Congratulations to the recipients of the BC Cancer Foundation (BCCF) Rising Stars Graduate Awards competition!
This year’s awardees are:
- Melika Bakharzi, Basic and Translational Research, “Dissecting Cellular and Molecular Drivers of Osteolytic Lesions in Multiple Myeloma via High-Resolution Transcriptomics and Spatial Imaging”
- Brendan Chia, Medical Oncology, “A Framework for Evaluating Surrogate Endpoint Validation Evidence in Gastrointestinal Oncology Trials”
- Emma Friesen, Basic and Translational Research, “Development of CXCR4-Targeting Radiopharmaceuticals for the Treatment of Hematological Malignancies”
- Yue Zhou (Joe) Huang, Basic and Translational Research, Sorensen “Enhancing Immunotherapeutic Efficacy against Solid Tumors: Targeting Tumor Associated Macrophages in Ewing Sarcoma”
- Yi Jou (Ruby) Liao, Basic and Translational Research, “Prevalence and clinicogenomic dissection of tumor suppressor loss in lethal metastatic prostate cancer”
- Yingying Liu, Basic and Translational Research, “Multi-omic single-cell analysis for identification of key molecular drivers of disease progression in chronic myeloid leukemia”
- Franziska Mey, Basic and Translational Research, “Loss of FBXO11 shapes clonal architecture in a cell non-autonomous manner in acute myeloid leukemia”
- Placide Sesonga, Basic and Translational Research, “Genomic characterization of early breast cancer among young women in Rwanda”
- Asha Subramaniam, Basic and Translational Research, “Developing DUSP4/6 small molecule inhibitors for lung adenocarcinoma”
- Jasper Wong, Basic and Translational Research, “The role of the tumour microenvironment and genetic determinants in aggressive extranodal B cell lymphomas”
- Ali Zaidi, Medical Oncology, “Integrating multi-omic approaches and preclinical model development to guide precision therapy in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms”
- Jenny Zhao, Basic and Translational Research, “Charting unconventional transformation trajectories and dependencies in B-cell lymphomas”
The Rising Stars awards are a tribute to Dr. Connie Eaves, whose remarkable career and contributions to science continue to inspire our community. Dr. Eaves was the recipient of the Gairdner Wrightman Award, elected into the Royal Society in the UK, and appointed the Order of Canada. Her legacy of excellence and dedication to advancing cancer research lives on through these awards.
To honour this legacy, the awards are dedicated to the advancement of the next generation of women and BIPOC leaders in research at BC Cancer.
The Rising Stars program was launched in 2022 thanks to BC Cancer Foundation donor funding, and is currently supported through the BC Cancer Government Grant to the BC Cancer Foundation.
Congratulations to this year’s award recipients.