Tiara Grewal is a 2025 Canada Student Merit Award winner. She achieved this award for obtaining the highest standing of her class in the fourth and final year of her degree. Here is a brief biography of the winner.
During her undergraduate degree, Tiara was awarded the Alberta Innovates Summer Studentship to work as a research assistant in Dr Susan Patricia Lees-Millers laboratory in the Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute. Here, she investigated the effects of CRISPR DNA-PKcs lung adenocarcinoma (A549) and cervical cancer (HeLa) cells on c-Myc protein expression. In the following year, she completed her honours research project in the Lees-Miller laboratory by investigating downregulation to the growth cascades in the CRISPR DNA-PKcs cancer cells that could account for the slow growth phenotype. She presented her findings from both years at the Arnie Charbonneau Summer Student Symposiums.
Outside of academia, Tiara is passionate about increasing literacy and educational access and has volunteered in various programs at the Calgary Public Library. Tiara is grateful for all of the opportunities that she has had thus far and for receiving this award. She is eager to continue her studies, with a goal of becoming a medical doctor. She enrolled in a Masters of Biomedical Engineering programme at the University of Calgary, which will start in September of 2025.
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