Chris Spring Memorial Fund
Donation protected
Our beloved colleague and friend, Chris Spring, passed away on Sunday November 3rd at the age of 40.
Chris joined St. Michael's hospital 15 yrs ago as a research technician in the lab of Dr. Heyu Ni where he expanded his knowledge in basic research and honed his interest in using flow cytometry to answer fundamental questions in medicine. He joined the Research Facilities team as the Flow Cytometry Core Specialist and it is here where he impacted hundreds of students, post-docs and staff scientists with his intelligence, affable nature and skills as a remarkable educator.
Chris was a pioneer in the field of microparticle and exosome isolation, tiny packages of protein and DNA in the bloodstream that are used in disease prognoses, and had dozens of original high impact research articles to his name. As a leader in his field, he served as President of the Canadian Cytometry and Microscopy Association for 4 years where he organized several international conferences and contributed greatly to the growth of the organization. He was an integral resource for the Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science where he developed and ran the Flow Cytometry Core Labs and helped bring in millions of dollars of infrastructure with national and provincial grants such as the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and Ontario Research Fund.
As an avid outdoors person and adventure seeker, Chris constantly entertained us with tales of backcountry camping or skydiving. His curiosity took him travelling worldwide and influenced his diverse culinary tastes and love of cooking. Yet, it was the adventure of parenting that captivated Chris the most and his role as father to Jack (9) and Riley (7) was paramount to his life.
We in Research Facilities, Chris's "work family", are hoping to raise funds to support Jack and Riley and feel that helping them in their futures is the best way to honor our beautiful friend. Any amount you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Chris joined St. Michael's hospital 15 yrs ago as a research technician in the lab of Dr. Heyu Ni where he expanded his knowledge in basic research and honed his interest in using flow cytometry to answer fundamental questions in medicine. He joined the Research Facilities team as the Flow Cytometry Core Specialist and it is here where he impacted hundreds of students, post-docs and staff scientists with his intelligence, affable nature and skills as a remarkable educator.
Chris was a pioneer in the field of microparticle and exosome isolation, tiny packages of protein and DNA in the bloodstream that are used in disease prognoses, and had dozens of original high impact research articles to his name. As a leader in his field, he served as President of the Canadian Cytometry and Microscopy Association for 4 years where he organized several international conferences and contributed greatly to the growth of the organization. He was an integral resource for the Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science where he developed and ran the Flow Cytometry Core Labs and helped bring in millions of dollars of infrastructure with national and provincial grants such as the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and Ontario Research Fund.
As an avid outdoors person and adventure seeker, Chris constantly entertained us with tales of backcountry camping or skydiving. His curiosity took him travelling worldwide and influenced his diverse culinary tastes and love of cooking. Yet, it was the adventure of parenting that captivated Chris the most and his role as father to Jack (9) and Riley (7) was paramount to his life.
We in Research Facilities, Chris's "work family", are hoping to raise funds to support Jack and Riley and feel that helping them in their futures is the best way to honor our beautiful friend. Any amount you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Fundraising team: KRCBS Research Facilities (5)
Pamela Plant
Organizer
York, ON
April Murray
Team member
Caterina Di Ciano-Oliveira
Team member
Dario Bogojevic
Team member
Xiaofeng Lu
Team member