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Dr. Patricia Lima (Founder)
Dr. Lima is a Scientist and an Assistant Professor (Adjunct) at the Queen’s Cardiopulmonary Unit (QCPU). She is also the Molecular Imaging and Cytometry Specialist and provides scientific assistance for over 30 ongoing research projects. Driven by the philosophy of “Let’s have this done and get it right”, Dr Lima is well known by her competence, organization skills and scientific knowledge. She co-supervises graduate students focusing on the development of their scientific skills and critical thinking. At QCPU, Dr. Lima directs the Imaging Lab (housing the super-resolution SP8 Leica MP and confocal microscope) and the Culture and Cytometry Lab (a fully equipped risk level 2+ facility with a cell sorter and an enclosed culture system).
Dr. Lima is graduated in Biological Sciences and obtained her Ph.D. in one of the top Universities in Brazil – UNICAMP in collaboration with Queen’s University. She has focused her graduate studies in Reproductive Immunology, specifically looking into the regulatory mechanisms of Natural Killer cells (NK) during pregnancy and the role of these cells in complications such as miscarriages and preeclampsia. During her postdoctoral training (Queen’s University and Ottawa Hospital Research Institute), Dr. Lima narrowed her research interest to study the immunological and metabolic aspects of women’s health particularly focusing on diabetes during pregnancy and infertility-driven by endocrine and metabolic disorders such as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. Over the years, Dr. Lima has accumulated relevant publications and several awards recognizing the excellence of her research. Currently, she has two major research interests: 1) the immunological aspects of pulmonary hypertension, specifically macrophage polarization and inflammasome activation and 2) the phenotyping of neutrophils in risk stratification and prognostics of sepsis. Both studies are in collaboration with full professors at Queen’s.
Aside from Science, Dr. Lima dedicates her time giving back to the community. She is also a volunteer firefighter at Athens Fire Department where she is a member of the executive and training team. She also leads yearly the Muscular Dystrophy Canada fundraising for research (“The Boot Drive”). At Queen’s, Dr. Lima is the founder of the Women’s in Science at Queens (WiSQ), which is a hit amongst scientists of diverse fields, genders and professional levels. The group is funded by Queen’s Inclusive Community Funding and has the support of several departments at Queen’s.
Dr. Caroline Pukall (Faculty Sponsor)
Dr. Caroline Pukall received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from McGill University. She is currently Full Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Director of the Sex Therapy Service at the Psychology Clinic at Queen’s University. Caroline’s research lab—the Sexual Health Research Laboratory—brims with enthusiastic, collaborative, and keen students of all levels who work diligently on research projects examining various aspects of sexuality, including: vulvodynia (i.e., chronic genital pain in women), sexual difficulties (e.g., persistent genital arousal in women), male and female sexual arousal, women’s health issues (e.g., postpartum pain and sexuality), male circumcision, and various relationship constellations. She is lucky to have such a productive and lively lab, the activities of which are coordinated by her dynamic Research Associate, Shannon. Caroline is passionate about using multiple methodologies in her research and she has investigated numerous aspects of sexuality using brain imaging, psychophysics, psychophysiology, and blood flow imaging, all the while relating the findings of these methods to a variety of self-report measures. She places great importance on knowledge translation and clinically relevant research, ensuring that the results of her research have positive effects on members of the public through numerous direct and indirect channels. Caroline’s research has been funded by several organizations including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the National Vulvodynia Association. Caroline is Associate Editor for Sexual Medicine Reviews and is on the editorial board of several journals, including The Archives of Sexual Behavior, The Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, and The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality. Recently, she was co-chair of the Women’s Sexual Pain Disorders Committee of the International Consultation of Sexual Medicine.
Brooke Ring-Snetsinger (Financial Officer)
Brooke has 10 years of research experience specializing in molecular biology, cytometry, microscopy and laboratory management.
She graduated with a BSc. Hons In Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine and MSc. in Life Sciences from Trent University. She managed a virology laboratory at Trent University and taught Virology and Infectious Diseases before coming to Queen’s University in 2012.
She worked as the research assistant for clinician-scientist, Dr. Michael Rauh in Pathology and Molecular Medicine. After 6 six years she branching into lab management for multiple research labs in the Pathology department, including the Queen’s Laboratory for Molecular Pathology. She has expertise running confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, NanoString Technology and Next-Generation Sequencers.
In 2019, she became the Manager of Operations and Facilities at Queen’s CardioPulmonary Unit (QCPU) under scientific director, Dr. Stephen Archer. Brooke oversees operation of both the KHSC satellite clinic’s daily operations, as well as, the state-of-the-art research centre. She not only lends her strong background in lab management to QCPU, but her significant bench experience as a Research Scientist, aiding in the Genomics, Molecular Imaging and Cytometry labs.
Dr. Elahe Alizadeh (Team Member)
Dr. Alizadeh graduated with a BSc. in Applied Physics and an MSc. in Medical-Radiation Physics Program, both from Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. She then obtained her PhD in Nano-Bio-Physics from the University of Innsbruck, Austria. In 2010, she joined Prof. Sanche’s lab at the Department of Radiobiology (at Université de Sherbrooke, QC, Canada) as a postdoctoral research fellow; where she designed and constructed a new X-ray apparatus to investigate the radiation damage on DNA complexed with radio-sensitizing chemo-therapeutic agents for chemoradiation therapy. Her achievement was recognized with the Radiation Research Society Jack Fowler Award in 2013 as an outstanding research in medical physics / radiobiology.
In January 2016 she joined the Department of Medical Imaging (University of Saskatchewan) to establish a pre-clinical research program for developing novel radiopharmaceuticals combining both therapeutic and diagnostic capabilities. She was managing the imaging facility with a µPET/SPECT/CT scanner and a radio-chemistry lab. She was also a member of the Occupational Health Committee at the Saskatchewan Cyclotron Centre (Centre (Sylvia Fedoruk Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation) and obtained the Radiation Safety Officer (RSO-1) certificate from the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada in May 2018.
Since July 2018, Elahe is conducting the nuclear imaging facility located at the QCPU. She is responsible for the coordination and performance of pre-clinical imaging projects using tri-modality µPET/SPECT/CT scanner (VECTor4CT from MILabs; Utrecht, Netherlands). She also oversees the quality assurance and troubleshooting of radiation equipment. She is also a member of the Canadian Radiation Protection Association (CRPA) and serves as a member of the Queen’s Radiation Safety Committee in the Department of Environmental Health and Safety.
Our other valuable Team members who make WiSQ happen!
Madison Mussari
Ruaa Al-Qazazi
Kimberly Dunham-Snary
Tiziana Cotechini