Career Networking event

Wendy Xin, PhD

Scientist, Krembil Brain Institute, UHN

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Physiology, U Toronto

Wendy is a scientist at the Donald K. Johnson Eye Institute and Krembil Brain institute at UHN, and assistant professor in the department of Physiology at the University of Toronto. She received a BSc from UofT and a PhD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UCSF. Her lab studies the reciprocal interactions between neurons and oligodendrocytes, the cells that make myelin in the central nervous system, and how they influence neuronal circuit maturation and plasticity.

Anthony Bosson, PhD

Neuroscience Ph.D

Research Associate (Murphy-Royal lab)

I did a Ph.D in France from 2013 to 2016 studying the involvement of astrocytic TRPA1 during Alzheimer’s disease early phase. Then I transitioned to a postdoc position from 2017-2021 to study how astrocytes 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, assisting and leading research projects in the lab as well as training students, implementing new methods and assisting the PI developing future strategies & directions for the lab.

Becky Fallon, PhD

Behavioral Neuroscientist, PhD

Bruker Nano Inc / Inscopix

Becky earned her PhD in Biology through the Johns Hopkins NIH graduate partnership program, where she studied how striatal neuronal ensembles encode context‑specific learning. After grad school, she moved into biotech, first selling behavior tracking software and then joining Inscopix — a startup pioneering miniature microscopes designed to image neural activity in freely behaving animals. Over the past seven years, she’s grown with the company through its acquisition by Bruker Nano Inc. and now serves as the North America Sales Manager for Inscopix products. Becky helps labs find miniscope imaging technology that matches their research goals.

Adam Institoris, MD, PhD

Imaging specialist, CSM Optogenetics Core Facility, University of Calgary

Adam received his MD and his PhD at the University of Szeged, Hungary, investigating neuroprotective strategies in vascular dementia. He spent 2 years at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina studying cerebrovascular dysfunction in diabetes. Between 2014-24, he completed his postdoc fellowship at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute in Calgary under the guidance of Dr. Grant Gordon where he used 2-photon microscopy, optogenetics and chemogenetics to study how neurons and astrocytes control local brain blood flow in health and disease. Since 2025, he is a staff scientist at the CSM Optogenetics Core Facility where he supports and facilitates new discoveries based on live brain imaging in behaving animals.

Jean King, PhD

Philip R. and Paul S. Morgan Endowed Professor of Biology & Biotechnology

Affiliate Professor, Biomedical Eng; Social Science & Policy Studies; Professor, Neuroscience (WPI)

Affiliate Professor, Medicine, Psychiatry (UMass Chan Medical School)

Dr. Jean King is the Philip R. and Paul S. Morgan Endowed Professor of Biology & Biotechnology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA.   She is also an Affiliate Professor in the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Social Science & Policy Studies as well as Professor of the Neuroscience program at WPI.  In addition, she continues her role as affiliate faculty at UMass Chan Medical School in the departments of Psychiatry and Medicine.  She also serves as co-chair of the World Women in Neuroscience organization.

Éric Samarut, MBA, PhD

Researcher – Assistant Professor Research Center of the University of Montreal Hospital Center

Éric holds a BSc and MSc in Biosciences from the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon and a PhD in Molecular Aspects of Life Sciences from the Université de Strasbourg. Since 2022, he has been an assistant Professor at the Université de Montréal and is a researcher at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Center (CRCHUM), where he focuses on the functional genomics of rare neurological diseases. His work integrates in vivo models (zebrafish and mouse), in vitro (iPSC-derived models), transcriptomics, and mechanistic approaches to link gene function with brain development, function and disease. He holds an MBA and is actively involved in research valorization programs, contributing to the translation of academic discoveries into applied and innovation-driven outcomes.

Elke Kuester-Schoeck, PhD

Microscopy core manager, Ste Justine Research Centre, Montreal

A PhD-level life scientist by training, Elke is a core facility professional with more than 20 years of experience and a lot of passion for her job. In her current position, she is managing and developing a light microscopy core facility at the CHU Sainte-Justine research centre in Montreal, providing in-depth consultations, personalized instrument training, access to image analysis, to 100+ internal and external clients per year, all while keeping the suite of high-end microscopes running at the top of their game.