Team

Sorana Morrissy, PhD

Role: Principal Investigator

Bio: Dr. Sorana Morrissy completed her PhD in Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, under the supervision of Dr. Marco Marra. She pursued post-doctoral research in translational genomics in Dr. Michael Taylor’s lab at the Hospital of Sick Children in Toronto, ON. Throughout her training she gained extensive experience with cutting-edge high-throughput sequencing technologies and computational analyses in the field of cancer research, with a particular focus on understanding tumor heterogeneity and recurrent disease.

Ted Verhey

Role: Bioinformatician

Bio: Ted joined the lab in 2018 after earning his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with George Chaconas at the University of Calgary. He comes with experience in data science, molecular biology, and 3rd generation sequencing technologies. Ted is interested in Big Data approaches in cancer research and personalized medicine.

Kiran Narta

Role: Postdoctoral Researcher

Bio: Kiran obtained a Ph.D. in Science from CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New-Delhi. She is interested in cancer genomics with particular focus on understanding the contribution of co-occurring genetic alterations. Away from research she loves hanging out with friends, family and food.

Hyojin Song

Role: Postdoctoral Researcher

Bio: Hyojin earned her Ph.D. in Cancer Biology at the Seoul National University, South Korea. Throughout her Ph.D., she handled a variety of multi-omics datasets of cancer patients and specialized in applications of transcriptomic analysis related to both the life cycle of an oncogenic virus in human cancers and predictive modeling in melanoma that underwent immunotherapies. Afterward, her first career at the Department of Genomic Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, South Korea, enabled her to build skills in analyzing and interpreting the gene panel data generated from cancer patients of diverse solid tumors for both diagnosis and treatment purposes in a clinical setting. By understanding the unmet clinical needs and significance of precision medicine, she pursues to broaden her perspectives on connecting ideas using bioinformatics toward translational research. Currently, she is interested in investigating patterns of therapeutic responses using patient-derived multi-omics datasets which can lead to exploring feasible candidates for therapeutic targets in incurable cancers, especially sarcomas.

Iti Gupta

Role: Postdoctoral Researcher

Bio: Iti is PhD in Biological Sciences from CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi. Throughout her doctoral studies, she analysed various multi-omics datasets obtained from Vitiligo patients to identify the key players involved in reduced incidence of skin cancer in such patients. She has also developed a Vitiligo-centric database and identified potential drug candidates for Vitiligo utilizing in-silico drug repurposing approach. Her current research is focused on analyzing the tumour datasets and building phylogenetic trees to better understand the trajectory of tumour evolution in cancer patients. Apart from research Iti enjoys travelling, exploring new cuisines and tending to her beloved plants.

Aaron Gillmor

Role: Ph.D. Student

Bio: Aaron has obtained a Bachelor of Health Science (Honours) from the University of Calgary. Aaron’s previous research through the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute was focused on finding the genetic component responsible for a rare genetic disorders. Aaron hopes to continue improving as a research bioinformatician by delving into the fascinating world of cancer genomics. His research focus is to improve reconstruction of tumor phylogenies to better understand how genetic heterogeneity influences cancer. Prior to his academic career, Aaron was a international athlete competing the the nordic sports of biathlon and cross country skiing. While he is no longer participating as a international athlete, he enjoys giving back to the community as a coach with the Bragg Creek Ski Club. Aaron’s main interest outside of academia and volunteering are fly fishing, hunting, hiking, mountain biking and cross country skiing.

Aly Abdelkareem

Role: Ph.D. Student

Bio: Aly is a Ph.D. student in the Morrissy lab. He obtained his master from Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, Cairo. From 2016-2017, He was a Research Software Development Engineer at Microsoft Research where he was working on creating virtual bots and building speech recognition models using deep learning technologies. His research interests span cancer genomics and artificial intelligence. Outside the lab, he thinks that scientists are no wiser than anyone else. 'And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.'

Varsha Thoppey Manoharan

Role: Ph.D. Student

Bio: Varsha is a Ph.D. student in the Morrissy lab. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Pharmaceutical Technology which focused on subjects like Pharmacology and Molecular Biology. Driven by her interest in cancer research, she is motivated to become versed with the computational and laboratory approach of her work. Her research focuses gene expression profiles of cancer stem cells in glioblastoma. Apart from academia, Varsha likes to travel and visit new places.

Courtney Hall

Role: Ph.D. Student

Bio: Courtney is a PhD student in the Morrissy lab. She completed a BSc in Genetics and Biotechnology at Brigham Young University and an MSc in Individualized Genomics and Health at Johns Hopkins University. Courtney joined the Morrissy lab in 2022 after working as a research technician in the genetic testing laboratory at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. She will use spatial transcriptomic data to study glioblastoma evolution and response to treatment. Courtney enjoys camping, reading, and spending time with her family.

Gurveer Gill

Role: Master Student

Bio: Gurveer earned his BSc. (Hons.) in Neuroscience, with an embedded certificate in mental wellbeing and resilience, at the University of Calgary. Throughout his undergraduate degree, he engaged in a wide breadth of research experiences, including signal denoising and the development of a routing algorithm for community health workers in Kenya and Malawi at the University of Washington. During his honours thesis at the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, he investigated the impact of Type 1 Interferons on nociceptor excitability through neuro-immune interactions. He hopes to further develop his skills as a bioinformatician and pursue a career as a clinician-researcher to provide further clinical applicability of bioinformatic research. Beyond academia, Gurveer enjoys coaching rugby at the Chestermere Rugby Vikings Club, golfing, exploring new languages, hiking, and cherishing moments with friends and family.

Kellie MacLean

Role: Volunteer

Bio: Kellie holds a Master of Data Science and Analytics specializing in health data and a BSc in Biological Anthropology from the University of Calgary. She has a diverse background that includes experience in public health, epidemiology, and genomics. She has a passion for data visualization and effective knowledge translation. Prior to joining the lab, Kellie worked in several analytical and public health roles including Lead Visual Analyst at the HQCA, Computational Biologist at BC Cancer’s Genome Science Centre, Real-World Evidence Analyst for a biotechnology CRO, and clinical support across Alberta Health Services.

Heewon Seo

Role: Lead Bioinformatician

Bio: Heewon studied at Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, where he earned a MS and PhD in Biomedical Informatics. During his PhD, he utilized next-generation sequencing for variant- and gene-based analysis, in order to identify genomic variants that are associated with drug-induced side effects. Heewon continued his research as a postdoctoral fellow at Princess Margaret Cancer Center in Toronto, Canada, where he developed a translational framework for precision oncology using a compendium of preclinical pharmacogenomics datasets focused on drug combination therapies to improve current treatment strategies. Heewon is currently a Bioinformatician in the Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute at the University of Calgary. His current research interests include profiling of spatial gene/protein expression in brain tumours for prioritizing drugs based on microenvironment signatures to overcome drug resistance.

Samuel Brown

Role: MSc. Student

Bio: Samuel is a MSc. student in the Morrissy Lab. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology (honours) from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Samuel joined the lab in 2018 as a summer student and has returned every subsequent summer to learn cancer analysis methods and work on several projects related to tumour heterogeneity. With career plans to be a clinician-scientist Samuel is excited to delve deeper into cancer bioinformatics analyses during his graduate research on sarcomas. In his free time Samuel enjoys reading in cafes, running, playing piano, and spending time with family and friends.

Noelle Thundathil

Role: Student

Bio: Noelle is a first-year Health Sciences Honours student majoring in Bioinformatics. Over the past 2 years, she has been volunteering in the Morrissy Lab and exploring her research interests. Outside of the lab, Noelle likes to play instruments, and sing.

Sean Grewal

Role: Student

Bio: Sean is a first-year student at the University of Calgary working towards a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. He is currently working as a summer student in the Morrissy Lab to further his research interests. Outside the lab, some of Sean's hobbies include playing the guitar, watching sports, and hanging out with friends and family.

Setor Amuzu

Role: Postdoctoral Researcher

Bio: Setor completed his PhD in Human Genetics at McGill University under the supervision of Prof. Ioannis Ragoussis in 2020. During his PhD he identified novel candidate markers of response for the anti-cancer drug Olaparib from bioinformatics and statistical analyses of whole exome and transcriptome data from cancer cell lines. He continued as a postdoctoral research associate at McGill University and worked on identifying pathogenic mutations from clinical uterine pap test samples for early diagnosis of endometrial and ovarian cancers. He joined the Morrissy lab in September 2022 and is focused on whole genome and transcriptome analyses from glioblastomas and sarcomas with the goal of finding targets for rational therapy. Broadly, Setor is interested in genomic target discovery for developing precision medicine interventions. Away from work, he loves spending time with family and friends, and watching soccer and anime.

Vivian Huynh

Role: Student

Bio: Vivian is an undergraduate student pursuing a Bachelor of Health Sciences in Bioinformatics, with a minor in Data Science. She is conducting research in the Morrissy lab for her Honours thesis project. Her project is focused on mapping the metabolic states of Glioblastoma cells with spatial resolution in PDX models of the disease. This involves applying bioinformatics and machine learning methods to the spatial RNAseq datasets in order to identify and differentiate the metabolic states of specific genetic clones found in the center of the tumor. Outside of research, Vivian likes to travel, read, watch movies, and spend time with friends and family.

Aneley D

Role: Student

Bio: Aneley was a Bioinformatics student conducting research in the Morrissy lab for his BHSc Honours thesis. His current work is focused on transcriptional differences between primary Glioblastoma tumors and their cultured stem-like cells. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and was a former system analyst working with computer networks and security prior to joining the lab. His areas of interest include gene editing and information security. Aneley is an avid traveler, a history buff and a massive football (the real one) fan.

Rahul Arora

Role: Student

Bio: Rahul is a Bachelor of Health Sciences Honours Thesis student in the Morrissy Lab. He is working to identify novel combinations of genetic events in the p53 pathway that are potential causes of Li-Fraumeni Syndrome. Outside of the lab, Rahul spends his time hiking, meditating, and making bad puns.

Amadou Diallo

Role: MSc. Student

Bio: Amadou is a MSc. candidate in Bioinformatics in the Morrissy Lab. He holds two bachelor degrees, in Bioinformatics and in Mathematics - with a minor in Applied Statistics. Before joining the lab, he was a Bioinformatics/Biostatistics research engineer in Pasteur Institute where he gained experience working with next-generation sequencing data. Driven by his curiosity in genetic disorders, he is interested in applied healthcare and genomics research.

Alyaa Mahmoud

Role: Postdoctoral Researcher

Bio: Alyaa joined the lab in 2019 after earning her PhD in KAUST. she comes with experience in bioinformatics, and metabolic modeling. Alyaa is interested in genome-scale metabolic modeling, gene expression analysis, and constraint-based modeling.