David Walsh
Principal Investigator
Professor, Biology, Concordia University

E-mail: david.walsh@concordia.ca

Arthi Ramachandran
PhD student

​Research interests: My research focuses on the metabolic diversity and evolution of methylotrophic bacteria in northern aquatic ecosystems and how they contribute to carbon cycling in freshwater and marine environments in a changing world. I'm also interested in habitat transitions between freshwater and marine environments, and plan to use the OM43/LD28 clade of methylotrophic bacteria as a model organism to study these evolutionary events
E-mail: a_ramac@live.concordia.ca

Vera Onana
PhD student (co-supervised with B. Beisner, UQAM)

Research Interests: My research involves investigating the distribution and biodiversity of microbial communities in lakes using genomic approaches. I am also interested in evaluating the relationship between the functional potential of lake microbial communities and anthropogenic impact. Hopefully, findings from my investigation will help predict how human impact may be disrupting lake health and functionality.
E-mail: vera.onana@mail.concordia.ca

Rebecca Garner
PhD student (co-supervised with I. Gregory-Eaves, McGill U)

Research Interests: My research explores how human impact has altered Canadian lake microbial communities before and since industrialization by comparing the environmental DNA in shallow (present day) and deep (preindustrial) lake sediments.  Developing these paleogenetic techniques is in contrast with the classical paleolimnological approach, which has relied on plankton subfossil morphologies to reconstruct past lake communities.
E-mail: rebecca.garner@mail.concordia.ca

Michelle Cheng
PhD student (co-supervised with I. Gregory-Eaves, McGill U)

Research Interests: My research focuses on assessing lake ecosystem changes over the past few centuries. Specifically, I apply both traditional paleolimnological proxies (e.g., subfossil diatoms) and emerging molecular genetics tools (i.e., sedimentary DNA) to reconstruct sockeye salmon population dynamics and shifts in their food-web composition.
E-mail: yuanyu.cheng@mail.mcgill.ca

Exaltacao Rodrigues
MSc student

Research Interests: I study the diversity and complexity of Giant dsDNA viruses in lakes across Canada from the phylum Nucleocytoviricota through an ecological and evolutionary perspective.
E-mail: exaltacao.rodrigues@gmail.com

Charlène Lawruk-Desjardins
Researcher

Research Interests: The diversity and genetic composition of aquatic microbial communities living in cold ecosystems fascinates me. I am particularly interested in the effects that anthropogenic stresses can have on bacterial and viral communities, including how these changes can resonate in a larger scale on the ecosystem.
E-mail: charlene.lawruk-desjardins@mail.concordia.ca

Matthew Regan
MSc student

Research Interests: My research concerns microbial communities within permafrost soil samples. I hope to perform genomic analysis of these communities to better understand the methods, metabolic pathways, and genes involved in microbial methylmercury cycling.
E-mail: matthewregan23@gmail.com

Sara Palestini
MSc student

Research Interests: I am most interested in the adaptation of ocean microbial communities to shifting abiotic factors, as a result of anthropogenic climate change. My research centres on the degradation of volatile organic compounds by bacteria in the Arctic; where -in such a rapidly changing state- this region plays a critical role in our understanding of humanity’s current and future impacts on the health of our oceans.
E-mail: sarapalestini@gmail.com

Ramisa Rahman
Undergraduate thesis student (BIOL490)

Research Interests: My research consists of the assessment and understanding of the microbial community diversity within an innovative microbiological wastewater treatment system aimed at efficient nitrogen removal from mining effluent.
E-mail: ramisasimar@gmail.com

Anika Nag
Diploma student researcher (BIOL516)

Research Interests: My research project focuses on employing bioinformatics tools to explore the diversity of carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) in metagenomes obtained from freshwater lakes across Canada. I hope to make interesting comparisons between lakes based on differences in their CAZyme diversity and links to their environmental drivers.
E-mail: nag.anika1@gmail.com

Wentworth Brookes
Systems analyst

Research Interests: Wentworth plays the essential role of keeping our high performance computer cluster operational.
E-mail: wentworth.brookes@concordia.ca

Lab Alumni

Roksana Sheikholmolouki— BIOL490 student (undergraduate thesis project), Sept 2022-May 2023
June Kim— BIOL490 student (undergraduate thesis project), Sept 2022-May 2023
Thibault Maumy— BIOL490 student (undergraduate thesis project), Sept 2022-May 2023
Charlène Lawruk-Desjardins— MSc, Sept 2021-Sept 2023
Susan McLatchie— MSc, Sept 2020-June 2023
Thomas Grevesse— PhD, Jan 2018-Dec 2022
Sebastien Granville— BIOL490 student (undergraduate thesis project) Sept 2021-May 2022
Camille Serra de Villeneuve— BIOL490 student (undergraduate thesis project) Sept 2020-May 2021
Maya Chahine— BIOL490 student (undergraduate thesis project) Sept 2020-May 2021
Veronika Storck— Postdoctoral fellow, Sept 2019-2021 (co-supervised with M. Amyot, U de Montréal)
Susanne Kraemer— Postdoctoral fellow and Research Associate, 2017-2022
Lise Millera Ferriz— MSc, May 2018-Sept 2020 (co-supervised with M. Amyot, U de Montréal)
Joanna Gauthier— PhD, Sep 2014-Aug 2020 (co-supervised with I. Gregory-Eaves, McGill U)
Makayla Harrison— MSc, May 2017-Sept 2019
Stephanie Pacheco— MSc, May 2017-May 2019
David Colatriano— PhD student, May 2013-Sept 2019.
Nayereh Saborimanesh— Postdoctoral fellow, January 2016-January 2018 (co-supervised with C. Mulligan, Concordia)
Patricia Tran— MSc student, Sept 2016-Sept 2018
Rebecca Garner— BIOL490 student (undergraduate thesis project) Sept 2017-May 2018
Ola Khawasik— MSc student, Sept 2013-April 2016.
Jackie Peters— BIOL490 student (undergraduate thesis project), May 2015-May 2016
Sabrina Shefa— Diploma in Biotechnology & Genomics student, Sept 2014-May 2015
Natali Samus— Diploma in Biotechnology & Genomics student, May 2015-Dec 2015.
Philippe Thibert— BIOL490 student (undergraduate thesis project), Sept 2014-May 2015.
Daniel Sinclair— CHEM419 student (undergraduate thesis project). May 2014-Jan 2015.
Arthi Ramachandran — BIOL490 student, completed thesis in May 2014.
Palig Khatcherian— Diploma in Biotechnology & Genomics student, Sept 2013-May 2014.
Ting Ting Cui— MSc student, September 2011-Sept 2013.
Heba El-Swais— MSc student, September 2011- Sept 2013. 5.     
Travis Dawson— MSc student, May 2011-Dec 2013.
Michael Gasse— MSc student, co-supervised with Emma Despland.
Sharadindu Sinha— Diploma in Biotechnology & Genomics student, Sept 2011-May 2012.
Christine Gaudreau— BIOL490 student, completed thesis in May 2011.
Anna Georges— Research Assistant, Sept 2011 to Sept 2012.