Lab Alumni

Christine Herfst

HBSc, Microbiology and Biotechnology | University of Alberta

Laboratory Manager (2003-2022)

Ankit Parmar

BMSc, HSP Microbiology and Immunology | University of Western Ontario

Honour’s thesis student (Sept 2023 - April 2024)

Michelle Wong

BMSc, HSP Biochemistry of Infection and Immunity | University of Western Ontario

Honour’s thesis student (Sept 2023 - April 2024

Dr. Stephen Tuffs

Postdoctoral Associate (Sept 2017 - Oct 2022)

PhD, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology | The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh

MSc, Microbiology | University of Glasgow

Dr. Jacklyn Hurst

PhD Candidate (Sept 2016 - May 2022)

BMSc, HSP Microbiology and Immunology | University of Western Ontario

Bonnie Yiu

Honour’s Thesis Student (Sept 2021 - August 2022)

Lara Bawadi

BMSc, HSP Microbiology and Immunology | University of Western Ontario

Honour’s Thesis Student (September 2021- April 2022)

Abid Hanslod

Honours Bachelors of Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences | University of Western Ontario

Research Assistant and Webmaster (Sept 2019-May 2021)

Gabrielle Lovelle

Honors Bachelors of Medical Sciences in Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Honours Thesis Student (Sept 2020 - May 2021)

Dr. Katherine Kasper

B.Sc. Honors, M.Sc., Ph.D., Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Graduate Student and Research Associate (March 2013-April 2021)

Salvan Hassan

BMSc Undergraduate student, University of Western Ontario

Research Assistant (Sept 2019- Jan 2021)

Andrew Flavin

Honors Bachelors of Medical Sciences in Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

NSERC USRA Student, Honors Thesis Student (April 2019-April 2020)

Shinhyeong (Isaac) Lee

Honors Bachelors of Medical Sciences in Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Research Assistant and Honours Thesis Student (Sept 2018-April 2020)

Isaac is currently completing his graduate work at the University of Toronto with Dr. Scott Gray-Owen.

Kevin Min

Honors Bachelors of Medical Sciences in Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Dean’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (DUROP) Student, Honors Thesis Student (January 2018-April 2020)

Zi Hao (Nemo) Liu

BMSc Undergraduate student, University of Western Ontario

Research Assistant (Sept 2018-April 2020)

Akshay Sule

BSc Honours, MSc in Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

MSc Candidate (Sept 2017-Sept 2019)

Vlad Podskalniy

Honors Bachelors of Medical Sciences in Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

4th Year Microbiology and Immunology Undergraduate (Sept 2018-April 2019)

Alex Zhou

Honors Bachelors of Medical Sciences in Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Honors Thesis Student (Sept 2018-April 2019)

Kathleen Qu

Honors Bachelors of Medical Sciences in Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Honors Thesis Student (Sept 2018-April 2019)

Steven Nguyen

BMSc Honors (2019), Microbiology and Immunology, Western University

Dean’s Undergraduate Research Program Student and Research Assistant (January 2017-April 2019)

Steven is now in the Dentistry program at the University of Minnesota - best of luck Steven!

Lana Estafanos

B.Sc., MSc, Microbiology and Immunology, Western University

Master’s Candidate (September 2016-February 2019)

Lana is now in Toronto working at ANGLE Biosciences (yes, a real job!).

Erica De Jong

BMSc Honors (2018), Microbiology and Immunology, Western University

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship student (May 2016-August 2016). Honors Thesis student (Sept 2017-Aug 2018)

Erica left for graduate work with our friend and colleague Dr. Dawn Bowdish at McMaster University. Good luck Erica!

Kirsten Bloomfield

BMSc Honors (2018), Microbiology and Immunology, Western University

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship student (May 2016-August 2016) and Honors Thesis Student (Sept 2017-April 2018)

After an epic battle with luminescent strep, Kirsten has moved on. Keep in touch Kirsten.

Delfina Siroen

B.Sc. Honours, Biochemistry, M.Sc. Biochemistry, Western University

Research Associate/Lab Manager (Feb 2009-2018)

Delfina has finished up with our group but made huge contributions to many of our studies and authored 6 papers with more in the pipe. Thanks for all your work Del!

Dr. Lorea Baroja

H.B.Sc, Biology, Simon Bolivar University, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Catholic University of Leuven

Research Associate (2011-2017)

Our friendly neighborhood immunologist who escaped without a picture has moved on to the University of Pennsylvania. Thanks for all the hard work and brain power Lorea - please keep in touch

Charlotte (Charly) Coleman

B.Sc Honors (2017), Microbiology and Immunology, Western University

Summer Undergraduate Research Student, Scholar Elective Student and Honors Thesis Student (May 2015-August 2017).

Charly has left us for Medical School at Queen’s University in Kingston. Good luck Charly!

Dr. Joseph J. Zeppa (JZ)

BMSc Honors (2011), PhD (2017) Microbiology and Immunology, Western University

PhD Candidate (Sept 2011-2017)

JZ’s work focused on understanding the role of T cells in nasopharyngeal infection by S. pyogenes and how we can use superantigens as protective vaccines in this model. Joe published 7 papers with us, including his PNAS paper. Joe completed a PDF working on TB vaccines at the University of Pittsburg working with Dr. Joanne Flynn and is now a PDF in Toronto with Dr. Scott Gray-Owen working on Neisseria pathogenesis.

Andrew Shuparski

Undergraduate student, Microbiology and Immunology, Western University

Honors Thesis Student (Sept 2016-April 2017)

Andrew’s work focused on our immunotherapy project with an emphasis on ‘check-point inhibitors. Andrew recently completed his PhD at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla and now works in New York. Best of luck Andrew!

Dr. Brent Armstrong

B.Sc. Honours, Molecular Biology and Genetics, University of Guelph, PhD (2015) Microbiology and Immunology, Western University

Ph.D Candidate (Sept 2007-Dec 2015)

Postdoctoral Fellow (January 2016-October 2017 )

Brent, the GAS-man, build a novel RIVET system for S. pyogenes that force this pathogen to tell us what genes are turned on in vivo. The work identified and characterized the first demonstrated class II bacteriocin from S. pyogenes. Brent is currently a postdoctoral fellow with our colleague Dr. David Heinrichs

Ivor Mohorovic

B.Sc Honors (2015), MSc (2016) Microbiology and Immunology, Western University

MSc Candidate (Sept 2015-April 2016)

Ivor ‘The Croatian Sensation’ (co-supervised by Dr. Tina Mele) led our group into understanding what happens in human staphylococcal bacteremia and how superantigen expression may affect patient outcome. Is the paper written yet, Ivor?

William McTavish

B.Sc Honors, Microbiology and Immunology, Western University

MSc Candidate (Sept 2015-April 2016)

William ‘The Conqueror’ spend his Honor’s thesis and MSc putting the beat down on colon cancer tumors in our humanized NSG model funded by the Cancer Research Society. He is now employed at Thermo Scientific in Toronto.

Christie Davis

Undergraduate Student, Bachelor of Science, Western University

Research Assistant (2014-2016)

Christie has moved on after cutting one million sections from every organ you can imagine. Thanks for all the hard work Christie and good luck!

Dr. Kelcey Patterson

B.Sc. Honors, Biology, Acadia University, PhD (2015), Microbiology and Immunology, Western University

Ph.D. Candidate (Sep 2007-Dec 2015)

Kelcey led our cancer therapeutics project for her PhD studies and the major part of her work in now published here. We are continuing the work using combination approaches including immune checkpoint inhibitors. Kelcey now works for Sernova Corporation in London, Ontario.

Nick Tonial

Undergraduate Student, Physiology and Pharmacology, Western University

NSERC Summer student and Research Assistant (May 2015-August 2015)

Nick is continuing his studies at Western in the MD/PhD program under the supervision of Dr. Brad Urquhart in Physiology and Pharmacology with Dr. Brad Urquhart.

Adrienne Wakabayashi

BMSc Honors (2012), MSc (2015), Microbiology and Immunology, Western University

MSc Candidate (Sept 2012-2015)

Adrienne conducted her Honor’s thesis with us (top mark in the course!) and recently finished her MSc. Adrienne has taken a position in Family Medicine in the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Earl Pacson

BMSc (2015) Microbiology and Immunology, Western University

Research Assistant (Sept 2012-April 2015)

Here is Earl looking entirely respectable, who left us after isolating 1 million S. aureus strains. Thanks for all the hard work Earl and good luck with Pharmacy.

Dr. Stacey Xu

BMSc Honors (2009), PhD (2014), Microbiology and Immunology, Western University

Ph.D. Candidate (Sept 2009-2014)

Stacey has finished up with her work her and has left the lab with 7 papers published including her recent papers published in Infection and Immunity and Toxins. Stacey has started postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Dr. Scott Gray-Owen at the University of Toronto. Keep in touch Stacey!

Dr. Ram Anantha

BScH, MD University of Ottawa, MSc (2014) Microbiology and Immunology, Western University, General Surgery Residency Program (2010-), Western University

MSc Candidate (Sept 2012-April 2014)

Ram defended his MSc thesis (co-supervised by Dr. Mansour Haeryfar) and published his thesis work in Clinical and Experimental Immunology. Ram is now conducting a surgery fellowship at Wake Forest University in North Carolina

Kevin Gilmore

Undergraduate student (Anatomy and Cell Biology), Western University

Research Assistant (May 2011-2014)

Kevin has finished here and is now a PhD student at Western in Anatomy and Cell Biology with Dr. Charles Rice. For all of his hard work, Kevin is a co-author on the S. aureus bacteremia paper. Cheers Kevin

Mathias Kocsis

Undergraduate student (Microbiology and Immunology), Western University

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Student (May 2014-Aug 2014)

Mathias is continuing with his undergraduate education. Mathias, where are you?

Anna-Marie Edwards

BMSc Biochemistry (2014), Western University

Honors Thesis Student (Sept 2013-April 2014)

Arya Afsahi

BMSc Microbiology and Immunology (2013), Western University

Honor’s Thesis Student (Sept 2012-April 2013)

Arya headed to McMaster for graduate work with Dr. Jonathan Bramson to continue his interests in the field of Cancer Immunotherapy. Stay in touch Arya.

Kelsey Watson

Undergraduate Student (Pathology), Western University

NSERC USRA Summer Student (May 2012-Aug 2012)

Kelsey continued on with her undergraduate degree and then to the MD program at Toronto. Good luck Kelsey.

Chantal Purdy

BSc Honors (2012), Biology, University of Western Ontario

Honors Thesis student (Sept 2011-April 2012)

Chantal was accepted into the Master’s of Medical Microbiology Program and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (in the UK, not Ontario!). Good luck Chantal!

Dan Gillett

BMSc Honor’s (2012), Biochemistry of Infection Immunity, University of Western Ontario

Summer Undergraduate Research Student (SURF) and Honors Thesis student (May 2011-April 2012)

Dan has moved on to medical school at Western. Good luck Dan.

Dr. Jingru Li

B.Sc. (2001), Microbiology, Wuhan University; Ph.D. (2007), Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Alberta

Postdoctoral Associate (Nov 2007- May 2011)

Jingru joined our lab after completing her graduate work with Dr. Susan Jensen at the University of Alberta. Her focused on understanding interspecies cell-cell communication between probiotic lactobacilli and Staphylococcus aureus, and her work was recently published in PNAS. Jingru moved on to an industry position with the Kimberly-Clark Corporation in Atlanta, GA, and is now at Philips Heathcare in Seattle. Good luck Jingru!

Lindsay Bowman

BMSc Honors (2011), Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Honors Thesis Student (Sept 2010-April 2011)

Lindsay worked in the summer (2009) as an NSERC USRA student, and then completed her Honor's thesis with us engineering fluorescent Streptococcus pyogenes. Lindsay went to the MD program at Queen’s University.

Shipa Gupta

BMSc Honors (2009), Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Honor's Thesis Student/Research Assistant (May 2007-July 2010)

Shipa graduated in 2009 and won the Gold Medal from the Honor's Program in Microbiology and Immunology. She stayed on in the lab to finish her research until the summer of 2010 and went into the MD program at the University of Ottawa.

Dr. Nur-ur Rahman

B.Sc. Honours (2003) Immunology, University of Toronto, Ph.D. (2010) Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Ph.D. Candidate (Jan 2004- May 2010)

Nur was the first PhD graduate from our lab and has moved on to a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto with Dr. Mario Ostrowski. Nur published 8 papers from his PhD work (see Nur's papers), including lead-authored papers in the Journal of Immunology and the Journal of Biological Chemistry establishing the molecular basis by how bacterial superantigens discriminate between TCRs. Keep up the good science Nur, and good luck.

Margot Smith

BMSc Honors Student (4th year), Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Honors Thesis Student (Sept 2009-April 2010)

Margot moved to New Zealand and then back to Canada and went to Graduate School at McMaster University. 

Mathias Scinocca

BMSc Honors Student (4th year), Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Honors Thesis Student (Sept 2009-April 2010)

Mathias moved upstairs to Dr. Ewa Cairns laboratory and obtained his Master’s degree studying rheumatoid arthritis. Keep in touch Mathias.

Fraser Pollard

BMSc Honors (2008), Microbiology and Immunology University of Western Ontario

Honor's Student, Research Assistant (Sep 2008-July 2009)

Dr. Pollard left us to pursue Medicine at Queen's University and is now practicing in Family Medicine. Make us proud Fraser and drop me an email sometime would ya?!

Mohammad Hussain

Undergraduate Student, Microbiology and Immunology University of Western Ontario

NSERC Undergraduate Research Student Assistant (May 2009-Aug 2009)

Mohammad went to Medical School at McMaster University. Good luck Mohammad.

Christopher Yao

Undergraduate Student, Microbiology and Immunology University of Western Ontario

NSERC Undergraduate Research Student Assistant (Jan 2008-Dec 2009)

Christopher left for Medical School at the University of Toronto.

Michael Peirce

B.Sc Honours (2007) Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Research Assistant (May 2007-August 2008)

After his epic battle with recombinant T cells, Mike finished Medical School at UWO. Mike still graces us with his presence from time to time....? Where are you, Mike?

Chris Gilchrist

B.Sc Honors (2008), Microbiology and Immunology University of Western Ontario

Honor's Student (Sep 2007-April 2008)

No surprise, Chris moved on to Medical School at the University of Toronto. He is finished now and has gone into Family Medicine. Good luck Chris.

Peter Bastedo

B.Sc. Honors (2007) Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Research Assistant and Honors Student (Jan 2005-April 2007)

Pete completed his degree with us and then the Master's in Biotechnology program at the University of Toronto, and was working for Roche before becoming an entrepreneur. Pete is co-founder of Zymewire: An awareness tool for biotech/pharma (www.zymewire.com).

Adil Shamji

B.Sc. Honors (2007) Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Honors Student (Sep 2006-April 2007)

Adil went into the M.D. program at the University of Toronto and is now in Family Medicine. Where are you now Adil?

Nada Tabbara

B.Sc. Honors (2007) Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Honors Student (Sep 2006-April 2007)

Nada moved on into in the joint MSc/DDS program at UWO. Keep smiling Nada.

Jonathan Herbert

B.Sc. Honors (2003) Genetics, M.Sc. (2007) Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

MSc Student (January 2004-August 2007)

Johnny continued his studies at the Imperial College London and is now an epidemiologist in the UK. Cheers Johnny!

Stephanie Shames

BSc Honors (2006), Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Honor's Student, Research Assistant (May 2004-July Aug 2006)

Stephanie spent two summers and her Honor's thesis with us. She is a coauthor on a recent paper in the Journal of Immunology. Stephanie finished her Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia with Dr. Brett Finlay, and is now at Yale with Dr. Craig Roy doing postdoctoral work on Legionella. Stephanie is now a faculty member at Kansas State University. Congratulations Steph!!!

Aaron Wyatt

BSc Honors (2006), Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Honor's Student (Sept 2005 - Aug 2006)

Aaron completed his Honor's thesis and spent the following summer with us. He received the top mark in the demanding Honor's Thesis Course and his work has been published to two high-profile journals (Günther et al., 2007. J. Mol Biol; Rahman et al., 2011. J. Biol. Chem). Aaron left for UBC after graduation where he was completing his PhD with Dr. Bob Hancock but tragically, Aaron passed away on Dec 24th, 2008 in a car accident along Highway 401 during a snow storm. Aaron’s family and friends have set up a memorial scholarship at UBC to support an annual lecture in his memory. John gave this memorial lecture for Aaron at UBC in November 2011.

Catherine Kerr

B.Sc. Honors (2003) Biological Sciences, Brock University; M.Sc. (2006) Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

MSc Student (September 2003 - May 2006)

Catherine defended in June 2006 and the title of her thesis was "Development of a Novel RIVET System to Identify in vivo Induced Promoters of Gram-Positive Bacteria". Catherine now works in Infection Control in Peterborough.

Jennifer Dixon

B.Sc. Honors (2002) Biochemistry, University of Guelph; M.Sc. (2006) Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

MSc Student (September 2003 - May 2006)

Jennifer defended in May 2006 and the title of her thesis was "Development of an scFv antibody-targeted superantigen". A long a challenging project that was recently published in PLoS One! Jennifer now works for Smith-Kline-Beecham in Peterborough. Keep in touch Jen.

Sergio Cuozzo

B.S. (1994) Clinical Biochemistry, National University of Tucuman, Argentina; Ph.D. (2002) Biochemistry, National University of Tucuman, Argentina; Postdoctoral Fellow (2004) Food Engineering, Nantes, France

Postdoctoral Associate (Feb 2005- Jan 2006)

Sergio finished his postdoc with us and returned to The National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET) in Argentina. Good luck Sergio!

Nick Brouillard

B.Sc. Honors (2005), Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Honor's Student, Research Assistant (May 2003-Dec 2005)

Nick started in 2003 as a summer student, spent the summer in 2004, conducted his Honour's project here (2004-2005), receiving the highest mark in the course, and published his work (Brouillard et al. 2007. J. Mol. Biol). Nick now climbs mountains and in his spare time resides in Calgary working for the biotech industry.

Jennifer Laughton

B.Sc. Honors (2003), M.Sc. (2005) Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

MSc Student (Sep 2003 - Sep 2005)

Jenny graduated in September of 2005 (co-supervised by Dr. Heinrichs) and the title of her thesis was "Characterization of cell-cell communication between Lactobacillus reuteri RC-14 and Staphylococcus aureus". She was supported by a graduate award from OGSST and her work was published in the journal Microbiology. Jennifer went through the MD program at the University of Toronto and is now practicing in Family Medicine

Irene Gryski

B.Sc. Honors (2005), Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario

Honor's Student, Research Assistant (May 2003-August 2004)

Irene conducted her 4th year Honour's thesis with our group and studied T cell receptor interactions with a novel streptococcal superantigen. She continued with us for the following summer and (last I heard) works as a Clinical Research Coordinator Assistant for Allied Research International.