Career networking event

Shruti Muralidhar

Program Manager at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR)

Shruti did her PhD in Neuroscience at the EPFL followed by postdoctoral work at the University of Utah and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She transitioned to the industry in 2021 to work as a Scientist at Deep Genomics, a tech-bio startup in the Canadian Biotech space. She is currently working as a Program Manager at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) helping design and execute funding programs for early career researchers carrying out interdisciplinary research in Canada and across the world. She is interested in the intersections of science, neuroscience, policy, communications and venture capital.

Katherine Halievski

Medical Writer & Scientific Editor Freelance

Katherine earned her PhD in Neuroscience from Michigan State University in 2016 and completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children. After a year as a full-time medical writer at a Toronto-based medical communications agency, she launched her own freelance business. She now specializes in continuing medical education—developing grants and needs assessments—while also creating educational material for scientific experts, including adverse event management guides for pharmacists and website content for researcher-focused databases. On occasion, she also supports academics with manuscript and grant development and editing. Alongside her medical writing, she is pursuing a career in acting.

Sonny Chen

Computational Biologist at Roche

Sonny completed his PhD in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Toronto, studying NMDA receptors in the context of schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder. This was followed by a postdoctoral position at The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health where he studied transcriptomically-defined cell types in the human cortex. He is currently a Computational Biologist at Roche, where he works on various drug discovery and drug development projects analyzing different next-generation sequencing datasets.

Catherine Thomas

Product Specialist at Mightex

Catherine is an In Vivo Product Specialist at Mightex, where she leverages her expertise in behavioral neuroscience to facilitate research success of new and existing customers. She also works cross-functionally to develop new imaging and optogenetic research solutions. She holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Calgary, and is passionate about mentorship of academic scientists looking to explore opportunities to apply research skills outside of the lab.  

Anthony Bosson

Research agent (Murphy-Royal lab)

Anthony did a Ph.D in France from 2013 to 2016 (Buisson’s lab) studying the involvement of astrocytic TRPA1 during Alzheimer’s disease early phase. Then I transitioned to a postdoc position from 2017 to 2021 (Robitaille & Lacaille labs in Montréal) to study how astrocytes detect and regulate synaptic communication between excitatory and inhibitory circuitry in the hippocampus. Leveraging the experience gained from 2013 to 2021 I joined the Murphy-Royal lab in 2021 as a research agent assisting and leading research projects in the lab.

Tamas Fuzesi

Manager Core Facility

Tamas trained as a neuroanatomist, Dr. Füzesi received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary in 2010. He then joined the lab of Dr. Bains at the University of Calgary as a post-doctoral fellow. In 2017, he led the design and launch of a new core facility in the University of Calgary, to support the implementation of in vivo optogenetic, fiber photometry and miniature microscopy as a staff scientist. Since then, Dr. Füzesi, working with Dr. Bains, has been using viral strategies combined with the manipulation and recording of neural activity in vivo to study the central regulation of stress response.

Axel Guskjolen

Scientific Editor, Neuron.

Axel received his scientific training at the University of Saskatchewan, University of Toronto, and University of British Columbia. As a Scientific Editor for Neuron, he helps identify, curate, and disseminate some of the world’s most exciting neuroscientific discoveries.

Grace Murray

Executive Account Manager at PacBio

Grace completed her BSc in Microbiology at the University of Manitoba as well as her MSc at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.  After completing her masters she moved to Toronto to pursue a career in the commercial industry as a technical support specialist with a Canadian distributor supporting 10 different US-based companies.  One of the companies decided to go direct in Canada so she leveraged her technical knowledge to obtain a sales role at Stratagene.  After 10 years at Stratagene, she was asked to join a start-up called Illumina and she road that exciting wave for 14yrs.  Grace is currently the Executive Account Manager at PacBio, managing all of Canada.

Shreejoy Tripathy

Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Shreejoy is a Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, where he leads a computational genomics research group based at the Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics. He earned his PhD in Neural Computation from Carnegie Mellon University and completed postdoctoral training at the University of British Columbia, focusing on the intersection of neuron physiology and gene expression. His team uses advanced computational methods, machine learning, and single-cell genomics to uncover how genetic and cellular diversity shape brain function in health and disease, particularly in disorders like schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease. As a computational “dry lab,” they actively collaborate with experimental neuroscientists internationally, driven by a vision of personalized mental health care and a commitment to scientific discovery and innovation.

Louis-Philippe Bernier

Chief Executive Officer and a Co-Founder of CereCura Nanotherapeutics

Louis-Philippe is the Chief Executive Officer and a Co-Founder of CereCura Nanotherapeutics, a biotech company developing novel RNA therapeutics for brain diseases. CereCura was incorporated in 2022 as a spin-off of the University of British Columbia. At CereCura, Dr. Bernier oversees a multidisciplinary team that merges neuroscience and drug delivery expertise with business experience. The ambitious preclinical development programs at CereCura use lipid nanoparticle delivery of RNA to overcome the unique biodistribution challenges of the brain. Dr. Bernier received his BSc in Microbiology and Immunology/Pharmacology and completed his PhD in Neuroscience from McGill University. He also completed a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration from the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University.