Linda Z. Penn
Principal Investigator
- Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Molecular Oncology
- UHN Director, Office of Research Trainees
- Senior Scientist, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
- Professor, Dept of Medical Biophysics, UofT
Linda conducted her PhD at the University of Toronto and Hospital for Sick Children with Dr. Bryan Williams, focusing on interferon as an anti-viral. She then pursued her Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now The Frances Crick Institute) in London, UK with Dr. Hartmut Land. She also enjoyed working with Dr. Gerard Evan at ‘the Fund’ and this is where her fascination with the MYC oncogene began. Moving back to Canada in the 1990’s, she established her lab with a focus on the regulation and function of the MYC oncoprotein and then evaluating the role of statin drugs as anti-cancer agents.
She is fascinated with the transformation process and identifying the tumour vulnerabilities that can be exploited as novel therapeutic strategies to impact patient care and outcome.
Dr. Penn is Senior Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Dr. Penn is also a Professor in the Medical Biophysics Department at the University of Toronto and Director of the University Health Network’s Office of Research Trainees. She is a scientific advisor on several national/international review panels and is on several journal editorial boards. She was recently awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Linkoping University in Sweden.
Alumni
Dr. Mohamad Elbaz
Dr. Corey Lourenco
Dr. Yong Wei
Dr. Jason De Melo
Dr. Mohamed Kamal
Dr. Peter Mullen
Dr. Dharmendra Dingar
Dr. Ekaterina Safroneeva
Dr. James Clendening
Dr. Danijela Konforte
Dr. Romina Ponzielli
Dr. John Watson
Dr. Grace Trentin
Dr. Angelina Stojanova
Dr. Anna Martirosyan
Dr. Hong Lu
Dr. Dalia Barsyte-Lovejoy
Dr. Sigal Katz
Dr. Annie Huang
Dr. Cynthia Ho
Dr. Jianghong Wu
Dr. Zhenlei Xia
Dr. Mary Shago
Dr. Jim Dimitroulakos
Dr. Patrick Dion
Dr. Jasmine Daksis
Dr. Rich Lu
Cornelia Redel
Jenna van Leeuwen
Diana Resetca
Ashley Hickman
Joseph Longo
Corey Lourenco
William Tu
Rosemary Yu
Manpreet Kalkat
Janice Pong
Matthew MacDougall
Lindsay Lustig
Aleksandra Pandyra
Carolyn Goard
Ali Fatehi Hassanabad
Amanda Wasylishen
Stephanie Oliveri
Sam S. Kim
Andrew Rust
Paul C. Boutros
Adam Hanley
Natalie Meyer
Wei-Lynn Wong
Dan Mao
Erinn Soucie
Sara Oster
Si Tuen Lee
Justin Lear
Gihane Wasfy
Wilson Marhin
Linda Facchini
Research Technicians
Fereshteh Khosrav
Special mention goes to Fereshteh, who was our Head Research Technician for 13 years until her retirement in 2011. Fereshteh was known as the ‘lab mom’, always taking care not only of the cells and ordering, but also taking care of everyone who had the pleasure to know her during their time in the Penn lab! During those years nearly 40 research trainees and scientific associates were part of the Penn lab! Many thanks Fereshteh for helping to nurture and support us all, and make the Penn lab a busy and productive place to conduct research!
Nicholas Prevedel
Aaliya Tamachi
Lindsay Lustig
Christina Bros
Rebecca Griffiths
Melissa Tan
Shaojun Chen
Cathy McDowell
Research Associates
Dr. Romina Ponzielli
Dr. John Watson