Dakesh Thaper

PhD (c), BSc

Math/Science Specialist

Daksh was born in New Delhi, India and at the age of 13 moved to Vancouver in 2001. He adapted well into the Canadian system and excelled in his high-school as he participated in many competitions, both intellectual and physical. He finished top 3 in his high-school in Galios (grade 10), Hypatia (grade 11) and Euclid (grade 12) math competitions. Daksh was a member of his high-school badminton team for 4 years and also played cricket professionally. He represented British Columbia for national tournaments and the Canadian U16 team for international games. He finished an Associate of Science degree from Kwantlen Polytech University and continued his studies with a BSc. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Simon Fraser University. In January 2013 he started his Master’s degree in the Experimental Medicine Program at UBC and recently transferred into the PhD stream. Daksh conducts his research into metastatic cancer at the prestigious Vancouver Prostate Centre (VPC) under the supervision of Dr. Amina Zoubeidi.

At every level of his education Daksh has been involved in teaching. During high-school he tutored his peers as well as younger students in both math and science. He was also a participant and then a trainer for the Math Counts competition. During his time at Kwantlen, he was regularly involved at the Learning Centre in the library helping students with 1st and 2nd year Biology and Chemistry. Due to his extensive lab experience from his previous co-op placements and his time as a graduate student, Daksh honed his skill with biochemistry and genetic techniques and he regularly pass on this knowledge to members of the Vancouver Prostate Centre; this includes undergraduates, graduate students, post-docs and clinicians. As he strongly believes in scientific communication and collaboration, Daksh organises regular social events at the Prostate Centre where members from the 16 different laboratories at VPC can interact forging friendships and future co-operative endeavours. He is also a mentor in the Research EXperience program at UBC designed expose undergraduate students to the research environment.

In addition to cancer research, Daksh has an interest in economics which he developed through some courses at Kwantlen. He spends some of his free time reading about economic trends and doing some small scale stock investing. He likes to spend his free time watching movies, some tv-shows, exercising, as well as playing soccer if the weather allows it.