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Dr. Calley Hirsch completed her Bachelor of Science and Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of Saskatchewan. During her Ph.D., she identified non-classical roles for a group of promising anti-cancer drugs. After completing her degree, Calley joined Dr. Sharon Dent’s laboratory at M.D. Anderson (Houston) to develop her expertise in embryonic stem cell research. During this time, she became increasingly interested in understanding how specialized cells within our body, such as a skin cell, can be persuaded to return to an embryonic stem cell state, through a process known as reprogramming.
To expand upon these interests, she joined the lab of Dr. Jeffrey Wrana at Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute. There she has uncovered new details regarding the mechanisms that drive reprogramming. Her findings not only shed light on the process of creating patient-specific stem cells for tissue regeneration, but also provide new clues toward revealing how healthy specialized cells loose their identity to become cancer cells.
2015: Dr. Aylia Mohammadi
Post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Mark Silverberg
Topic: Irritable Bowel Disease
2014: Dr. Amber Couzens
Post-doctoral researcher in the lab of Dr. Anne-Claude Gringas
Topic: Hippo Pathway