Scriver Recipients

Hector N. Aguilar

Hector is very passionate about his research which has been focused on the causes of premature birth, more specifically what role is played by the signaling proteins within the uterine muscle cells in the days prior to human birth. His hope is to gain a better understanding of why premature labour begins, from a cellular level, and subsequently what can be suggested to prevent premature births.

"This award has been very important to me," says Hector. "It feels great to have other scientists evaluate my work and deem it worthy of recognition such as this." Hector has been pursuing his research under the supervision of Bryan F. Mitchell and is presently enrolled at the University of Alberta, Department of Physiology. He hopes to one day work as a clinician scientist in an academic setting.

Christopher Johansen

Through his study of a genetic disease called hypertriglyceridemia, Christopher hopes to identify the genetic factors that lead to an accumulation of triglycerides in the blood. Under the supervision of Dr. Rob Hegele, MD, he hopes to develop a further understanding of genes and biochemical pathways that regulate blood triglyceride concentrations and with that understanding, offer suggestions for improved prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.

"I am incredibly honoured to receive this award made possible by the Canadian Gene Cure Foundation and CIHR - Institute of Genetics," says Christopher. "This studentship has motivated me to continue my path towards a career as a clinician-scientist."

Christopher is presently in his 3rd year in the Department of Biochemistry at the Robarts Research Institute in the University of Western Ontario.

Julia R. Pon

Julia is very excited about the research she is pursuing under the supervision of Dr. Marco Marra at Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre of the BC Cancer Agency. She is investigating the genetic changes that cause slow growing lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system, to progress into a deadlier disease. By gaining a better understanding of the mechanisms that cause this change, she hopes her research may suggest new approaches to predicting patient health outcomes and developing new treatments.

"I'm really honored to receive this award," she says, "it's a great feeling knowing that the community supports my research and is interested in helping me succeed at my career goals. There is such a great feeling of empowerment being able to propose a research idea and then actually being able to explore it!"

Julia is presently enrolled in the UBC MD/PhD program. After her studies are complete she is hoping to pursue a career as a clinician scientist in medical genetics.

Past Scriver Recipients

Piya Lahiry

Piya started her academic career at the University of Waterloo with an honours degree in Biology. This was followed by a Master's degree in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Western Ontario (UWO) under Dr. Miguel Valvano. She is in the fifth year of the MD/PhD program at UWO and recently finished her PhD under the supervision of Dr. Robert A. Hegele. Her PhD research included the discovery of a multi-organ lethal disorder, endocrine-cerebro-osteodysplasia, and finding its genetic cause. Ultimately, she plans to pursue a career in both clinical and research medicine, specializing in medical genetics.

Currently, she is in 2nd year medical school and she continues to work in the Hegele laboratory. Piya has six first-author publications, including a paper in Nature Review Genetics and in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Victoria Lam

As of August 2010, Victoria is entering her 3rd year of graduate studies as an MD/PhD student at the University of Alberta working with Dr. Gary Lopaschuk and Dr. Ivan Rebeyka after completing 2 years of medical school. She graduated from the University of Alberta with a BSc honours in Physiology and was "blessed with diverse undergraduate summer research opportunities" Her education has been further enriched with a research background in molecular genetics (2002-2003), haematology/cryobiology (2004), and heart metabolism (2005-2006).

Victoria is continuing her work on neonatal hypertrophy heart metabolism for her graduate studies. Through this research, she hopes to add to the understanding of neonatal heart metabolism as well as improve surgical outcomes for children with congenital heart defects.

Alysa Tennese

In 2003 Alysa earned her B.Sc (Honours) in Genetics from the University of Manitoba. Following that she began working with Dr. Rachel Wevrick in the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of Alberta. The Wevrick laboratory studies Prader-Willi syndrome, the most common genetic obesity syndrome. Her research focused on the role of two candidate genes, necdin and Magel2, in the development of the nervous system and in multiple euroendocrine pathways. Alysa expects to graduate with her MD/PhD in 2012 plans on pursuing a career in pathology or neurology.

Jodi Carter

In 1997, Jodi received an undergraduate degree in Neuroscience and Biochemistry from Dalhousie University. In 1999, she received a Masters degree in Neuroscience from the University of Arizona. Currently, she is an MD/PhD (Biochemistry) student at the University of Alberta. Her doctoral thesis examines the source of phosphatidylcholine, the predominant membrane lipid, in nerve growth and branching. Jodi's medical career plans include a residency in Neurosurgery. Specifically, she would like to train in Functional Neurosurgery and investigate the molecular neurobiology of movement disorders.


Speranza Dolgetta

Speranza holds a B.Sc. in Cellular, Molecular and Microbial Biology, BA in Philosophy and an MA in Philosophy. She is currently enrolled in the MD/PhD Leaders in Medicine program at the University of Calgary. Pursuing her PhD in Philosophy, her current research involves an examination of Canada's policy on genetic engineering for both therapeutic and enhancement procedures, and the ethical issues, which must be taken into account when developing such policy. Speranza is also part of a research group conducting a qualitative study that examines physician perspectives on professionalism.


Angela Hyde

Angela graduated with a BSc (honours) in 2000 from Memorial University of Newfoundland with a major in biochemistry. She then started graduate work in human genetics. In 2002, she entered the newly created MD/PhD program at Memorial University, with a research focus in cancer genetics. Her PhD is specifically studying various aspects of hereditary colorectal cancer in Newfoundland. She expects to graduate with her MD/PhD in 2009, and go on to pursue a career in both clinical and research medicine, specializing in genetic oncology.


Martin Hyrcza

Martin was born in Kolobrzeg, in northwest Poland, in a mixed Polish-Ukrainian family. He spent his youth there, until his family immigrated to Canada in 1991. After completing high school, he spent some time in India, with Canada World Youth, before attending the University of Toronto. Martin completed a molecular biology undergraduate program, where he had the chance to work in a research laboratory. Martin worked in the lab alongside Dr. Westood, a molecular biologist, to study Drosophila. He stayed in his lab to obtain his Masters degree for work on transcriptional regulation of heat-shock response in human T-cells.


Sebastien Levesque

Sebastien's interest in DNA technologies began during his undergraduate degree in biochemistry at Laval University. He soon became more interested in clinically oriented research consequently becoming more involved in a study of large scale screening of X-fragile premutation carriers and the clinical implication of grey zone alleles within the families. This clinical interest intensified further and led to his admittance to the MD/PhD program at Laval University. Sebastien is now pursuing a career as a clinician -researcher.


Jason Maynes

Jason started his academic training at the University of Calgary by studying biochemistry and electrical engineering and obtained a first class honours degree in biochemistry in 1998. He then began his PhD at the University of Alberta in the lab of Dr. M.N.G. James, Canada Research Chair in Protein Structure and Function. The research that he conducted included the design of new immunosuppressants by solving the three-dimensional crystal structure of protein phosphatases bound to various natural product inhibitors.


Shaheed Merani

Currently in the third year of the MD/PhD program, Shaheed Merani is working towards a PhD in Experimental Surgery. In the Islet Transplantation Group, under the supervision of Dr. James Shapiro and Dr. Colin Anderson, Shaheed conducts research in the Basic Tolerance Laboratory. Shaheed's research involves identifying new strategies looking at inducing tolerance of the recipient to donor tissue holds promise of sustained insulin-free normoglycemia following islet transplantation, without the need for lifelong immunosuppression.


Julie St-Pierre

Julie St-Pierre received her PhD in Physiology and Endocrinology from Laval University, Québec, Canada in 2004 . Dr. St-Pierre's expertise covers the contribution of genetics to the risk assessment and clinical management of type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome, two clinical conditions predisposing individuals and their families to many cardiovascular complications. Dr. St-Pierre has a particular interest in fetal programming genetic complex traits regulated by environmental factors, such as sedentarity and poor nutritional habits.


Michael Ward

Currently in his third year at the University of Toronto Michael is working on developing a novel cell-based gene therapy technique for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction under the supervision of Dr. Duncan Stewart at St. Michael's Hospital. In particular, he is interested in endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and the reported EPC dysfunction associated with various genetic risk factors and physiological deficiencies. Michael would like to use gene therapy to improve EPCs' neovascularization properties and rescue the dysfunction associated with various cardiovascular risk factors.