Larry and Stephanie complete their MSc Theses
Liangyi (Larry) Zhou
The Department of Pathology and Laboratory of Medicine would like to offer congratulations to Larry Zhou, who has completed his MSc in Pathology. Dr. Rennian Wang is Larry's MSc supervisor. The title of Larry's thesis is "Investigation of Pancreatic ß‑Cell Insulin Receptor Regulation of ß‑Cell Growth, Function, and Survival Via a Temporal Conditional Knockout.”
A tamoxifen-inducible Cre-recombinase insulin receptor knockout mouse model was used in Larry's research to investigate the temporal role of β-cell insulin receptor signalling in pre- and postnatal islet development and function. The lab performed everything from mouse breeding to in vivo metabolic studies and qualitative tissue analysis. Coordinating multiple projects was challenging, and since mice never cooperate, Larry learned to appreciate every little experimental success in the research lab. With a future goal of medical school, Larry plans to do some part-time and volunteer work in a mouse-free environment while studying for the professional school exams.
Stephanie Mok
The Department of Pathology and Laboratory of Medicine would like to offer congratulations to Stephanie Mok, who has completed her MSc in Pathology. Stephanie studied epithelial to mesenchymal transition, an early initiating step towards cancer metastasis, in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours under the supervision of Drs. Chris Howlett and Douglas Quan. The title of Stephanie's thesis is "Epithelial to mesenchymal transition in the metatstic progression of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours.” Stephanie is now enrolled in the PhD program in Chemical Engineering at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Chris Moraes where she will be dabbling in single-cell models to better understand how changes to their microenvironment can lead to the development of disease.
