Over the summer, Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) hosts some of the brightest students within the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) space. Undergraduate students across SRI recently presented their summer research projects at the annual SRI Summer Student Poster Competition and the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Summer Student Presentation Day. These competitions allowed students to celebrate the finale of their efforts and showcase what they’ve learned at Sunnybrook this summer. For many students, this hands-on experience with research will inspire them to pursue further education and careers tackling some of health-care’s biggest challenges.
There were 95 poster presentations at the SRI Summer student Poster Competition across the Biological Sciences, Evaluative Clinical Sciences and Physical Sciences research platforms this year and 15 presentations at the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Summer Student Presentation Day. The SRI Summer Student Poster Competition and the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Summer Student Presentation Day each included prizes awarded to winning presentations, acknowledging the top student research projects of the summer.
Congratulations to all the award winners!
SRI Summer Student Poster Competition
Physical Sciences
First place: Jack He
Supervisor: Dr. Bojana Stefanovic
Project: Disrupted neuronal firing randomness correlates with cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease
Evaluative Clinical Sciences
First place: Nicholina Boutros
Supervisors: Dr. Brian Murray and Dr. Mark Boulos
Project: Effects of antiepileptic medications on sleep architecture and sleep apnea
Second place: Adam Mohamed
Supervisors: Dr. Lei Fu and Dr. Nir Melamed
Project: Trend analysis of sFlt-1/PlGF biomarker utilization for preeclampsia at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (2020-2025)
Third place: Aastha Vaidhya
Supervisor: Dr. Jennifer Rabin
Project: The moderating role of primary care access in the association between vascular risk and cognition in multiethnic older adults: A HABS-HD study
Biological Sciences
First place: Nicole Sia
Supervisor: Dr. Sascha Drewlo
Project: Trophoblast organoid model development under high and low oxygen tensions
Hurvitz Brain Sciences Summer Student Presentation Day
Gary MacDonald Awards
The Gary MacDonald Award was created in memory of the late Gary MacDonald, a former Sunnybrook patient and supporter of brain sciences research. The awards were presented to the top applications in the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Summer Student Research Program.
First place: Negeen Halabian
Supervisor: Dr. Ying Meng
Project: A safety and feasibility study to evaluate blood-brain barrier disruption using exablate MR-guided focused ultrasound in combination with doxorubicin in treating pediatric patients with diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas”
Second place: Jenna Alalouf
Supervisor: Dr. Richard Swartz
Project: Attrition bias in longitudinal cognitive data: Results from the Alzheimer’s disease neuroimaging initiative study
Third place: Ren Minamisono
Supervisor: Dr. Carol Schuurmans
Project: Plagl1 regulates the retinal progenitor cell to Müller glia cell transition
Hurvitz Brain Sciences Summer Student Research Day Presentation Awards
Presentation awards are also awarded to the top presentations of the day, determined by a panel of scientist judges in the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program. The top presentation is awarded the Donald T Stuss Presentation award created in memory of Dr. Donald Stuss, a deeply missed colleague, friend and visiting scientist of Sunnybrook Research Institute who passed away in 2019.
The Donald T Stuss Presentation Award
First place: Jenna Alalouf
Supervisor: Dr. Richard Swartz
Project: Attrition bias in longitudinal cognitive data: Results from the Alzheimer’s disease neuroimaging initiative study
Second place: Jay Du
Supervisor: Dr. Bojana Stefanovic
Project: Teacher-student approach advances 3D cerebral vessel segmentation in LSFM through improved generalization
Third place: Emily Kapustin
Supervisors: Dr. Sara Mitchell, Dr. Sarah Levitt
Project: Piloting a self-report tool for dementia risk factors in the brain medicine clinic