Alex Gill

Alex Gill

My training is in Food Microbiology and I hold a Ph.D. in Food and Nutritional Sciences from the University of Manitoba (2006). Since 2008 I have been employed as a Research Scientist at Health Canada, where I head the Verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) Laboratory at the Bureau of Microbial Hazards. VTEC, including E. coli O157:H7, are major foodborne pathogens. The VTEC Laboratory conducts research to support the Government of Canada and its public health partners in reducing the incidence of VTEC illness in Canada. My research specialities are: bacterial physiology, detection methodologies, food decontamination, and dose exposure in foodborne outbreaks.

 

Role in Syst-OMICS

With my colleague, Sandeep Tamber, I’m involved in Activity 3.2 which aims to adapt WGS data to improve the specificity of existing commercially available RT-PCR assays for detection of foodborne Salmonella.

I’m also involve with the Act.5 team (GE3LS) to identify legal and regulatory requirements for the approval of the new test and policy drivers and potential hurdles to the uptake and broad use of the new test.