Alicia DiBattista PhD
PhD, Chemical Biology
Postdoctoral Fellow in Metabolomics at CHEO Research Institute
Education:
- Alicia obtained her Honours BSc (Biology, 2008) and MSc (Biology, 2010) in the Department of Biology at McMaster University.
Biography:
Research Interests
Alicia’s primary research interest is in the development of simple, highly specific and sensitive assays for primary and/or population-based screening initiatives, such as expanded newborn screening (NBS) and drug of abuse (DOA) screening. Her PhD thesis has involved the validation of a novel method for accurate and precise quantification of biomarkers for inborn errors of metabolism in NBS as well as the validation of a novel screening method for DOA in urine that is both rapid and cost-effective. Alicia’s analytical platform of choice is capillary electrophoresis (CE) coupled to high resolution quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Q-TOF MS) and she has successfully used CE-Q-TOF-MS to discover and identify novel biomarkers of cystic fibrosis. Her collaborators include Newborn Screening Ontario, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and Seroclinix.
Dr. Alicia DiBattista is currently a PDF at Newborn Screening Ontario at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO).
Favourite Biological Specimen
Dried blood spots
Hobbies
Running, drinking coffee, walking around downtown Hamilton, drinking beer
Awards
OGS-MSc (declined, 2009-2010); NSERC CGS-M (2009-2010); OGS-PhD (2010-2011); QEII-GSST (2012-2013); CNCS Poster Award (2016)