Our Team

A multidisciplinary group of computational biologists, geneticists, and data scientists.

Dr. Sagi Abelson

Principal Investigator

Dr. Abelson aims to understand the causes and development of cancer to improve risk estimation, early detection, and prevention.

He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto and a Principal Investigator at the OICR.

Current Trainees

Salman Basrai

Salman Basrai

PhD Student

Epigenetic determinants of blood clonality.

Ashton Cook

Ashton Cook

MSc Student

Mosaic chromosomal alterations in immune cells infiltrating the tumor microenvironment.

Djarren Tan

Djarren Tan

MSc Student

Evolutionary dynamics of hyperdiploid leukemia.

Mahek Khatri

Mahek Khatri

MHSc (Medical Genomics) Practicum Student

Knowledge-based drug targeting of recurrent transcriptomic cancer cell states.

Alumni

Research Staff

  • Jessie Medeiros, Research Assistant and Technician

    Development and validation of a clonal hematopoiesis sequencing panel leveraging single-molecule molecular inversion probes (smMIPs).

  • Christopher Kuc, Technician

    Development and benchmarking of next-generation sequencing (NGS) library preparation methods to improve duplex recovery rates.

Graduate Students

  • Ido Nofech-Mozes, PhD

    A single-cell compendium of intratumoral heterogeneity.

  • Nelson Bautista Salazar, MHSc (Medical Genomics), Practicum

    Age-related clonal hematopoiesis as a predictor of therapeutic response and long-term outcomes following TKI therapy in CML patients.

  • Navneet Aujla, MHSc (Medical Genomics), Practicum

    Design, benchmarking, and implementation of cost-effective sequencing approaches for detecting mutations associated with myeloid malignancies.

Undergraduates

  • Chloe Nichole Calica, Undergraduate Student, Course Project

    Development of a clonal hematopoiesis database using smMIP-derived blood sequencing data.

  • Vivian Wang, Undergraduate Student, Course Project

    Analysis of recurrent cell-type niches across tumor microenvironments.

  • Kai Ren Chen, Undergraduate Student, Course Project

    Development of a computational tool to streamline targeted sequencing panel design for cancer research.