Dr. Cassis Varlow is a Scientist with the Brain Health Imaging Centre at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).
She received her PhD from the University of Toronto, Institute of Medical Science and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Neurobiology Research Unit.
Areas of Research
Dr. Cassis Varlow is a translational positron emission tomography (PET) imaging scientist whose research uses a multidisciplinary approach, combining in vivo imaging and in vitro pharmacology. Her research aims to: 1) develop novel radioligands for neuroimaging brain diseases and disorders; 2) characterize drug interactions with biological systems at the interface of in vitro and in vivo pharmacology; 3) characterize pathological hallmarks of neurodegeneration and psychiatric disorders for translational imaging.
Her neurodegenerative disease research program will focus on translational PET imaging to monitor neurodegenerative pathology throughout disease progression and develop novel radiotracers for early and accurate diagnosis. The focus of this work is non-Alzheimer’s disease tauopathies, primarily chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the neurodegenerative disease that can occur after repetitive head impacts seen most often in contact sport athletes and military veterans.
Dr. Varlow has also received the Brain and Behaviour Research Foundation (BBRF/NARSAD) Young Investigator Grant to study the therapeutic mechanism of action of the psychedelic drug, psilocybin, through PET imaging of the serotonin 2A receptor. This work will focus on investigating a dose-occupancy relationship and whether there is a link between occupancy and the therapeutic effects of psilocybin.
Publications
View Dr. Varlow’s publications on Google Scholar and/or PubMed.