| Faculty & Staff | |
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Siyun Wang, PhD, Principal Investigator Dr. Siyun Wang is an Associate Professor of Food Safety Engineering at the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, where she conducts research on microbial safety in the Ulrich Freybe Food Safety Laboratory. Siyun received her B.S. degree in Pharmacy from Fudan University (2005) and Ph.D. degree in Biology from the Institute for Food Safety and Health at Illinois Tech (2010). Prior to joining UBC in 2013, she was a postdoctoral associate at Cornell University. |
| Graduate Students | |
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Karen Fong, PhD Candidate BSc in Microbiology, UBC Okanagan, 2012 MSc in Food Science, UBC, 2015 Karen was born and raised in the Okanagan region of BC. She completed her MSc thesis in our laboratory in 2015, titled “Environmental adaptation and stress response of Salmonella enterica in peanut oil, peanuts and chia seeds”. Her PhD research is focused on isolation and characterization of bacteriophages from BC agricultural environment. Karen is a recipient of Canadian Dairy Commission & NSERC PGS-D scholarship. |
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Justin Falardeau, PhD Student BSc in Food Science, Carleton University, 2014 MSc in Food Science, UBC, 2017 Justin came to UBC from Carleton University where he spent his undergraduate studying antifungal lipopeptides produced by particular strains of the bacterium Bacillus subtilis. His current research involves monitoring the occurrence of VTEC, Salmonella & Listeria monocytogenes in the irrigation water of produce farms around the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. Justin is a recipient of NSERC CGS-M and Alexander Graham Bell Canada Doctoral Scholarship. |
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Yue (Cindy) Dai, MSc student BSc in Food Science, UBC, 2016 Born and raised in China, Cindy came to Vancouver in 2012 and obtained her Bachelor of Food Science degree from UBC in 2016. Her current area of research is on developing mitigation strategies for reducing pathogen contamination on sprouted vegetables |
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Catherine Wong, MSc student BSc in Food Science, UBC, 2016 Catherine was raised in Vancouver, BC and completed her Bachelor in Food Science in 2016. For her MSc study, the focus is on reducing Salmonella contamination during pre-harvest of lettuce and tomatoes. |
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Yvonne Ma, MSc student BSc in Microbiology and Immunology, UBC, 2017 Yvonne is working on characterizing bacteriophages isolated from British Columbia. |
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Shoukui He, visiting PhD student Department of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China Shoukui is a visiting student supported by the China Scholarship Council. He works on the ethanol stress response mechanisms of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis in our lab. |
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Undergraduate Students
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Devita Kireina, BSc student in Food Science Devita is conducting her undergraduate thesis project in our lab on sourdough fermentation. She loves to bake in her spare time and when she needs to de-stress. She hopes to travel the world to try different kinds of cuisines.
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Alfred Ke, BSc student in Applied Biology Alfred is conducting his undergraduate thesis project on Salmonella and sprouts safety in our lab. From the science to the culinary arts, he wants to experience as many different aspects of food as possible. |
| Lab Alumni | |
| Postdoctoral and Research Associates | |
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Aljosa Trmcic, PhD PhD in Biotechnology, University of Ljubljana, 2011 Dr. Aljosa Trmcic was a Research Associate in our lab from 2016 to 2018. He worked on L. monocytogenes and biofilm formation, as well as on microbiology of sourdoughs. Currently, he is apointed as a food safety specialist at the BC Centre for Disease Control. |
| Graduate Students | |
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Patricia Hingston, PhD BSc in Food Science, Dalhousie University, 2010 MSc in Food Science, Dalhousie University, 2013 PhD in Food Science, UBC, 2017 Patricia (Trish) is originally from Ontario but also lived in Halifax, NS for 7 years while she completed her Bachelors and Masters in Food Science. She came to Vancouver for her PhD. Most of Trish’s past and current research is focused on elucidating stress survival mechanisms used by the human foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes, to survive in food and food processing environments. Trish’s research in our lab focused on investigating L. monocytogenes‘ cold, salt, acid, and desiccation stress survival as well as its ability to form a biofilm on food processing surfaces. Trish was a recipient of the Alexander Graham Bell Canada Doctoral Scholarship scholarship. Currently, Trish is appointed as an Assistant Professor of Teaching (tenure-track) at UBC. |
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Huihui (Hanna) Chen BSc in Environmental Science, Zhejiang University, 2015 MSc in Food Science, UBC, 2017 Hanna was born and raised in Zhejiang Province, China. Her MSc project in our lab focused on characterizing the Salmonella strains that are important to fresh produce safety in BC. |
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Maxime Haure, Visiting MSc student (2015) Maxime is pursuing his MSc in Food Engineering at AgroSup Dijon, France. His project at UBC was focused on understanding the survival of Listeria monocytogenes in soil. |
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Maram Garout (2014-15) BSc in Microbiology, King Abdulaziz University, 2010 Maram has completed her graduate study on Master of Food Science (MFS) at UBC. When in our lab, Maram investigated the effects of Millard Reaction products on Verocytotoxin-producing E. coli (VTEC). |
| Undergraduate Students | |
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Zheqing (Ula) Zhu BSc in Food Science, UBC, expected in 2018 Ula has started her bachelor’s degree in Vancouver since 2013. Her BSc thesis studies the biofilm-forming abilities of Listeria monocytogenes with different virulence gene profiles, with the focus mainly on the comparison of truncated Internalin A and full-length InlA in L. monocytogenes. |
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Gwendolyn Ge BSc in Food Science, UBC, expected in 2018 Gwendolyn is working on her undergraduate thesis project in our lab, which is about exploring the bacteria species involved in spontaneous cassava sourdough fermentation. In her spare time she enjoy reading, cooking, traveling and music, as well as meeting new friends. |
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Brett LaBossiere BSc in Biochemistry, University of Victoria, expected in 2018 Brett was raised in the Cariboo region of central BC. He is a visiting co-op student from the University of Victoria, and is assisting Karen Fong in characterizing Salmonella phages. |
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Anna Cheng BSc in Food Science, UBC, 2013 Anna completed her BSc thesis in our lab in 2013, titled “Real-time PCR vs. Traditional methods on the detection of Salmonella enterica in chocolates”. Anna is currently working as a Quality Assurance professional in food industry. |
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Yining Mao BSc in Biochemistry, UBC, 2014 Yining worked with Karen in our lab from September 2013 to April 2014, when he was a 4th year Biochemistry student at UBC. |
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Hyun Soo Seo BSc in Food and Nutritional Sciences, UBC, 2015 Hyun Soo completed her BSc thesis in our lab in 2015, titled “Antimicrobial effect of crude MRP on Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium under acidic and thermal stress conditions”. Hyun Soo is currently pursuing her MSc in Food Microbiology at Seoul National University. |
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Jesline Rahardjo BSc in Food Science, UBC, 2016 Jesline investigated the antimicrobial effects of Millard Reaction products on Salmonella. She will continue to pursue a Master’s in Management at UBC. |
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Shinnie Zhou BSc in Food Science, UBC, 2016 Shinnie’s BSc thesis project is on isolation and characterization of Salmonella phages from the BC agricultural environment. She is currently working as a consultant in a Vancouver-based company. |
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Donna Lau BSc in Biology studies, UBC, 2016 As a summer work-learn student, Donna worked with Justin on the enumeration of E.coli/Coliform in irrigation water. |
| Visiting Scholars | |
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Monika Trząskowska, PhD Faculty of Human Nutrition and Consumer Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW, Poland Dr. Monika Trząskowska was a Dekaban Foundation Scholar. She investigated effective mitigation strategies for producing safety mung bean sprouts in our laboratory.
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