Post-Doctoral Fellows

Kehinde Adebayo Babatunde, PhD

Fernanda Vargas E Silva Castanheira, PhD

Fernanda completed her Master's and Ph.D. in Pharmacology, at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. In her thesis, she examined the role of chemokine receptors and immune cells during sepsis. Fernanda joined the lab in May of 2018 to explore the mechanisms by which immune cells migrate to the lung contributing to both inflammation or resolution during infection and sterile injury. Outside of the lab, she likes to hang out with friends, travel, and explore nature in the mountains.

Bruna Araujo David, PhD

Bruna has a Masters and Ph.D. in Cell Biology. During this time, she worked with phagocyte biology and liver immunity. She joined the lab in October 2017 and currently works with a sterile liver injury and hepatic B cell biology. Bruna is currently funded by the Beverley Phillips Postdoctoral Fellowships. During her free time, she likes to be with her friends and gets to know the city better.

Ysbrand Nusse, PhD

Ysbrand completed his PhD in Biomedical Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. His doctoral work examined how the intestinal epithelium regenerates from damage provoked by parasitic infections. While largely trained in adult stem cell biology, in the course of his PhD he became interested in the contribution of the immune system to tissue repair. Ysbrand joined the lab in November of 2018, with an eye on understanding how immune processes respond to damage, and influence tissue healing. Ysbrand is a Robert Black Fellow of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, DRG-2401-20. Outside of the lab, he likes to spend time in the outdoors, especially rock climbing.

Wanhai Qin, PhD

Wanhai completed his PhD in Medicine at Amsterdam University Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. His doctoral work focused on epigenetic regulation of epithelial cells and macrophages during lung infections and fibrosis. To further explore the regulation of macrophages in lung infections caused by Influenzas, Wanhai joined the Kubes lab in October of 2021. Wanhai is currently funded by the Eyes High Postdoctoral Match-Funding Program. Outside of the lab, he likes to explore Calgary with his family.

Raymond Shim, PhD

Ray completed his PhD in Immunology at Monash University, Australia. In his PhD, Ray studied changes to the body’s immune system following a stroke that would leave the body susceptible to infection. Ray joined the lab in March 2021 where he is interested in studying the role of neurons in the function of liver immune cells. In his spare time, Ray loves cultivating bacteria and yeast in his kitchen by making refreshing kombucha, tangy Greek yogurt, and crusty sourdough bread.

Marie Siwicki, PhD

Graduate Trainees

Josefien Hommes, PhD Student

Josefien completed her Masters degree in Infection & Immunity at the University of Utrecht. She joined the lab in January 2020 as an international visiting student. As of May 2021 she came back to the lab to start as a PhD student. Josefien's main interest lies in intracellular survival dynamics of S. aureus in Kupffer cells during bloodstream infection. In her free time, she likes to spend time outdoors going for hikes in the mountains and bike rides.

Rachel Kratofil, PhD Candidate

Rachel is a PhD candidate in the lab studying the role of monocytes during a Staphylococcus aureus skin infection. She joined the lab in 2014 as a Biochemistry co-op student from the University of Victoria , and came back to continue as a graduate student in 2015. When not in the lab, Rachel likes going to the movie theatre. Follow Rachel on twitter- @rachelkratofil

Rita Nguyen, MD, PhD Candidate

Rachita Panda, PhD Candidate

Tina Sarkar, MSc Student

Tina graduated from the Bachelor's of Health Sciences honors program at the University of Calgary in 2018, focusing her undergraduate degree on biomedical science. Her research in the lab looks at how the lung microbiome impacts the function of innate immune cells, especially the iNKT cell. She's really excited to be working on this project because it takes a very novel look into immunity with a focus on the under-studied lung microbiome. Over the summer she received funding from the O’Brien Institute and now has undertaken this project as her honors thesis. Outside of the lab, she volunteers at the U of C wellness centre, Flu clinic, works for the CalWHO simulation conference and occasionally finds time to sleep!

Brian Shim, PhD Student

Oscar Tejada, MSc Student

Oscar finished his undergraduate honors degree at the University of Toronto majoring in both immunology and human biology. His undergrad research work at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute encouraged him to return to his hometown here in Calgary to pursue his graduate studies. Continuing off of the work of the lab, Oscar is interested in uncovering the mechanism behind peritoneal macrophage aggregation after sterile injury. He is also passionate about the health care disparity and global health projects, enjoys volunteering with people with disabilities, and camping in Kananaskis.

Wendy Zhang, MSc Student

Wendy completed her degree in the Bachelor of Health Sciences program at the University of Calgary in 2020. Her research currently focuses on studying the ability for lung macrophages to be trained to fight against Influenza A and bacterial infections. Outside of the lab, Wendy enjoys teaching violin and piano, playing badminton, and spending time with her family.

Staff

Dr. Woo Yong Lee, PhD, Imaging Specialist/Research Associate

Woo Yong has been a member of our lab since 2006 as a Post-Doctoral Fellow, and in 2012 he has been our imaging specialist and research associate. Woo Yong completed his BSc, MSc and PhD from Sungkyunkwan Unversity, South Korea. He has numerous projects in the lab investigating the roles of neutrophils, monocytes, macrophages and iNKT cells in various inflammatory conditions such as infection, chronic liver injury, and sterile medial collateral ligament injury. On top of his research projects, he keeps all our microscopes maintained and provides training on intravital microscopy techniques. Woo Yong loves to spend time with his wife and watch sports, and he plays on a Korean baseball league in the summer.

Michelle Willson, Lab Technician

Michelle is our wonderful technician in our lab. She has a BSc degree as well as an Animal Health Technology Diploma and she joined our lab in 2013.

Trecia Nussbaumer, Lab Technician

Lori Zbytnuik, Lab Manager

Lori has a BSc from the University of Ottawa and has been in the lab since 2000 as a scientist, and now she is our amazing lab manager. She has a huge role of managing all of us graduate students, post docs, and of course Paul. If there are any issues, Lori can handle it!