Author: Laurel Ballantyne

Congratulations to Yuxi Zhang (PhD student) for being awarded one of the WBC2016 Legacy Travel Awards for top abstracts. Yuxi will be presenting her PhD research on “Effects of exogenous insulin on macrophage survival and pro-inflammatory signaling” at the 37th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Biomaterials Society in Banff, Alberta. Thank you to the CBS 2022 Program Committee for your support.

Congratulations to Yuxi Zhang (PhD student) and Anuj Kaushal (MASc) on having your abstracts selected for oral presentations. Yuxi will be presenting her PhD research on “Effects of exogenous insulin on macrophage survival and pro-inflammatory signaling”. Anuj will be presenting his research “Examining The Proinflammatory and Profibrotic Effects of Adsorbed Damage-Associated-Molecular-Patterns and Toll-Like Receptor 2-Dependent Signaling in…

Congratulations to Anuj Kaushal on successfully defending and submitting his MASc Thesis, entitled “Toll-like receptor 2 and the early chronic inflammatory and fibrotic macrophage response to adsorbed damage associated molecular patterns”. Well done, Anuj, and best wishes for a bright future!

Laura McKiel successfully defended her PhD thesis on September 18th, 2020. Congratulations, Laura! We wish you success and happiness in your new career!!

Laura McKiel’s article, A Macrophage Reporter Cell Assay to Examine Toll-Like Receptor-Mediated NF-kB/AP-1 Signaling on Adsorbed Protein Layers on Polymeric Surfaces, has been published in JoVE! Click the link below to view. Well done, Laura!! https://www.jove.com/embed/player?id=60317&access=hc3a01tgow&t=1&s=1

Congratulations to the new Master of Applied Science, Ali Motahhari. Ali successfully defended his thesis titled DEVELOPMENT OF A SCREENING PLATFORM FOR ANGIOGENIC DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS USING ZEBRAFISH EMBRYOS this month! Best of luck in your future endeavours, Ali!!

Laurel Ballantyne joins us from the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences at Queen’s. She is excited to join a new department and eager to help make life a little easier for Lindsay and the students in the lab!

April 2019 – Rosa Comas defended her master’s thesis: Modulating the Inflammatory Response of Macrophages on Biomaterial Surfaces. Well done!

Laura McKiel (PhD Candidate) received an Ontario Graduate Scholarship for the 2018-19 year. Congratulations Laura!

May 2018 – Laura received one of only five WBC 2016 Legacy Travel Awards ($1300) to attend the annual Canadian Biomaterials Society Meeting in Victoria BC. Laura also received an oral presentation award ($300) at the conference for McKiel, LA* and Fitzpatrick, LE. (2018) “Toll-like receptor 2-mediated NF-κB activation by damage-associated molecular patterns on polymeric…

June 2017 – William Chaplin defended his master’s thesis: Development of a Microinjection Platform for the Examination of Host-Biomaterial Interactions in Zebrafish Embryos