Co-Chair
Shabnam Massah
I joined the VPC in 2018 as a PostDoctoral Fellow and have focused my work on understanding prostate cancer progression, particularly through the study of AR-V7 condensates and their role in enhancing cancer aggressiveness.
About
About the MIUS Trainee Committee
The MIUS Trainee Committee supports graduate students and postdoctoral fellows by coordinating useful resources, community events, and peer-to-peer connections across the research centre.
People
Committee Members
Co-Chair
Unnati Yagnik
I joined VPC in 2024 as a Master's student in Dr. Syam Somasekharan's lab, where I study the osteomimetic properties of prostate cancer cells and their role in driving bone metastasis.
Co-chair of Professional Development Committee
Ka Mun Nip
My research focuses on studying miRNAs in patients with germ cell tumors and investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying prostate cancer treatment resistance and progression.
Co-Chair of Professional Development Comittee
Sally Lee-Sayer
My research background is in immunology, spectializing in flow cytomometric immunophenotyping and assays, and mouse models. I have several years of industry R&D experience in genetic profiling.
Co-chair of Professional Development and Resource Committees
Sudha S Kotapalli
I joined VPC in 2018 as a PhD student in the Daugaard Lab. I studied epigenetic and chromatin-driven transcriptional regulation of molecular markers in luminal muscle-invasive bladder cancer.
Co-chair of Resource Committee
Sarina Saffarian
I joined VPC in 2022 as a co-op student in Dr. Somasekharan's lab, where I investigated molecular mechanisms underlying castration-resistant prostate cancer and tumour progression.
Co-chair of Social Committee
Nicholas Pinette
I am a laboratory technician in Dr. Nada Lallous's lab at the Vancouver Prostate Centre, where I study androgen receptor biomolecular condensates in prostate cancer. My research focuses on understanding protein phase separation.
Co-chair of Social Committee
Ishana Lodhia
I joined the VPC in 2018 as a visiting high school student in Dr. Amina Zoubeidi's lab and have continued as a graduate student studying lineage plasticity in neuroendocrine prostate cancer.
Website Designer + Resource Committee Member
Ali Balapour
I joined the Hach Lab in VPC in 2023 as a Master's student in Bioinformatics and began my PhD in Computer Science in 2025. My research focuses on developing artificial intelligence applications for genomic data analysis.
Past Co-Chair
Naomi Jung
I joined the VPC in 2022 as a co-op student and have since focused my research on applying high-resolution imaging techniques to study prostate cancer and bone metastasis. I am eager to contribute to collaborative research.
Past co-chair of Resources Committee
Kerim Yavuz
I joined VPC in 2022 as a PhD student in Dr. Nathan Lack's laboratory and am working on the role of androgen receptor's coregulators in the progression of prostate cancer. I am studying their impact on cancer development.
Social Committee
Andrew Murtha
I joined the Wyatt Lab in 2019 as a co-op student and have since transitioned to a PhD. I study prostate and bladder cancer genomics, biomarkers, and intrapatient heterogeneity.
Professional Development Committee
Rafailia Beta
I joined VPC in 2025 as a postdoctoral fellow in Nada Lallous' lab to study lncRNA of AR condensates in prostate cancer. I contribute to knowledge sharing, mentorship, and career development initiatives.
Professional Development Committee
Kareena Kak
I am a co-op student in Dr. Gillian Vandekerkhove's lab. My research focuses on utDNA profiling in urothelial cancer, including diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment response tracking.
Social Committee
Jan Vanwelkenhuyzen
In 2025 I joined the Wyatt lab in the VPC as a post-doc. My research focuses on the development of (epi)genomic and transcriptomic biomarker development in liquid biopsy samples for cancer diagnostics.
Social Committee
Sarah Hanstock
I joined Dr. Dirk Lange's lab in 2021 as a PhD student in Experimental Medicine. My research investigates the role of the gut micorbiome in calcium oxalate kidney stone disease.