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Session Information

2009 Annual Meeting

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Pre-clinical Animal Irradiation of In Vivo Cancer Models: Can We Better Mimic the Human Condition?

Track : Panel

Program Code: PAN04

Date: Sunday, November 1, 2009

Time: 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM EST

Duration: 90 Minutes

Location: W192

SPEAKER(S):

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David Jaffray, Ph.D., Professor, Princess Margaret Hospital

Albert Van der Kogel, Professor, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

Ralph DaCosta, Physicist, Princess Margaret Hospital

Dr. Ralph DaCosta received his PhD from the Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, under the supervision of Dr. Brian C. Wilson. His graduate research focused on the development and pioneering clinical application of advanced optical molecular imaging technologies for endoscopic diagnosis of early gastrointestinal cancers. In this work, major advances were made towards improving the accuracy of conventional diagnostic endoscopy which continues to have direct clinical benefit to endoscopic cancer screening strategies in Canada and around the world. Currently, Dr. DaCosta is an Assistant Scientist and Principal Investigator in the Division of Biophysics and Bioimaging, Ontario Cancer Institute, University Health Network (UHN). Recognizing the immense potential of advanced optical imaging and new molecular probe technologies to detect disease, elucidate disease mechanisms and provide valuable biological information on response to treatment, Dr. DaCosta is developing a comprehensive research program at UHN with a central focus on accelerating the translation of these bioimaging capabilities directly into the clinical domain. Specifically, he is exploring i) the application of optical molecular imaging methods to illuminate the processes activated by radiation therapy with the long term goal of real-time monitoring of tumor response in individual patients (e.g. for adaptive intervention), and ii) the use of novel cancer-targeting imaging agents with hybrid medical imaging systems (e.g. combining CT and optical) for enhancing the endoscopic detection of early cancers (called molecular bioendoscopy). Dr. DaCosta was recently awarded the 2009 Cancer Care Ontario Research Chair in Cancer imaging, and is one of Canadas leading experts in the area of biophotonics, especially in the preclinical development and clinical application of optical molecular imaging and molecular biomarker-targeted probe technologies, particularly for cancer diagnosis, treatment response monitoring and image-guided intervention. He is also a faculty member of the Radiation Medicine Program (Princess Margaret Hospital) and the Spatio-Temporal Targeted and Amplification of Radiation Response (STTARR) Innovation Center at UHN. In this capacity, he functions as a primary portal for bioimaging at UHN and is engaged in the application and clinical translation of multimodal molecular imaging and probe technology platforms into key areas through multiple research and clinical collaborations within UHN, including: endoscopic oncology, cancer stem cell biology, cancer immunotherapy, image-guided surgery, radiation oncology, cell- and virotherapy, regenerative medicine, cardiology, and diabetes. Dr. DaCosta has academic appointments in the Departments of Radiation Oncology and Medical Biophysics (University of Toronto) and is the recipient of multiple peer-reviewed funding awards from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Ontario Institutes of Health Research, the Ontario Research Fund, the Ontario Centers of Excellence, and Cancer Care Ontario. His contribution to the field of cancer imaging has been recognized by numerous awards and invited presentations at international meetings.

Patricia Lindsay, Assistant Professor, Princess Margaret Hospital

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