Congratulations to our 2023-2024 IMPACTT Mentorship Cohort!

We are very pleased to announce our 2023-2024 IMPACTT mentorship cohort. Thank you to everyone who applied, and congratulations to our new mentees!

Mentorship Pairings

Mentor: Dr. Morgan Langille, Associate Professor, Dalhousie University

Mentee: Dr. Akinola Alafiatayo, Postdoctoral Associate, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Mentor: Dr. Emma Allen-Vercoe, Professor, University of Guelph

Mentee: Dr. Aline Ignacio, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Calgary

Mentor: Dr. Marie-Claire Arrieta, Assistant Professor, University of Calgary

Mentee: Dr. Charlène Roussel, Postdoctoral Researcher, Université Laval

Mentor: Dr. Carolina Tropini, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia

Mentee: Dr. Karen Lithgow, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Calgary

Meet our Mentees

Dr. Akinola A. Alafiatayo (he/him) is a MITAC-Atlantic Cancer Consortium (ACC) Postdoctoral Fellow under the tutelage of Dr. Sevtap Savas and Dr. Touati Benoukraf at the Division of Biomedical Science (Genetics) Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN). His current research focuses on the multi-omics integration of genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics and microbiome data to study their interplays in familial and sporadic colorectal cancer to identify new diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic biomarkers in precision medicine. Additionally, he holds a Janeway foundation grant as a PI to study the microbiome and metatranscriptomics of breastfed and non-breastfed children with autism in Newfoundland. At MUN, he developed Oxford Nanopore microbiome sequencing and analysis protocols for stool and saliva samples for children with autism, and experimental and computational methods of identifying colon bacteria from colorectal tissues and feces for the pilot phase of the Terry Fox – Atlantic Cancer Consortium Project.
Dr. Aline Ignacio is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Calgary, Canada in Dr. Kathy McCoy’s lab. Her research is focused on how exposure to commensal microbes impacts immune cell functions, from early life into adulthood. Aline is originally from São Paulo where she obtained her Master’s in Microbiology and PhD in Immunology at the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil. Outside her research, she is also passionate about science education and outreach, and is a member of the Snyder Institute Trainee Committee and the Yale-Proxima Mentorship Program.
Dr. Charlène Roussel has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Nutrition and Functional Foods (INAF, Laval University, Québec) for nearly four years. During her double French-Belgian doctorate, which she completed at the University of Clermont Auvergne and Ghent University, Charlène specialized in applied microbiology, studying the relationship between hosts and food pathogens, as well as simulating the human digestive environment in vitro. In recognition of her doctoral research on the study of traveler’s diarrhea in a simulated human digestive environment, she received the Auvergne Polytech Young Researcher Award in Clermont-Ferrand, France, in 2020.
Charlène is currently involved in several research projects that utilize gastrointestinal systems and colonic fermentation systems, including the SHIME (Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem). These projects focus on investigating the ecological interactions of microorganisms within the gut and analyzing multi-omics data to understand the effects of dietary or prebiotic-like molecules on gut microbial communities. Charlène’s objective is to enhance our understanding of the inter-individual characteristics that define the gut microbiota, with the ultimate aim of improving overall health.
At INAF (Laval University), Charlène is working on these research projects as part of the Canada Research Chair on the Microbiome-Endocannabinoidome Axis in Metabolic Health, directed by Professor Vincenzo Di Marzo, and the Phenobio+ Chair on the Prebiotic Effect of Fruit and Vegetable Polyphenols, directed by Professor Yves Desjardins.
Dr. Karen Lithgow is a Banting-funded postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Laura Sycuro at the University of Calgary. Dr. Lithgow’s research investigates vaginal microbiome impacts on women’s sexual and reproductive health with a focus on how microbial enzymes contribute to vaginal health, sexually transmitted infection and pregnancy complications. Dr. Lithgow obtained her BSc in Immunology & Infection from the University of Alberta and completed her PhD in Biochemistry & Microbiology from the University of Victoria. During her PhD, Dr. Lithgow explored Treponema pallidum molecular pathogenesis and vaccine development for syphilis under the supervision of Dr. Caroline Cameron.

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