Michael Joseph

Experience

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  Dr. Rüdiger von Harsdorf - McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine

  Jun 2011 - Aug 2011

  Volunteer Research Assistant

  • Mentored by research veterinarian Dr. Filip Konecny in research focusing on the study of the molecular cardiology of heart failure by addressing the influence of cell cycle therapy in post-myocardial infarctions• Demonstrated independent working abilities instantaneously once instructed in DNA genotyping with accurate results• Managed murine colony of over 100 cages and aided in weaning offspring, ear marking and collecting tail samples for genotyping various mouse strains used in lab

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  Dr. David Shore - McMaster University

  Jan 2012 - Apr 2012

  Undergraduate Perception Laboratory Course

  • Collaborated with 3 other students to design an audio-visual experiment, apply for ethical approval, pool subjects and analyze data in 4 month period• Quickly became proficient in programming with MATLAB during the academic term and was designated by the group to implement experimental design using those skills

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  Dr. Jane Foster - Brain-Body Institute

  May 2012 - Mar 2013

  Research Assistant

  • Assisted Dr. Foster in research focusing on early immune challenge and inflammation in the brain• Mentored two students around the lab, instructing on gel electrophoresis and immunohistochemistry and performing own research using these techniques • Managed murine colony by weaning offspring and handling regularly • Performed righting reflex tests in neonatal mice and analyzed videos of mouse pairs in social interactions tasks to test anxiety-like behaviour

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  Dr. Patrick Bennett - McMaster University

  Sept 2012 - Apr 2013

  Undergraduate Senior Thesis

  • Assisted Dr. Bennett in a series of psychophysics experiments investigating the challenge of incidental learning of random visual stimuli and presented work in a senior thesis and at 2 local conferences• Successfully deconstructed a complex and abstract problem into meaningful parts and identified real world applications to make it more relatable

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  Dr. Lyanne Schlichter - Krembil Research Institute

  May 2013 - Oct 2016

  Graduate Student/Research Technical Assistant

  • Performed multi-stain immunohistochemistry protocols to label oligodendrocytes and their precursors in young and aged rat brain sections after hemorrhagic stroke• Optimized 10+ antibodies for routine use in the lab, troubleshot protocol for staining aged tissue to diminish autofluorescent pigments and analyzed hundreds of microscopy images in a detailed and exploratory manner• Contributed to amending animal use protocol annually and adopted new standards for animal care to protocol• Demonstrated manual dexterity in performing stereotaxic animal surgeries and collecting, sectioning and processing brain tissue• Described research to donors in a concise and comprehensible manner to help secure funding for future projects• Proposed ideas for grants while considering the scientific interests of the lab and the tools available and aided in creating a budget for a 2014 Heart and Stroke Foundation grant• Published one lead author paper and presented work at 5 local conferences and 1 international conference Show less

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  Ontario Brain Institute

  Jan 2017 - Apr 2018

  Neuroinformatics Intern

  • Developed an automated pipeline to remove protected health information from multi-modal neuroimaging data, correct mislabeled, missing or duplicated data, and upload it to an XNAT database• Coordinated between BrainCODE, Indoc Research and Mouse Imaging Centre to help launch Ontario Brain Institute's first public data release, comprising neuroimaging data for 26 autism-related mouse models• Investigated methods of managing neuroimaging data, learning about reproducible science and data quality control in the process• Integrated existing software to manage MRI data, perform quality control and automate common pre-processing tasks, avoiding data duplication and easing computation for researchers• Flagged data entry errors, programming errors and multivariate outliers from behavioural data collected from over 2000 study participants through R Markdown reports Show less

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  CAMH

  May 2018 - now

  - Improving the lab's MRI data management, quality control and pre-processing software and collaborating with neuroinformatics team to implement these practices at an institutional level- Coordinating data capture for several autism and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders as well as data sharing for 2 NIMH-funded studies- Aiding in the operations of REDCap, a clinical database, within the hospital by teaching a monthly introductory course to the hospital's research staff, which transitioned to a Youtube series just before the pandemic- Mentoring graduate and summer students both in the lab as well as externally through a variety of software competency workshops Show less

  • Research Methods Specialist

    May 2020 - now

  • Research Analyst

    May 2018 - Apr 2020
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  Freelance

  Sept 2019 - now

  Database Technician
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  Vector Institute

  Oct 2022 - now

  Technical Education Specialist