12/newsmakers-2019-grace-parraga/

Western University lung imaging studies challenge assumptions about asthma

Two studies led by Rachel Eddy and Dr. Grace Parraga show that hyperpolarized MRI reveals unique and permanent patterns in ventilation defects in lungs of people with asthma. 

Study looks at how to slow progression of dementia

Dr. Michael Borrie is leading a study using PET scans to slow the progression of dementia....

https://london.ctvnews.ca/study-looks-at-how-to-slow-progression-of-dementia 

Alavi-Mandell Award 2019

Tracy Ssali, PhD candidate (Medical Biophysics, supervisor Dr. Keith St. Lawrence) has received the Alavi–Mandell Award for her publication titled “A Non-invasive Method for Quantifying Cerebral Blood Flow by Hybrid PET/MR”. 

The award is given to individuals who were the first author of a paper published in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, were trainees at the time the published work was carried out and made a major contribution to the completion of the work.

500 Women Scientists

BIRC is proud to support equity, diversity, and inclusion in science and excited to see the founding of a 500 Women Scientists pod in London, Ontario. 

Read more about this group: https://bit.ly/2DfslwM


BIRC members Jessica Rodgers and Dr. Aaron Fenster were recently featured in the news highlighting their work on a 3D ultrasound system for gynaecological cancer therapy. Read about it here: https://bit.ly/2ZhYYDd


Congratulations to all of the award winners at the 2019 ImNO Symposium!

Oral award winners: Katie Parkins (1st Place), Adam Paish (2nd Place), Ajay Rajaram (3rd Place), and Seva Ioussoufovitch, Erind Alushaj, Alexander Matheson, and Mark Asselin (Honourable Mentions).
Poster award winners: Mahsa Bataghva (1st Place), Amy Schranz (2nd Place), Stecia-Marie Fletcher (3rd Place), and Maryam Mozaffari, Riley Bloomfield, Jessica Rodgers, and Hui Wang (Honourable Mentions).