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.
Joshua Koenig
Research Associate
Josh received his undergraduate degree from the Bachelor of Health Sciences program at McMaster University in 2015. He entered the Master's of Medical Sciences program under the supervision of Dr. Jordana and transferred into the PhD program in January 2017. His project focuses on the generation of high avidity IgE antibodies in food allergy. Josh's graduate research is made possible through the scholarships: Ontario Graduate Scholarship-PhD and the Eva Eugenia Lillian Cope Scholarship.
Allyssa Phelps
PhD Candidate
Bio coming soon!
Favourite Cell: Allergen-specific B cells
Emily Grydziuszko
Masters Student
Emily received her B.H.Sc. from McMaster and originally joined the Jordana lab as an undergraduate student before becoming a Master’s student in May 2021. She works on a project with Josh and Jessica to investigate the role of allergen-specific CD4+ T cells in the incipient phases of food allergy. Alongside Allyssa, Atai, Jessica and Allison, she also investigates allergen immunotherapy in mouse models of food allergy.
Favourite Cell: Tfh Cells
Danielle Della Libera
Masters Student
Danielle received her B.H.Sc. from McMaster and joined the Jordana lab in May 2022. She will be starting her masters this fall.
Sara Fortier
Masters Student
Sara received her H.B.Sc. in Biochemistry from McMaster University and joined the Jordana lab as a Master’s student in September 2022. Her project involves using CRISPR-Cas9 to investigate the factors involved in the protection against food allergens.
Favourite Cell: Memory B cell
Atai Ariaz
Undergraduate Student
Bio coming soon!
Vitoria Olyntho
Undergraduate Student
Vitoria is a third-year student in the Honours Bachelor of Health Sciences program and pursuing a concurrent certificate in Immunology, Microbiology, and Virology. Her project involves using multiplexed immunofluorescence confocal microscopy to investigate the immune microenvironment of the human eosinophilic nasal polyp to elucidate the cellular interactions responsible for the perpetuation of polyposis in chronic rhino-sinusitis patients.
Favourite cell: eosinophils
Jessica Schneider
Undergraduate Student
Jessica is a H.B.Sc Candidate completing her fourth year thesis in the Jordana lab. She loves T cells! She works with Emily to also investigate the role of allergen-specific CD4+ T cells in the incipient phases of food allergy. She also investigates allergen immunotherapy in mouse models of food allergy with Allyssa, Emily, Atai, and Allison.
Favourite Cell: ALL T cells (especially CD4+)
Allison Fang
Undergraduate Student
Bio Coming Soon!
Favourite Cell: Class-switched IgE plasma cells
Aidan Gagnon
Undergraduate Student
Bio coming soon!
Favourite Cell: Th2 and Th17 polarized Tregs
