People

Christopher Lawson | Assistant Professor (He/Him)
chris.lawson@utoronto.ca
Dr. Lawson’s research focuses on harnessing the metabolic processes of anaerobic microbiomes for sustainable wastewater treatment and the production of renewable bioenergy and bioproducts from waste resources.

Byung-Chul (Roy) Kim Ph.D | PDF
(He/Him)
roybc.kim@mail.utoronto.ca

Dr. Kim aims to industrialize resource recovery technologies to develop a sustainable carbon cycle by studying the link between macroscopic bioreactor systems and microscopic biological systems.

Blake Lindner Ph.D | PDF
(They/Them)
blake.lindner@utoronto.ca

Blake develops bioinformatic tools to assist with engineering synthetic organisms and communities within the bioeconomy. They are focused on work integrating genotypic data with self-driving labs for quantitative prediction of microbial traits and community assemblage among prokaryotes.

Xu (Charlie) Chen Ph.D | PDF
(He/Him)
xcharlie.chen@utoronto.ca

Charlie’s research focuses on using machine learning to optimize microbial communities efficiently. By leveraging an automated self-driving lab, he employs Bayesian optimization to discover the efficient synthetic microbiome for converting food waste into medium-chain fatty acids.

Ethan Agena B.A.Sc. | Ph.D. Student
(He/Him)
ethan.agena@mail.utoronto.ca

Ethan’s research revolves around the metabolic engineering of anaerobic chain elongating bacteria for use in the sustainable production of a wide range of hydrocarbons from organic waste streams.

Ian Gois B.A.Sc. | Ph.D. Student
(He/Him)
ian.gois@mail.utoronto.ca
Ian works on engineering non-model anaerobic bacteria to improve medium-chain fatty acids production.

Joel Howard H.B.Sc., B.A.Sc. | Ph.D. Student
(He/Him)
joel.howard@mail.utoronto.ca

Joel’s research focuses on the data-driven design of synthetic microbiomes that convert organic waste into medium chain fatty acids. For this, he leverages robotic liquid handling, culturomics and high-throughput functional assays to screen bacterial strains and communities.

Joy Lu B.Sc. | M.A.Sc. Student
(She/Her)
joy.lu@mail.utoronto.ca

Jasmeen Parmar B.A.Sc. | Ph.D. Student
(She/Her)
jasmeen.parmar@mail.utoronto.ca

Jasmeen’s research focuses on demonstrating medium chain fatty acid production and recovery from real organic waste streams using bench-scale systems.

Abiali Badani H.B.Sc. | M.A.Sc. Student
(He/Him)
abiali.badani@utoronto.ca

Abiali’s research focuses on using genetic engineering to modify microbes and their community, with the goal of producing sustainable bio-chemicals from waste feedstocks. In his free time, Abiali enjoys film photography, wine making, and cooking.

Dinesh Nallasamy, B.Tech, M.Tech | Ph.D. Student
(He/Him)
dinesh.nallasamy@mail.utoronto.ca

Dinesh’s research focuses on developing synthetic co-cultures to produce medium-chain fatty acids in microbial electrochemical system.

Diana Dyussekenova B.A.Sc. | Ph.D Student
(She/Her)
diana.dyussekenova@mail.utoronto.ca

Diana’s research focuses on the anaerobic fermentation of organic waste streams to produce and extract medium-chain fatty acids in a bench-scale system.

Connor Bowers B.Sc. | M.A.Sc. Student
(He/Him)
connor.bowers@mail.utoronto.ca

Connor’s research aims to identify coarse grained principles that predict the metabolic products made by anaerobic bacteria. Answering questions like “why do some chain elongating bacteria make shorter monocarboxylic acids while others make longer ones?” Computational models, high throughput automated experimentation and proteomics are employed to address this question. In his free time, Connor enjoys playing the guitar, exploring the city and keeping up with Formula 1.

Neha Joshi B.S. | Ph.D Student
(She/Her)
n.joshi@mail.utoronto.ca

Neha’s research focuses on engineering microbiomes to enhance biogas production through anaerobic digestion, specifically targeting recalcitrant linkages in complex organic wastes. In her free time, she enjoys dancing, painting, reading, and listening to podcasts!!

Marjan Abhaji Ezabadi
(She/Her)
marjan.abhaji@mail.utoronto.ca

Thérèse MZ Wilson-Rawlins | MEng Student

Ronny Chan | Undergraduate Thesis Student
(He/Him)
kyronny.chan@mail.utoronto.ca

Ronny is a 4th year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto. His project involves characterizing and engineering proteins within the reverse beta-oxidation pathway in order to produce a wider range of MCFAs in microbes. His research interests are in sustainable energy production via biological systems. In his spare time, he likes to swim and watch soccer, go Arsenal!

Hazel Fricska | Undergraduate Thesis Student
(She/Her)
hazel.fricska@mail.utoronto.ca

Hazel is a 4th year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto. Currently, Hazel is assisting Jasmeen and Diana in their work on transforming organic waste into valuable products using anaerobic digestion. Her research will explore the effect of integrating ultrafiltration systems to enhance process efficiency and product recovery. In her free time, she enjoys listening to podcasts and playing basketball.

Robinson Meng | Undergraduate Volunteer
(He/Him)
robinson.meng@mail.utoronto.ca

Robinson is a 3rd year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto. His work focuses on optimizing e. coli mediated liquid conjugation. In his free time, he enjoys learning about entrepreneurship.