‘The research marks you forever’: SRI students showcase their summer research projects

Undergraduate students across Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) and the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program presented their summer research projects at the annual SRI Summer Student Poster Competition and the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Summer Student Presentation Day events last week, celebrating the finale in a summer’s worth of effort.

Since May, students worked under the mentorship of SRI scientists to gain hands-on experience in hospital-based research programs. For students like Sam Dabir, whose poster ‘Investigating the suppression of alcohol addiction using ultrasound-responsive nanodroplets’ won first place in the Physical Sciences platform at the SRI Summer Student Poster Competition, the opportunity was among his first steps on a path towards a career in research.

“My experience at Sunnybrook in the focused ultrasound lab has opened so many doors for me,” he says. “I was given an opportunity to develop a preclinical model, assess brain histology and MRI images, perform data analysis, and practice so many other skills that gave me the necessary background to further my career in STEM.”

The sentiment was echoed at the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Summer Student Presentation Day: “The research you do as an undergraduate student marks you forever,” Dr. Clement Hamani, research director of the Hurvitz Brain Sciences program, said in his opening remarks.

The research posters and presentations culminated in 93 poster presentations across the Biological Sciences, Evaluative Clinical Sciences and Physical Sciences research platforms, as well as 12 presentations in the Hurvitz Brian Sciences research program. 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 the award winners:

SRI Summer Student Poster Competition

Biological Sciences

First place: Robson Smith
Supervisor: Dr. Juan Carlos Zúñiga-Pflücker
Project: Using HOXB4 to Overcome Obstacles of ProT Engraftment

Honorable mention: Jacqueline Wong
Supervisor: Dr. Sascha Drewlo
Project: Trophoblast Organoids: Development of a Novel 3D Model for the Study of Placental Pathologies

Evaluative Clinical Sciences

First place: Sierra Miller
Supervisor: Dr. Jeffrey Fialkov
Project: ALINE – A Novel Medical Device to Assess Intra-Operative Facial Symmetry

Second place: Chloe Lowry
Supervisor: Dr. Ahtsham Niazi
Project: Effect of a pre-operative internet-based educational video providing both opioid counselling and pain coping skills on post-operative opioid consumption

Third place: Mary Morgan 
Supervisor: Dr. Heather VanderMeulen
Project: Ferric Derisomaltose versus Iron Sucrose in Pregnancy (FLIP): A Retrospective Observational Study on Outpatient Intravenous Iron Infusion Capacity

Physical Sciences

First place: Sam Dabir
Supervisor: Dr. Harriet Lea-Banks
Project: Investigating the suppression of alcohol addiction using ultrasound-responsive nanodroplets

Honorable mention: Kaito Hara-Lee
Supervisor: Dr. Jamie Near
Project: Comparison of Lipid Suppression Techniques for In Vivo Whole Brain MR Spectroscopic Imaging

Hurvitz Brain Sciences Summer Student Presentation Day

Gary MacDonald Award: Keeirah Raguram
Supervisor: Dr. Krista Lanctôt
Project: Correlation between Performance on Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Canadian Stroke Network (NINDS-CSN) Neuropsychological Battery in Patients with Vascular Disease: Analysis of the MOVE-IT Trial

The Gary MacDonald Award was created in memory of the late Gary MacDonald, a former Sunnybrook patient and supporter of brain sciences research. The award was presented to the top application in the Hurvitz Summer Student Program.

Presentation awards

First Place – Donald T. Stuss Award: Kayla Saul
Supervisor: Dr. Sara Mitchell
Project: From Silos to Synergy: Quality Improvement (QI) in Interdisciplinary Brain Medicine

The Donald T Stuss Award recognizes the top presentation of the day, determined by a panel of scientist judges in the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program. The award was created in memory of Dr. Donald Stuss, a deeply missed colleague, friend and visiting scientist of Sunnybrook Research Institute who passed away in 2019.

Second Place: Emily Li
Supervisor: Dr. Amy Yu
Project: Acute Stroke Care in Ontario: The Rise in Inter-Hospital Transfers Between 2013-2022

Third Place: Jack He
Supervisor: Dr. Bojana Stefanovic
Project: Multimodal Characterization of Neuronal Network Stochasticity to Sensory Stimulation

Bringing the Sunnybrook summer student experience to more learners

Each year, more than 200 high school students apply into the Focused Ultrasound High School Summer Research Program. With only 25 spots available, all other candidates still have the chance to take part. They’re encouraged to join the weekly seminars on a virtual basis to hear about the research being conducted by leading SRI scientists. On the day of the SRI Summer Student Poster Competition, they’re invited to Sunnybrook to take a tour of different lab spaces across SRI and get a behind-the-scenes look at SRI’s research spaces before heading to the poster competition.