Postdoc Profiles

Alistair Gamble

Postdoc: Western university

PhD: University of Glasgow

Email: agambl6@uwo.ca

Research Lab: Dr. Klein

Research Interests: I obtained my PhD from the Unviersity of Glasgow in 2024 focussing on how to protect the brains of immunocompromised people from viral infections. My current work looks more specifically at how viruses cross the neurovascular unit – through the endothelial cells around the blood vessels into the brain, with a goal of manipulating this to protect people from encephalitic viruses.

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Blake Shannon

Postdoc: Western university

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Idowu Olawoye

Postdoc: Western university

PhD: Redeemer's University, Nigeria

Email:   iolawoye@uwo.ca

Research Lab: Dr. Guthrie

Research Interests:  I obtained my PhD from the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) at Redeemer's University, where I studied drug resistance and evolution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis using next-generation sequencing. I am currently working on nontuberculous mycobacteria and developing tools for predicting antimicrobial resistance.

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Jean Wiliane Marbou Takougoum

Postdoc: Western university

PhD: University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon

Email: jmarbout@uwo.ca

Research Lab: Dr. Creuzenet

Research Interests: I completed my PhD in 2020 at University of Dschang in Cameroon where my work focused on diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to be taken into account for enteric infections in people with metabolic syndrome. My PhD works explored carbohydrate-lipid dysfunctions using biochemistry, microbiology, molecular biology, and bioinformatics tools. My current research at Dr. Creuzenet Lab focusses on investigating the mechanisms of action of lactic acid bacteria secretions and isolated compounds as anti-Helicobacter pylori agents.

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Juan Manuel Diaz Villasenor

Postdoc: Western university

PhD: Biological Science: Autonomous University of Aguascalientes, Mexico

Email: jdiazvil@uwo.ca

Research Lab: McCormick Lab

Research Interests: Pathophysiology of bacterial diseases, autoimmunity, and clinical research

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Kait Al

Postdoc: Western university

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Lea Tolken

Postdoc: Western university

PhD: University of Greifswald, Germany

Email: ltolken@uwo.ca

Research Lab: Dr. McCormick

Research Interests: I obtained my PhD from the University of Greifswald in 2024, focusing on the interaction of myeloid cells with Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureus. Currently, I am interested in characterizing the immune response to Streptococcus pyogenes infections.

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Marina Ninkov

Postdoc: Western university

PhD: University of Belgrade

Email: mninkov@uwo.ca

Research Lab: Dr. Haeryfar

Research Interests: Immunology

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Maryam Rad

Postdoc: Western university

PhD: Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Email: Mrad2@uwo.ca

Research Lab: Professor David Heinrichs

Research Interests: I completed my Ph.D. in microbiology at Shahid Beheshti University in Iran. I joined the University of British Columbia (UBC) as VIRS in January 2022 under the Supervision of Professor Hongbin Li, where I researched protein engineering. I continued my VIRS at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in July 2022 under the supervision of Dr Michael Adachi, where I studied biofunctionalization, and designed rapid diagnostic tests. My current focus is on designing devices for detection of pathogens and antibody-based approaches as anti-infectives.

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Minh Ha Ngo

Postdoc: Western university

PhD: Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi, Japan

MSc: The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia

Email: minh.ngo@uwo.ca

Research Lab: Dr. Arts

Research Interests: During my PhD, I investigated on endogenous and exogenous retroviruses causing diseases in wild and domestic cats. To date, I am interested in exploring underlying mechanism of HIV latency and developing therapeutic formulations for HIV-1 remission and cure. My current project is optimizing multivalent HIV-1-derived virus-like particle (HLP) to enhance latency reveral efficiency by combining with mRNA adjuvants and target to all different HIV subtypes.

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Paroma Roy

Postdoc: Western university

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Robert Cameron Kuiack

Postdoc: Western university

PhD: Western University

Email: rkuiack@uwo.ca

Research Lab: Martin McGavin

Research Interests: My PhD work focused on how Staphylococcus aureus can combat the innate immune conditions on human skin to effectively colonize 30% of the human population, with a primary focus on resistance free fatty acids. Under the supervision of Martin McGavin, my postdoctoral research now focuses on how, once S. aureus is resistance to these free fatty acids, the bacteria can begin to metabolize these fatty acids through β-oxidation to liberate a valuable energy source on the skin, and how these metabolic pathways effect virulence factor expression in S. aureus

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Wenkai Li

Postdoc: Western University

PhD: Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China

Email: wli947@uwo.ca

Research Lab: Dr. Jeremy

Research Interests: I completed my PhD in 2019 at Shanghai University of TCM where my studies focus on how to explain the liver protective effects of TCM huangqi decoction in the gut microbiome field. Currently, I am interested in the role of Corynebacterium in androgen metabolism and Prostate Cancer

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