Lab members

Jessy completed her PhD in Human Nutrition in the summer of 2022. Under the supervision of Dr. Richard, her research focused on understanding the role of dietary choline on immune system development and immune responses in the context of obesity.  After obtaining her PhD, Jessy worked as Scientific Project Coordinator at Health Canada. 

As a Research Associate in Dr. Richard's lab, Jessy participates in the scientific oversight of the laboratory and assists the PI in supervision of students (at all levels) and volunteers. She also troubleshoots experimental protocols in collaboration with the lab technician and develops new research methods. She is the go-to person for collecting, analyzing and interpreting data and clinical translation.  In summary, Jessy is the direct liaison between students, their experiments and Dr. Richard to help run the lab smoothly and meet study deadlines and expectations. 

Alexander is a senior Laboratory Technician with expertise in flow cytometry and inflammation measurements. He completed an honours Diploma in Biological Sciences-Laboratory and Research at NAIT in 2019 as a program ambassador. Afterwards, he has worked for Dr. Caroline Richard on clinical and pre-clinical projects. 

Alexander will oversee the training, human, animal sample processing and analysis in our laboratory for the many different projects that Dr. Richard is part of.

Paulina completed her Bachelor in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Sonora (Mexico) in 2014 receiving the award as the best graduating student of her class. 

She is a Dietitian Registered in Mexico where she worked in her own private practice. While working as a dietitian, she implemented evidence-based nutrition lifestyle programs. She also became a health promotion advocate through different media in her hometown: radio, TV, and social media. She moved to Canada to pursue her MSc in Nutrition and Metabolism at the University of Alberta graduating in 2019. After completion of her Master's degree, she stayed working at the University of Alberta as a Program Coordinator in the field of Community Nutrition. She joined Dr. Richard's lab in the fall of 2020 and has been involved in the coordination of different Clinical Trials ever since. 

Paulina coordinates activities related to recruitment of participants, study visits, and oversees different tasks to help Dr. Richard's Human Clinical Trial studies run smoothly. She is also a phlebotomist so she collects blood samples from participants in Dr. Richard's clinical trials.

Paulina completed a Bachelor's in Nutrition in 2015 and a Bachelor's in Chemical Engineering in 2004 at the University of Guadalajara (Mexico). In Mexico, she worked as a Process Engineer in the recycling paper industry for a few years. While pursuing her second bachelor's degree, she worked as an instructor and coordinator for undergraduate courses related to chemistry, dietetics, food science, and research seminars. Paulina received a couple of awards for leading projects in food science. In her senior year, she wrote and presented her thesis entitled "Association of diet and methylation of MLH1 gene in patients with colorectal cancer from Civil Hospital of Guadalajara Dr. Juan I. Menchaca."

She moved to Canada to pursue her PhD in Nutrition and Metabolism at the University of Alberta, graduating in 2021. As a graduate student, she conducted animal and clinical trials to investigate the role of dietary choline in atherosclerosis. She published her work in peer review journals. Paulina joined Richard's lab in the winter of 2023 and has been involved in the coordination of clinical trials and in the processing and analysis of human and animal samples.

In parallel, she balances her professional life with her personal life, where she takes pleasure in spending time with her family, cooking, and playing with her children.

Research Coordinator

Jenneffer is a Richard Lab alumna. She completed her PhD in 2024 under Dr. Richard’s supervision and continues in the lab as a Research Coordinator to support the K-HANDLE CKD study.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition (2016), which granted her the title of Dietitian, and a Master’s degree in Food Science (2019) from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil).

Jenneffer brings clinical and research expertise to her coordination role, supporting study operations at the Human Nutrition Research Unit. She contributes to research planning by preparing operational materials, assisting with reporting, and collaborating with an interdisciplinary team on protocol development and implementation. Her responsibilities include preparing standard operating procedures and ethics submissions, managing regulatory documentation and study databases, overseeing participant scheduling and logistics, and supporting quality assurance and data integrity throughout the study.

Ines completed her bachelor’s degree in Nutrition at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and became a Registered Dietitian in 1986. She completed her Master’s Degree at the same University in 1990. She has been a professor of Clinical Nutrition at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro State since 1989 and Rio de Janeiro State University since 1996.

Since the beginning of her career, she has been teaching undergraduate and graduate students (masters and doctorates) in the area of Clinical Nutrition with a focus on chronic and inflammatory diseases, including obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Specifically in the field of CKD, she has been the coordinator of the Treatment Center for Patients with CKD at the University Hospital of Rio de Janeiro State University since 1999. The activities include coordination, patient care, teaching, and training residents in Clinical Nutrition. All her research projects are performed at this center.

Her current work and expertise mainly centers around clinical and nutritional assessment, and treatment for adults living with CKD. The articles she has published in this area reinforce the importance of her contribution in relation to the various activities proposed in this project.

She collaborates closely with the Richard’s lab and have been a regular visiting professor at the University of Alberta since 2019 to learn about Nutritional Immunology and how to conduct feeding trials in humans. We aim to revise the current nutritional recommendations for potassium and phosphorous homeostasis in CKD.

Nastaran graduated with a Master of Science in clinical biochemistry from Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Iran (2017), and her master’s project was about comparing different methods of glycogen assay in the liver and muscle of rats. She worked as a medical laboratory scientist before deciding to return to school and pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Alberta.

Current grad program:

Supervisors: Dr. Lingyun Chen & Caroline Richard. 

Her current project is to investigate the anti-diabetic effect of oat protein on cells including Caco-2, HepG2, and INS-1, and the high-fat diet mice model. Moreover, we try to understand the synergistic effect of oat protein and β-glucan in lowering blood glucose levels.

Boshra Mandour is a Registered Dietitian who graduated from the University of Alberta. She has worked as a Research Assistant in the School of Public Health since September 2020.

Current grad program:

Supervisors: Dr. Caroline Richard and Dr. Paul Veugelers. 

She is going into her first year of an MSc in Epidemiology, and her research will focus on the importance of nutrition in modulating immune function in the context of obesity, with a focus on the essential nutrient, choline. 

In her spare time she loves to read and watch TV/Movies 

Jodie is a registered dietitian, she received her bachelor of science with honours degree from Acadia University in 2018.  As a practicing dietitian, Jodie has experience with chronic disease management, including diabetes and obesity, with a special interest in GI health.  Prior to becoming a dietitian, Jodie received a diploma in Business Administration from Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and worked in management and business finance roles.  In her spare time, Jodie enjoys traveling, reading, making quilts and spending time with her husband and dogs.

Current graduate work:

Supervisors: Dr. Catherine Chan and Dr. Caroline Richard

Jodie will be working on the KETO-IM study, investigating the primary study outcomes related to cardiovascular disease risk of the ketogenic diet, with the objective of determining if replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats like canola oil can contribute to lower LDL cholesterol levels and lower inflammation.

Maria completed her bachelor’s degree in nutrition and dietetics at the University of Panama in 2022 with Honors Chapter as Sigma Lambda and won the best undergraduate thesis award of her promotion with an investigation titled: "Design and validation of an audiovisual educational material on healthy eating habits for first and second grade children in Panama City schools”. She fulfilled her internships and had experience working in the primary and third level of the health care system in which nutritional education and intervention plays a key role to help patients improve their overall condition.

She was also part of an immunology project that analyzed the correlation between an

inflammatory diet and nutritional status on inflammatory cytokine secretion in individuals with and without type 2 diabetes in her home country. Her academic excellence led her to receive a full scholarship from the National Secretariat of Science, Technology, and Innovation of the Republic of Panama to study a MSc in Nutrition and Metabolism at the University of Alberta.

Current grad program:

Currently she will be supervised by Dr. Richard in her project titled “Beneficial effect of buttermilk and its choline forms on obesity-related immune dysfunction” with the objective to investigate how the lipid soluble forms of choline derived from buttermilk can counteract the immune dysfunction observed in the context of obesity.

Maria is certain that nutrition is the beginning of health, the way we nourish ourselves and the lifestyle we led influences directly the immune system which in fact is translated to our condition to stay healthy or to develop chronic noncommunicable diseases. In her free time, she enjoys cooking and trying new recipes, spend time outdoors, read inspirational books, listen to music, and do arts and crafts.

Carolina completed her Bachelor's degree in Nutrition and Dietetics in 2019 at the National University of Colombia. She has experience as a dietitian at the pediatric hospital "Instituto Roosevelt" in Colombia.

 She received a scholarship from Colfuturo to pursue her MSc in Nutrition and Metabolism at the University of Alberta, which she completed in 2024. Her research focused on the role of dietary fatty acids in immune function within the context of obesity, under the supervision of Dr. Richard.

Tianna obtained her Bachelors of Science in Nutrition from the University of Alberta in 2020. After graduation, she worked with Dr. Richard's lab for one year prior to starting her Master's program where she received hands-on training in laboratory analysis. 

Tianna completed her Master's degree in 2023 under the supervision of Dr. Richard. 

Tianna's Master's project was titled "the beneficial effect of phosphatidylcholine on high-fat diet induced immune dysfunction".  In this project, an animal model was used to assess the effect of feeding varying doses and dietary sources of phosphatidylcholine in a high-fat diet on immune cell function and intestinal permeability. 

Tianna has presented her research at the American Society for Nutrition Conference in 2021 and 2023, and the Canadian Nutrition Society Conference in 2022.

Dr. Yongbo She obtained his BS and MS in Food Science from University of Manitoba. He received his Ph.D. in Nutrition and Metabolism from University of Alberta in June 2023 (Supervised by Dr. Caroline Richard and Dr. Spencer Proctor). 

Yongbo is now an Assistant Professor at Northwest A&F University in China. His research interests include understanding the nutritional modulation on obesity-related immune perturbations. He also investigates early-life neurodevelopment and neurodegenerative disorders with a focus on "gut-immune-brain axis". Dr. Yongbo She published eleven peer-reviewed articles and presented his research on several national and international conferences. He also received "Young Investigator Award" from CSATVB in 2020.

Kun Wang completed his Bachelor of Science Honors degree in Nutrition in 2019 and Master of Science in Nutrition and Metabolism in 2022 (supervised by Dr. Spencer Proctor and Dr. Caroline Richard) both at the University of Alberta. In his role as a graduate research assistant, Kun collaborated closely with faculty members and peers to investigate intestinal lipid absorption and muscle lipid metabolism in a swine model of insulin resistance. This academic journey has equipped Kun with necessary skills and knowledge to engage in innovative research. 

Outside the lab, Kun is passionate about music (guitar and keyboard) and believes in the importance of balancing work and life to maintain a healthy and well-rounded lifestyle. 

Jessy completed her PhD in Human Nutrition in the summer of 2022. Under the supervision of Dr. Richard, her research focused on understanding the role of dietary choline on immune system development and immune responses in the context of obesity. 

Kelly Picard completed her PhD with the University of Alberta. Her research focuses on the impact of food processing on potassium and phosphorus management for adults living with kidney disease. In addition to her PhD work, Kelly has worked as a registered dietitian since 2008, with a special interest in diabetes and kidney health.