See list of memberships by research theme
Karine AuclairDept of Chemistry (Faculty of Science)
Expertise: Synthetic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, enzymology, biochemistry
Interests: Mechanisms and inhibitors of resistance, new antimicrobials and alternatives such as bacterio-modulators
Themes: Therapeutics
Nicole BastaDept of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Epidemiology, vaccinology, clinical research, population-based research, disease transmission
Interests: Infectious disease prevention and control; Evaluating the impact of vaccines
Themes: Surveillance and Prevention
Stephane BayenDept of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry (Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences)
Expertise: Analytical chemistry, modeling, ecological & human health risk assessments
Interests: Antibiotic contamination in food chain and natural environment
Themes: Diagnostics & Surveillance and Prevention
Marcel BehrDept of Medicine (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Infectious disease, microbiology (mycobacteria), molecular epidemiology, genomics, infection pathogenesis, BSL3 lab
Interests: Anti-mycobacterial drug discovery, diagnostics
Themes: Diagnostics & Therapeutics
Albert BerghuisDept of Biochemistry (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Structural biology, computational biology, enzymology
Interests: Mechanisms of antibiotic resistance, drug design, development of next-generation antibiotics
Themes: Therapeutics
Ivan BruknerDept of Clinical Microbiology (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Clinical microbiology, molecular diagnostics, assay development and validation
Interests: Nucleic acid based molecular diagnostics for infectious diseases, antibiotic susceptibility tests
Themes: Diagnostics
Sarah BuddenborgDept of Parasitology (Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences)
Expertise: Helminths, Genomics, Single cell transcriptomics, Molecular biology, Bioinformatics
Interests: Genome-guided drug discovery, Drug repurposing, Molecular mechanisms of resistance, One Health
Themes: Therapeutics
Bastien CastagnerDept of Pharmacology & Therapeutics (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Drug Discovery, chemical biology, carbohydrate chemistry, microbiome therapeutics
Interests: Therapeutics for C. difficile, prebiotics and gut microbiome manipulation for infection prevention
Themes: Therapeutics
Jasmin ChahalDept of Microbiology and Immunology (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Undergraduate science education (including Tiny Earth), RNA biology and virology
Interests: Discovery of novel antibiotic producing soil bacteria through the Tiny Earth initiative
Themes: Therapeutics
Matthew ChengDept of Medicine (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Infectious diseases, medical microbiology, clinical trials, infectious disease diagnostics
Interests: Antimicrobial therapeutics clinical trials
Themes: Therapeutics
Ana CopaescuDivision of Allergy and Immunology (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Drug and antibiotic allergy, immunology
Interests: Drug allergy immune-mediated hypersensitivity reactions with an interest for antimicrobial stewardship
Themes: Surveillance
Benoit CousineauDept of Microbiology and Immunology (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Molecular-biology and genetics of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria
Interests: Production of AMP by probiotics and activity against various human pathogens
Themes: Therapeutics
Sebastien FaucherDept of Natural Resources Sciences (Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences)
Expertise: Bacterial genetics, host-pathogen interactions in Salmonella Typhi, Legionella pneumophila
Interests: Bacterial Pathogens in non-clinical environments, novel antimicrobials
Themes: Surveillance and Prevention
Patricia FontelaDept of Pediatric (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Critical care medicine, epidemiology, outcomes research, infection control and surveillance
Interests: Hospital acquired AMR infection, antibiotic overuse, stewardship, surveillance in hospital setting
Themes: Diagnostics & Surveillance and Prevention
Dominic FrigonDept of Civil Engineering (Faculty of Engineering)
Expertise: Environmental microbiology, microbiome
Interests: Surveillance, diagnostics, modeling of environmental AMR microbiomes, wastewater
Themes: Diagnostics & Surveillance and Prevention
Richard GoldDept of Law (Faculty of Law)
Expertise: Intellectual property, market failure
Interests: Open science innovation, drug discovery
Themes: Diagnostics, Surveillance and Prevention, Therapeutics
Andrew GonzalezDept of Biology (Faculty of Science)
Expertise: Ecology, experimental evolution, biodiversity
Interests: AMR evolution, experimental evolution under selection with antibiotics in ecologically complex environments
Themes: Surveillance and Prevention
Shuaiqi GuoDept of Anatomy and Cell Biology (School of Biomedical Sciences)
Expertise: Structural biology, cryo- electron tomography and subtomogram averaging, molecular modelling
Interests: Molecular mechanism of bacterial adhesion, secretion systems and pathogenesis including Vibrio cholerae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Themes: Therapeutics, Surveillance and Prevention
Adam HartDept of Surgery (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Orthopedic surgery, prosthetic joint infections, animal infection models
Interests: Novel approaches and biomaterials for the prevention of post-operative infections
Themes: Therapeutics
Terry E. HebertDept of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: G-protein coupled receptors and signaling, pharmacology, drug discovery
Interests: Cell signaling mechanisms, drug discovery, AMR, science education
Themes: Therapeutics
Ashraf A. Ismail
Dept of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry (Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences)
Expertise: FTIR spectroscopy, microbial diagnostics, protein structure function
Interests: Food microbiology and safety
Themes: Surveillance and Prevention
David JunckerDept of Biomedical Engineering (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Micro and nano bioengineering technologies, Lab-on-a-chip and Microfluidics
Interests: Microfluidics, multiplexed diagnostic technologies
Themes: Diagnostics, Surveillance and Prevention, Therapeutics
Rees KassenDept of Biology (Faculty of Sciences)
Expertise: Evolutionary ecology, genetics of microbes, experimental evolution, Pseudomonas microbiology
Interests: Evolution and spread of resistance, evolutionary repeatability of resistance targets, microbial diversification
Themes: Surveillance and Prevention
Arnold KristofDept of Experimental Medicine (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Host Immunity
Interests: Nutrition and Metabolism, Pneumonia, Nosocomial Infections
Themes: Diagnostics and Therapeutics
David LanglaisDept of Human Genetics (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Functional and single-cell genomics, bioinformatics, genome editing, molecular biology, immunology, inflammation, and infectious diseases
Interests: Mechanisms of host defenses against infections, novel therapeutic targets to treat inflammatory diseases and to circumvent antimicrobial resistance
Themes: Therapeutics
Alexander LawandiDept of Medicine (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Applications of discovery and targeted proteomics to bacteria pathogens
Interests: Resistance and virulence factors of lethal bacterial pathogens and role of post-translational modifications in the regulation of antimicrobial tolerance and resistance
Themes: Therapeutics & Diagnostics
Thavy LongDept of Parasitology (Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences)
Expertise: Helminth, omics, molecular biology, biochemistry
Interests: Anthelminthic resistance, mechanism of macrocyclic lactones, new anthelminthics, One health
Themes: Diagnostics, Surveillance and Prevention, Therapeutics
Yves LongtinDept of Medicine (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Clinical research, infection prevention and control and transmission dynamics in the healthcare setting.
Interests: Research interest in infection prevention and control and AMR.
Themes: Surveillance and Prevention
Vivian LooDept of Medicine (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Infectious diseases, infection control, epidemiology, C. diff infection
Interests: Infection transmission and control
Themes: Surveillance and Prevention
Xiaonan LuDept of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry (Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences)
Expertise: Microbiology, Campylobacter, microbial ecology and physiology, food synthetic biology, biosensor and biophotonic technologies
Interests: Food microbiology and safety, innovative technologies for food safety and AMR, AMR evolution, pathogenesis of agri-food and public health pathogens
Themes: Diagnostics, Surveillance and Prevention
Andréanne LupienDepartment of Medicine and Department of Microbiology and Immunology (Faculty of Medicine and Health Science)
Expertise: Bacteriology in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and drug development
Interests: Anti-mycobacterial resistance and drug discovery
Themes: Therapeutics
Sara MahshidDept of Bioengineering (Faculty of Engineering)
Expertise: Nanotechnology, biosensors, Lab-on-chip
Interests: Nano-surface fluidic device for phenotypic profiling of antibiotic susceptibility, Point-of-care diagnostic technologies
Themes: Diagnostics
Corinne MauriceDept of Microbiology and Immunology (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Microbiome
Interests: bacteriophages, gut microbiota, microbial interactions
Themes: Therapeutics, Surveillance and Prevention
Maureen McKeague
Dept of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Chemistry(Faculty of Science)
Expertise: Nucleic acid-based biosensors and therapeutics
Interests: Bacterial riboswitches and inhibitors
Themes: Therapeutics
Joanna MerckxDept of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Diagnostic methods for surveillance, infectious disease and social epidemiology
Interests: Infectious diseases and AMR epidemiology, public and global health
Themes: Diagnostics, Surveillance and Prevention
Nicolas MoitessierDept of Chemistry (Faculty of Science)
Expertise: Computational and medicinal chemistry, in silico drug screening and prediction (drug binding and catalyst design)
Interests: Antimicrobial drug discovery
Themes: Therapeutics
Dao NguyenDept of Medicine (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Bacterial genetics, Gram negative, biofilms, Pseudomonas microbiology, pathogenesis and animal infection models, respiratory medicine, translational research
Interests: Antibacterial mode-of-action, mechanism of resistance, novel antibacterial, adjuvants and biomaterials
Themes: Diagnostics & Therapeutics
Jim A. NicellDept of Civil Engineering (Faculty of Engineering)
Expertise: Water and wastewater treatment, water quality, green chemistry and engineering, fate and biodegradation of xenobiotic chemicals, enzyme catalysis
Interests: Replacement of plastics and related materials by renewable and non-toxic alternatives, geographical information systems modelling of the fate and impact of compounds of emerging concern at the global scale (e.g., antibiotics)
Themes: Surveillance and Prevention
Belinda NicolauFaculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences
Expertise: Oral Epidemiology, Life Course Approach to Oral Health
Interests: Population Oral Health, aetiology of chronic oral diseases, antimicrobial stewardship in dental education
Themes: Diagnostics & Therapeutics
Joaquin OrtegaDept of Anatomy and Cell Biology (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Structural biology, cryo-electron microscopy
Interests: Antibiotic targets and drug discovery, bacterial ribosome biogenesis
Themes: Therapeutics
Madhukar PaiDept of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Epidemiology, TB, global health, diagnostics, implementation
Interests: Drug resistant TB, antibiotic use in India
Themes: Surveillance and Prevention
Jesse PapenburgDept of Pediatric (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Epidemiology, diagnostics, infectious diseases, respiratory viruses
Interests: Infectious disease diagnostics, biomarkers and microbiome
Themes: Diagnostics & Surveillance and Prevention
Michael ReedDept of Medicine (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Bacteriology, molecular microbiology, mycobacterial genetics, BSL3 pathogen research
Interests: Mechanisms of resistance, MDR (M. tuberculosis)
Themes: Surveillance and Prevention & Therapeutics
Rodrigo ReyesDept of Biology (Faculty of Science)
Expertise: Fluorescence microscopy, Genome integrity, Cell biology of bacteria
Interests: Mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in a cellular context, antibiotic targets in DNA duplication enzymes
Themes: Therapeutics
Jennifer RonholmDept of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry/Animal Science (Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences)
Expertise: One Health, food and environmental microbiology, microbiome, microbial genomics
Interests: Animal microbiome , AMR transmission, One Health, antibiotic use in agriculture, food safety
Themes: Surveillance and Prevention & Therapeutics
Derek RosenzweigDept of Surgery (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Biomaterial and bioprinting, tissue engineering, drug delivery, orthopedic implants
Interests: Antibacterial biomaterials
Themes: Therapeutics
Martin SchmeingDept of Biochemistry (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Structural biology and in vitro biochemistry of AMR-relevant enzymes
Interests: Non-ribosomal peptide synthesis of antimicrobials, AMR-relevant enzymes
Themes: Therapeutics
Makeda SemretDept of Medicine (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Infectious diseases, clinical microbiology, antimicrobial stewardship, global health
Interests: Local and global antimicrobial stewardship, antibiotic use and microbiome, education
Themes: Diagnostics & Surveillance and Therapeutics
Jesse ShapiroDept of Microbiology & Immunology (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Evolutionary biology and genomics, computational and systems biology, pathogen evolution and interactions with microbiome
Interests: Evolution of AMR
Themes: Surveillance and Prevention
Donald SheppardDept of Microbiology and Immunology (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Mycology, fungal pathogenesis, biofilms, anti-fungal therapeutics and diagnostics
Interests: Novel anti-biofilm therapy, fungal diagnostics
Themes: Diagnostics and Therapeutics
Ajitha ThanabalasuriarDept of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Host-pathogen interactions, intra-vital microscopy, innate immunity, biofilms
Interests: Novel therapeutics
Themes: Therapeutics
Chris ThibodeauxDept of Chemisty (Faculty of Science)
Expertise: Structural and chemical biology, enzymology, mass spectrometry
Interests: Antimicrobial natural products, biofilms, drug discovery
Themes: Therapeutics
Paul J. ThomassinDept of Agricultural Economics (Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences)
Expertise: Agricultural and environmental economics, macroeconomics of food and agriculture policies, food safety
Interests: Economic burden of AMR, in the context of agriculture and food
Themes: Surveillance and Prevention & Therapeutics
Nathalie TufenkjiDept of Chemical Engineering (Faculty of Engineering)
Expertise: Water resource, particle-surface interactions, natural products, nanotechnology
Interests: Antimicrobial natural products and materials, antibiotic potentiators, biofilms
Themes: Therapeutics
Jerome WaldispuhlSchool of Computer Science (Faculty of Science)
Expertise: Machine learning/ AI, structural bioinformatics
Interests: Bacterial RNA structure and binding prediction, citizen science, computational drug discovery
Themes: Therapeutics
Karl WeissDept of Medicine (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Infectious diseases, clinical microbiology, infection control, clinical trials, epidemiology
Interests: Therapeutic clinical trials, infection control, AMR and stewardship in hospital settings
Themes: Surveillance and Prevention
Cedric YansouniDept of Medicine (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Infectious and tropical diseases, global health, clinical microbiology, diagnostics
Interests: Clinical diagnostics, vulnerable and indigenous populations, global health, AMR diagnostics at Summer institute
Themes: Diagnostics & Surveillance and Prevention
Stephen YueDept Mining and Materials Engineering (Faculty of Engineering)
Expertise: Metallurgical and materials characterization, alloy and metallic materials design and processing
Interests: Anti-microbial coatings
Themes: Surveillance and Prevention
Natalie ZeytuniDept of Anatomy and Cell Biology (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Structural biology using techniques cryo-electron microscopy, cryo-electron tomography,
X-ray crystallography,
molecular modelling, molecular biology and P. gingivalis microbiologyInterests: Oral pathogens, therapeutic strategies of resistance in P. gingivalis, bacterial secretion systems, biofilms, drug target characterization and discovery
Themes: Surveillance and Prevention
Xin ZhaoDept of Animal Science (Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences)
Expertise: Environmental and animal health, microbiome, microbiology, host-microbe interactions
Interests: AMR transmission, antibiotic use and stewardship in farm animals. Microbiome, Staph aureus in milk and poultry
Themes: Diagnostics & Surveillance and Prevention & Therapeutics
Affiliate members (non-McGill)
Brandon FindlayDept of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Faculty of Science)
Expertise: Clinical Microbiology, Natural Product Chemistry, Laboratory Evolution, Biophysics and Molecular Biology
Interests: Factors that determine the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in the clinic and the natural environment, and in chemical ecology.
Themes: Therapeutics
Louis-Patrick HaraouiDept of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Expertise: Medical microbiology, infectious diseases, AMR genomics, anthropology
Interests: One Health, microbiome, evolution of AMR, multi-drug resistant bacteria including Acinetobacter baumannii
Themes: Diagnostics, Surveillance and Prevention
Rachael (Reiy) MansbachDept of Physics (Faculty of Arts and Science)
Expertise: Computational modeling, machine learning, molecular dynamics simulations, deep learning, active learning, coarse-grained molecular dynamics, multi-scale modelling
Interests: Antimicrobial peptide design, RNA-targeting drugs
Themes: Therapeutics
In Memoriam
Charles Frenette (1960-2025)
Dept of Medicine
In memory of AMR Centre member Dr Charles Frenette MD, a clinician, educator, administrator, and leader for nearly two decades at the MUHC.
"We are all indebted to him for his leadership during COVID-19, but many remember him for his ongoing efforts before and after COVID-19 to make the hospital a better place to heal and a better place to work."
~Dr Marcel Behr
Lyle G. Whyte (1960-2026)
Dept of Natural Resource Sciences
As a Canada Research Chair, he devoted his career to studying microorganisms in the Canadian High Arctic including bioprospecting of polar bacteria for novel antimicrobials. His research advanced our understanding of astrobiology and life in extreme environments, earning him several honors from the Canadian Society of Microbiologists. His international reputation led to appointments on advisory committees for the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, and the United Nations.
