Jessica Breznik (co-supervised by Dr. Deborah Sloboda) won the “Best Presentation by a PhD student” while Pat Schenck (co-supervised by Dr. Mike Surette) won runner up! What a wonderful tribute to their skills in both research and communication – well done!
Congratulations Sara for winning the Gerald T Simons award for her presentation at the Microscopical Society of Canada and Microscopical Society of America (M&M2018) in Baltimore.
To read her award winning abstract, click here.
Congratulations to the newly minted Dr. Loukov on successfully defending her thesis entitled “Age-Associated Inflammation impairs Myeloid Development and Monocyte & Macrophage Function”!
The newly minted Dr. Loukov drinks from the chalice.
Dessi celebrates her thesis defence with one of her mentors Dr. Mark McDermott.
Two doctors.
The Bowdish lab would like to congratulate our latest MSc, Grace Teskey on a great MSc defence. Congratulations Grace!
Grace drinks from the chalic after defending her MSc.
Grace’s words of wisdom.
Congratulations to Melissa Ling, a former Bowdish lab undergraduate thesis student who was accepted to Yale University’s Masters of Medical Science in the Physician Associate Program. This prestigious program has a 3.6% acceptance rate so we are very proud of her.
Best of luck Melissa!
Pictured here in her Bowdish lab days.
Congratulations to Jessica Breznik on passing her comprehensive exam with distinction. Seen here with to proud supervisors Dr. Dawn Bowdish (left) and Dr. Deborah Sloboda (right).
Kyle Novakowski successfully defended his thesis “IDENTIFICATION AND FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERIZATION OF CONSERVED RESIDUES AND DOMAINS IN THE MACROPHAGE SCAVENGER RECEPTOR MARCO” to become the Bowdish lab’s 4th PhD student. He’ll be joining Turnstone Biologics as a PhD scientist. We wish him very well in his future endeavours. Congratulations Dr. Novakowski!
Dr. Dawn Bowdish and her PhD student Dessi Loukov collaborated with Dr. Monica Maly and Sara Karampatos (Rehabilitation Science) and found that monocytes were more activated and pro-inflammatory in women with osteoarthritis, and that elevated inflammation and body mass index were associated with increased monocyte activation. Further, the team found that women with osteoarthritis and more activated monocytes experienced worse pain than individuals with less activated monocytes. These findings highlight the importance of modulating inflammation and body mass to manage osteoarthritis and open up new avenues for therapeutic research.
Read the full publication in the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) Journal
As featured in Eureka Alert: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-11/mu-rul112717.php
First author on the publication, PhD student Kyle Novakowski of Dr. Dawn Bowdish’s lab.
A common element that links ancient fish that dwell in the darkest depths of the oceans to land mammals, Neanderthals, and humans is the necessity to defend against pathogens. Hundreds of millions of years of evolution have shaped how our innate immune cells, such as macrophages, detect and destroy microorganisms.
In a new study led by Dr. Dawn Bowdish (in collaboration with Dr. Brian Golding) and her PhD student Kyle Novakowski, the team identified novel sites within a macrophage receptor, MARCO, that are under positive selection and are human-specific. The team demonstrated the importance of these sites by site-directed mutation and showed a reduction in cellular binding and uptake of pathogens. These findings demonstrate how small genetic changes in humans can influence how we defend ourselves against pathogens.
Read the full publication in Oxford University Press.
The lab that plays together stays (late nights scienc-ing) together, which is why the Bowdish lab had our annual retreat at Zacada circus school. Here we got some very sore muscles and discussed our successes and challenges of the past year and what our goals and ambitious are for the following year. Go Team!
Our annual lab retreat for 2017 was at Zacada Circus school where we learned the trapeze, silks and ran up and down this ninja wall!
Top: Kyle, Dhanyi, Melodie, Joseph, Dessi, Grace, Pat, Mohammad
Bottom: Sara, Janine, Helen, Jessica, Dawn, Allison, Christian.