Biology
“Tumor thermotolerance, a physiological phenomenon involving vessel normalization”
Ruud P. M. Dings received his M.S. degree in Biological Health Sciences specializing in tumor immunology from the University of Maastricht, The Netherlands, in 2000. He received his Ph.D. degree from the same institution in 2003, studying experimental oncology with special interest in tumor angiogenesis in the laboratory Prof. Dr. Arjan W. Griffioen. His postdoctoral studies included drug discovery and development in infectious diseases and cancer under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Kevin H. Mayo at the University of Minnesota, USA. During his second postdoctoral studies he was introduced and mentored by Prof. Dr. Robert J. Griffin (currently at the University of Arkansas) in the fields of radiation and thermal therapy. His current interests lies within drug discovery and development and the enhancement of existing treatment modalities (such as thermal therapy and radiation) by elucidating new mechanisms of action, in particular involving the tumor microenvironment.
Clinical
“Deep regional hyperthermia for the whole thoracic region using 8 MHz radiofrequency-capacitive heating device: relationship between the radiofrequency-output power and the intra-esophageal temperature and predictive factors for a good heating in 59 patients”
Dr. Takayuki Ohguri, MD, PHD I received my medical degree from University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, in 1997.
In 2003, I began graduate studies at University of Occupational and Environmental Health, the department of Pathology and Oncology, under Dr. Hashimoto's guidance .
In 2008, I landed at the Radiation Oncology Unit of the department of Radiology in University of Occupational and Environmental Health.
Currently, beside my clinical work, my current areas of interest include regional hyperthermia, especially for an optimization of deep regional hyperthermia using insulating materials, and Radiation Oncology especially for re-irradiation, IMRT, stereotactic radiotherapy and oligometastases.
Physics
“Localized drug release using MRI-controlled focused ultrasound hyperthermia”
Robert Staruch Room C713, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre 2075 Bayview Ave, Toronto, Ontario, M4N 3M5.
Robert Staruch was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada on October 24, 1983. He received his B.A.Sc. degree in Computer Engineering in 2007 from the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. During his doctoral studies in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto, Robert has worked under the supervision of Dr. Rajiv Chopra and guidance of Dr. Kullervo Hynynen at the Centre for Research in Image-Guided Therapeutics at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. Robert's research has been supported by an Ontario Graduate Scholarship, as well as Master's and Doctoral level NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships. In 2011, Robert had the opportunity to present an Educational Session on MRI-controlled ultrasound thermal therapy at the Society of Thermal Medicine annual meeting in New Orleans, LA.
Robert's research interests are in thermal therapy, MRI-guided focused ultrasound, image-guided drug delivery, and noninvasive approaches to cancer therapy. His doctoral research demonstrates the use of MRI-controlled focused ultrasound to achieve precise spatial temperature distributions for localized hyperthermia, and explores its application in targeting localized drug delivery from thermosensitive drug carriers.