XCITE Lab projects

Current XCITE Lab members

Name Position Project
Magdalena Bazalova-Carter Associate Professor All of them :)
Pierre-Antoine Rodesch Postdoctoral fellow CT imaging with photon-counting detectors
Deae-eddine Krim Postdoctoral fellow X-ray FLASH radiotherapy
Alison (Xinchen) Deng Postdoctoral fellow Photon-counting CT imaging
Devon Richtsmeier PhD candidate Gold nanoparticle drug delivery and spectral imaging
Alex Hart PhD candidate Scintillators and FLASH with x-ray tube
Jade Fischer PhD student Radiotherapy with VHEE
Olivia Masella PhD student Low-cost radiotherapy
Nathan Clements Research Assistant Spatially-fractionated radiotherapy
Courage Mahuvava Volunteer Dose calculations for small animal radiotherapy
Kevin Murphy Volunteer Spectral CT imaging


Magdalena Bazalova-Carter, PhD, DABR
Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Medical Physics (Tier 2)

Magdalena received her BSc in Physical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague in 2003 and her PhD in Medical Physics at McGill University in 2008. In 2009, she started her postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University and three years later she was promoted to an Instructor at the same institution. Apart from advancing her academic career, Magdalena enjoyed working at the Stanford Hospital as a part-time clinical medical physicist. Magdalena joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy as an Assistant Professor in July of 2015. Her CV can be downloaded here.
Magdalena likes science very much and would like to fullfill her long-lasting dream of doing medical physics research in a self-built cabin at a lake in Canada. Apart from research, Magdalena loves to spend time outdoors: she enjoys rock climbing, ice-climbing, back-country skiing, mountaineering, and biking. She climbed the highest peak of the Americas at 6964 m and crossed western Canada (Vancouver to Winnipeg) on her bicycle. At conferences, you are likely to see her climbing up streets poles, bar walls, or any vertical rock-resembling surfaces (mouse over her photo).

Pierre-Antoine Rodesch, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow

Pierre-Antoine [/pjeʁãtwan/] is French, he received his BSc in mechanical engineering in Paris in 2012 in Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées. He then slowly slipped towards medical imaging by firstly getting a MSc in biomechanics in 2014. He then moved to the French Alps to do a PhD on spectral CT reconstruction with photon-counting detectors in CEA Léti. From 2018 to 2020, he worked in the CREATIS laboratory in Lyon on the SPCCT, a large field of view spectral CT prototype, equipped with photon-counting detectors.
Pierre-Antoine practices a lot of sports (tennis, ski touring, climbing, hiking), but just in order to enjoy a good meal afterwards. He also owns music instruments he has no idea on how to play, as the Oud or the ukulele, but he likes staring at them. He enjoys adventures, ARTE documentaries and still believes we can achieve peace on earth.

Deae-eddine Krim, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow

Deae-eddine Krim is a dedicated and passionate physicist hailing from Morocco. After completing his BSc in 2016, he continued his academic pursuits by enrolling in the Master's program in the physics of matter and radiation. During this time, he focused on simulating linear accelerators (LINACS) used in medical physics for his MSc graduation project. In 2019, Deae-eddine embarked on his doctoral thesis at Mohammed First University of Oujda-Morocco, where he tackled some of the biggest challenges in radiation therapy. His research involved the development of a groundbreaking/new virtual source model for large and small fields, as well as a novel treatment method using focused VHEE beams through virtual magnetic lenses and prisms.
Beyond his academic accomplishments, Deae-eddine is a sports enthusiast with a passion for football (soccer), tennis, and running. He is also an avid follower of the automotive industry and enjoys staying up-to-date with the latest trends. In his free time, he loves discovering new music and is always on the lookout for talented artists to add to his playlist.

Devon Richtsmeier
PhD candidate

Devon is from Boise, Idaho and received his BSc in Physics from Boise State University in 2018. As an undergraduate, in addition to his coursework, Devon worked on research in Biophysics investigating the pore-forming protein lysenin. In the course of that research he also became interested Medical Physics and began investigating it more fully before finally deciding to pursue a degree in it. Devon began his MSc in Medical Physics at UVic in September 2018 and is also a part of the CREATE PoND Program. He is working on using gold nanoparticles in conjunction with XFCT.
In addition to previously mentioned ventures, Devon enjoys playing volleyball, backpacking, and rock climbing, but also likes to hang out on the couch with a good book. He is the owner of the best dog, Sandy, who you can see him hiking with regularly. He is also interested in learning to white-water kayak.

Alex Hart
PhD student

Alex received his BSc in Applied Physics from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington in 2015. Shortly after, he began his career in medical physics as an Applied Physics Technologist with Northwest Medical Physics Center before moving to Canada for graduate school. Alex earned his MSc in Medical Physics from the University of Victoria in early 2021 while a member of the UBC-based Qurit lab. His masters work focused on the development of new clinical protocols for oncological FDG PET/CT imaging. As a PhD student, Alex is excited to contribute to the rapidly developing field of FLASH radiotherapy.
Alex enjoys the privilege of spending graduate school living on beautiful Vancouver Island by getting out for hiking and mushroom foraging trips as often as possible. He is also a lifelong student of music, currently studying bluegrass guitar and mandolin.

Jade Fischer
MSc student

Jade graduated from the University of Calgary in 2022 with a B.Sc in physics. During her undergrad, Jade worked on a variety of research projects including projects in chemistry and complexity science. She ultimately was drawn to medical physics. Her work included projects on functional treatment planning for liver SBRT and machine learning for medical image translation. Through her graduate education, she is excited to learn about novel techniques and apply those skills to improve treatment methods and outcomes for patients.
Jade is very excited to begin graduate school in a city where she can pursue her favorite activities such as climbing, hiking, and ultimate frisbee for a few more months of the year. That being said, she will miss the snowy winters of Alberta because she is also a big fan of winter sports such as skiing, ringette, and sledding (which definitely counts as a sport).

Olivia Masella
MSc student

Olivia received her BSc in Physics from the University of Waterloo in 2022. Starting from her second year as an undergrad, she worked as a co-op student and subsequently as a volunteer at the Grand River Cancer Centre, performing QA duties and researching cell-simulation methods. Olivia's research allowed her to work closely with a 3D Multi-Scale cell modelling software ultimately leading to an undergraduate thesis investigating simulated chemotherapy on a simulated prostate tumour model. Her interest in Medical Physics came quickly and suddenly once exposed to the field leaving her excited to begin her master's at the University of Victoria.
In her spare time, Olivia enjoys cooking, trying new restaurants, spending time with friends, and exploring new sceneries. Additionally, with a newfound love for running, Olivia's looking forward to discovering beautiful Vancouver Island while pushing herself to beat her personal bests.

Nathan Clements
Research Assistant

Nathan is from Summerland, BC and will be entering fourth-year of his BSc in Physics September at UVic. He is very excited to join the XCITE Lab for an NSERC USRA position. He will be experimenting with the AmpTek X-123CdTe detector doing phantom scans and hopefully working up to a biological sample. In his free time, he likes going to the gym and playing basketball and volleyball.

Courage Mahuvava
Volunteer

Courage is from Zvishavane, a small town in the Midlands province of Zimbabwe. Under the Medical Research Council of South Africa, Courage spent the past six years as a Medical Physics researcher in a clinical radiation oncology environment, where he worked on several High-Energy Advanced Radiation Dosimetry (HARD) flagship projects; ranging from prototype beta testing of the IQM transmission detector to online treatment verification as well as pre-treatment quality assurance (QA) in combination with EGSnrc Monte Carlo (MC) dose calculations.
Courage received his PhD in Medical Physics in October 2020 from the University of the Free State (UFS). His doctoral research made novel progress into 3D dose reconstruction in cancer patients undergoing external beam radiotherapy and also laid foundation for the development and use of transmission detectors for pre-treatment QA. His research MSc degree (obtained in 2016) focused on evaluating the dosimetric impact of prosthetic hips during megavoltage pelvic radiotherapy in the absence of CT artefacts. Courage also holds a Medical Physics Honours degree (obtained in 2013) from the University of Cape Town, where he conducted two research projects; one dealing with radiation protection calculations in the design of a linear accelerator vault and another investigating the effect of silicone gel breast implants on radiotherapy depth dose distributions using the MC software package MCNP. Courage was also awarded a presidential scholarship as well as a summa cum laude BSc in Computational Physics for academic achievement at the University of KwaZulu Natal in 2012. His scholarly work is manifested as first-author publications in several peer-reviewed journals, abstracts and conference presentations. Courage is designated as a professional physicist by the South African Institute of Physicists and is a part-time lecturer in a new Medical Physics department at the National University of Science & Technology in Zimbabwe.
Presently, Courage is conducting EGSnrc MC dose calculations in mice models for a preliminary study that will be referenced by TG-319 when providing guidelines for accurate dosimetry in radiation biology experiments. Courage hopes to move to Canada in 2021 to pursue a post-doctoral certificate program at the University of Victoria as he advances towards international recognition as a board-certified clinical radiation oncology physicist. Outside of his career, he enjoys swimming, gardening, walking on the beach and reading random Quora feeds. As his name demands, Courage is ready to let go of his fear of heights and one day embark on a mountain climbing adventure in the beautiful sceneries of Vancouver with his XCITE lab colleagues!

Kevin Murphy
Volunteer

Kevin is working on an undergraduate degree in Physics & Astronomy at the University of Victoria. He spent a summer working in Eureka Nunavut with PEARL research lab and looks forward to continuing to pursue his passion for a greater understand of the universe and our place in it.
Kevin enjoys spending his time doing any activity that involves mountains, lakes, or anything outdoors; he is an adventurous person that loves to travel and experience different cultures and traditions. Recently in his travels through India and Nepal he learned to lead yoga practices, and uses this alongside massage therapy, and meditation to help others in any way he can. Kevin is continually trying to further his own development and works towards a goal of integrating his passion for science, spirit, and nature to share with others.

Former XCITE Lab members

Name Next or current position Project
Jericho O'Connell, PhD Postdoctoral fellow at Harvard/Dana Farber Cost-effective RT
Nolan Esplen, PhD Postdoctoral fellow at MD Anderson FLASH/SFRT
Josephine Brewster Undergraduate student at UVic Low-cost radiotherapy
Jonathan Eby, BEng MSc student at U of Toronto Table-top FLASH system
Teaghan O'Briain, MSc MSc Student and VIU Motion correction in PET
Laszlo Zalavari, PhD Resident at Stanford University Segmentation in photon-counting x-ray images
Joanna Nguyen, PhD Researcher at General Electric Food inspection with photon-counting detectors
Daniel Cecchi MSc student at U of Calgary Scintillators for FLASH therapy
Ellie Badun Programmer Web-based dose viewer VICTORIA
Chelsea Dunning, PhD Postdoctoral fellow at Mayo Clinic Novel x-ray imaging modalities (PhD)
Dylan Breitkreutz, PhD Resident at Stanford University Kilovoltage x-ray beam arc therapy (PhD)
Chris Johnstone, PhD Resident at University of Toronto Small animal radiotherapy (PhD)
Spencer Robinson BSc student at UVic Spectral CT imaging, EBT3 film response
Eisa Alyaqoub BSc student at University of Madison (EE) 3D printing for small animal radiotherapy
Clay Lindsay PhD student at UVic Combined kV/MC imaging with a high-DQE MV detector
Spencer Bialek PhD student at UVic (Astronomy) Software development for microCT image analysis
Henry Baxter BSc student at UVic (CS) Visualization of TrueBeam treatment trajectories
Kilovoltage x-ray beam arc therapy
Lila Chergui MSc student at Perimeter Institute (Theory) Microbeam radiotherapy
Aaron Bannister MSc student at UVic (Medical Physics) Gel dosimetry in the presence of metals