The LSI congratulates Dr. Alison Li, soon to be a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Filip Van Petegem, on winning a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research 2020 Research Trainee Award.
Dr. Li will be coming to UBC in early October, having completed doctoral work with Dr. Glen Tibbits at SFU.
“The MSFHR award is a great opportunity for Alison,” says Dr. Van Petegem. “She will be looking at the link between Ryanodine Receptors and cardiac arrhythmia. Many mutations in RyR2 (the cardiac isoform) have been linked to stress-induced cardiac arrhythmia. More in particular, they cause CPVT (catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia), and people with such mutations are at risk for sudden cardiac death. Allison will use cryo-EM to see how the mutations affect the structure of RyR2.”
We look forward to welcoming Dr. Li in the Fall.