THE TEAM

Dr. John Ronald

Principal Investigator

Email: jronald@robarts.ca

Director & Scientist, Imaging Laboratories, Robarts Research Institute

Director, Translational Immune-Oncology Research Group (TIORG)

Member of the Centre for Translational Cancer Research, Cross Appointed to Department of Oncology.

Associate Professor, Department of Medical Biophysics,
The University of Western Ontario

Previous Institutions: Postdoctoral Research @ Stanford,

BSc., MSc., PhD @ Western University

Fun Fact: ask me about the Edmonton Oilers Dynasty

Link to CV

Meet the Team

Meet our passionate team of scientists, trainees and undergraduates!

Senior Research Associate - Lab Manager

John Kelly, PhD

Email: jkell5

Previous Institutions: PhD in Auditory Cell Biology, University College London; Postdoctoral Fellowship, Western University.

My Interests are: CRISPR gene editing + synthetic biology + cell tracking + cancer immunotherapies + connexin and auditory biology.

Fun Fact: I cannot burp (Update: thanks to Botox, I can now burp!)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Rafael Sanchez-Pupo, PhD

Email: rsnchezp

Previous Institutions: PhD in Anatomy and Cell Biology, Western University; BSc in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Havana, Cuba

My Interests are: CRISPR-Cas genome editing + cellular therapy tracking + imaging CAR-T and NK cells in cancer therapies.

Fun Fact: I learned most of my English from podcasts, movies and music, I love travelling to new places and time with my family.

Postdoctoral Research

Maryam Rad, PhD

Email:

Previous Institutions:

My Interests are:

Fun Fact:

PhD Candidate

Melissa Evans, BSc.

Email: mevans72

Previous Institutions: BSc in Biotechnology and Economics, University of Waterloo.

My Interests are: Base editing + non viral delivery + activatable tracking of reporter genes

Fun Fact: I am a ringette coach

PhD Candidate

Yanghao (Jerry) Fu, Bsc.

Email: yfu296

Previous Institutions: BMSc. in Medical Biophysics @ Western University

My Interests are: CRISPR + colonic organoids + colorectal cancer

Fun Fact: I love rock climbing!

MSc Candidate

Alexa Smith, BASc.

Email: asmit655

Previous Institutions: BASc in Engineering Physics and Computer Science, Queens University.

My Interests are: Engineered NK cells + tumor-specific antigens + secretable blood biomarkers for early cancer detection.

Fun Fact: I crochet sweaters.

Research Assistant

Joshua Krautner, MSc.

Email: jkrautne

Previous Institutions: BSc and MSc in Medical Biophysics, Western University.

My Interests are: Base editing + mRNA + Imaging CRISPR.

Fun Fact: I love playing baseball (I am a pitcher).

5th Year Undergrad

Danielle Treasure

Email: dtreasur

My interests are: CRISPR Prime Editing + reporter gene imaging + cell tracking.

Fun Fact: I am a Varsity swimmer.

Undergraduate Research Students + Volunteers

Katrina Pronesti

Emanuael Silvester

THE TEAM

Dr. John Ronald

Meet the Team

Undergraduate Research Students + Volunteers

Lab Alumni

Dr. Ying Xia, Res. Assoc. (2025)

Sean McRae, PhD. (2025)

Research Associate, Boffa Lab - Western U.

Medical Physicist - Ottawa

Jasmine Lau, BSc. (2025)

MD/PhD Program - University of Toronto

Victor Velehorschi, MSc. (2023), Res. Assist. (2024)

MD Program - Western U. (Windsor Campus)

Al-Shumoos Fadhil, MSc. (2024)

Shirley Liu, MSc. (2023)

Nourhan Shalaby, PhD. (2023)

MD Program - Stanford Medicine

Consultant

Andrew Olin, MSc. (2023)

Tian Duo Wang, PhD. (2022)

Postdoctoral Associate - Harvard/MGH

Dr. Yuanxin Chen, Res. Assoc. (2021)

Ryan Williams, MSc. (2021)

Veronica Dubois, MSc. (2021)

Nivin Nyström, PhD. (2020)

Katie Parkins, PhD. (2019)

Dr. Amanda Hamilton, Res. Assoc. (2019)

Medical Laboratory Technologist

Postdoctoral Researcher - Caltech

Scientific Recruiter - StemCell Tech.

Research Scientist - ImPaKT, Western U.

Richard Berish, MSc. (2017)

Trung (Adam) Le, MSc. (2017)