People

Alex N. Nguyen Ba
Assistant Professor of Cell and Systems Biology
University of Toronto
(905)-828-3729

About me alex.nguyenba[at]utoronto.ca

We are currently looking for new postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates to join our team! Please visit our opportunities page for more details.

Prospective students are encouraged to reach out to past trainees/mentees for advice.

Graduate students

Anita Nikolsky
Anita is interested in understanding how different vaccine dosage regimens fundamentally alters the evolutionary process behind the adaptive immune response and will be applying our lineage tracking strategies to B-cells. Anita is funded by a CIHR CGS-M.

anita.nikolsky[at]mail.utoronto.ca

Kortni Kindree
Kortni is interested in deciphering which genetic mutations cause rare diseases in human. She uses deep-mutational scanning to characterize these variants. Kortni is funded by a CIHR CGS-M.

kortni.kindree[at]mail.utoronto.ca

Arnaud N’Guessan
Arnaud graduated with a BSc in Bioinformatics from Laval University in Québec City. During his undergrad years, his internships nurtured a passion for microbial evolution and computational biology. After joining the Shapiro and Serohijos lab at University of Montreal for his Master’s, Arnaud determined which evolutionary forces are the most important for pangenomes evolution on short timescales within the human gut. Arnaud was also involved in many scientific collaborations to help improve the understanding of SARS-CoV-2 evolution and the response of public heath agencies, e.g. through Wastewater surveillance and other tools for tracking the spread of variants of concern. His interest for innovative multidisciplinary approaches and microbial evolution led him to pursue a PhD where he will be analyzing single-cell RNA sequencing data for understanding how genotypes affect phenotypes via transcription at fine levels of resolution. Arnaud is funded by an NSERC CGS-D.

arnaud.nguessan[at]mail.utoronto.ca

Keerath Bhachu
Keerath is interested in pharmacogenomics and the intersection of genetics and drug treatments. Keerath is funded by a CIHR CGS-M.

keerath.bhachu[at]mail.utoronto.ca

Undergraduate students

Amelia Caron
a.caron[at]mail.utoronto.ca
BIO481 student

Molly McDonald
molly.mcdonald[at]mail.utoronto.ca
ROP student

Zaynab Mamai
zaynab.mamai[at]mail.utoronto.ca
ROP student

Mumtaz Hajjo Alrifai
mumtaz.hajjo.alrifai[at]mail.utoronto.ca
UTEA Awardee

Mentees/Collaborators

During my postdoctoral research in Michael Desai’s lab, I was directly involved in the mentorship of several graduate students and remain close to them. I consider these scientists more as collaborators and still work with them as they advance in their careers.

Tanush Jagdish
tanush.jagdish[at]gmail.com

Katherine Lawrence
krlawrence26[at]gmail.com

Artur Rego-Costa
arturregocosta[at]gmail.com

Chris Bakerlee
bakerchrisw[at]gmail.com

Jose I. Rojas Echenique
jose.i.rojas[at]gmail.com

Ivana Cvijovic
cvijovic[at]stanford.edu

Lab Alumni

Khue Tran
khue.tran[at]mail.utoronto.ca
ROP student

Evelina Tronina
evelina.tronina[at]mail.utoronto.ca
UTEA Awardee
Now at UChicago

Josie Fratarcangeli
josie.fratarcangeli[at]mail.utoronto.ca
ROP student (2024)

Gauri Menon
gaurisans.menon[at]mail.utoronto.ca
ROP Student (2023)

Seema Mahmalji
seema.mahmalji[at]mail.utoronto.ca
ROP Student (2023)

Claire Chochinov
claire.chochinov[at]mail.utoronto.ca
MSc student (2023)
Now at SysAid

Samantha Bestavros
samantha.bestavros[at]mail.utoronto.ca
BIO481 student (2023)
Med School at UofT

Joseph Yu
yujoseph.yu[at]mail.utoronto.ca
ROP student (2023)

Sabina Parmegiani
sabina.parmegiani[at]mail.utoronto.ca
ROP student (2023)

Sophia Alonzi
sophia.alonzi[at]mail.utoronto.ca
ROP student (2022)
Now UTEA awardee in Ogata lab

Zainab Farrukh
zainab.farrukh[at]mail.utoronto.ca
ROP student (2022)

Vivian Wang
vivianc.wang[at]mail.utoronto.ca
BCB330 student (2022)

Mustafa Khekani
mustafa.khekani[at]mail.utoronto.ca
BIO481 (2021)
Now at UofT Dentistry

Rutvik Patel
rutvik.patel[at]mail.utoronto.ca
ROP student (2021)
Now at NYU Dentistry

Nicolas Rea
nicolas.rea[at]mail.utoronto.ca
ROP student (2021)
Med school at St. George

Yunyi Cheng
yunyi.cheng[at]mail.utoronto.ca
BCB330 student (2021)
Now at Harvard

Wen Tong
wen.tong[at]mail.utoronto.ca
BIO481 student (2020)
Now at Yale