TREnD 2023 will be hosting an interactive session featuring a diverse panel of representants from the scientific community. Getting started in your career? Wondering what the next step is for you? Come join our sessions, ask any questions, and gain practical insights into the dynamics of a scientific career.

Panel members

April Pawluk, PhD – Scientific Publications Strategist at the Arc Institute

April Pawluk started her research journey at the University of Toronto in Alan Davidson’s lab, where she investigated the structural and molecular mechanisms of anti-CRISPRs: small proteins produced by bacteriophages that inactivate the CRISPR-Cas systems of their host bacteria. After graduating in 2016 with her PhD in Biochemistry, April continued studying the mechanisms of CRISPR-Cas systems in a brief postdoc in the Doudna lab at UC Berkeley. She then had a chance to fulfill her longtime dream of being a scientific journal editor, joining the editorial team at Cell in 2017. Rising to the position of Senior Editor over 4 years, April handled hundreds of submitted manuscripts across the biological sciences, mediating the peer review process and making decisions about which papers would ultimately be published by the journal. Since then, April has brought her perspective as a journal editor back to the academic sphere to help scientists write better grants and papers – first at Harvard’s Microbiome Center, and now at the newly launched Arc Institute in California. In her spare time, she does freelance scientific editing with a group of former journal editors at Life Science Editors, and leads workshops on scientific writing and publishing.

Marco Blanchette, PhD – Vice President of Research and Development at Eclipse Bio

Marco Blanchette obtained his Ph.D. in Microbiology from Université de Sherbrooke in Canada where he elucidated the molecular mechanisms by which the RNA binding protein hnRNP A1 regulates alternative splicing of RNA. He then did his postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley in the lab of Don Rio where he used genomics and proteomics assays combined with genetics to elucidates the interplay between RBPs and alternative splicing in Drosophila, followed by a 9-year tenure at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research where he studied mRNA processing using high throughput RNAi screen combined with genomics and proteomics. In 2015, he joined Dovetail Genomics in the role of VP of Research and Development, a biotech specialized in genome assembly and proximity ligation assays for mapping genome topology. Recently, Marco joined in November 2022 Eclipse Bio where he assumes the role of VP of Research and Development. His long-standing expertise in RNA biology combined with his genomic background in both RNA and DNA biology makes him perfectly equipped to help shape the future of Eclipse Bio portfolio of assays and applications for basic research as well as RNA therapeutics and manufacturing.

Amy Cui, PhD – Medical Manager, Oncology at Astellas Canada

Amy is the Medical Manager, Oncology at Astellas Canada. She holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Toronto and a Master of Science from McMaster University. Prior to joining Astellas, Amy was the Medical Advisor with Bausch Health for Ophthalmology and Dermatology.

Sonny Chen, PhD – Computational Biologist at Roche

Sonny did a PhD in Pharmacology at UofT studying a mouse model of schizophrenia/autism spectrum disorder under Dr. Amy J. Ramsey, where he was first introduced to RNAseq. This lead to a bioinformatics post-doc in CAMH with Dr. Shreejoy Tripathy, which in turn lead to a position as a contract Computational Biologist with Roche/Genentech.