Owerko Centre Award Recipients

Baillie Cej

Supervisor: Dr. Aaron Gruber 

"I'm engineering a microfluidic platform that reconstructs the cortico-striatal circuit's native connectivity in vitro, paired with novel biosensors that track hydrogen peroxide and NMDAR-mediated calcium signaling at individual synapses in real time.This tool enables us to ask: how do inflammatory and metabolic signals shape circuit development in the striatum? My immediate goal is testing whether elevated hydrogen peroxide during critical windows alters synaptogenesis, but the platform itself is flexible, and will allow us to investigate further paradigms."

Riya Chitroda

Supervisor: Dr. Signe Bray

“My graduate studies in the Bray Neuroimaging Lab focus on using functional MRI (fMRI) to characterize brain development in children, from infancy to adolescence. Specifically, I work with the Canadian Pediatric Imaging Platform (C-PIP), a nationwide longitudinal neuroimaging study designed to accelerate Canadian neurodevelopmental research. My research with C-PIP focuses on assessing similarities and differences in fMRI data quality across study sites, aiming to improve standardization and support future studies using C-PIP data. I am passionate about advancing our understanding of the factors that shape brain development as children transition to adulthood. Through this award, the Owerko Centre directly supports my research and its potential to contribute to this important area of study."

Aditi Ilangovan

Supervisor: Dr. Kara Murias 

"I am excited to begin my MSc in Medical Science and contribute to GeneXchange, a patient-oriented project focused on improving communication and support following a genetic diagnosis. Using Fragile X syndrome as a model, I will work alongside families, healthcare professionals, and community partners to identify gaps and co-develop practical resources such as communication guides and referral pathways. I am honoured to receive the Owerko Centre Graduate Scholarship, which will support this work and my ongoing development as a researcher."

Katerina Kurz

Supervisor: Dr. Catherine Lebel

"I am very grateful to have been awarded the Owerko Centre Graduate Scholarship. I am currently a Master’s student in the Developmental Neuroimaging Lab. My research explores the relationship between energy use of the brain and body in children, and whether this relationship changes between boys and girls, or as kids get older. To do this, I am using a variety of magnetic resonance imaging methods to estimate energy use in the brain, and working with other researchers using doubly-labeled water to measure body energy use. This research will begin to provide a baseline of brain-body energy relationship trends throughout development, and could help us understand neurodevelopmental disorders in new detail."

Carter McCaskill

Supervisor: Dr. Sheri Madigan 

"I am excited to begin my MSc in Clinical Psychology at the University of Calgary and join the Determinants of Child Development lab. My work will focus on understanding how caregiver-child relationships and broader developmental environments shape resilience. I plan to utilize the All Our Families cohort to better understand what helps children thrive following adversity and how these factors can inform early intervention. I am also interested in how trauma-informed care can be adapted and personalized to better address individual needs. Ultimately, I hope to integrate research and clinical practice to improve mental health care and outcomes following adversity."

Amanat Panech

Supervisor: Dr. Julia Jacobs-LeVan

"I am very grateful to be receiving the Owerko graduate scholarship! My research is aimed at quantifying sleep, gastrointestinal, psychiatric and neurodevelopmental comorbidities in pediatric populations with epilepsy and correlating that with anti-seizure medications, in hopes of contributing to a multifaceted understanding of treatment-related effects in children. More specifically, the outcomes of this study are directly relevant to physicians, in which findings can be used as evidence to the implementation of a more nuanced treatment approach. This clinical research directly aligns with my career goal of becoming a pediatrician and working to improve health outcomes in vulnerable pediatric populations."

Sophia Shepherd

Supervisor: Dr. Gerald Giesbrecht

"I am sincerely grateful to the Owerko Centre for supporting my research assessing relationships between neurodevelopment, biology and mental health, particularly with respect to the effects of prenatal stress on neurodevelopmental and mental health outcomes. I aim to work as a pediatric clinical neuropsychologist so that I can bridge neurodevelopmental research and clinical practice to ultimately improve the lives and wellbeing of children navigating neurodevelopmental or neurological challenges. I am eager to apply this scholarship to advance our understanding of the impact of prenatal stress on child neurodevelopment and mental health; and to use this research to develop and refine accessible interventions for both neurodevelopmental and mental health problems."

Armaan Toor

Supervisor: Dr. Chunlong Mu 

"I am currently a Master’s student in the Gastrointestinal Sciences program and my research project focuses on exploring the gut-brain axis, specifically connecting the gut microbiome to childhood neurodevelopmental conditions, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). My project aims to manipulate the gut microbiome through microbial consortia interventions to regulate gastrointestinal motility and neurobehaviours using mice models. Considering the diverse prevalence of children with ASD and neurodevelopmental condition co-occurrence, my project will provide insight on gut microbiome regulation to improve pediatric health outcomes. My career goal is to be a clinician scientist, and I am grateful to receive the Owerko Centre Graduate Scholarship to conduct research contributing to this field aligning with my interests."

Alison Whiting

Supervisor: Dr. Jennifer Zwicker 

"My goal in pursuing a PhD is to uncover and address barriers to accessibility within society, with a particular focus on the unintended barriers created by the very programs, services, and policies designed to support people with disabilities. I am deeply grateful to receive this scholarship, which allows me to dedicate my time and energy to research that can help make our society more accessible and inclusive. My career goal is to continue working at the intersection of academia and public policy, using research and evidence to improve the programs and services that people with disabilities rely on to live independent, fulfilling lives."

Chloe Scholten

Supervisor: Dr. Catherine Lebel

"As a graduate student in neuroscience at the Developmental Neuroimaging Lab, I am deeply passionate about child health and neurodevelopment. To extend the impact of our research beyond the lab, my fellow lab members and I have delivered more than 20 child-friendly presentations at local elementary schools. Tailored to different grade levels, these presentations explored topics such as MRI brain imaging, what the brain looks like and is made of, how the brain changes as we grow, and ways we can care for our brains. Engaging with children across different ages and observing how they learn brings the brain behaviour relationships we study into meaningful real-world context."

Patricia Basualto

Supervisor: Dr. Jennifer Zwicker

"I am honoured to receive the Owerko Centre Publication Award for my research on service providers' and decision-makers' perspectives on the challenges families of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities face in accessing support, and on recommendations to improve disability policy and programs.

In this work, we used a qualitative descriptive methodology and a pragmatic approach to deliver a clear message about system improvement. An advisory council provided feedback at every step of our research, a valuable experience I will carry into future research.

I hope this work fosters discussion about how the systems can better serve children with disabilities, particularly those with neurodevelopmental disabilities and mental health concerns."

Jackson Hewitt

Supervisor: Dr. Sheri Madigan

"This research project tested for bidirectional associations between maternal and child depression across child development. Our findings suggested that increases in child depression were associated with later increases in maternal depression. This supports a growing body of evidence that mental health problems in families can be bidirectional, with parents and children influencing one another while challenging unidirectional, parent-driven conceptualizations of intergenerational psychopathology. Preparing and publishing this project was both challenging and rewarding, as it required sophisticated statistical methods and careful interpretation of family dynamics. Overall, this project provided high-quality evidence for a more nuanced understanding of mental health difficulties in families during early adolescence."

Dr. Xiangyu Long, PhD, Lab Technician

"I am very honored to receive the Owerko Centre Staff Recognition Award this year. I’m a research associate in the lab led by Dr. Catherine Lebel. My work focuses on the typical and atypical brain development associated with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. I always feel privileged and grateful for all time support from my colleagues. I am also always inspired by how amazing the fetal alcohol spectrum disorder communities are. Their continuous support and engagements motivate our lab to push the research much further. I believe our research on brain development will continually benefit the public and wider communities over the years."

Lebel Lab, Cumming School of Medicine

Joshua David

Supervisor: Dr. Tim Shutt

"I sincerely appreciate the Owerko Centre for supporting my participation in the Quantitative Super-resolution Microscopy Workshop through this grant. This funding will enable advanced training in quantitative super-resolution microscopy to investigate the cellular mechanisms and kinetics governing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) release with high spatial and temporal resolution. Aberrant mtDNA release can activate innate immune pathways and drive chronic inflammation, a process increasingly implicated in pediatric neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders.By strengthening my ability to study mitochondrial dynamics and mtDNA trafficking, this training will advance research into mechanisms underlying diseases that impact children."

Dr. Fernanda de Marzio Perstana Martins, MBBS

Supervisor: Dr. Kara Murias 

"This grant will support my visit to the After Pediatric Critical Illness (APCI) National Leading Center at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) Sainte-Justine. My proposed sub-study, which will begin at the Critical Illness and Life Impact Moving Beyond the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) Clinic (CLIMB Clinic) at the University of Calgary and Alberta Children’s Hospital (ACH), will be the first APCI site to formally implement structured executive function and ADHD-focused measures within the cohort. During my visit, I intend to present these tools, demonstrate how they complement existing APCI assessments rather than duplicate them, and explore the feasibility of implementation at CHU Sainte-Justine and other APCI centers. 

Funding like this is essential for trainees, as it enables collaboration, knowledge exchange, and development of best practices that can improve long-term neurocognitive outcomes for PICU survivors and their families."

Valeriya Dontsova

Supervisor: Dr. Jane Shearer

"This grant will directly support my doctoral research on infantile epileptic spasms syndrome (IESS), a severe pediatric epilepsy often resulting in developmental delays and intensive lifelong management. It enabled me to receive specialized training in mitochondrial bioenergetics, fundamental to investigating shifts in metabolic demands associated with IESS and assessing potential therapies that mediate these processes. Acquiring this expertise will not only advance my own work but can be shared with other collaborators and researchers interested in mitochondrial bioenergetics. This grant is vital for trainees and postdocs as it promotes access to high-impact workshops and training opportunities that accelerate skill development and expand on the techniques available at the University of Calgary."

Dr. Jordan Chad, PhD

Supervisor: Dr. Catherine Lebel 

Project: How does the brain change at puberty? 

"I am grateful to be awarded this grant as I embark on establishing an independent research program pertaining to how the brain changes at puberty. The link between puberty and brain development remains remarkably elusive despite puberty coinciding with major cognitive and emotional changes, and psychiatric illness often emerges after puberty. I look forward to using this grant to acquire novel neuroimaging data that will help me generate a foundational hypothesis-driven framework for discerning the biological starting points that underpin adolescent mental health development."