Welcome to our 2019 Summer students Rachel Tran, Megane Bouchard, and Arman Edalatmand, plus curation volunteers Anna-Lisa Nguyen and William Huynh! Rachel is collaborating with the Whitney lab on evolution of bacterial competition, Megane with the Sloboda & Bowdish labs on ageing and maternal health data harmonization, and Arman on new methods for biocuration of quantitative antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data. Anna-Lisa & William will be working on curation of AMR data in the Comprehensive Antibiotic Resistance Database.
Congratulations to Rachel Tran on winning a 2019 DBCAD Summer Fellowship! These competitive awards are designed to support students working in the labs of members from both the David Braley Centre for Antibiotic Discovery and Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research during their summer practicum. A full list of awardees can be found here. Learn more about Rachel’s work at Ontario Biology Day 2019:
Tran, H.K.R., S. Ahmad, J.C. Whitney, & A.G. McArthur. 2019. Expanding the Virulence Ontology (VIRO) to determine the evolution of a secretion system effector. Presentation at Ontario Biology Day, London, Ontario, Canada.
We welcome (left to right) Malvika Agarwal, Megane Bouchard, Amro Elrafie, and Hafsa Omer to the lab as data curation volunteers, working collectively to collate important clinical metadata from clinical pathogen sequencing efforts at Hamilton area hospitals and randomized controlled trials in McMaster’s NICU. Malvika and Hafsa are currently in the second year of the Life Sciences program, Megane in the second year of the Bachelor of Health Sciences program, and Amro in second year Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences program.
Dr. David Speicher has joined the McArthur Lab as our new Molecular Epidemiology Postdoctoral Fellow! David joins us via clinical epidemiology research in infectious disease at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton plus extensive training and experience in Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, and Australia. David has a depth of experience in infectious disease, virology, molecular biology, epidemiology and biostatistics, microbiology, and diagnostic techniques and will be leading infectious disease molecular epidemiology collaborations with McMaster Children’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, and Hamilton Health Sciences with an emphasis on antimicrobial resistance, C. difficile, H. pylori, Shigella, Chlamydia trachomatis, and Mycoplasma genitalium. Hear Dr. Speicher talk about his research program on CFMU radio.
Congratulations to Kara Tsang for winning the 2018 Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research (IIDR) Michael Kamin Hart Memorial Scholarship (MSc), the highest academic honour for graduate students in the IIDR. Awarded during the 2018 IIDR Trainee Day, the award was accompanied by a talk by Kara on her Ph.D. research: (Machine) Learning about antibiotic resistance genotype- phenotype relationships”. Well done Kara!
November 7, 2018; Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; The 9th annual McMaster Innovation Showcase, with focus on biomedical technologies, highlights the role and impact of McMaster research in shaping the future of healthcare. Hosted by the McMaster Industry Liaison Office (MILO) – supporting innovation, commercialization and community engagement. Photo by Ron Scheffler for McMaster University.
Congratulations to #TeamVirulence for winning the 2018 McMaster Innovation Showcase People’s Choice Poster Award for their poster entitled, “Examining the relationship between virulence and antimicrobial resistance via expansion of the Comprehensive Antibiotic Resistance Database (CARD)”! Left to right: Anatoly MiroshnichenkoHiu-Ki Rachel Tran, Sally Yue Min, and Rafik El Werfalli.
#TeamVirulence also presented their work at the 2018 Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research (IIDR) Trainee Day!
We welcome (left to right) Arman Edalatmand, Mateusz Faltyn, and Magda Lesinski to the lab as data curation volunteers, working collectively to collate important clinical metadata from clinical pathogen sequencing efforts at Hamilton area hospitals and randomized controlled trials in McMaster’s NICU. Arman is currently in the third year of the Biochemistry program (Biomedical Research Specialization), Mateusz in the second year of the Arts & Science program, and Magda in third year Molecular Biology & Genetics.
Welcome #TeamVirulence, left to right: Rachel Tran (Biochem 3R06), Sally Min (BiomedDC 4A15), Anatoly Miroshnichencko (BiomedDC 4A15), and Rafik El Werfalli (BiomedDC 4A15), who are collectively working on development of CARD:Virulence, a new branch of the Comprehensive Antibiotic Resistance Database dedicated to the molecular surveillance of bacterial virulence factors.
Welcome Jalees Nasir (left) and Martins Oloni (right), new M.Sc. students in the lab and the McMaster Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences graduate program. Jalees will be working on molecular epidemiological tools for surveillance of viral infections, while Martins will be collaborating with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) on making our Comprehensive Antibiotic Resistance Database stronger for mobile elements involved in drug resistance in agricultural settings. Welcome Jalees & Martins!