Quail Lab

Daniela Quail, Principal Investigator
Daniela completed a BSc and PhD at the University of Western Ontario, and a postdoctoral fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. She opened her lab in August 2017 at the Goodman Cancer Institute and Department of Physiology at McGill University, Montreal. She currently holds a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Tumour Microenvironment research.

Lysanne Desharnais, PhD candidate
Lysanne completed a BSc at Ottawa University. She is currently co-supervised by the Quail and Walsh labs, and joined in September 2018 as a graduate student in the Department of Human Genetics, currently completing a PhD at McGill. Her thesis project is focused on the influence of obesity and dietary components on immune checkpoint blockade efficacy in cancer. She is interested in learning more about immunological regulation of lung cancer

Ozgun Varol, MSc candidate
Ozgun joined the Quail lab in Sept 2022. She recently completed a M.Sc. at the University of Ottawa and is now pursuing her Ph.D. in Experimental Medicine at McGill University. Her thesis project is focused on obesity-associated monocytosis and metabolic regulation of liver metastasis.

Alyssa Cristea, MSc candidate
Alyssa completed a BSc at the Université de Montréal and joined the Quail lab in July 2022 to pursue a MSc in Experimental Medicine at McGill University. Her thesis project is focused on the effect of obesity on immunological responses to colorectal cancer progression.

Anikka Swaby, MD/PhD candidate
Anikka has a BSc in Nutritional Science and a MSc in Human Nutrition from McGill University. She is currently completing her MD and PhD at McGill University in the Dept of Experimental Medicine, and her thesis research is being performed in the Quail lab. Anikka is interesting in studying how diet imprints the immune system to influence cancer outcomes. She is currently investigating the connection between the microbiome and anti-tumour immunity in response to obesity-inducing diets.

Aline Atallah, MD/PhD candidate
Aline has a BSc in Life Sciences and a MSc in Biomedical and Molecular Sciences from Queen’s University, and a research background in trained immunity. She is currently completing her MD and PhD at McGill University in the Dept of Experimental Medicine, and her thesis research is being performed in the Quail lab. Aline’s current project is focused on interrogating single cell datasets to gain insight into the developmental trajectories of immune cells in the context of cancer.

Liam Wilson, MD/PhD candidate
Liam completed a BSc at McGill University and has worked in different roles in the Quail lab since 2022. He is currently completing his MD and PhD at McGill University in the Dept of Human Genetics, and his thesis is co-supervised by the Quail and Walsh labs. Liam’s research is focused on the brain tumour microenvironment, and how recruited myeloid populations shape disease progression.

Saskia Hartner, PhD candidate
Saskia joined McGill University in the fall of 2023 as a PhD student co-supervised by the Quail and Walsh labs. She holds a BSc and MSc from the University of Vienna and completed her MSc thesis at Yale University. She subsequently worked as a research assistant at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, expanding her cancer research background. At McGill, Saskia’s research explores how cancer reshapes the immune system both locally and systemically. She is particularly interested in the regulation of myeloid cells and how these immune populations contribute to cancer progression and therapy resistance.

Juliette Wilson-Sanchez, PhD candidate
Juliette completed a BSc in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Ottawa, and MSc in Biomedical and Molecular Sciences with a specialization in Cancer Research at Queen’s University. Juliette joined the Quail lab in Fall 2023 and is pursuing her PhD in the Department of Experimental Medicine. Juliette’s project focuses on understanding how diet influences tumour progression and response to treatment in solid tumours.

Dakota Rogers, Postdoctoral Fellow
Dakota completed a BSc in Microbiology and Immunology at Dalhousie University. He completed his PhD in Physiology at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Judith Mandl where he studied naive T cell heterogeneity. Dakota joined the Quail lab in August 2023 first as a Research Associate and now as a Postdoctoral Fellow. He is looking at how lifestyle factors impact immune cell development and response to immune challenges.

Valérie Breton, Lab Manager
Valérie completed a BSc in Biotechnology at Université Sherbrooke. She has >20 years of research experience in cell biology and mouse models of cancer. She joined the Quail lab in August 2017 as a Lab Manager, jointly appointed with the Walsh Lab, and is the point-person for training, operations and technology development.

Benoit Fiset, Bioinformaticist
Benoit has over 30 years of experience in computer science, IT Networking and Internet Security, and is proficient in many computer programming languages which include Perl, R, and Python. He provides critical analytic support and has developed computational pipelines for sequencing analysis, imaging studies, and data integration. His primary appointment is in the Walsh Lab, and joined in November 2017.