Lab members

Dr. Praveen Khatri joined the lab in summer of 2025 with a fellowship from the UTM Office of the Vice Principal of Research and Innovation. Having recently completed his PhD work with Dr. Sangeeta Dhaubhadel at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research and Development Centre in London, Ontario, he joins the group with extensive experience in cytochrome P450 characterization in plant secondary metabolism, which he is now applying to medicinal diterpenoids from Salvia spp.

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Building on her extensive background in the phytochemistry of medicinal plants, Dr. Marzieh Tabefam has joined the lab with a Mitacs Elevate fellowship to study the effect of biostimulants on nutrient use in crops in collaboration with BioLine Corporation.

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Anya Hu is an undergraduate researcher studying the regulation of glycolysis in chloroplasts of flowering plants.

Tianqi Wang is an undergraduate researcher studying the biofuel engineering in the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Christina De Melo is a senior thesis project student carrying out an independent research project on the expression of proteins from the salvinorin A pathway.

Nour Ouf is an undergraduate research studying the metabolic response of plants to infection by pathogenic bacteria

Aysha Aguilera Mayorga is studying biofuel production in the blue green algae Synechocystis PCC6803.

Nima Bolourchian is another member of the biofuel team, studying lipid and terpene production in the blue green algae Synechocystis PCC6803.

Christina Tonkovic is an undergraduate researcher studying the intracellular transport of metabolic intermediates in the MEP pathway.

Sonia Evans completed her Ph.D. in November, 2024 on the metabolic control of substrate supply for the chloroplast terpenoid (isoprenoid) precursor pathway in Arabidopsis.

Scott Ford completed his M.Sc in September, 2024 on the regulation of glycolysis in chloroplasts of flowering plants and its implication for metabolic control of the shikimate pathway.

Mateja Perc – Completed his BSc in Biology in 2024. UTM work-study student providing technical support to graduate research projects in plant molecular biology and biochemistry.

Matthew E. Bergman completed his Ph.D. on monoterpenoid volatile biosynthesis in rose-scented geraniums (Pelargonium spp.). in July, 2023