Lab Member Biographies
Dr. Laszlo Radvanyi
Dr. Radvanyi has been focused on cancer immunotherapy and molecular biology research for over 25 years. He did his Ph.D. training at the University of Toronto in Clinical Biochemistry. Dr. Radvanyi is currently a Senior Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and a Professor, Tier I Canada Research Chair in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Ottawa (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada). In addition, since 2023, Dr. Radvanyi has been the National Independent Chair of Canada’s Digital Health and Discovery Platform (DHDP), an Industry, Science and Economic Development (ISED) Canada funded program to build an integrated AI platform linking clinical diagnostic and treatment data, imaging, and multiomic data in human disease (focused initially on cancer and neurodegenerative disease) being run in collaboration with the Terry Fox Research Institute. Dr. Radvanyi’s lab research at OHRI in Ottawa focuses on the role of transposable elements or endogenous retroelements in cancer initiation and as new targets for cancer detection and cancer therapeutics.
Previously, Dr. Radvanyi was President & Scientific Director of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) in Toronto and led all research operations (>325 staff) and scientific strategy of the institute from 2018-2025. Prior to this, he was Senior Vice President, Global Head of the Immuno-Oncology (IO) research at EMD Serono (Merck KGaA) from 2015-2018 where he rebuilt and reorganized its IO research platform and pipeline and established key academic alliances. He also co-led the final stages of pre-clinical development of the first bispecific, bifunctional biologic agent launched into the clinic against cancer (M7824/bintrafusp alfa; anti-PD-L1/TGF-beta Trap). Prior to EMD Serono, Dr. Radvanyi was a Professor in the Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, TX) from 2005 to 2014, where he performed basic and translational research in cancer immunotherapy focused T-cell therapy of cancer using tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) where he established a GMP TIL manufacturing program conducting clinical trials and performing basic research on TIL biology in solid tumors. Dr. Radvanyi has supervised over a dozen M.Sc. and Ph.D. students, as well as postdoctoral fellows. Between MD Anderson and joining EMD Serono, Dr. Radvanyi co-founded the first biotech company to commercialize TIL therapies for cancer (Iovance Biotherapeutics, now a large established company in the USA). As founding CSO he recruited the company’s first scientists, built its research infrastructure, and helped lead the company into its first clinical trials.
Dr. Zhenbo Zhang
Dr. Zhang holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics and Gene Engineering and completed extensive postdoctoral training supported by multiple postdoctoral fellowships. His research spans molecular genetics, glycobiology, and immunology. His PhD studies, conducted under the supervision of Dr. Changyan Deng in China, focused on the cloning and sequence and polymorphism analysis of LPL and HSL, as well as the comparison of glycan abundance on recombinant protein produced in different expression system. During his postdoctoral training primarily under Dr. Dipak Banerjee, he investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying genetic disorders and breast cancer, and how glycans and glycolipids regulate tumor development and shape immune responses. He also explored how these pathways can be harnessed for diagnostic and therapeutic innovation. He also earned a second bachelor’s degree in health services management from Ryerson University. His practicum provided hands-on experience in clinical diagnostic testing and strengthened his translational, healthcare-oriented perspective. As a member of the Radvanyi Team, Dr. Zhang studies the role of endogenous retroelements (EREs) in tumor initiation and progression. Combining molecular biology techniques, LC-MS and RNA-Seq, he characterizes tumor-exclusive extracellular vesicles (EVs) and identifies their unique therapeutic targets, with the aim of developing new therapies. Outside the lab, he enjoys table tennis, badminton, biking, hiking and baking.
Dr. Priyoshi Lahiri
Priyoshi is a cancer immunologist whose training spans pharmacy, immunology, and translational research. She completed a Bachelor of Pharmacy at North South University in Bangladesh and an MSc in Integrated Immunology at the University of Oxford, where she worked on reprogramming dendritic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells for use in immunotherapy. She earned her PhD at the University of Calgary in 2023, studying innate immune responses and proteolytic dysfunction in inflammatory disease, with training in proteomics. She then joined the Cancer Therapeutics Program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute as a postdoctoral fellow, investigating how surgery suppresses NK-cell and myeloid-cell function and how perioperative immunotherapy can restore it.
Priyoshi joined the Radványi lab in July 2026. Her research focuses on human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) and other endogenous retroelements as a source of tumour antigens. She is working to identify HLA-restricted HERV-derived peptides and test whether they are recognized by tumour-reactive T cells, with the goal of translating validated antigens into T-cell-based immunotherapies.
Dr. Arsala Ali
I completed my bachelor’s and master’s degree respectively from National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) and University of Karachi in Pakistan and came to Canada in 2019 to pursue PhD program at Brock University. I have always remained motivated about understanding genomic profiles of diseases with the goal towards precision medicine, as well as investigating functional impact of non-coding genome. Although not considered junk anymore, I believe non-coding genome constituting 98% of our DNA, still holds a lot of potential for new discoveries in genomic medicine. I always remain keenly interested in the projects involving ‘decoding of the non-coding genome’ and focused on analyzing genomes (along with epigenomes and transcriptomes) to unveil functional impact of the non-coding DNA.
My research journey started with my small undergraduate degree project examining association of cytokine genes’ polymorphisms with rheumatoid arthritis. Later as different non-degree projects, I worked on viral genome sequencing, cloning viral surface antigen genes, and WES of familial cancer cases to understand genomic aetiologies of inherited cancers. With the start of my master’s research, I switched from being wet-lab scientist to bioinformatics researcher. As my master’s thesis work, I inferred and compared somatic mutation signatures in different types of cancers through analyzing TCGA datasets. Further starting my doctoral research, I stepped into an exciting area of retroelements. Analyzing multi-omics datasets, I studied the role of retroelements in gene regulation and how retroelements are involved in tissue-specific gene expression in humans.
I feel very excited about being part of Laszlo Radvanyi’s lab and working on the bioinformatics part of the brilliant projects pertaining to cancer early diagnosis and immunotherapies. I am also the part of Ottawa Bioinformatics Core Facility (OBCF) involved in providing cutting edge bioinformatics services to uOttawa and external clients.
Besides science and research, I love to hike and try new hiking trails. I am also addicted to black tea.
Aimee Garcia Castro
Aimee completed her B.Sc. in Microbiology & Immunology at the University of British Columbia in May 2026. Following this background, and her research experience in cancer immunotherapy, she developed an interest in improving adoptive cellular therapies, such as CAR-T cell and tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapies, as well as developing novel cancer vaccines. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Biochemistry, Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Ottawa and working in the Radvanyi Team Lab, where her research focuses on HERV-K CAR-T cell therapy. Outside of the lab, Aimee is passionate about dancing and is a member of a K-pop dance team. She also plays the drums.