Dr. Manel Jordana
Principal Investigator, MD, PhD
Born and raised in Barcelona, Spain, Dr. Manel Jordana completed his medical training at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and continued with a residency and clinical fellowship at Hospital de Sant Pau in the same city. Dr. Jordana quickly developed a passion for scientific research, and pursued this path with determination. After graduating with a PhD at McMaster University, he embarked on post-doctoral studies. He joined the faculty of McMaster University in 1988, and has since supervised over 75 trainees, and co-authored 160 scientific papers, reviews and book chapters.
Dr. Susan Waserman
Principal Investigator, MD, MSc
Dr. Waserman obtained her MSc and medical degree from McGill University. She specialized in Internal Medicine, followed by subspecialty training in Allergy/Clinical Immunology. She then completed a fellowship in Pulmonary Immunology at the Meakins Christie Laboratories at McGill University. She is extensively involved in medical education in both academic and community settings, and has an active hospital based clinical practice in adult and pediatric allergy/immunology. Research interests and activities include mechanisms and treatment of peanut allergy and food related anaphylaxis, as well as urticaria.
Tina Walker
Research Technician
Tina finished her B.Sc. in animal biology at the University of Guelph. She worked at the McMaster central animal facility for nine years before joining the Jordana lab in 2002. Her duties include maintaining breeding colonies, animal work, ELISAs, purchasing as well as various lab management tasks.
Jianping Wen
Research Technician
Jianping graduated from West China University of Medical Sciences, China and worked in the same university as a lecturer for a few years. Then, she continued to study molecular biology in Witten/Hedreke University, Germany. Here, as a research technician, she has a key role in the management of the lab, she assisted and worked with all graduate and undergraduate students for their projects bringing her knowledge and experience in the fields of animal work, cell culture, blood process and functional assay, as well as molecular biology.
Rangana Talpe Guruge
Research Technician
Rangana received her H.B.Sc in Genetics from Western University and M.Sc in Medical Sciences from McMaster. She joined the lab in the beginning of 2023.
Allyssa Phelps
PhD Candidate
Bio coming soon!
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Favourite Cell: Allergen-specific B cells
Danielle Della Libera
PhD Student
Danielle obtained her B.H.SC in Biomedical Discovery and Commercialization. Her research focuses on exploring the mechanisms behind memory B cell reactivation during allergen re-exposure.
Favourite cell: Germinal center B cells
Saven Denha
Masters Student
Saven obtained his B.H.Sc. in Biochemistry from McMaster University. His research focuses on studying the spatial distribution of immune cells in human and animal tissues. Utilizing advanced techniques like confocal microscopy and multiplex imaging, he investigates the relevance of immune cell distribution to both each other and the surrounding tissue, aiming to enhance our understanding of the immune system.
Favourite cell: NK cells
George Song
Masters Student​
George obtained his B.H.Sc in engineering science and entrepreneurship. His research focuses on exploring T cell populations in primary allergen exposure.
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Favourite cell: Tfh cells
Aidan Gagnon
Masters Student
Aidan joined the lab as an undergraduate student in 2022, completing 2 theses before obtaining his B.H.Sc and starting his M.Sc here. His research focuses primarily on cellular interactions surrounding secondary exposures in food allergy, with an emphasis on the contributions of CD4+ T cell populations
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Favourite cell: Th2 polarized Tfh cells
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Muneefah Qureshi
Masters Student
Muneefah obtained her HBSc with majors in Molecular Genetics and Health and Disease, as well as a minor in Immunology from the University of Toronto. Currently. She is studying the mechanisms of IgG4 production by B cells using CRISPR-Cas9 technology.
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Favourite Cell: B cells
Alexia Milu
Undergraduate student
Level III
Alexia is a third year student in the Honours Health Sciences Program. She is working alongside Danielle, performing ELISA assays to detect antigen specific antibodies in serum. She thinks flow cytometry is the coolest technique
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Favourite cell: Neutrophils
Dima Traboulsi
Undergraduate Student
Level IV
Dima is a fourth-year student in the Honours Life Sciences program. Her project uses multiplex imaging to investigate the spatial distribution of memory B cells in the microenvironment at baseline and following allergen re-exposure.
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Favourite Cell: Dendritic cells
