Lab members
Rebecca Shapiro, Assistant Professor
Rebecca is a molecular microbiologist, interested in studying pathways that regulate virulence and drug resistance in clinically and agriculturally important fungal pathogens. Our lab is developping new cutting-edge genomic technologies to better study these fungal species. Rebecca completed her BSc in Biology at McGill University, and her PhD at the University of Toronto, where she worked with Dr. Leah Cowen. She held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Broad Institute and MIT, working with Dr. Jim Collins. Viola Halder, PhD candidate
Viola is a PhD student in the lab. She previously completed the Master of Biotechnology program at the University of Guelph. Viola completed a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences and a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo Viola's work focuses on genetic interaction analysis and chemical-genetic interactions in Candida albicans. Jehoshua Sharma, PhD candidate
Jehoshua is a PhD student in the lab. He previously completed the Microbiology Co-op BSc program University of Guelph Jehoshua's work focuses on modulators of fungal virulence and new genetic tools for Candida pathogens. Lauren Wensing, PhD candidate
Lauren is a PhD student in the lab. She previously completed the Microbiology Co-op BSc program University of Guelph Lauren's work focuses on genetic screening for modulators of antifungal drug resistance in Candida albicans. Nick Gervais, MSc candidate
Nick is an MSc researcher in the lab, and previously completed his BSc in the Microbiology program at the University of Guelph Nick's project focuses on developing new CRISPR-based tools for genetic overexpression analysis in Candida albicans. Meea Fogal, MSc candidate
Meea is an MSc researcher in the lab, and previously completed her BSc in the Honours Integrated Science Program at McMaster University Meea's project focuses on systems-level analysis of functional genomics and host-pathogen interactions in Candida albicans Anthony Hendriks, MSc candidate
Anthony is a MSc student who previously completed his BSc in the Molecular Biology and Genetics program at the University of Guelph Anthony is working to dissect epistatic interactions with antifungal drug resistance mutations. Dr. Laetitia Maroc, PhD, Postdoctoral fellow
Laetitia completed her PhD at Université Paris-Saclay where she worked with Dr. Cecile Fairhead studying mating-type switching in Candida glabrata. Laetitia's postdoc work is focused on developing new genetic tools for C. glabrata, and studying the evolution of antifungal drug resistance. Iwona Skulska, MSc, Lab research technician
Iwona completed her BSc and MSc degrees in Microbiology in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Guelph. Iwona keeps all things running in the lab, and contributes to numerous projects, including work focused on host-pathogen interactions. |
Lab alumni
Michelle Agyare-Tabbi, MSc
Michelle was an MSc student in the lab. She previously completed the Biological Sciences BSc program University of Guelph. Michelle's work focused on understanding the role of mutagenesis in antifungal drug resistance in Candida albicans. Currently: Research Technician, University of Guelph Brook Rathie, MBiot, Research assistant
Brooke completed her BSc in at Queen’s University in Biology with a specialization in Biotechnology, and her Masters in Biotechnology (MBiot) from the University of Guelph. After finishing her MBiot internship project in our lab, Brooke worked on studying antifungal drug resistance in Malassezia species. Currently: Process Development Associate, Tenaya Therapeutics Victoria Acquaviva, BSc
Victoria completed her undergraduate thesis research the lab, as part of the Biomedical Sciences program at the University of Guelph. Her project focused on using a CRISPR overexpression system to study an uncharacterized DNA damage regulator Deeva Uthayakumar
Deeva was the lab's research technician and contributed to many (most!) projects in our group. She completed her BSc in Microbiology and Immunology at McGill University and a Master's Degree in Erasmus Mundus in Leading International Vaccinology Education Currently: PhD Candidate, University of Toronto Grace Kim, BSc
Grace completed her undergraduate thesis research the lab, as part of the Biomedical Sciences program at the University of Guelph. Grace's project focused on studying host-pathogen interactions using a C. elegans model of fungal infection. Currently: Physician Assistant program, University of Toronto Iqra Razzaq, MSc
Iqra completed her MSc in the lab, where her research focused on mechanisms of antifungal drug resistance, and a functional analysis of Tra1 in mediating drug resistance and virulence in Candida albicans. Currently: Malignant Hyperthermia Specialist at UHN, Toronto General Hospital Sierra Rosiana, MSc
Sierra completed her MSc in the lab, where her research project focused on genetic interactions between adhesin factors mediating fungal virulence and host-pathogen interactions. Currently: Project Manager/Policy Analyst at the National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada Rebecca Stevens-Green, BASc
Rebecca was an undergraduate student in the lab through the Arts and Science program at the University of Guelph, her research focused on host-pathogen interaction of the crop fungal pathogen Fusarium graninearum Currently: PhD Candidate at Dalhousie University Madison Best, BSc
Madison was an undergraduate student in the lab through the Biochemistry program at the University of Guelph, her research focused on developing novel CRISPR systems for Candida albicans. Currently: Clinical Study and Regulatory Specialist at Princess Margaret Cancer Center Zazil Solis Saldívar, BSc
Zazil was an undergraduate student in the lab from Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico and joined the lab as a Mitacs Globalink Research Internship student. Zazil's project focused on the characterization of a novel C. albicans gene. Clara Fikry, BSc
Zazil was an undergraduate student in the lab from the University of Waterloo. Zazil's project focused on the the development of a novel CRISPR interference system applied to drug-resistant Candida albicans. Currently: PhD Candidate at MIT Yannic Proteau, BSc
Yannic was an undergraduate student in the lab through the Molecular Biology and Genetics program at the University of Guelph, his research focused on developing novel CRISPR repression systems for Candida albicans. |