Katey Enfield

Assistant Professor

Research Interests

Lung cancer
tumour microenvironment
B cell responses in cancer
Lung cancer genomics
cancer immunology
Spatial biology

Relevant Thesis-Based Degree Programs

Affiliations to Research Centres, Institutes & Clusters

Research Options

I am available and interested in collaborations (e.g. clusters, grants).
I am interested in and conduct interdisciplinary research.
I am interested in working with undergraduate students on research projects.
 
 

Research Methodology

Imaging mass cytometry
Lunaphore
BCR sequencing

Recruitment

Master's students
Doctoral students
Postdoctoral Fellows
Any time / year round
2025
2026

Spatial organisation of the lung tumour microenvironment and associations with clinical outcomes.

My current research positions seek to understand how lung tumour, immune and stromal cells interact to enhance or repress the anti-tumour immune response. This position offers the unique opportunity to work in a translational research environment at the BC Cancer Research Institute, and be part of a collaborative team of interdisciplinary cancer researchers and clinicians. 

Successful applicants will work with data from state-of-the-art technologies and apply statistical methods and machine learning to quantify the spatial organisation of cells in the lung tumour environment. These spatial metrics will be correlated with cancer and immune phenotypes to derive a mechanistic understanding of the factors influencing lung cancer patient outcomes.

Applicants should have a background in bioinformatics, math and/or physics and be comfortable with coding. A strong interest in cancer research and a desire to work collaboratively are essential. 

Required skills

  • Experience in coding (e.g. python, R, bash)
  • Knowledge of statistics
  • Excellent writing and presentation skills
  • Capacity to work both independently and part of a team
  • Strong desire to work in cancer research

Desired skills

  • Fundamentals in molecular biology, immunology and/or genetics
I support public scholarship, e.g. through the Public Scholars Initiative, and am available to supervise students and Postdocs interested in collaborating with external partners as part of their research.
I am interested in hiring Co-op students for research placements.
I am interested in supervising students to conduct interdisciplinary research.

Complete these steps before you reach out to a faculty member!

Check requirements
  • Familiarize yourself with program requirements. You want to learn as much as possible from the information available to you before you reach out to a faculty member. Be sure to visit the graduate degree program listing and program-specific websites.
  • Check whether the program requires you to seek commitment from a supervisor prior to submitting an application. For some programs this is an essential step while others match successful applicants with faculty members within the first year of study. This is either indicated in the program profile under "Admission Information & Requirements" - "Prepare Application" - "Supervision" or on the program website.
Focus your search
  • Identify specific faculty members who are conducting research in your specific area of interest.
  • Establish that your research interests align with the faculty member’s research interests.
    • Read up on the faculty members in the program and the research being conducted in the department.
    • Familiarize yourself with their work, read their recent publications and past theses/dissertations that they supervised. Be certain that their research is indeed what you are hoping to study.
Make a good impression
  • Compose an error-free and grammatically correct email addressed to your specifically targeted faculty member, and remember to use their correct titles.
    • Do not send non-specific, mass emails to everyone in the department hoping for a match.
    • Address the faculty members by name. Your contact should be genuine rather than generic.
  • Include a brief outline of your academic background, why you are interested in working with the faculty member, and what experience you could bring to the department. The supervision enquiry form guides you with targeted questions. Ensure to craft compelling answers to these questions.
  • Highlight your achievements and why you are a top student. Faculty members receive dozens of requests from prospective students and you may have less than 30 seconds to pique someone’s interest.
  • Demonstrate that you are familiar with their research:
    • Convey the specific ways you are a good fit for the program.
    • Convey the specific ways the program/lab/faculty member is a good fit for the research you are interested in/already conducting.
  • Be enthusiastic, but don’t overdo it.
Attend an information session

G+PS regularly provides virtual sessions that focus on admission requirements and procedures and tips how to improve your application.

 

ADVICE AND INSIGHTS FROM UBC FACULTY ON REACHING OUT TO SUPERVISORS

These videos contain some general advice from faculty across UBC on finding and reaching out to a potential thesis supervisor.

 
 

If this is your researcher profile you can log in to the Faculty & Staff portal to update your details and provide recruitment preferences.

 
 

Follow these steps to apply to UBC Graduate School!