Visiting Scholar

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Jianping Fu
Feburary 2025 - Present 
[email protected]
ResearchGate
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Jianping is an associate professor in Jiangxi Normal University in China. Her research examines immunological responses in aquatic organisms such as swamp eel, zebrafish, and grass carp.

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Current Graduate Students

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Sunanda Paul
PhD Candidate
January 2020 - Present 
[email protected]
LinkedIn
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Sunanda completed both her BSc and MSc in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the University of Chittagong in Bangladesh. Sunanda is investigating specific constituents in oil sands process affected waters and their effect on pro-inflammatory pathways in human macrophage-like cells. 

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​Nora Hussain
PhD Candidate
September 2020 - Present 
[email protected]
ResearchGate

​Nora completed both her BSc in Microbiology and her MSc in Microbiology and Biotechnology (under Dr. Yann Boucher) at the University of Alberta. Nora's PhD project examines the microbial communities and immunotoxicity of a pilot-scale lake with remediated tailings from the Albertan oil sands on spatiotemporal scales. Nora is a horror movie and Batman aficionado. 

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Najia Ul Huda
MSc Student
September 2022 - Present 
[email protected]
LinkedIn
​
Najia completed her BSc from Gulf Medical University in United Arab Emirates in Biomedical Sciences. Her current project examines LITRs isolated from zebrafish and their potential in signalling. 

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Samuel Amoah
PhD Student
​May 2023 - Present 
[email protected]

Samuel holds a BSc in Medical Laboratory Technology from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. His MSc thesis uses LITRs isolated from goldfish and their effect on neutrophil responses. In his spare time, Samuel likes to play FIFA and strum on his guitar. 

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Aoxue Li
PhD Student
January 2024 - Present
[email protected]
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Aoxue completed her undergraduate studies at the Hubei University of Technology in China in Bio-pharmaceutical Engineering. She currently works on goldfish LITRs. Aoxue is a skilled guzheng player and enjoys traveling. 

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Marj Gem Bunda-Fajunio
MSc Student
September 2024 - Present
[email protected]
LinkedIn​
​
Marj earned both her BSc and MSc in Fisheries (Aquaculture) from the University of Philippines Visayas. Marj is currently investigating bioactive properties of oil sands process water. Additionally, she is a proud mother of two.

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Current Undergraduate Students

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Yahia Gamal El-Din
2024 -Present
Yahia completed introductory laboratory training (which included cell culturing, waste management, reagent preparation, etc.) and investigated immune cell-based responses after stimulation with oil sands process affected waters as a funded spring/summer student in 2024 and 2025.

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Lorisa Xie
May 2025 - Present
​BIOL 398

Lorissa is in her second year of an Immunology and Infections BSc student. She will be helping Marj onboard bacterial and immune screening assays for her spring BIOL 398. Lorissa is an adrenaline junkie and loves to travel, bake, and has built her own PC tower. 

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Nalan Shen
September 2024 - Present
NSERC Summer USRA 
​BIOL 499

Nalan has just completed her final year of her BSc with Honors in Immunology and Infection. For her BIOL 499, she examined goldfish immune cells. She will be examining microbial degradation of oil sands process affected contaminants as an incoming MSc in the fall, and is being onboarded as NSERC USRA student in anticipation of this. Nalan has worked with both snails and goldfish during her BSc, and has dimple piercings - no, they don't leak when she drinks! 

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Francesca Pon-An
September 2024 - Present
​BIOL 399

Francesca is in her third year of undergraduate research and is investigating different treatment approaches of oil sands process affected waters using macrophage cell screens. 

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Micah Truong
Jan 2024 - Present
BIOL 399
BIOL 298
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Micah explored the immunotoxicity of model naphthenic acid compounds for her BIOL 298 project. Micah is currently investigating this further for her BIOL 399 research. 

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