Hawkins Lab

Last week three of our talented graduate students showcased their research at the annual Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology Research Conference here in Toronto! Great work Ichen, Ben and Tamara, we are so proud of your accomplishments!

And just like that, another Hawkins lab alum in the books! Congratulations Dr. Alessia Portante! Your hard work and dedication has paid off, we wish you nothing but the best in your bright future ahead! Keep shining ✨

Congratulations to our latest lab alumni, Dr. Stefanie-Grace Sbergio, who successfully defended her PhD thesis last month! Stef has been an integral member of our lab for the past 6+ years. We are all so thrilled for her and incredibly proud of everything she has accomplished! ❤️

Drs. Hawkins, Levine, and Figueiredo Nobre attended the 2025 WFNOS/SNO Annual Meeting in Honolulu. Another inspiring year, sharing and celebrating the remarkable work of colleagues from around the world! 🗺️ 🧠

12 Days of Hope Submitted by: Dr. Cynthia Hawkins, @CHawkinsLab "New scientific advances are bringing real hope to the brain cancer community, with breakthroughs that would have seemed impossible only a few years ago. IDH inhibitors are showing promise for patients with IDH-mutant gliomas by directly targeting the mutation that drives tumor growth, offering the potential for slower progression and better quality of life. At the same time, new therapeutic approaches for DIPG, one of the most devastating childhood brain cancers - are emerging through focused ultrasound - enhanced drug delivery, targeted molecular therapies, and innovative immunotherapies designed to reach tumors previously considered untreatable. These developments highlight why research matters: every study, every experiment, brings us one step closer to giving patients better options and better outcomes. This insight unlocks new treatment possibilities, challenges old assumptions, and moves us closer to therapies that are more effective and less harmful. My work has been accelerated thanks to support from Brain Cancer Canada, which provides high-impact funding that allows researchers like me to pursue bold ideas and rapidly test feasibility of promising new approaches. Their investment has helped move discoveries from the lab toward the clinic more quickly, ensuring that scientific progress translates into real hope for the people who need it most." #12DaysOfHope #DrCynthiaHawkins

A huge congratulations to Hawkins Lab members Dr. Arun Kumaran Anguraj Vadivel on his oral presentation and poster at @hupo_org last week discussing the proteomic landscape of DMG, and graduate student Wajeeha Zaheer for her poster on multi-omic profiling of DMG!

Congratulations to our graduate student Tamara Sandouka on presenting her research at the annual SickKids Cell Biology Retreat! It was a day full of insightful discussions and great science.

Interested in learning the basics of ML/AI models and how to implement them in (prote)omics? I will be hosting a workshop at HUPO2025 @hupo_org on Sunday at 10:15 am at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel

@CHawkinsLab We are proud to stand with @CHawkinsLab🩶

🩶 Today is Brain Cancer Awareness Day. Every day, approximately nine Canadians, including both children and adults, are diagnosed with a deadly and incurable form of brain cancer. Today, we stand with the brain cancer community, patients and their loved ones 🩶 @braincancercan

Congratulations Dr. Levine and Dr. Hawkins on their publication in Neuro-Oncology 🎉 Integrated clinical and molecular landscape of disseminated pediatric low-grade glioma 🖇️: can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%…

We are happy to share our research briefing from Nature Medicine discussing our recent publication from Dr. Siddaway. Have a look 🧑‍💻: nature.com/articles/s4159…

SickKids researchers Drs. Cynthia Hawkins and Xi Huang elected to the Royal Society of Canada sickkids.ca/en/news/archiv… Congratulations Dr. Hawkins and Dr. Huang on this incredible achievement! 🎉

Another research filled summer in Hawkins lab🌞🔬Congratulations and well done Sara, Rianne and Rohan as they presented their summer projects at the SSuRe symposium yesterday! A special congratulations to Rohan who won a poster award for the Cell & Systems Biology Department 🏆

In a prospective study including 2,300 pediatric and adult patients with liquid and solid tumors, RNA sequencing provided actionable molecular information in 87% of cases, including for diagnostic and therapy matching purposes. @CHawkinsLab nature.com/articles/s4159…

Hawkins Lab BBQ 2025! Another year celebrating our collective hard work, dedication, and achievements 🎉 Fueled by support and connection, united in our effort to advance the field. Cheers to our incredible team 📸 Thank you to our hosts, Dr. Hawkins and family!

🎉 We are excited to share our publication in Nature Medicine by Dr. Siddaway and colleagues, “Clinical utility of targeted RNA sequencing in cancer molecular diagnostics" 📊 doi.org/10.1038/s41591…

Congratulations Dr. Levine on becoming a double doctor! Today he successfully defended his PhD! Well done and wishing you much success in the future 🎉🔬

Pictured in this thread we have our presenters: Cyril, Richard, Rianne, Suba, and Tamara!

Well done Hawkins lab! This week Hawkins lab members presented their work at the 26th Annual DPLM Laurence Becker Symposium at SickKids. 🥼 A special congratulations to Suba and Richard for winning the best poster awards! Great work team!