Alison McGuigan, University of Toronto

Research

Tissue Engineering Tumour Microenvironment Hypoxia Pancreatic Cancer Stroma Drug Tolerant Cells In Vitro Culture Model Tumour Regrowth Dynamics

Latest papers

Correction: Rapid determination of the tumour stroma ratio in squamous cell carcinomas with desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS): a proof-of-concept demonstration.
The Analyst · 2017
Rapid determination of the tumour stroma ratio in squamous cell carcinomas with desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS): a proof-of-concept demonstration.
The Analyst · 2017
Ensemble modeling of cancer metabolism.
Frontiers in physiology · 2012

All 4 publications

Latest funding

Influence of obesity-related metabolic factors on breast cancer
CIHR · 2025 · Co-investigator
$100,000
Defining the regulatory mechanisms of pancreatic cancer re-growth capacity to identify effective therapy combinations
CIHR · 2025 · Nominated PI
$1,105,425
Training Program in Engineering Approaches to Preserve and Rejuvenate Organs (TENPRO)
NSERC · 2023 · Co-investigator
$450,000

All 31 grants and awards

4 publications.

01

Correction: Rapid determination of the tumour stroma ratio in squamous cell carcinomas with desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS): a proof-of-concept demonstration.

Woolman M, Tata A, Dara D, Meens J, D'Arcangelo E, Perez CJ, Prova SS, Bluemke E, Ginsberg HJ, Ifa D, McGuigan A, Ailles L, Zarrine-Afsar A

The Analyst2017

DOI: 10.1039/c7an90066j PMID: 28862278

02

Rapid determination of the tumour stroma ratio in squamous cell carcinomas with desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS): a proof-of-concept demonstration.

Woolman M, Tata A, Dara D, Meens J, D'Arcangelo E, Perez CJ, Saiyara Prova S, Bluemke E, Ginsberg HJ, Ifa D, McGuigan A, Ailles L, Zarrine-Afsar A

The Analyst2017

DOI: 10.1039/c7an00830a PMID: 28799592

03

Ensemble modeling of cancer metabolism.

Khazaei T, McGuigan A, Mahadevan R

Frontiers in physiology2012

DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2012.00135 PMID: 22623918

04

Engineering airway epithelium.

Soleas JP, Paz A, Marcus P, McGuigan A, Waddell TK

Journal of biomedicine & biotechnology2012

DOI: 10.1155/2012/982971 PMID: 22523471

Influence of obesity-related metabolic factors on breast cancer

Co-investigatorCIHR2025Project Grant - PA - Breast Cancer Prevention & Early Detection

Principal investigators: Stambolic, Vuk

Keywords: Bioenergetics; Biology Of Cancer; Breast Cancer; Human Models Of Cancer; Metabolism; Obesity; Prevention; Signal Transduction; Treatment

$100,000

Defining the regulatory mechanisms of pancreatic cancer re-growth capacity to identify effective therapy combinations

Nominated PICIHR2025Project Grant

Principal investigators: McGuigan, Alison P

Keywords: Drug Tolerant Cells; In Vitro Culture Model; Pancreatic Cancer; Tissue Engineering; Tumour Microenvironment; Tumour Regrowth Dynamics; Tumour Resistance

$1,105,425

Training Program in Engineering Approaches to Preserve and Rejuvenate Organs (TENPRO)

Co-investigatorNSERC2023Collaborative Research and Training Experience

Principal investigators: Sefton, Michael MV

Keywords: bioengineering; biomedical devices; biotechnology; cell therapy; commercialization; gene editing; manufacturing; regeneration; tissue repair; translation

$450,000

Peptide Synthesizer & Cell Culture

Co-investigatorNSERC2023Research Tools and Instruments

Principal investigators: Shoichet, Molly

$89,043

Targeting protein arginine methylation in the 9p21.3 loss tumor microenvironment

Co-investigatorCIHR2023Project Grant

Principal investigators: Barsyte-Lovejoy, Dalia

Keywords: Pancreatic Cancer; Posttranslational Modifications; Tumor Immunity

$902,700

Tissue Engineering and Disease Modelling

Principal investigatorNSERC2022Canada Research Chairs

Principal investigators: McGuigan, Alison

Keywords: tissue modelling; microenvironment; cell function; cellular programming; tissue manufacturing; heterogeneity

$400,000

Targeting protein arginine methylation in tumor-associated macrophages

Co-investigatorCIHR2022Project Grant

Principal investigators: Barsyte-Lovejoy, Dalia

Keywords: Posttranslational Modifications; Splicing; Tumor Immunity

$100,000

An automated manufacturing and high speed imaging platform for identifying functional perturbations in engineered tissues

Principal investigatorNSERC2021Research Tools and Instruments

Principal investigators: McGuigan, Alison

$150,000

Development of tissue-engineered platform to study human microbiome-tumour interactions

Principal investigatorSSHRC2021New Frontiers in Research Fund - Exploration

Principal investigators: McGuigan, Alison

Keywords: in vitro disease models microbiome bacterial communities immune cells tissue engineering tumour-bacterial interactions heterogeneous microenvironments hypoxia microfabrication

$245,866

Platforms to quantitatively interrogate cellular competition in heterogeneous tissues

Principal investigatorNSERC2021Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Principal investigators: McGuigan, Alison

$276,000

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Frequent collaborators

Department of Medical Biophysics
Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry
Immunology

Co-authors at University of Toronto, colored by department. Thicker lines mean more shared papers; select anyone to open their profile and their own map.

Arash Zarrine-Afsar

Department of Medical Biophysics

2 shared papers, latest 2017

Laurie Ailles

Department of Medical Biophysics

2 shared papers, latest 2017

Radhakrishnan Mahadevan

Immunology

1 shared papers, latest 2012

Write to this professor

A short, specific email works best. This draft uses one of their recent papers; replace the parts in brackets with your own details before sending.

Applying for

Paper to mentionMention their CIHR grant from 2025

Subject: Prospective PhD student: Tissue Engineering Dear Professor McGuigan, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "Correction: Rapid determination of the tumour stroma ratio in squamous cell carcinomas with desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS): a proof-of-concept demonstration." (2017), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your CIHR-funded project "Defining the regulatory mechanisms of pancreatic cancer re-growth capacity to identify effective therapy combinations" (2025), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]