Danielle Tokarz, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Danielle was born in Toronto, ON and received a H.B.Sc. degree in 2008 from the University of Toronto, specializing in chemistry. She completed her Ph.D. in 2014 under the joint supervision of Prof. Virginijus Barzda (biophysics) and Prof. Ulrich Fekl (inorganic chemistry) at the University of Toronto where she studied the nonlinear optical properties of carotenoid and chlorophyll molecules as potential labels for nonlinear optical microscopy. Danielle completed a postdoctoral fellowship in 2015 under the supervision of Prof. Brian C. Wilson at the University Health Network where she investigated diseased human tissues using polarization-sensitive second harmonic generation microscopy. In 2015, Danielle moved to Boston, Massachusetts to take up a NSERC postdoctoral fellowship under the supervision of Prof. Charles P. Lin at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. There Danielle developed a novel three-photon microscope for intravital imaging of bone in mice calvaria. In 2017, Danielle joined the Department of Chemistry at Saint Mary’s University as an Assistant Professor.
Richard Cisek, Ph.D.
Research Associate
Richard performed his studies at the University of Toronto. He obtained an H.B.Sc. degree with a double major in physics and mathematics at the Mississauga campus in 2001, and an M.Sc. in physics, specializing in general relativity at the St. George campus under Prof. Charles Dyer in 2003. He obtained a Ph.D. in the same department, working under Prof. Virginijus Barzda, located in the Mississauga campus, and specializing in experimental biophysics, nonlinear optics and microscopy in 2012. Richard continued working for Prof. Barzda, as a postdoctoral fellow, further specializing in nonlinear optical microscopy, endoscopy, and ultrafast laser systems development, as well as in optical structural studies of biocrystalline structures including starch and collagenous tissues. In 2017 he moved to his current position at Saint Mary's University, as a Research Associate in the lab of Prof. Danielle Tokarz, and as a part-time instructor in the Department of Astronomy and Physics. Richard is interested in nonlinear light-matter interactions with biological polymers, crystals, and nanomaterials. As part time instructor, Richard teaches 2nd and 3rd year undergraduate core physics courses at Saint Mary's University including Electricity and Magnetism, Waves and Vibrations and Computational Physics.
Graduate Students
MacAulay Harvey
Sasha MacArthur
MacAulay is a Ph.D. student co-supervised by Dr. Laurent Kreplak (Dalhousie University).
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Sasha is in her first-year of M.Sc. studies.
Ariana Joseph
Elisha Bennett
Elisha is in her fourth-year of undergraduate studies. She is currently synthesizing crystalline maltodextrins.
Ariana was an Honours student and a Research Assistant in the group from 2017-2020. She published 4 papers while in the group. She is currently attending medical school, but is still involved in our research.
Former Laboratory Members
Chandika Ramful
Katherine Purvis
Kennedy Brittain
Kennedy was an Honours student, NSERC USRA student and a Research Assistant in the group from 2018-2020. She published 1 paper while in the group. She is currently working on her M.Sc. degree at Dalhousie University.
Katherine was an NSERC USRA student and Research Assistant in the group from 2018-2019. She published 2 papers while in the group. She is currently working on her M.Sc. degree at Dalhousie University.
Chandika finished her degree in chemistry at Saint Mary's University and she was a Research Assistant in our group working on a collaborative project with Coloursmith Labs Inc. She is currently working at Solid State Pharma Inc.
Sasha MacArthur
Sasha was a Research Assistant in the group in 2021.
Emily MacDonald
Lindsey Burns
Ketnavi Ramgoolam
Emily was a Research Assistant in the group in 2020.
Lindsey was a Research Assistant in the group in 2019-2020.
Ketnavi finished her degree in chemistry at Saint Mary's University and she was a Research Assistant in our group in 2019 working on a collaborative project with Coloursmith Labs Inc.
Katherine Budden
Heather Chow
Leanore Hearn
Katherine was a Research Assistant in our group from 2017-2019. She published 1 paper while in the group. She is currently working on her M.Sc. degree at the University of Toronto.
Heather was a volunteer in our research group in 2018. She is currently working on her M.Sc. degree at Dalhousie University.
Leanore was a volunteer in our research group in 2018. She is currently working on her undergraduate degree at the University of New Brunswick.