Dr. Ralf Schirrmacher

Dr. Ralf Schirrmacher PhD studied Chemistry/Radiochemistry in Cologne, Germany from 1990 until 1999 where he acquired his PhD at Mainz University. After a brief stint at the University of Pennsylvania working under Dr. Chin Shiu and Dr. Abass Alavi, he returned to Germany to assume a position as lead radiochemist at the Department of Nuclear Medicine at Mainz University where he stayed until 2006. In 2007 he was appointed Associate Professor at McGill University where he became a Canada Research Chair Tier II for Radiochemistry and worked as Director of Cyclotron at the world renowned Montreal Neurological Institute and the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research. After getting tenure in 2012 he continued working at the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre developing new radioligands for brain PET. In 2014 he assumed a position as an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta in the Department of Oncology where he was promoted to full professor in 2018. Dr. Schirrmacher is an adjunct member of Pharmacy and Chemistry.

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Schirrmacher Group

Trainees and Employees

Ph.D. student

Travis Kronemann

Travis obtained his BSc (hon) in Physiology from the University of Alberta in 2021, during which time he spent four summer research studentships in Dr. Ralf Schirrmacher’s group through the Department of Oncology. He began his graduate studies in the Department of Chemistry in September 2021 and is currently a Chemical Biology PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Ralf Schirrmacher. His work primarily focuses on the development of novel radiopharmaceuticals for positron-emission tomography imaging and therapy of cancer. Travis is a passionate educator and deeply enjoys teaching undergraduate chemistry students and tutoring through various non-profit organizations. When he is not busy pestering Ms. Yinglan Pu in the lab, he enjoys running, hiking, and playing chess.

Ph.D. student

Carolin Jaworski

Carolin obtained her Bachelor’s degree in 2016 from the Technical University in Dortmund(Germany) in the research group of Prof. Dr. Jörg Tiller and continued with her Master’s studies at the same university. In 2018, Carolin came to the University of Alberta as a Visiting Graduate Student for the co-supervision of her master thesis “Synthesis and 18 F-Radiolabeling of Tropomyosin Receptor (Trk) Ligands for Positron-Emission-Tomography (PET)” by Dr. Ralf Schirrmacher (Department of Oncology, University of Alberta) and Prof. Dr. Ralf Weberskirch (Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Technical University of Dortmund). After completing her Master’s degree in 2019, Carolin started her Ph.D. studies at the University of Alberta in September 2019 under the guidance of Dr. Ralf Schirrmacher in the Department of Chemistry. She works on the development and radiolabeling of radiotracers for PET imaging and the late-stage 18F-fluorination of aromatic compounds.

Ph.D. student

Yinglan Pu

Yinglan obtained her bachelor degree in Pharmaceutical Engineering from Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xian, China in 2015. Following this, she pursued her master degree, majoring in Computer Aided Drug Design under the supervision of Professor Zhili Zuo at Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Science. In January 2019, Yinglan joined the Schirrmacher group for her graduate studies, dedicating her focus to the development of Heparanase-targeting radiotracers for PET imaging.

Ph.D. student

Lexi Gower-Fry

Lexi studied at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia from 2016-2020 where she obtained a Joint BSc (hon) in Chemistry and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. She completed her previous research under the supervision of Dr. Caterina Ramogida where she worked on developing macrocyclic chelators for Hg-197, a theranostic nuclide. She joined the Schirrmacher group at the University of Alberta in Sept. 2020 as a new graduate student where she is currently working on developing bimodal imaging and therapeutic radioligands.

MSc student

Ryan Watt

Ryan earned his BSc from the University of Victoria in 2020. During his undergrad, Ryan completed two work terms at ALS minerals as a fire assay technician and conducted a research project under Prof. David Leitch where he explored synthesizing a new set of palladium(0) organometallic complexes to be employed in various cross-coupling reactions. After relocating to Edmonton, Ryan volunteered within the research group of Prof. Eric Rivard where he explored employing Frustrated Lewis Pairs as catalysts for dehydrogenation of aminoboranes. In October of 2022, Ryan joined the research group of Prof. Ralf Schirrmacher. Ryan is attempting to synthesize a theranostic frame with the aims of double radiolabelling said frame, meaning that he wants to attach two unique radioisotopes to the same frame. Ryan is also working with Dr. John Duke to explore using a cyclotron for Neutron Activation Analysis, a radioanalytical chemistry technique.

Research Assistant and Administrator

Angelina Torres

Angelina Torres joined the Schirrmacher group as a Research Assistant in February 2020 providing essential administrative support. She helps with the development of lectures, presentations and courses and supports the group with her valuable experience as an administrator and group coordinator. She further facilitates group meetings and functions as a contact for new students who are interested in joining the Schirrmacher group.

MSc student

Palwasha Ahadi

Palwasha obtained her Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Biology at the University of Alberta in 2024. During her last year, she completed a summer research studentship in Dr. Ralf Schirrmacher’s group focusing on radiohybrid model compounds for novel theranostic radiotracer development. In September of 2024, she began her Master of Science (MSc) studies in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Alberta with the Schirrmacher group, continuing her work on developing novel radiotheranostics and radiotracers for PET imaging.