Aaliya Naaz
PhD, Dr. Sacher’s lab
I am investigating Tango2 protein localization and function in yeast and human myoblasts.
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Brian Baxter
MSc, Dr. Shih’s lab
My research is to design a microfluidics device able to synthesize DNA on chip at the benchtop.
Cécilia Brancheriau
PhD, Dr. Piekny’s lab
I am currently working on an optogenetic tool to spatio-temporally control importin during anaphase and cytokinesis. The aim would be to further study the diverse functions of importin during mitosis using diverse methods.
Christien Dykstra
PhD, Dr. Martin’s lab
My research focuses on using CRISPR and DNA repair mechanisms to streamline the design and construction of combinatorial pathways. I will apply this approach to different metabolic pathways to showcase the diversity and transferability we are currently able to achieve.
Clément Baret Micaelli
PhD, Dr. Perreault’s lab
My research project focuses on the development and engineering of therapeutics tools based on RNA.
Derin Gokbayrak
PhD, Dr. Brett’s lab
My current research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanism behind the lysosome membrane remodeling by Intralumenal Fragment (ILF) pathway in the model organism S. cerevisiae. I hope to shed light on the relationship of cell aging and related abnormal accumulation of lipids and proteins to lysosomal storage disorders, some types of cancers and neurodegenerative disorders.
Gabriel Aguiar-Tawil
PhD, Dr. Kharma’s lab
I am engineering DNA oligonucleotides for the development of small molecule detection systems (biosensing).
Gaëlle Serena Kouyoumdjian
MSc, Dr. Whiteway’s lab
High throughput screening has identified candidate genes in Candida albicans whose absence either sensitizes or increases resistance to potential antifungal plant extracts. Creating double mutant gene combinations, my project will identify whether the simultaneous inactivation of genes results in a synergistic behavior and help establish how these plant extracts function.
Hananeh Ghafelehbashi
MSc, Dr. Whiteway’s lab
My research focus is on identifying the essential and non-essential genes in the Candida albicans GRACE library by CRISPR-mediated deletions.
Homin Jeong
MSc, Dr. Kachroo’s lab
My project aims to fully humanize 20S core particle proteasome in budding yeast, towards developing a strain with completely humanized proteasome for research purposes. I focus on humanization of chaperone genes involved in its assembly pathway, and investigation of protein-protein interaction between proteasome subunits responsible for incompatibility.
Jay Pimprikar
PhD, Dr. Shih’s lab
My research focuses on hybridizing synthetic biology and microfluidics to create a novel, low-cost in-vitro diagnostic for infectious disease detection. I am working on building a protein-based biosensor for rapid analyte detection at the point-of-care.
Joseph Del Corpo
PhD, Dr. Kuzmin’s lab
I'm currently surveying the tumor suppressive genetic network that underlies chromosome 4p deletion, along with the genetic interaction network involving tumor suppressors within chr4p. With this, we hope to better understand the role of chr4p deletion in the initiation and progression of triple negative breast cancer.
Jyler Menard
PhD, Dr. Mansbach’s lab
I am working on computational design of therapeutics/drugs/peptides using machine learning and simulation methods, along with trying to better understand what's happening inside of deep learning models.
Kaiyu Nie
MASc, Dr. Kharma’s lab
My research focuses on the detection and amplification of low-intensity light for molecular biology applications. I will be building a portable, low-cost fluorescent measurement system.
Lancia Lefebvre
MSc, Dr. Piekny’s and Dr. Shih's labs
My research is centred on how microgravity impacts mammalian cells and stem cells. I am also working with digital microfluidics to improve stem cell workflows.
Lynn Karam
PhD, Dr. Kuzmin’s lab
My research involves developing gene editing tools for constructing mutant cell lines harbouring large chromosomal deletions, in order to understand their role in triple negative breast cancer.
Mackenzie Thornbury
PhD, Dr. Martin’s lab
My research focuses on creating a yeast biomanufacturing platform for the production of organic acids. Organic acids are the building blocks of many complex polymers and chemicals used extensively in industry. This platform aims to decrease the reliance on petrol-derived organic acids, offering a more sustainable solution for the chemical building blocks we all rely on.
Manpreet Vilkhu
MSc, Dr. Martin’s and Dr. Whiteway's labs
My research integrates scanning site saturation mutagenesis with high-throughput screening and sequencing techniques to study the functional components of the human Mu-opioid receptor and engineer a highly sensitive yeast based opioid biosensor. This work will advance our understanding of G protein-coupled receptor structure-function and contribute to the development of a sensitive screening platform for safer analgesic alternatives.
Sara Ouadhi
PhD, Dr. Kwan’s lab
My research centers on developing sustainable methods towards natural product synthesis. Using directed evolution, molecular dynamics and high-throughput screening, I am developing efficient enzymatic pathways for glycosylated products. Furthermore, I am working on developing bioinformatics tools to predict efficiency of the designed artificial pathways.
Sydney Johnson
MSc, Dr. Whiteway's and Dr. Martin's labs
My research focuses on engineering yeast to produce organic acids, creating a synthetic transcription factor network that will activate stress tolerance pathways in our target yeast strains. The project is in collaboration with an industry partner and this technology will ultimately be implemented within the Canadian dairy industry.
Vanessa Pereira
MSc, Dr. Kuzmin’s lab
My research focuses on homologous genes that are essential in one eukaryotic organism but are nonessential in another. Using computational methods and high throughput screening, this work aims to reveal principles of genetic network conservation in distantly related species, and how change over evolutionary time is modulated by genetic interactions.
