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.
Dr. Joshua Koenig
Assistant Professor
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.
Favourite Cell: MBC2
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!
Favourite Cell: Allergen-specific B 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
Saven Denha
Masters Student
Saven obtained his B.H.Sc. in Biochemistry from McMaster University. He joined the Jordana lab as a research assistant and will pursue his Master's degree starting September 2023. 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
Atai Ariaz
Undergraduate Student
Level IV
Bio coming soon!
Favourite cell: Memory B cells
Vitoria Olyntho
Undergraduate Student
Level IV
Vitoria is a fourth-year student in the BHSc, program pursuing a concurrent certificate in Immunology, Microbiology, and Virology. Her project involves developing and optimizing a multiplexed immunofluorescence imaging platform to investigate the cell microenvironment of type II tissues, including the human nasal polyp. Vitoria's work is supported by the 2023 Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Studentship and the BHSc Summer Research Scholarship.
Favourite cell: Eosinophils
Allison Fang
Undergraduate Student
Level III
Bio Coming Soon!
Favourite Cell: Anergic B cell
Aidan Gagnon
Undergraduate Student
Level IV
Aidan is a fourth-year student in the Honours Bachelor of Health Sciences program. He is working with Danielle to characterize novel populations of memory B cells. Aidan's research interests are in studying CD4+ T cell interactions and their implications in disease through murine models, and investigations using flow cytometry.
Favourite Cell: Th2 and Th17 polarized Tregs
Jane Thompson
Co-Op Student
Level IV
Bio coming soon!
Favourite cell: IgG4+ memory B cell
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Miguel Martínez Santos
Undergraduate Student
Level IV
Miguel is a fourth-year student in the iBioMed (HESE) program at McMaster, who will be completing his thesis in the Jordana Lab. He works with Allyssa in several immunotherapy projects that focus on elucidating the mechanisms behind food allergy.
Favourite Cell: IgG1+ memory B cell
Bela Davidson
Undergraduate Student
Level IV
Bio coming soon!
Favourite cell: CD45+ cell
