BioZone Council

BioZone Council is BioZone's trainee organization - a group of students and postdocs who organize outreach activities, build community within BioZone, help recruit and onboard new BioZone students, and promote the centre outside of U of T.

BioZone Council members come from a wide range of Core and Associate PI groups, and play a critical role in providing a supportive and inclusive training environment.

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Leadership Council

2025

  • Co-Presidents: Ariel Tastassa & Max Kirby​
  • Internal Communications Coordinator: Fareed Abuzaid
  • External Relations Coordinators: ​Rena Chen, Amy Heathcote, Diana Dyussekenova, Jessica Pan​
  • Newsletter Coordinators: Victoria Ivey & Jiaqing Li​
  • Events Coordinators: Ryan Weiner, Lucy Ross-Blevis, Supriya Shivanna, Rishika Puri, Raegan Allan, & Naayaab Nagree​
  • Treasurer: Julia Silva Gordijo​
  • Green Ambassador: Mark Spahl

2024

  • Co-Presidents: Ethan Agena, Liam Foyle & Shane Orgnero
  • Internal Communications Coordinator: Michelle Nurse & Fareed Abuzaid
  • External Relations Coordinator: Amy Heathcote, Rena Chen & Mark Xiao
  • Newsletter Coordinator: Victoria Ivey & Jasmeen Parmar
  • Events Coordinators: Lucy Ross-Blevis, Ryan Weiner & Adam Shedeed
  • Treasurer: Connor Bowers
  • Green Ambassador: Mark Spahl
  • EDI Representative: Owen Mototsune
  • Staff Representative: Meena Venkatesan

Mandate

  • Collaboration

    • To maintain a collegial and collaborative atmosphere within BioZone by encouraging social activities, events, active communication, and knowledge exchange.

  • Mission

    • To help shape the goals and mission of BioZone.

  • Promote

    • To promote BioZone as a leading research centre to academia (students, researchers, and collaborators) and industry, through a robust presence on external media such as professional social networks, the BioZone website, and through external events.

  • Efficiency

    • To enable efficient operation and maintenance of important shared BioZone equipment and facilities.

BioZone Council Events

BioZone Summer Retreat at the Beach

August 22, 2025

Its finally time for our annual☀️Summer retreat☀️!This year the BZ Summer Retreat will be happening Friday, August 22nd starting at 1PM at Scarborough Bluffers Park.

BioZone Internal Seminar Series Town Hall

July 30, 2025

A Town Hall was held on July 30th, 2-4pm to introduce the BioZone Internal Seminar Series – internal seminars among the core labs at BioZone to facilitate intergroup communication and collaboration. These seminars will be run to increase student engagement and understanding of the diverse research happening at BioZone and give students an opportunity to present in front of a large and friendly audience. 

Community Garbage Clean-Up

June 20, 2025

On June 20th, we came together for a Community Garbage Clean-Up at Queen’s Park. The event was a great success, with participants helping to beautify the park while enjoying the sunshine and connecting with colleagues.