Principal Investigators

William Tran, PhD

Scientist
2075 Bayview Avenue, Room No.TB 97
Toronto Ontario M4N 3M5
Canada

Education:

• B.Sc., 2003, anatomy and cell biology, McGill University, Canada

• M.Sc., 2011, radiotherapy and oncology, Sheffield Hallam University, U.K.

• PhD, 2018, Sheffield Hallam University, U.K.

• Research fellow, 2018, radiation oncology, University of Toronto, Canada

Appointments and Affiliations:

Scientist, Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Odette Cancer Research Program, Sunnybrook Research    Institute

Staff radiation therapist, department of radiation oncology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Assistant professor, department of radiation oncology, faculty of medicine, University of       Toronto, Canada

Adjunct professor, department of physics, faculty of science, Ryerson University, Canada

Hon. senior research fellow (visiting assistant professor), department of radiotherapy and     oncology, faculty of health and wellbeing, Sheffield Hallam University, U.K.

Research Foci:

• Radiomics

• Transcriptomics

• Biomarkers for chemotherapy resistance in breast cancer

Research Summary:

The focus of Dr. Tran’s research is to identify predictive (i.e. pre-treatment) and early-response biomarkers for tumour response to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Specifically, Dr. Tran is interested in exploring quantitative imaging biomarkers from computed tomography imaging, digital pathology, and optical imaging alongside specimen-based markers to design computer-aided theragnostic (CAT) systems. The primary endpoint of Dr. Tran’s research will be improved patient outcomes by using biomarker measurements for adaptive and response-guided cancer treatments.

Within this framework, Dr. Tran’s research is also focused on understanding treatment and survival outcomes associated with biological variances in early-stage invasive breast cancer. As part of a team of physician investigators and scientists, he is working alongside clinical experts to map the genetic and biological characteristics associated with chemotherapy resistance and radiation refractory breast cancer.

Publications

2022

  1. Lagree A, Shiner A, Alera MA, Fleshner L, Law E, Law B, Lu FI, Dodington D, Gandhi S, Slodkowska EA, Shenfield A, Jerzak KJ, Sadeghi-Naini A, Tran WT. Assessment of Digital Pathology Imaging Biomarkers Associated with Breast Cancer Histologic Grade Curr Oncol. 2021 Oct 27;28(6):4298-4316. PMID: 34898544

2021

  1. Meti N, Sadeghi-Naini A, Tran WT. Reply to A. Pfob et al. JCO Clin Cancer Inform. 2021 Jun;5:656-657. doi: 10.1200/CCI.21.00059. PMID: 34110932.
  2. Lagree A, Mohebpour M, Meti N, Saednia K, Lu FI, Slodkowska E, Gandhi S, Rakovitch E, Shenfield A, Sadeghi-Naini A, Tran WT. A review and comparison of breast tumor cell nuclei segmentation performances using deep convolutional neural networks. Sci Rep. 2021 Apr 13;11(1):8025. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-87496-1. PMID: 33850222; PMCID: PMC8044238.
  3. Meti N, Saednia K, Lagree A, Tabbarah S, Mohebpour M, Kiss A, Lu FI, Slodkowska E, Gandhi S, Jerzak KJ, Fleshner L, Law E, Sadeghi-Naini A, Tran WT. Machine Learning Frameworks to Predict Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Response in Breast Cancer Using Clinical and Pathological Features. JCO Clin Cancer Inform. 2021 Jan;5:66-80. doi: 10.1200/CCI.20.00078. PMID: 33439725.
  4. Dodington DW, Lagree A, Tabbarah S, Mohebpour M, Sadeghi-Naini A, Tran WT, Lu FI. Analysis of tumor nuclear features using artificial intelligence to predict response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in high-risk breast cancer patients. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2021 Apr;186(2):379-389. doi: 10.1007/s10549-020-06093-4. Epub 2021 Jan 23. PMID: 33486639.

2020

  1.  Sannachi L, Gangeh M, Naini AS, Bhargava P, Jain A, Tran WT, Czarnota GJ. Quantitative Ultrasound Monitoring of Breast Tumour Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy: Comparison of Results Among Clinical Scanners. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2020 May;46(5):1142-1157. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2020.01.022. Epub 2020 Feb 25. PubMed PMID: 32111456.
  2. Tran WT, Ibáñez C, Pinto MP, Sanchez C, Czarnota GJ, Merino T. Eribulin-induced radiation recall dermatitis: a case report and brief review of the literature. Ecancermedicalscience. 2020 Jan 23;14:1006. doi: 10.3332/ecancer.2020.1006. eCollection 2020. PubMed PMID: 32104208; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7039694.
  3. Saednia K, Tabbarah S, Lagree A, Wu T, Klein J, Garcia E, Hall M, Chow E, Rakovitch E, Childs C, Sadeghi-Naini A, Tran WT. Quantitative Thermal Imaging Biomarkers to Detect Acute Skin Toxicity From Breast Radiation Therapy Using Supervised Machine Learning. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2020 Apr 1;106(5):1071-1083. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2019.12.032. Epub 2020 Jan 23. PubMed PMID: 31982495.

2019

  1. Tran WT, Suraweera H, Quaioit K, Cardenas D, Leong KX, Karam I, Poon I, Jang D, Sannachi L, Gangeh M, Tabbarah S, Lagree A, Sadeghi-Naini A, Czarnota GJ. Predictive quantitative ultrasound radiomic markers associated with treatment response in head and neck cancer. Future Sci OA. 2019 Nov 26;6(1):FSO433. doi: 10.2144/fsoa-2019-0048. PubMed PMID: 31915534; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6920736.
  2. Sharma D, Giles A, Hashim A, Yip J, Ji Y, Do NNA, Sebastiani J, Tran WT, Farhat G, Oelze M, Czarnota GJ. Ultrasound microbubble potentiated enhancement of hyperthermia-effect in tumours. PLoS One. 2019 Dec 18;14(12):e0226475. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226475. eCollection 2019. PubMed PMID: 31851698; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6919613.
  3. Tran WT, Jerzak K, Lu FI, Klein J, Tabbarah S, Lagree A, Wu T, Rosado-Mendez I, Law E, Saednia K, Sadeghi-Naini A. Personalized Breast Cancer Treatments Using Artificial Intelligence in Radiomics and Pathomics. J Med Imaging Radiat Sci. 2019 Dec;50(4S2):S32-S41. doi: 10.1016/j.jmir.2019.07.010. Epub 2019 Aug 22. PubMed PMID: 31447230.
  4. Tadayyon H, Gangeh M, Sannachi L, Trudeau M, Pritchard K, Ghandi S, Eisen A, Look-Hong N, Holloway C, Wright F, Rakovitch E, Vesprini D, Tran WT, Curpen B, Czarnota G. A priori prediction of breast tumour response to chemotherapy using quantitative ultrasound imaging and artificial neural networks. Oncotarget. 2019 Jun 11;10(39):3910-3923. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.26996. eCollection 2019 Jun 11. PubMed PMID: 31231468; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6570472.
  5. Fernandes J, Sannachi L, Tran WT, Koven A, Watkins E, Hadizad F, Gandhi S, Wright F, Curpen B, El Kaffas A, Faltyn J, Sadeghi-Naini A, Czarnota G. Monitoring Breast Cancer Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Using Ultrasound Strain Elastography. Transl Oncol. 2019 Sep;12(9):1177-1184. doi: 10.1016/j.tranon.2019.05.004. Epub 2019 Jun 18. PubMed PMID: 31226518; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6586920.
  6. Personalized Breast Cancer Treatments Using Artificial Intelligence in Radiomics and Pathomics.
    Tran WT, Jerzak K, Lu FI, Klein J, Tabbarah S, Lagree A, Wu T, Rosado-Mendez I, Law E, Saednia K, Sadeghi-Naini A.J Med Imaging Radiat Sci. 2019 Dec;50(4 Suppl 2):S32-S41. doi: 10.1016/j.jmir.2019.07.010. Epub 2019 Aug 22.PMID: 31447230​

2018

  1. Tran WT, Childs C, Probst H, Farhat G, Czarnota GJ. Imaging Biomarkers for Precision Medicine in Locally Advanced Breast Cancer. J Med Imaging Radiat Sci. 2018 Dec;49(4):342-351. doi: 10.1016/j.jmir.2017.09.006. Epub 2018 Apr 1. Review. PubMed PMID: 30514549.
  2. El Kaffas A, Gangeh MJ, Farhat G, Tran WT, Hashim A, Giles A, Czarnota GJ. Tumour Vascular Shutdown and Cell Death Following Ultrasound-Microbubble Enhanced Radiation Therapy. Theranostics. 2018 Jan 1;8(2):314-327. doi: 10.7150/thno.19010. eCollection 2018. PubMed PMID: 29290810; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5743550.

2017

  1. Sadeghi-Naini A, Suraweera H, Tran WT, Hadizad F, Bruni G, Rastegar RF, Curpen B, Czarnota GJ. Breast-Lesion Characterization using Textural Features of Quantitative Ultrasound Parametric Maps. Sci Rep. 2017 Oct 20;7(1):13638. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-13977-x. PubMed PMID: 29057899; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5651882.
  2. Sadeghi-Naini A, Sannachi L, Tadayyon H, Tran WT, Slodkowska E, Trudeau M, Gandhi S, Pritchard K, Kolios MC, Czarnota GJ. Chemotherapy-Response Monitoring of Breast Cancer Patients Using Quantitative Ultrasound-Based Intra-Tumour Heterogeneities. Sci Rep. 2017 Sep 4;7(1):10352. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-09678-0. PubMed PMID: 28871171; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5583340.
  3. Tran WT, Gangeh MJ, Sannachi L, Chin L, Watkins E, Bruni SG, Rastegar RF, Curpen B, Trudeau M, Gandhi S, Yaffe M, Slodkowska E, Childs C, Sadeghi-Naini A, Czarnota GJ. Predicting breast cancer response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy using pretreatment diffuse optical spectroscopic texture analysis. Br J Cancer. 2017 May 9;116(10):1329-1339. doi: 10.1038/bjc.2017.97. Epub 2017 Apr 18. PubMed PMID: 28419079; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5482739.
  4. Tadayyon H, Sannachi L, Gangeh MJ, Kim C, Ghandi S, Trudeau M, Pritchard K, Tran WT, Slodkowska E, Sadeghi-Naini A, Czarnota GJ. A priori Prediction of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Response and Survival in Breast Cancer Patients using Quantitative Ultrasound. Sci Rep. 2017 Apr 12;7:45733. doi: 10.1038/srep45733. PubMed PMID: 28401902; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5388850.
  5. Pasternak M, Doss L, Farhat G, Al-Mahrouki A, Kim CH, Kolios M, Tran WT, Czarnota GJ. Effect of chromatin structure on quantitative ultrasound parameters. Oncotarget. 2017 Mar 21;8(12):19631-19644. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.14816. PubMed PMID: 28129644; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5386710.

2016

  1. Tran WT, Childs C, Chin L, Slodkowska E, Sannachi L, Tadayyon H, Watkins E, Wong SL, Curpen B, El Kaffas A, Al-Mahrouki A, Sadeghi-Naini A, Czarnota GJ. Multiparametric monitoring of chemotherapy treatment response in locally advanced breast cancer using quantitative ultrasound and diffuse optical spectroscopy. Oncotarget. 2016 Apr 12;7(15):19762-80. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.7844. PubMed PMID: 26942698; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4991417.

2015

  1. Merino T*, Tran WT*, Czarnota GJ. Re-irradiation for locally recurrent refractory breast cancer. Oncotarget. 2015 Oct 27;6(33):35051-62. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.6036. PubMed PMID: 26459388; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4741508. *Equal contribution.

2012

  1. Tran WT, Iradji S, Sofroni E, Giles A, Eddy D, Czarnota GJ. Microbubble and ultrasound radioenhancement of bladder cancer. Br J Cancer. 2012 Jul 24;107(3):469-76. doi: 10.1038/bjc.2012.279. Epub 2012 Jul 12. PubMed PMID: 22790798; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3405216.

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