Welcome to another episode of Under the Microscope with Scintica. On this episode, Tyler talked with Dr. Dhanvantari about her journey in science, learned about her personal life and her current/past projects in the fields of diabetic and cardiac research. She is also involved in the diversity and inclusion group of the world molecular imaging society

Dr. Savita Dhanvantari received a B.Sc. in Zoology from the University of Guelph, an M.Sc. in Zoology from Western University, and a Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Toronto. She carried out her post-doctoral studies at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD under the supervision of Dr. Y. Peng Loh.

In 2002, she joined the Lawson Health Research Institute where she is a scientist in both the Metabolism and Diabetes Program and the Imaging Program. She is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Western Ontario, and cross-appointed to the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

Dr. Dhanvantari Research Areas: Development of GLP-1 receptor probes for imaging changes in beta cell mass, Functional molecular imaging of the pancreatic islet, Non-invasive Molecular Imaging of Cancer Growth and Metastasis Using MRI and a Novel Reporter Gene, Molecular Imaging of the pancreatic islet using dual-isotope SPECT/CT, Role of the prohormone convertases in pancreatic alpha cell function, Molecular and cellular mechanisms of the innate immune response in the development of type 1 diabetes