BIOLOGY
Chelsea Landon is originally from West Fork, Arkansas and received a BS in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology from Arkansas Tech University in 2005. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, Chelsea was actively involved in a variety of research projects, ranging from monitoring an endangered bird population to trapping bears. She continued on this research-driven path out to North Carolina, where she received an MS in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in the laboratory of Larry Leamy, PhD, in 2007. Chelsea’s thesis project focused on persistent effects of in utero exposure to the environmental contaminant, dioxin. This work resulted in increased interest in the field of toxicology, leading her to the Integrated Toxicology and Environmental Health Program at Duke University. Chelsea received a PhD in Pathology and certification in Toxicology from Duke in May 2013 under the guidance of Mark Dewhirst, DVM, PhD. While at Duke, her research focused on drug delivery mechanisms and the use of hyperthermia in drug delivery systems, specifically with cisplatin. She assessed the enhanced delivery and cytotoxicity following use with the combination of cisplatin and hyperthermia both at the tissue and molecular levels. The work in Dr Dewhirst’s laboratory allowed Chelsea to become actively involved in the animal welfare aspect of research and to appreciate the responsibility researchers and veterinarians have in maintaining the ethical use of animals in research. With the support of Dr Dewhirst, she began veterinary school at North Carolina State University in 2013 to pursue her goal of becoming a laboratory animal veterinarian at a top-tiered research institution. In addition to veterinary school, Chelsea is currently working in the laboratory of Adam Moeser, DVM, PhD, a gastrointestinal biologist studying the effects of stress on gastrointestinal disease.
ENGINEERING AND PHYSICS
Elvis Dervishi has been a PhD candidate in “Ecole Doctorale de Cancerologie” at the University Paris Sud (Paris XI), Paris, France, since 2010. His research work consists of high intensity focused ultrasound treatment of brain tumours in a rat model, under the supervision of Professor Jean-Yves Delattre and Dr Anne Laure Boch at Paris Sud (Paris XI) University and in collaboration with Jean-Francois Aubry and Mickael Tanter at Institut Langevin (ESPCI ParisTech, CNRS, INSERM). In 2009–2010, Mr Dervishi also completed a Master’s degree in Neuroscience at the University Paris Sud (Paris XI), Paris, France.
He received a doctor of medicine degree at the University of Tirana, Albania in 2001. Since completing specialized studies in neurosurgery at the University of Tirana, Albania, firstly as a Resident in Neurosurgery at the University of Tirana, Albania (4 semesters, 2003–2006), and then at the University René Descartes (Paris V), Paris, France (6 semesters, 2006–2009), Mr Dervishi has been working as a neurosurgeon at the Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Center “Mother Teresa”, in Tirana, Albania since 2009. His specific interests are the treatment of brain tumours and transcranial ultrasonic brain ablation.
Elvis Dervishi was the author of three publications focusing on transcranial ultrasonic brain ablation during his thesis. He has also participated in different international conferences, symposiums, forums, and meetings about transcranial brain therapy.
He speaks Albanian, French, English and Italian.
ENGINEERING AND PHYSICS
Ryan M. Davis’s training is in Engineering and Physics with a research focus on biomedical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). He received a Bachelor’s of Arts in Electrical Engineering and a Bachelor’s of Science in Physics from Johns Hopkins University in 2007. Hyperthermia became a primary research interest while pursuing a Master of Science in Medical Physics at Duke University, when he used MR thermometry to study temperature sensitive liposome content release in small animal tumour models. Following the Master’s degree, Ryan worked as a cancer research training awardee (CRTA) at the National Cancer Institute, and focused on applying nitroxides as redox-sensitive MRI contrast agents. In 2011, he began pursuing a doctorate in Biomedical Engineering in the lab of Warren S. Warren at Duke University. While in the Warren lab, he received funding from the NIH’s Medical Imaging Training Grant. In the Warren lab, his research focuses on designing MRI pulse sequences that use intermolecular zero-quantum coherences between fat and water spins to measure temperature during hyperthermia of red bone marrow. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of his work Ryan has published peer-reviewed articles in journals ranging from Nature Physics to Free Radicals in Biology and Medicine.