Doctoral student Mack Dodge wins an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) award!
Doctoral student Katelyn MacNeil wins a nationally competitive NSERC CGS-D Award!
Congratulations to both of you for winning these prestigious awards!
Former doctoral students Drs. Steve Gameiro and Martin Prusinkiewicz both won CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards in the most recent competition!
Congratulations to both of these recent graduates from the Mymryk lab.
Amazing to watch you both continue to blaze a trail of successes and great to see you both easily compete for these highly competitive national awards.
Dr. Matthew Miller, a former PhD student in the Mymryk Lab and current Associate Professor at McMaster University, won a 2022 Schulich Alumni of Distinction Award!
Matt won the Excellence in Basic Science Research Award, and completed both his BSc and PhD in the Microbiology & Immunology program here at Western.
Matt is a marvelous guy and wholly deserving of this prestigious recognition from his alma mater.
We are all really proud of Matt's many impressive achievements!
Andris Evans passed her PhD candidacy exam in Microbiology & Immunology with distinction!
She completed her exam on Wednesday, March 30th.
Thanks to Drs. Jessica Prodger, Jimmy Dikeakos and Fred Dick for serving as examiners, Dr. Ewa Cairns for chairing the exam and Laura Cardozo for administrative help.
Team Mymryk is very happy to have Andris around for a few more years as she completes her PhD research!
Fantastic Work! Hopefully Andris was not too Stressed out by the experience, but its a great excuse for Desserts.
OR, a nice breakfast with big stacks of pancakes.
Check out this note on the pink chalk board from the Spring Market at the Factory in London.
Obvious there are a highly enlightened group of people in this city!
Adeno Rocks!
We published quite a few collaborative research papers recently, including:
Congratulations everyone on all this excellent research, especially the first authors Krupal, Naif, Hugh, Nicole and Jiani!
Collectively, this represents a ton of effort by a small army of highly skilled scientists.
Dr. Tanner Tessier and Mack Dodge, a PDF and PhD candidate in the Mymryk lab respectively, are co-first authors of a new paper titled Almost famous: Human adenoviruses (and what they have taught us about cancer).
This review was recently accepted by the journal Tumour Virus Research.
As you can tell, some of us probably watch too many movies.
The title is not intended as an insult to adenovirologists (or Kate Hudson).
The title reflects the fact that human adenovirus is the only small DNA tumor virus without a family member that causes human cancers, thus making it "Almost Famous".
Nevertheless, adeno has taught us a lot about cancers and this review tries to do justice to the important insights that adenovirus researchers have contributed to cancer research.
Excellent work Tanner and co-first author Mack Dodge! Special thanks to other Mymryk lab teamates, Katelyn MacNeil, Andris Evans and Dr. Martin Prusinkiewicz, we couldn't have done it without you!
New doctoral student Andris Evans wins a RGE Murray Graduate Scholarship in Microbiology & Immunology!
Great job on winning this valuable studentship!
Its really great that our graduate program has the resources to honor Dr. Murray, a truly outstanding Microbiologist.
Doctoral student Mack Dodge wins an OGS Scholarship!
Congratulations on winning this studentship award!
Andris joins us after completing her MSc in Immunology and Global Health at Maynooth University in Ireland.
Glad to have you join the team!
Wyatt Anderson, former MSc trainee in the lab and all-around great guy gifted me with a this lovely hand axe as a parting gift.
With a handcrafted block of live edge London timber from woodworker extraordinaire, Dr. John Barrett, its finally proudly on display on my desk.
Thanks very much Wyatt!
I was already told it would be more terrifying if I had at least one 4 fingered trainee.
Dr. Martin Prusinkiewicz, a recent PhD graduate from the Mymryk laboratory, publishes another first author review paper!
The title is: "Metabolic Control by DNA
Tumor Virus-Encoded Proteins", and it was published in the journal Pathogens.
Martin reviews how 4 different DNA tumor viruses (Adenovirus, HPV, EBV and KSHV) can potentially reprogram cellular metabolism via their interactions with MYC, p53, and pRb/E2F.
Congratulations Martin! Pleasure to see your work published.
PhD candidate Mack Dodge's recent review in Antivirial Research was chosen as Highlighted Article – February 2021.
Great to see the hard work of this team of authors (Mack, Katelyn, Tanner, Jason & Joe) recognized!
Former MSc candidate Katelyn MacNeil has successfully transferred to the PhD program in Microbiology & Immunology!
She completed her PhD candidacy/qualification exam on Thursday, April 1st.
Thanks to Drs. Alp Sener, Jimmy Dikeakos and Ryan Troyer for serving as examiners, Dr. Sung Kim for chairing the exam and Umera Ali for administrative help.
Team Mymryk is very happy to have Katelyn around for a few more years as she completes her PhD research!
Excellent Work! Hopefully Katelyn won't succumb to the dreaded PQS syndrome.
The Mymryk laboratory had a chance to contribute to this paper recently accepted by the journal Biomolecules.
It is titled: "Expression and Functional Analysis of the Argonaute Protein of Thermus thermophilus (TtAgo) in E. coli BL21(DE3)".
Thank you Dr. Zhang for this chance to work with you on this interesting area of study!
Tanner Tessier successfully defended his PhD thesis on Tuesday, March 23rd.
His thesis was entitled "Characterization and Discovery of Short Linear Motifs Mediating Protein Nuclear Import".
Many thanks to Drs. Jacques Archambault (McGill), James Choy, Steve Barr and Ryan Troyer for serving as examiners, Dr. Mahi Singh for chairing the exam and Umera Ali for administrative and technical help.
Here is a screen shot of the Zoom defense.
I would also like to thank Drs. Chris Brandl and Greg Dekaban for serving on Tanner's thesis advisory committee.
Congratulations Tanner! Your talk was excellent and all your examiners were very impressed by your work and defense.
Martin Prusinkiewicz successfully defended his PhD thesis on Wednesday, February 24th.
His thesis was entitled "Metabolic Reprogramming By DNA Tumour Viruses".
Many thanks to Drs. Jose Teodoro (McGill), Dean Betts, Steve Barr and Rod DeKoter for serving as examiners, and Dr. Weiping Min for chairing the examination.
Thank also to Drs. Trevor Shepherd, Hon Leong and Rod DeKoter for serving on his thesis advisory committee.
Congratulations Martin! You did an excellent job and impressed your examiners.
Dr. Prusinkiewicz is the 12th PhD student to graduate from the Mymryk Laboratory.
Its just like the Dirty Dozen, but none of them are convicted killers, or in the army, and this isn't WWII.
Mack Dodge, a PhD candidate in the Mymryk lab is first author of a new paper recently accepted by the journal Antiviral Research.
This is Mack's first, 1st author paper, and it covers the general field of knowledge surrounding antiviral agents potentially useful for treating human adenovirus infections.
Excellent work Mack!
Special thanks to other Mymryk lab teamates, Katelyn MacNeil and Tanner Tessier, as well as our collaborator Dr. Jason Weinberg.
We couldn't have done this without your invaluable help!
Drs. Steve Gameiro and Farhad Ghasemi, both former trainees in the Mymryk/Nichols laboratory have published an interesting study recently accepted by the journal Infectious Agents and Cancer.
This work identified low expression of the NSD family of protein methyltransferases (including NSD1, 2 and 3) in HPV positive head and neck cancers as a potential indicator of treatment failure.
Congratulations on another really nice paper guys and thanks to all your coauthors for their assistance!
This is the 15th paper from Steve's PhD and the 16th for Farhad's undergraduate medical and residency training here in London.
Very immpressive!
Dr. Hedyeh Ziai, a former trainee in the Nichols laboratory, is first author of another very nice collaborative paper recently accepted by the Internation Journal of Otolaryngology.
This work characterizes the London HPV positive head and neck cancer cohort, with an emphasis on the impact of HPV subtype on patient outcomes.
Congratulations on this nice paper Hedyeh and thanks for including the Mymryk lab as collaborators!
Wyatt has been working on the impact of HPV on expression of proinflammatory cytokines in head and neck cancer.
Thanks to Drs. Timoshenko, Dikeakos and Troyer for serving as examiners.
Wyatt is a huge John Wick fan, but as far as we know, he never once killed three men in a bar with a pencil.
However, thesis exams around here can be pretty rough!
Congratulations Wyatt!
Eric Di Gravio, a medical trainee in the Nichols laboratory, is first author of a new paper recently accepted by the journal Radiation Oncology.
This work, based on a London patient cohort in a collaboration between multiple clinical disciplines, shows that primary radiotherapy or chemo-radiation therapy provides outstanding survival for early stage disease in the head and neck, with low rates of severe toxicities. This work provides a solid reference for comparison of patient outcomes for those treated using promising newer approaches like transoral surgery.
Excellent work Eric and thanks for including the Mymryk lab in this study!
Dr. Kara Ruicci, a former MD/Phd trainee in the Nichols laboratory, is first author of another very nice collaborative paper recently accepted by the Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research.
This work identified the TYRO3 and AXL receptors as key mediators of resistance to PI3Kα inhibitor alpelisib.
Congratulations on another really nice paper Kara and thanks for including the Mymryk lab as collaborators!
Dr. Steven Gameiro, a former doctoral student in the Mymryk lab, was recently awarded the Poland Award as top graduating PhD student of the last year.
Congratulations on receiving our most prestigious departmental award.
Its been a pleasure to have the opportunity to work with you, and we are all so happy to see your continued success.
Steve, you really are the TOP GUN!
Dr. Nicole Pinto, a recent PhD graduate from the Nichols laboratory, publishes another first author paper!
The title is: "Flavopiridol causes cell cycle inhibition and demonstrates anti-cancer activity in anaplastic thyroid cancer models", and it was published in the journal PLOS ONE.
Nicole investigated the effects of flavopiridol, a CDK inhibitor, on anaplastic thyroid cancer cells and found some very interesting anti-tumor effects that could have clinical potential for treating this devistating disease.
Congratulations Nicole on another high quality publication from you PhD research and thanks for including the Mymryk lab as collaborators!
Dr. Anthony Nichols is a co-applicant on this grant, and he was also awarded a CIHR grant titled "Mechanisms of resistance to cisplatin and radiation in human papillomavirus (HPV) related head and neck cancer".
Neither of these grants would have been successful without the hard work of many talented people on the Mymryk and Nichols teams and the strong collaborations between our labs and a number of other labs here in Canada and across the world.
In a team effort by Dr. Farhad Ghasemi, Tanner Tessier and Dr. Steven Gameiro the Mymryk lab publishes a second paper on Epstein-Barr virus associated gastric cancer!
The title is: "High MHC-II expression in Epstein–Barr virus-associated gastric cancers suggests that tumor cells serve an important role in antigen presentation", and it was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
We report evidence that EBV associated human gastric cancers express unexpectedly high levels of the MHC-II antigen presentation system, which may contribute to the improved patient outcomes observed for these virally induced cancers.
Congratulations to Tanner on his 9th publication as a PhD candidate, Steve on his 14th publication while a PhD student and Farhad on his 13th publication as a medical trainee!
Thanks also to Drs. Maciver and Cecchini for their help in getting this project published.
Graduate students Katelyn MacNeil and Mack Dodge were recently awarded 2020 RGE Murray Scholarships from the MNI Department.
Congratulations on winning these valuable awards! Your hard work has started to pay off!
I don't have any good quotes from Dr. Bob Murray, so a quote from another famous Murray will have to suffice.
Tanner Tessier, a senior PhD candidate in the Mymryk laboratory, publishes another first author paper!
The title is: "Piggybacking on Classical Import and Other Non-Classical Mechanisms of Nuclear Import Appear Highly Prevalent within the Human Proteome", and it was published in the journal Biology.
Tanner investigated the frequency of classical nuclear import signals in the human nuclear proteome and finds evidence that many human nuclear proteins traffic to the nucleus via a piggybacking mechanism.
Congratulations to Tanner on his 4th, first author/co-first author publication as a PhD candidate!
To think it all started with a forgotten keycard!
Cason King, a former PhD student in the Mymryk laboratory, and Tanner Tessier, a senior PhD candidate in the Mymryk lab, are co-first authors of a new paper recently published in the Journal of Virology.
The title is: "Inhibition of human adenovirus replication by the importin α/β1 nuclear import inhibitor ivermectin".
This is Cason's tenth paper, and Tanner's seventh.
Congratulations to all the people who contributed to this interesting project looking at the potential role of nuclear import inhibition as an approach for targeting adenovirus infections.
We couldn't have done it without your help Mack and Jason!
Martin Prusinkiewicz, a senior PhD candidate in the Mymryk laboratory publishes another first author paper!
The title is: "Differential Effects of Human Adenovirus E1A Protein Isoforms on Aerobic Glycolysis in A549 Human Lung Epithelial Cells", and it was published in the journal Cancers.
Martin examines the impact of adenovirus E1A on cellular metabolism, with some help from past and present members of the Mymryk Laboratory, demonstrating that E1A expression alone alters cellular metabolism.
Congratulations to Martin on his 3rd, first author publication as a PhD candidate!
During the COVID-19 shutdown, Martin has been continuing to pursue thrills and adventure, with his most recent experience as a "Human cannonball".
Good thing Martin is married to a doctor, as he refuses to wear a helmet!
Joe Mymryk's total career citations hit the 5000 mark this week on "Google Scholar".
This very nice tool provided free by Google brings a little encouragement to scientists around the world, as they see their hard work being cited by others.
Undeterred by the ongoing Coronavirus apocalypse, Mack Dodge successfully completed his PhD Candidacy Exam.
Special thanks to all the examiners (Drs. Poon, Summers and Gunaratnam) and examination Chair (Dr. Troyer) for helping out with this first time online exam.
Congratulations Mack!
Undergraduate trainee Jessie Tu was recently awarded a 2020 NSERC USRA award to work in the Mymryk laboratory this summer.
The USRA program is meant to nurture interest and help develop student potential for a research career in the natural sciences and engineering.
These are awarded once a year and are highly competitive.
Jessie has been a work study student in the Mymryk lab for a while, and its great to have here join for the summer.
Congratulations on winning this prestigious award!
Doctoral student Martin Prusinkiewicz and I were interviewed by the CBC regarding a lack of funding support for Partners in Experiential Learning (PEL).
This is a program that allows co-op placements for London high-school students with an interest in science and medicine in research laboratories.
Read the story here at the CBC.
We published quite a few papers recently, including:
High Levels of Class I Major Histocompatibility Complex mRNA Are Present in Epstein–Barr Virus-Associated Gastric Adenocarcinomas.
Survival-Associated Metabolic Genes in Human Papillomavirus-Positive Head and Neck Cancers.
Sex disparities in head & neck cancer driver genes: An analysis of the TCGA dataset.
Spleen tyrosine kinase expression is correlated with human papillomavirus in head and neck cancer.
Congratulations everyone on all the excellent work, especially the first authors Farhad, Martin, Nana, Yongsen, Yuanyuan, Neil, and Morgan!
Steve has been working on the impact of HPV on head and neck and cervical cancer.
His public lecture was excellent and did a great job of defending his thesis.
Thanks to Drs. Timoshenko, Barr, Troyer and Pyeon for serving as examiners.
Dr. Gameiro will be pursing postdoctoral studies at McMaster University in the coming year.
Really good work Steve!
Multiple trainees presented their work at the 2019 Infection and Immunity Research Forum.
Congratulations to Martin Prusinkiewicz, Jessie Tu, Katelyn MacNeil and Wyatt Anderson on your very nice posters!
Doctoral student Steve Gameiro was recently awarded a 2019 PSAC GTA Scholarship for Outstanding Research Contributions!
These are awarded once/year to four members in good standing of PSAC Local 610 at Western who have demonstrated outstanding contributions to research in their respective fields.
Congratulations on winning another prestigious award!
We recently published a collaborative paper with Dr. Amélie Fradet-Turcotte, in the journal PNAS.
This work provides evidence that the HPV oncoprotein E7 interfers with the cellular response to DNA double-strand breaks by interacting with the E3 ubiquitin ligase RNF168.
These findings reveal a mechanism by which HPV induces genomic instability that likely fuels cancer progression.
Congratulations to all our coauthors on this excellent paper!
Team Mymryk welcomes new 4th project student Sarah Denford (supervised by Martin) and PEL student Nayana Thomas (supervised by Wyatt).
Great to have new people asking questions and contributing to the work!
Team Mymryk welcomes new MSc candidate Katelyn MacNeil!
Katelyn arrives from the east coast and brings some new perspectives to our E1A research program.
Looking forward to working with you!
Dr. Kara Ruicci, an MD/Phd trainee in the Nichols laboratory, is first author of another very nice collaborative paper recently accepted by the journal Molecular Oncology.
This work provides evidence that inhibition of the Rictor/mTORC2 complex can sensitize head and neck cancer cells to PI3K inhibitors.
Congratulations on another really nice paper Kara!
Steve Gameiro, a PhD candidate in the Mymryk laboratory publishes his ninth paper!
The title is: "High Level Expression of MHC-II in HPV+ Head and Neck Cancers Suggests that Tumor Epithelial Cells Serve an Important Role as Accessory Antigen Presenting Cells", and it was published in the journal Cancers.
In this follow-up work to his earlier MHC-I paper, Steve now shows that HPV+ head and neck cancers also express high levels of MHC-II. Importantly, this work suggests a previously unappreciated role for epithelial cells in antigen presentation that functionally contributes to the highly immunogenic tumor microenvironment observed in HPV+ head and neck cancers.
Congratulations on your 5th, first author publication, Steve!
This paper is once again the product of an intensively collaborative project done by talented members of the Mymryk and Nichols laboratories.
Although Steve is also a Marvel fan, this DC universe takeoff featuring both MHC-I and MHC-II family members as the Justice League will have to suffice!
Dr. Greg Fonseca, a former PhD student and current Postdoctoral Fellow in the Mymryk laboratory, commences his independent career as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Mcgill University.
Congratulations Greg!
All the best in Montreal!
Its been a pleasure to have you in the lab!
(Tanner made me do one last Conan the Barbarian picture for you, just for historical consistency.)
Doctoral student Steve Gameiro was recently awarded the 2019 Morris Kroll Award for cancer research!
This is a Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry wide competition for an outstanding cancer research trainee.
Congratulations on winning this prestigious award!
While attending the 2019 DNA Tumour Virus Meeting, Postdoctoral fellow Dr. Greg Fonseca and MSc candidate Wyatt Anderson presented their work orally.
PhD candidates Steve Gameiro, Tanner Tessier and Martin Prusinkiewicz and MSc candidate Mack Dodge presented posters.
The ICGEB is a beautiful venue for for this key meeting in the DNA tumour virus field!
Steve Gameiro, a PhD candidate in the Mymryk laboratory publishes a new methods paper/book chapter.
The title is: "DIY: Visualizing the immune landscape of tumors using transcriptome and methylome data", and it was published in the Methods in Enzymology.
This chapter describes how to use TCGA based data resources to gain insight into the immunology of various human cancers.
This is a "Do it yourself (DIY)" manual to get people started in this area.
Congratulations on this very nice resource Steve!
Tanner Tessier, a PhD candidate in the Mymryk laboratory publishes a review!
The title is: "Viral Appropriation: Laying Claim to Host Nuclear Transport Machinery", and it was published in the journal Cells.
This paper covers the many different mechanisms of how viruses interact with the nucleocytoplasmic transport apparatus and really brings a lot of details into focus.
Congratulations on this very nice summary of your field Tanner!
Martin Prusinkiewicz, a PhD candidate in the Mymryk laboratory publishes a review!
The title is: "Metabolic Reprogramming of the Host Cell by Human Adenovirus Infection", and it was published in the journal Viruses.
This detailed review of metabolic changes by Adenovirus points out some really interesting work, some of which is related the proposed connection between adenovirus infection and obesity.
Congratulations on your 1st, first author publication as a PhD student, Martin!
This is also a landmark for me personally, as it is my 120th paper on PubMed!
Farhad Ghasemi, a medical student in the Nichols laboratory, is first author of another very nice collaborative paper recently accepted by the journal JCI Insight.
Congratulations on another really nice paper, Farhad!
The Mymryk lab retreats to the Mandarin for an all you can eat Christmas lunch.
These guys can really eat a lot.
What a pleasure to work with these people!
Members of the Mymryk and Nichols lab (and their significant others) enjoy themselves at the Lawson Research Institute's annual Christmas party.
Great to see these hard working scientists enjoying a bit of down time!
Former student Ali Zhang and current student Tanner Tessier are co-first author of a paper published in "Viruses".
Current PhD student in the Nichols lab, Nicole Pinto is first author on a collaborative paper published in "PLoS One".
Former PhD student in the Nichols lab, Dr. Kara Ruicci is first author on another collaborative paper published in "Int. J. Cancer".
Congratulations to all of you for this really excellent work. You guys Rock!
Former Doctoral student Cason King was recently awarded the Poland Award as top graduating PhD student of 2018!
Cason, you really are Top Dog, Cream of the Crop, King of the Hill, etc
Congratulations on receiving our most prestigious departmental award!
Doctoral student Steve Gameiro presented his work at the 2018 Infection and Immunity Research Forum.
Steve scored one of eight coveted talks at the MNI 2018 IIRF in Stratford Ontario.
Congratulations on an excellent presentation!
Dr. Myung Woul Han joins the Nichols/Mymryk laboratory as a Visiting Scientist for one year.
Dr. Han (MD/PhD) is an Assistant Professor/Clinician Scientist and Head & Neck Surgeon from Ulsan University/Ulsan University Hospital, South Korea.
Its a real pleasure to have your expertise and skills in the lab.
Looking forward to the upcoming year.
Team Mymryk welcomes Wyatt Anderson and Mackenzie Dodge as new MSc candidates.
Looking forward to working with you.
(Remember to play nice!)
PhD candidates Martin and Steve presented their work in Madison while attending the 2018 DNA Tumour Virus Meeting, while soon to be graduate students Mack and Wyatt soaked up wisdom and lore from their senior colleagues.
A wonderful chance for all to meet and network with their peers and colleagues, while having a great time in the lovely city of Madison!
Note the members of the Mymryk lab are wearing Hawaiian shirts in the photo above.
Steve Gameiro, a PhD candidate in the Mymryk laboratory publishes his fifth paper!
The title is: "Treatment-naïve HPV+ head and neck cancers display a T-cell-inflamed phenotype distinct from their HPV- counterparts that has implications for immunotherapy", and it was published in the journal Oncoimmunology.
This work shows that patients with HPV+ head and neck cancers that have high levels of immune exhaustion markers and/or CD39 have excellent overall survival. We suggest that exhuastion marker expression could be used to predict clinical outcome and that these patients may likely benefit from first line treatment with less toxic immuno-therapy approaches.
Congratulations on your 3rd, first author publication, Steve!
This very nice paper is the product of an intensively collaborative project done by talented members of the Mymryk, Nichols and Vareki laboratories.
Excellent work!
Kara Ruicci, an MD/PhD student in the Nichols laboratory, is first author of a very nice collaborative paper recently accepted by the journal Oral Oncology.
This paper describes how HRAS mutant epithelial cells are resistant to PI3K inhibition, likely because of persistent mTOR activity. They suggest that mTOR inhibition alone or in combination with MAPK pathway inhibition could be a promising therapeutic strategy for some tumors
Congratulations to all the researchers involved in this nice paper!
Drs. Ahmed Yousef and Greg Fonseca were back in London at the same time this July and dropped by for a visit with their old supervisor.
Both of these excellent young scientists did their PhDs in the Mymryk lab and have gone off to conquer the world of science.
Its always a real pleasure to have former trainees come back to the lab with interesting stories about their experiences.
The Mymryk laboratory published a nice collaborative paper recently accepted by the journal Prostate.
This paper describes how the E1A proteins from some adenovirus types can antagonize androgen receptor function, undermining prostate cancer cell survival.
Congratulations to all the researchers involved in this nice paper!
Former Doctoral student Cason King donned the super-cool Western PhD regalia for the 2018 convocation.
Great to see you come back from Madison on that special day.
Congratulations!
Doctoral student Steve Gameiro wins the top poster presentation prize at the 2018 Oncology Research and Education Day.
Congratulations!
(Steve is the tall guy in the centre)
High-school student Hanna Maekebay wins a poster presentation prize at the 2018 Oncology Research and Education Day.
Hanna has done outstanding work done with graduate student mentor Martin Prusinkiewicz.
Congratulations to both you and Martin on a job well done.
What a great way to end her co-operative education experience!
I received my "crystal trophy" at the Schulich Award of Excellence dinner in recognition of my faculty mentoring activities.
What a wonderful evening to celebrate so many wonderful people.
I had the pleasure of attending the 2018 Residents Research Day for the Western University Department of Otolaryngology.
This is always a very well organized and interesting event that showcases the excellent research done by the hard working and talented residents in the Otolaryngology program.
Its a pleasure to be associated with this top-notch group of medical researchers.
The picture below was taken with the Dr. John Barrett, who we work with closely in the area of head and neck cancer.
Dr. Cason King has left the Mymryk laboratory to commence Postdoctoral studies with Dr. Andrew Mehle in Madison Wisconsin.
Its certainly been a pleasure for all of us to work with Cason these last few years while he earned his doctorate degree.
Good luck in America!
Farhad Ghasemi, a medical student in the Nichols laboratory, is first author of another very nice collaborative paper recently accepted by the journal Oncotarget.
This paper describes a high-throughput robotic screen of ~1400 biologically- and pharmacologically-relevant compounds against 6 HPV-positive and 20 HPV-negative head & neck cancer cell lines to identification compounds with therapeutic potential.
Congratulations to an excellent team for a very nice paper!
Dr. Cason King, who just completed his PhD studies in the Mymryk laboratory, is first author of a new review recently published in mBio.
The title is: "Hacking the Cell: Network Intrusion and Exploitation by Adenovirus E1A".
Congratulations on your eigth publication, Cason!
Thanks to the other authors, Ali Zhang, Tanner Tessier and Steve Gameiro for their help.
This review features some really nice artwork, such as the figure below.
I received a 2018 Award of Excellence from the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry in recognition of my faculty mentoring activities.
I am really honored to win this award, and am grateful for the letters of support from so many of my former mentees.
Over my career, its been a pleasure to watch so many of these talented individual achieve so much success!
Adam Tepperman, one of our highly motivated MNI4200B students made up this 3D printed model of adenovirus for us.
Proudly on display in my office and guaranteed to be 100% non-infectious.
Thank you Adam. You did a great job!
Dr. Cason King gifted me with this little gem as he thought it accurately reflected the Mymryk lab environment.
Although I am not sure it completely covers all aspects of our lab culture, it certainly is a good start.
Thank you Cason. I will treasure it always!
Cason has been working on the role of adenovirus E1A as a viral A kinase anchoring protein (AKAP).
He gave an great public lecture and did an excellent job of defending his thesis.
Thanks to Drs. Barr, Dick, Mullarkey and Summers for serving as examiners, and Dr. Timoshenko for chairing the exam.
Dr. King will be pursing postdoctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin in Madison in the spring.
Job well done!
Cason King, the senior PhD student in the Mymryk laboratory, is first author of a new paper recently published in the Journal of Virology.
The title is: "Mimicry of cellular A kinase anchoring proteins is a conserved and critical function of E1A across various human adenovirus species".
This is Cason's seventh paper, and a strong follow up to his initial work published in PLoS Pathogens.
Congratulations to all the people who contributed to this interesting project!
This is also a landmark for me personally, as it is my 110th paper on PubMed!
My wonderful colleague and collaborator Dr. Jimmy Dikeakos just got his official notification of promotion and tenure.
Dr. Dikeakos joined the Microbiology & Immunology Department in 2012, and he has been a tremendous asset and resource.
Jimi's laboratory is also on "Fire" scientifically.
His new title of Associate Professor comes into effect July 2018.
Congratulations and Rock On!
Jessica has been working on characterizing the interaction between human adenovirus E1A and STING.
During her Tim Hortons and Subway fueled research efforts, she put together a nice thesis and delivered a strong defense.
Thanks to Drs. Shepherd, Koropatnick and Barr for serving as examiners, and Dr. Kim for chairing the exam.
Congratulations Jessica!
Doctoral student Martin Prusinkiewcz chaired the organizational committee for this year's Infected Immunologist Research Forum (A.K.A. Infection and Immunity Research Forum/IIRF).
This is the annual research symposium run by the graduate students in the Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology.
A great time was had by all and our invited guest speaker was Dr. Ann Palmenberg, from Madison Wisconsin, who gave a truly outstanding talk on her research on Rhinovirus infection and its connection to severe asthma attacks.
Congratulations to all those involved in putting the day together and to all the students who presented their excellent research.
Below is a picture of Dr. Palmenberg with Martin, acting in his role as chauffeur.
Doctoral student Cason King wins the 2016 Dr. RGE Murray Graduate Seminar Award.
This award annually rewards the top student presentations in the Microbiology & Immunology student research seminar series.
Continuing his Stupendous Adventure in Graduate Education, this is Cason's FORTH (!!!) win in a row for his annual talk.
Amazing! Its a Hat Trick Plus One!
See the award picture below for Cason and Nina Hunt (who won the MSc Presentation Prize) with Dr. Murray.
Congratulations to both of these excellent speakers!
Doctoral student Steven Gameiro wins a 2017 RGE Murray Graduate Scholarship!
Congratulations to Jacklyn, Robert, Steve and Ermela for their success in winning this year's RGE Murray Graduate Awards!
After a crazy summer on Wall Street, Matt has returned to Western to complete his BMSc degree.
Matt is starting as a 4th year undergraduate thesis project student in the lab.
Welcome to Team Mymryk!
As the summer comes to a close, its farewell to MSc graduates Kristianne Galpin and Ali Zhang.
Kristianne is pursuing PhD studies at the University of Ottawa.
Ali is pursuing MD/PhD studies at McMaster University.
We are all going to miss both of you.
Looking forward to following your successes!
Steve Gameiro publishes his second first author paper in the journal Viruses.
The title is: "Analysis of Class I major histocompatibility complex gene transcription in human tumors caused by human papillomavirus infection".
Congratulations to all the people who contributed to this interesting project!
Steve Gameiro, a PhD student in the Mymryk lab, wins another Cancer Research & Technology Transfer (CaRTT) Studentship!
Steve will be supported in part for one year by the CaRTT program.
Congratulations on winning the "CART" Steve. Its a sweet ride that could easily be featured in a future Fast and Furious movie (with a little Nitrous)!
Martin and Steve presented their work in Birmingham while attending the 2017 DNA Tumour Virus Meeting.
A wonderful chance to meet and network with their peers and colleagues in this amazing venue!
Steve Gameiro, a PhD student in the Mymryk laboratory, is first author of a very nice paper recently accepted in the journal Oncotarget.
The title is: "Human papillomavirus dysregulates the cellular apparatus controlling the methylation status of H3K27 in different human cancers to consistently alter gene expression regardless of tissue of origin".
This is Steve's first paper, so its extra special and certificate worthy. (Sorry Steve, we ran out of gold stars)
Congratulations to all the people who contributed to this interesting project!
Tanner Tessier, a PhD student in the Mymryk lab, wins another Ontario Graduate Scholarship.
Way to go Tanner!
Steve Gameiro and Cason King, two PhD students in the Mymryk lab, presented their work in Madison while attending the 2017 ASV Meeting.
This was an excellent meeting and everyong loves Madison!
Its always nice to catch up with Dr. Megan Spurgeon, a Staff Scientist in the Lambert lab.
Ali has been working on Short Linear Interaction Motifs in adenovirus E1A and put together a really nice thesis.
Thanks to Drs. Boffa, Dikeakos and Leong for serving as examiners, and Dr. Heinrichs for chairing the exam.
Ali will be starting MD/PhD studies at McMaster in the Fall.
All the best with your future career!
Kristianne has done some very nice work on viral mimicry and put together an excellent thesis.
Thanks to Drs. Summers, Dikeakos and Choy for serving as examiners, and Dr. Kim for chairing the exam.
Good luck with your future studies!
(BTW check out the nice new sign for the Department!)
Farhad Ghasemi, a medical student in the Nichols laboratory, is first author of a very nice paper recently published in the journal Oncotarget.
This collaborative work shows that albendazole, a drug commonly used to treat infection by parasitic worms, inhibits the growth of some head and neck cancer cells.
Based on this work, we suggest that further study of this drug is warranted for use as a potential chemotherapeutic agent for patients suffering from head and neck cancer.
I am very happy to be involved with this interesting project.
Congratulations on some very nice work to an excellent team!
Cason and Steve, two PhD students in the Mymryk laboratory, successfully obtained student membership status with the American Society for Virology.
Welcome to the club!
As part of a collaborative effort between a number of excellent laboratories, we coauthored a paper that was recently published in Nature Genetics.
This elegent work defines subsets of head and neck cancers based on altered DNA methylation.
One of these subsets of cancer appears to be caused by mutations in the histone methyltransferase NSD1 or in the target lysine of its substrate, histone H3.
We are all very pleased to be associated with this excellent work in the field of epigenetics, which links altered chromatin modification with cancer.
The successes of Dr. Anthony Nichols were recently celebrated on the Schulish School of Medicine and Dentistry website.
Congratulations on this well deserved recognition!
Doctoral student Cason King and MSc student Ali Zhang both win the 2015 Dr. RGE Murray Graduate Seminar Award.
This award annually rewards the top senior and junior student presentations in the Microbiology & Immunology student research seminar series.
This is Cason's third win in a row for his annual talk (Its a Hat trick!), and Ali's first time at bat!
Congratulations to both of you for your excellent presentations!
Cason King, the senior PhD student in the Mymryk laboratory, is first author on another Spotlight paper in Trends in Microbiology.
PhD Candidate Tanner Tessier also contributed to this work.
Excellent work guys!
Although he probably doesn't actually have an IQ of 216, Martin Prusinkiewicz still did well on his PhD Candidacy Exam.
Special thanks to all the examiners for all their effort in this process.
Congratulations Martin!
Tanner Tessier was recently awarded a prestigious RGE Murray Scholarship in Microbiology & Immunology.
This is a highly competitive and valuable award that was established by the late Mrs. Marion Isabelle (Luney) Murray in honor of her husband, the eminent Dr. Robert George Everitt Murray.
Its a little known fact that Tanner is the world's biggest fan of Lightning McQueen, so we all got together to have a Cars Theme Scholarship Party!
Congratulations Tanner. What a well deserved accomplishment!
Kristianne, Martin, Steve, Sahil and Ali all presented their work in Montreal while attending the 2016 DNA Tumour Virus Meeting.
This is the key meeting of the year for our field and a fantastic opportunity to meet the international DNA tumour virus community.
What a great bunch of young virologists!
Unlike the film with Mr. Fox in 1987, my success was built on the high quality work of my outstanding trainees, with a lot of help from my excellent collaborators.
Doctoral student Steve Gameiro's hard work wins him a poster presentation prize at the 2016 Oncology Research and Education Day.
Excellent Work!
Other great posters were presented by other Mymryk Lab trainees, including graduate students Kristianne Galpin and Ali Zhang and Highschool Co-op student Bowen Zhang.
A fantastic day was had by all at this citywide event.
Doctoral student Cason King wins a Nellie Farthing Award!
This award recognizes and rewards excellence in research performed by a PhD student in the Schulich School of Medicine.
Great to see you get this well earned recognition and cash prize.
Awesome!
Former Doctoral student "Magic" Mike Cohen donned the super-cool Western PhD regalia for the 2016 convocation.
Great to see you and your family on that special day.
Congratulations!
I had the pleasure of attending the 2016 Residents Research Day for the Western University Department of Otolaryngology.
This was a very well organized and interesting event that showcases the excellent research done by the hard working and talented residents in the Otolaryngology program.
What a pleasure to be associated with this top-notch program.
The picture below was taken with the Department Chair, Dr. John Yoo, who was instrumental in getting my laboratory working in the area of head and neck cancer.
Our collaborative work with Professor Walter Becker was recently accepted by the journal Scientific Reports!
Former Mymryk lab PhD graduate Mike Cohen and current Mymryk lab PhD candidate Cason King contributed to this excellent research story.
Superb work by a great team of investigators! Really pleased to see this important work accepted for publication.
Doctoral student Steve Gameiro writes an article published in The Londoner!
This is part of a continuing series of monthly articles written by the Research Information Outreach Team (RIOT).
Very nice work Steve!
Doctoral student Steve Gameiro wins an Ontario Graduate Scholarship award!
Congratulations Steve!
Team Mymryk welcomes Jessica Hill as a new MSc candidate.
Looking forward to working with you.
The first paper is in Trends in Microbiology.
The second paper is in PLOS Pathogens.
Excellent work Cason!
Special thanks to the many others who contributed to these papers, including past and present members of the Mymryk lab, and the Dikeakos lab.
This was a team effort and we couldn't have done it without your help.
Cason will soon big putting together his "Big Book of Virology" (aka his PhD thesis), and he has a pretty good start!
-Ali Zhang wins a prestigious NSERC MSc studentship. This slightly "smaller fish" still gives him one year of support at $17,500!
Congratulations to both of you!. What great achievements!
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Kristianne, Cason, Steve and Tanner (with adopted guest adenovirologist Sandi from Manitoba) pose in Trieste while attending the 2015 DNA Tumour Virus Meeting.
This is the highlight meeting of the year for our field and is a fantastic learning experience for all.
What a great bunch of young virologists!
I was recently interviewed by Dr. Jeffrey Perkel for a news article on laboratory inventory software for Nature.
The LINA software mentioned in the Nature News article was developed by several talented ex-graduate students, including my former PhD student Dr. Ahmed Yousef.
I am quoted it the article on how it "saved my bacon"!
Both the Mymryk and Nichols laboratories receive 5 year CIHR operating grants!
Fantastic news in these tough times to have each of us get additional funding for our collaborative research in the The Translational Head and Neck Cancer Program.
Dr. Anthony Nichols was interviewed by CTV in a story of recent grant successes at Western.
Despite some really tough questions (such as the one above), they did really well.
Special thanks to all the examiners for their help in the exam process.
From left to right: Keynote speaker Dr. Peter Palese, Matt Miller and Joe Mymryk
From left to right: Mike Cohen, Megan Spurgeon, Greg Fonseca, Adam Rogers and Biljana Todorovic
