I completed an undergraduate degree in Microbiology followed by a graduate degree (Ph.D.) at the University of Manitoba where I studied the molecular mechanisms of biocontrol activity of environmental Pseudomonas species. Following a brief postdoc investigating bacterial-nematode interactions, I joined the Public Health Agency of Canada and shifted gears to Enteric bacteriology and the application of genomics to inform the subtyping, phylogenomics and biology of foodborne pathogens. I am currently a biologist in the Surveillance, Outbreak Detection and Response section of the Enterics Diseases Division at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, MB.
Role in Syst-OMICS
Involved in Activity 4, my main role has been to support WGS analysis of priority Salmonella serovars working closely with Sadjia Bekal and her LSPQ colleagues. The priority aim of Activity 4 is to develop and apply WGS-methods to strain typing and outbreak investigations for subsequent harmonization within the PulseNet Canada infrastructure.