ALUMNI DIARY The personal side of cancer research PROFILES Science grad pursues passion at Princess Margaret Hospital BY DAVID SILVERBERG, JOURNALISM '02 TRACY LACKRAJ, Molecular Science (PhD) '17, has a personal stake in her cancer research work at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto: her father has been battling the disease since 2002. "This is a research topic very close to my heart," the 28-year-old Markham resident says in an interview. Lackraj is studying how a patient's genetic makeup can affect the course of disease, specifically follicular lymphoma. She and her team are analyzing how mutations of cancer-related genes influence prognosis and patient outcome. "We can basically target certain genes by using pharmacological drugs and see what the outcome is on the cells - do they die 34 Ryerson University Magazine / Winter 2018