Dr. Dominique Michaud
Dr. Michaud started his career at Laval U in the mid-1990’s, after completing doctoral and postdoctoral studies in Plant Biology at Laval U in Québec City QC, at CNRS in France, and at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver BC. Over the years, Dominique has developed recognized expertise in Plant Molecular Biotechnology and Proteomics, notably working on the basic and technological aspects of recombinant protein expression, maturation and processing in plant systems. He also has shown interest in the societal and regulatory aspects of plant biotechnology, conducting several impact studies on GM crops for the Québec government, and being part of different plant biotechnology panels and committees at the national and international levels. Dominique currently is Head of Laval U’s Plant Research and Innovation Centre; Director–Communication for the Canadian Association for Plant Biotechnology; and Senior Editor for the Plant Biotechnology Journal, Wiley-Blackwell’s flagship journal in plant molecular biotechnology.
Dr. Pankaj Kumar Bhowmik
Dr. Bhowmik received his Ph.D. in Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology from Kagawa University, Japan. Following JSPS, Killam and NSERC post-doctoral training Pankaj joined the National Research Council of Canada in Saskatoon where he is now a Senior Research Officer leading NRC’s Plant Tissue Culture and Transformation platform. Pankaj also has an additional role as the Scientific Support Lead for NRC’s Sustainable Protein Production (SPP) program where he closely works with small and large companies in the plant biotech and ag-food sector, academia and other Government Departments to establish multi-organizational research collaborations with external stakeholders. He has more than 20 years of experience in plant cell technologies and tissue culture. His specific research focuses on improvement of crops through tissue culture, transformation and gene editing. Pankaj is also serving as an adjunct faculty under the Department of Biology, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science, University of British Columbia Okanagan. Pankaj has been a member of IAPB since 2007.Since joining CAPB Executive Committee in 2014, Pankaj has contributed to CAPB’s purposes inspiring and promoting the interaction among plant biotechnology researchers in Canada. Pankaj has served at the past CAPB executive committee as the treasurer and led the first registration of the association under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act. Pankaj has also volunteered as one of the organizing committee members at the CAPB 2018 conference in Saskatoon. Pankaj was also part of the committee who had drafted the first bylaws for the CAPB.
Dr. Rima Menassa
Dr. Menassa obtained her PhD from the Department of Biology at McGill University in 1998 in molecular genetics of canola. She is currently a senior research scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and holds an adjunct professor appointment at the Biology Department of Western University. She leads the molecular farming effort for the production of recombinant proteins in plants at AAFC. Her research program is focused on producing veterinary subunit vaccines and antibodies in plants. Rima has co-authored over 70 scientific publications, has co-edited a book and was involved in five patent applications. Dr. Menassa has served on the executive board of the Canadian Association for Plant Biotechnology since 2014, and on the board of directors of Plant Canada since 2016. She served as President of the Canadian Association for Plant Biotechnology, and as National Correspondent for the International Association for Plant Biotechnology since 2018-2022.
Dr. Stacy Singer
Dr. Stacy Singer obtained her PhD from the University of Regina, carried out postdoctoral fellowships at the USDA’s Appalachian Fruit Research Station and Cornell University’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, and worked as a research associate at the University of Alberta. She is presently a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge, Alberta, and holds adjunct positions at the University of Lethbridge and University of Alberta. Her research focuses on the elucidation of molecular mechanisms driving plant tolerance to various abiotic stresses, and the use of biotechnological tools such as gene editing to enhance forage crop resilience to environmental challenges related to climate change. Stacy is also engaged in efforts concerning public perception and regulation in the context of plant biotechnology. She has co-authored over 70 scientific publications and book chapters, co-edited a book, and co-led the organization of multiple national and international workshops on gene editing. She is also co-chair of the AAFC Genome Editing Network Working Group and acts as Senior Editor for the journal ‘Plant-Environment Interactions’. Stacy currently serves as Secretary of the Canadian Association for Plant Biotechnology.
Dr. Sangeeta Dhaubhadel
Dr. Sangeeta Dhaubhadel obtained her Ph.D. from the Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario in 2001. During her Ph.D. Dr. Dhaubhadel discovered the first direct evidence on the mechanism of brassinosteroid-induced thermotolerance in plants. Dr. Dhaubhadel is a Research Scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and also holds an adjunct professor appointment at the Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario. Her research interest lies in gene expression and regulation in the biosynthesis of plant natural compounds. The current research in her laboratory focuses on identifying and characterizing the factors involved in biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids in legumes with the long-term goal to develop strategies and technologies to accelerate the selection of genotypes with desired production, disease resistance and value added quality traits.
Dr. Dinesh Adhikary
Dinesh is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Alberta (Ualberta). He holds a BSc in Plant Biotechnology from Brigham Young University, Utah, an MSc in Biology from Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas, and a Ph.D. in Plant Molecular Biology from the University of British Columbia. Dinesh’s research expertise lies in the integration of multi-omics and gene editing approaches to investigate genes and metabolites involved in plant stress adaptation. Dinesh is a highly committed member of scientific communities, actively engaged in various initiatives to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion. As a postdoc representative in the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (EDI) committee in the AFNS department at Ualberta, he works towards fostering a more inclusive and supportive environment for underrepresented groups in STEM. He is actively involved in mentoring undergraduate and graduate students in their academic and professional development. Dinesh has been an active member of the Canadian Association of Plant Biologists (CAPB) since 2018. During his tenure, he served as a representative of postdocs and students and played a pivotal role in several initiatives. He developed the idea of a student research paper competition and designed the original award format and rubrics for the assessment. This competition has since been established as the Graduate Research Paper Competition. He also made significant contributions to the editing of the CAPB bylaws. Furthermore, he organized the student social event during the CAPB conference in 2022, demonstrating his leadership skills and commitment to fostering a supportive community for students.
Dr. Susanne Kohalmi
Dr. Pooja Saxena
Pooja Saxena has over a decade of research experience in plant molecular farming and development of plant-derived virus-like particle vaccines. Pooja received her PhD in plant biotechnology from the John Innes Centre, UK and pursued post-doctoral research in structural virology at Indiana University, USA. Subsequently, at the Canadian pharma company – Medicago, Pooja supported discovery and development activities for plant-based vaccines for infectious diseases including COVID-19. Pooja continues to be active in the academic and pharmaceutical space and currently serves as the Vice-Secretary of the International Society of Plant Molecular Farming (ISPMF) and Senior Alliance Manager at BlueRock Therapeutics.
Jennifer Hubert
Jennifer Hubert is the Executive Director of Plant Biotechnology for CropLife Canada, an industry association representing developers and distributers of plant science innovations. In this role, Hubert works with domestic and international agricultural stakeholders and governments on the development of policies, regulations, and scientific positions related to plant biotechnology. She brings more than 15 years of experience in seed regulatory functions, including over decade working for multinational companies in securing approvals for plants with novel traits, novel foods and novel feeds in Canada. Hubert has a passion for communicating the safety and benefits of plant biotechnology. She holds a master’s degree in Nutritional Science from the University of Guelph.
Dr. Allyson MacLean
Dr. Allyson MacLean has long been fascinated by the complex interactions that occur between plants and microbes. Her research seeks to better understand the molecular dynamics of plant-microbe symbioses at a fundamental level. Dr. MacLean received her doctoral degree from McMaster University following her study of the nitrogen-fixing root endosymbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti. As a recipient of a prestigious Marie Curie International fellowship, she contributed to research at the John Innes Centre (Norwich, England) that was key to elucidating the mechanisms by which a bacterial pathogen hijacks host development to produce ‘Zombie’ plants. Dr. MacLean next joined the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, affiliated with Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), to study the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, a group of beneficial fungal symbionts that colonize a majority of land plants. She was thrilled to return to Canada in 2017 after accepting a position as an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa. Her research programme at uOttawa includes projects that examine the role of plant and microbial proteins crucial to symbioses during both beneficial and pathogenic associations. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. MacLean extended her programme to include ambitious parallel projects to develop plant-based oral and intra-nasal vaccines against SARS-CoV2.
Justin Boissinot
Justin Boissinot obtained his B.Sc in Biology at Laval University. He is pursuing his Master’s degree in Plant Computational Biology at Laval University and studying DNA methylation in cannabis clonal lines derived from tissue culture. As a continuation of his current work, his PhD project will target the development of stable cannabis lines through plant breeding and genomic selection with a focus on the genetic basis of traits of interest with genome-wide association studies (GWAS).
Carly Charron
Carly obtained her BSc in Genetics in 2020 and is currently pursuing a PhD in Biology at Western University. Her research is focused on using plants to produce an edible, nanoparticle-based vaccine to prevent Salmonella infection in poultry.
Jordan VanderBurgt
Jordan is currently pursuing a PhD in Biology from Western University in conjunction with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. He obtained his BSc in Genetics in 2019 and MSc in Biology in 2021, both also from Western University. Jordan’s graduate research has focused on using plants as an expression platform to recombinantly produce a protein-based vaccine against a prominent viral disease affecting pigs.