Category: Tyrrell Lab Posts

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MRA Is More Cost-Effective than the Current Strategy for Testing > 70% Carotid Stenosis

ROP Research Forum March 5th, 2015 – Kevin Chen





Kevin Chen is a 2nd year research opportunity program student studying neuroscience and
physiology in the University of Toronto Life Sciences Program. His main goal is to get into
medical school and to enjoy the UofT experience as much as possible!

Kevin’s ROP project consisted
of cost effectiveness analysis modeling to explore whether MRA could be a
cost-effective measure in testing and treating patients with carotid stenosis.
Preliminary results showed that in a subset of the population at risk for
carotid stenosis (> 70 %), MRA was dominant over the current strategy of testing with
Doppler Ultrasound. By reducing MRA scan time and by tailoring MRA sequences we believe it possible to extend these findings to include a larger sub-population (> 50 %). More to follow…

Well done, Kevin!

See you in the blogosphere,

Pascal Tyrrell

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Who is Going to the Karolinska Institute this Summer? Helena Lan Is, That’s Who!!!!










The Karolinska Institutet is one of the world’s leading medical universities and is located in Stockholm, Sweden. Did you know that in 1895 Alfred Nobel appointed the Karolinska Institutet to annually award the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology? Now you do.

So, you may have read my previous post about “Connectory”. Well today I want to talk to you about one of my Research Opportunity Program students at the University of Toronto, Helena Lan. Not only was she a star student with me last summer (see her timeline post here) but she has continued on with our MiVIP group contributing to a systematic review on research methodology and biostatistics in medical imaging (stop rolling your eyes, it IS an interesting topic!).


Well she just found out that that she has been invited to work at the Karolinska Institute this summer as part of the Summer Research Abroad Program at the University of Toronto which is sponsored by the the Centre for International Experience. WOW!!!







Her supervisor will be Dr. Sofia Johansson, an assistant professor at Karolinska Institutet. Her research is focused on natural killer cell biology. You can find her research interests here.

Want to know about what natural killer cells do as part of our innate immune system? Watch this cool video.












Cool right? Well, I enjoyed it anyway. Maybe you need to watch Mr Brightside by The Killers to recover and…

… I’ll see you in the blogosphere.
PS: Congratulations Helena!!!

Pascal Tyrrell

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Happy Late New Year 2015!!!

The Moody Tree



Ok, so I may have taken a longer break than I should have. Where was I you ask? I was enjoying some R&R with my family. My kids are at great ages – 15, 11, and 6. Then, of course, when I got back to my desk – whammo! The deluge of work. This morning, as I sat on the GoTrain on the way into Toronto, I thought of you and happily sat down to write my first post of 2015.


First, a thank you for your readership. We are soon approaching our first anniversary (next month) and my programs (MiVIP and MiB) and this blog are chugging along famously… all because of you!



Chicago Bean

Next, a funny story to explain the picture above. When I attended the RSNA last December (see my post here on this event) I brought along my old film camera for fun as I enjoy photography and decided to reminisce a little. To your right is a picture of the Chicago skyline reflected on the “Bean“. See me?


I hadn’t developed film in so long that I almost ruined it – in my laundry room between all of my family’s clothes, the ironing board, buckets, detergents… Anyway, I also had with me my trusted digital for snaps and one evening I was invited to a function at my boss’ hotel and he said to me:”Let me know what you think of the Christmas lights on the trees in front the hotel on your way in”. Alan Moody is an uber-radiologist, the chair of our department, and loves imaging the carotid arteries. As our minds often operate on the same wave lengths, I took the picture and voila – the Moody Tree was born!


There is no end to the fun we have here in the Department of Medical Imaging…



Even though this is not a “MiWORD” post how about you wish a belated Happy New Year to someone you have not been in touch with yet? Send them a quick text or better yet, send them the link to this post and tell them to visit the Moody Tree next time they are in Chicago during the holidays…


See you in the blogosphere,




Pascal




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Another successful diagnosis thanks to the x-ray…

For more info see Free Birds…

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!!!

A traditional holiday – originating from the native peoples of the Americas – to celebrate the completion and bounty of the harvest. Well, no harvest for me but I will take the time to appreciate some of the successes of our MiVIP program and this blog over the long weekend.


Thanks for being a part of it!


See you in the blogosphere,

Pascal Tyrrell