Our Team

Ayush Kumar, PhD

Ayush is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba.  He is currently the Associate Dean - Strategic Initiatives in the Faculty of Science. 

Ayush completed his BSc (Microbiology and Biochemistry) and MSc (Microbiology) from Dr. R.M.L. Awadh University, Faizabad, India. His PhD work was carried out in the laboratory of Dr. Elizabeth Worobec, Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba. Ayush received his post-doctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Herbert Schweizer, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO. He joined the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (now Ontario Tech University) as an Assistant Professor in 2007. Ayush relocated his laboratory to the University of Manitoba in 2013.   

Ayush was the President of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists  in 2020-2021. He was also the inaugural Chair of the CSM Equity, Diversity, Inclusion subcommittee. 

Present Lab Members

Dawn White. Technician

MSc: Carleton University

BSc: University of Waterloo

Vanessa Kornelsen, PhD Candidate*

BSc: University of Manitoba

Vanessa is studying mechanisms of virulence in A. baumannii.

Vanessa is the podcast expert of the lab and has suggestions for good podcasts on all topics. Vanessa enjoys teaching and when not in the lab, Vanessa loves spending time with her cats.

Ellen Sykes, PhD Candidate

BSc: University of Alberta 

Ellen is studying physiological functions of RND efflux pumps in A. baumannii.

Ellen is our chief bioinformatician and her favorite lab apparatus is the Minion. Ellen is the official foodie of the lab, no one in the lab tries out a new restaurant without Ellen's reviews.

 

Ruwani Wimalasekara, PhD Student

MSc: University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka

BSc: University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka

Ruwani is studying the regulatory networks that control antibiotic resistance and virulence of A. baumannii.

Apart from being an excellent scientist, Ruwani is an accomplished badminton player, and has represented the Sri Lanka University Badminton team at the World University Badminton Championship in 2012. 

Sawsan Abed, PhD Student (co-supervised with Dr. Georg Hausner)

MSc: University of Florida, USA

BSc: Tikrit University, Iraq

Sawsan is working on characterization of secondary metabolites with antimicrobial properties from Leptographium spp. 

Sawsan loves to spend time with her family. Sawson's hobby is reading fiction.

Aamer Kurdi, PhD Student (co-supervised with Dr. Georg Hausner)

MSc: University of Manitoba

BSc: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia

Aamer is characterizing novel antimicrobial compound producing fungi.

Aamer truly appreciates the diversity in fungi and has an impressive collection of pictures of various fungal isolates.

Jade Wish, PhD Student (co-supervised with Dr. Annemieke Farenhorst)

MSc: University of Manitoba

BSc: University of  Winnipeg

Jade is studying the presence of bacteria and antimicrobial resistance genes from water bodies in and around Winnipeg.

Chi Dang, MSc Student

BSc: University of Ottawa

Chi is studying the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms that control the expression of AdeAB efflux pump in A. baumannii.

Elaine Schultz, MSc Student

BSc: University of Manitoba 

Elaine is studying multidrug resistance systems in Acinetobacter pittii.

Daniela Noriega, MSc Student

BSc: Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores deMonterrey (ITESM), Mexico 

Daniela studies multidrug resistance efflux system MexXY in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

*Photo credit: Kira Koop (@kirakoop) and Faculty of Science, University of Manitoba

A parody video created by Yasser, Dinesh, and Alex (2014)

Past

Dr. Yanqi Li, PDF

Dr. Rakesh Patidar, RA

Dr. Yanelis Acebo-Guerrero, PDF

Dr. Manu Singh, PhD (2019)

Dr. Malaka De Silva, PhD (2019)

Dr. Dinesh Fernando, PhD (2015)

Anita Murdock, MSc (co-supervised with Dr. Annemieke Farenhorst) (2022)

Debjyoti Thakur, MSc  (2022)

Tajinder Kainth, MSc (2021)

Sabrin Bashar, MSc (co-supervised with Dr. Annemieke Farenhorst) (2021)

Amal Ibrahim, MSc (co-supervised with Dr. Georg Hausner) (2020)

Aamer Kurdi, MSc (co-supervised with Dr. Georg Hausner) (2020)

Ruidong Mi, MSc (co-supervised with Dr. Annemieke Farenhorst) (2018)

Mark Unger, MSc (2017)

Yasser Alsaadi, MSc (2014)

Sarah Warren, MSc (2013)

Andrei Bazyleu, MSc (2013)

Sujani Ganeshanantham, MSc (2011)

Jenny Cortez-Cardova, MSc (2010)

Greg Karvelas, Faculty of Science USRA

Anna Muzaleva, Undergradatue Researcher (Co-Op program)

Kayla Mcivor, Undegradaute intern

Elaine Schultz, Honors Thesis Student

Somava Nath (Mitacs Globalink intern)

Aman Dheer (Mitacs Globalink intern)

Aimeen Sharoze, Undergraduate Researcher (Co-Op program)

Katarina Kowatsch, Honors Thesis Student

Meerim Esenbekova, Undergraduate Researcher (Co-Op program)

Sydney McLaughlin, U Manitoba VPRI Summer Award

Raelene Engelberg, Honors Thesis Student

Owen Barber-Dueck, Honors Thesis Student

Matt Mayor, NSERC USRA

Nathan Glowach, Faculty of Science USRA

Rebecca Zimmer, U Manitoba VPRI Summer Award

Kristen Graham, Undergraduate Researcher

Umema Rafay, U Manitoba VPRI Summer Award (co-supervised with Dr. Georg Hausner) 

Kaleigh Ducas-Mowchun, Honors Thesis Student

Shady Rizk, Faculty of Science USRA (co-supervised with Dr. Georg Hausner)

Madison Chapel, NSERC USRA (co-supervised with Dr. Georg Hausner)

Megan Guimond, NSERC USRA

Daniela Noriega, (Mitacs Globalink intern)

Oreofe Okunnu, NSERC Undergraduate Researcher

Sehar Nurpuri, Honors Thesis Student (co-supervised with Dr. Georg Hausner)

Shirley Wang, Honors Thesis Student

Shaheer Shahat, U Manitoba VPRI Summer Award (co-supervised with Dr. Georg Hausner)

Alexa McAdam, Honors Thesis Student

Taylor Morriseau, Undergraduate Researcher (Co-Op program)

Shane Cameron, NSERC Undergraduate Researcher

Swastik Sen, Undergraduate Researcher (Mitacs Globalink intern)

Austein McLoughlin, Honors Thesis Student (co-supervised with Dr. Deborah Court)

Monica Mai, Undergraduate Researcher (co-supervised with Dr. Annemieke Farenhorst)

Jasmine Frost, Honors Thesis Student

Jenna Poole, Undergraduate Researcher

Vincent Law, Faculty of Science Undergraduate Researcher

Sohini Bagchi, Undergraduate Researcher (Mitacs Globalink intern)

Alexander Tsibulski, Undergraduate Researcher (Co-Op program)

Leah Brown, NSERC Undergraduate Researcher

Blake Harris, Undergraduate Researcher

Jasleen Hora, Honors Thesis Student

Aajab Abdulhusein, Undergraduate Researcher

Massimo Narini, Undergraduate Researcher

Jade Greenly, NSERC Undergraduate Researcher

Hira Sohail, Honors Thesis Student

Ian Ngaira, Honors Thesis Student

Tremayne Peart, Undergraduate Researcher (UOIT Summer Research Award recipient, 2010)

Elliot Byrne, Undergraduate Researcher

Sean Chin, Undergraduate Researcher

Courtney Dalton, Undergraduate Researcher (UOIT Summer Research Award recipient, 2009)

Melissa Schultz, Honors Thesis Student

Dr. Alireza Samarbaf, Visiting Scientist

Bukola Fakayode, Visiting Scientist

Ravitej Goteti, Undergraduate Researcher (UOIT Summer Research Award recipient, 2008)

Reza Jafari, Undergraduate Researcher

Elizabeth Racz, Honors Thesis Student

Shoshana Cook-Libin, Technician

Oscar Sze, Technician

Dr. Kari Kumar, Research Associate