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Post Doctoral Fellow

Brent Weber, Ph.D.

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Brent Weber, Ph.D. 

Position: Post Doctoral Fellow

About: Brent obtained his PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Alberta in 2016 where he investigated bacterial secretion systems. Brent joined the Brown Lab as a post-doctoral fellow in November 2016, and is currently investigating new ways to treat antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. He was awarded a Michael G. DeGroote Fellowship and a CIHR Post-doctoral Fellowship. Outside of the lab, Brent enjoys playing soccer and hockey. 

 

 
 

Publications:

Featured
Polynuclear ruthenium complexes are effective antibiotics against Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Authors: Weber BS, Carfrae LA, Woods JJ, Klobucar K, Bigham NP., MacNair CR, Raivio TL, Wilson JJ, Brown ED.

Reference: bioRxiv 2022 August 14; doi: 10.1101/2022.08.11.503708

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Genetic and Chemical Screening in Human Blood Serum Reveals Unique Antibacterial Targets and Compounds against Klebsiella pneumoniae

Authors: Weber BS, De Jong AM, Guo ABY, Dharavath S, French S, Fiebig-Comyn AA, Coombes BK, Magnolan J, Brown ED.

Reference: Cell Rep. 2020 July 21; doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107927

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Mimicking the human environment in mice reveals that inhibiting biotin biosynthesis is effective against antibiotic-resistant pathogens

Authors: Carfrae LA, MacNair CR, Brown CM, Tsai CN, Weber BS, Zlitni S, Rao VN, Chun J, Junop MS, Coombes BK, Brown ED.

Reference: Nat. Microbiol. 2019 Oct 28; doi: 10.1038/s41564-019-0595-2

Olesia North, Ph.D.

Olesia North, Ph.D.

Position: Post Doctoral Fellow

About: Ukrainian made, Canadian trained. Olesia obtained her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Toronto where she studied the determinants of phage specificity and the mechanism of phage tail fibre assembly. Ever since the beginning of her PhD she has been infected with phage enthusiasm, which has multiplied, exploded and is infecting everyone around her. Now with the help of the Brown lab (which is slowly getting infected with phage enthusiasm) she plans on expanding our knowledge of phage/bacteria interactions, or just learning something useful along the way. When not spreading phage passion, she enjoys a million things (hiking, painting, knitting, sewing, attempting to beat her husband at basketball, and trying new things even though she may be terrified by them). One day she will learn to play flag football.

 
 
Featured
Phage-antibiotic combinations: a promising approach to constrain resistance evolution in bacteria

Authors: North OI and Brown ED

Reference: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2020 Nov 11; doi: 10.1111/nyas.14533

Timsy Bhando, Ph.D.

Timsy Bhando, Ph.D.

Position: Post Doctoral Fellow

About: Timsy received her PhD in Biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology in Roorkee, India where she worked on discovering novel small molecules against Gram-negative bacteria and understanding their mechanisms of action. Timsy is deeply passionate about natural products and the concept of using food as medicine. At the Brown lab, Timsy is advancing her interest in natural products research and is working on isolating fungal metabolites and exploring their therapeutic potential. She was awarded the Michael G. DeGroote Post-Doctoral Fellowship for Medicinal Cannabis Research (MGD CMCR) and the CIHR Post-Doctoral Fellowship. In her free time, Timsy has a deep appreciation for food and the joy that it brings to those around. She enjoys trying new cuisines when dining out with friends and finds great delight in cooking traditional Indian dishes for them. She also loves to explore and connect with nature, whether it's through hiking, or simply taking a walk in the park.

 
 

Publications:

Featured
CARD 2023: expanded curation, support for machine learning, and resistome prediction at the Comprehensive Antibiotic Resistance Database

Authors: Alcock BP, Huynh W … Bhando B, Carfrae LA, Farha MA, French S, Gordzevich R, Rachwalski K, Tu MM … Brown ED … McArthur AG.

Reference: Nucleic Acids Res. 2023 January 6; doi: 10.1093/nar/gkac920

Genetic and Chemical Screening Reveals Targets and Compounds to Potentiate Gram-Positive Antibiotics against Gram-Negative Bacteria

Authors: Klobucar K, Jardine E, Farha MA, MacKinnon MR, Fragis M, Nkonge B, Bhando T, Borrillo L, Tsai CN, Johnson JW, Coombes BK, Magolan J, Brown ED.

Reference: ACS Infect. Dis. 2022 September 13; doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.2c00357

Antibacterial Activity of Metergoline Analogues: Revisiting the Ergot Alkaloid Scaffold for Antibiotic Discovery

Authors: Johnson JW, Ellis MJ, Piquette ZA, MacNair C, Carfrae L, Bhando T, Ritchie NE, Saliba P, Brown ED, Magolan J.

Reference: ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 2022 January 21; doi: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.1c00648

Julia Deisinger, Ph.D.

Julia Deisinger, Ph.D.

Position: Post Doctoral Fellow

About: Julia hails from across the pond in Germany, and obtained her M.Sc. and Ph.D. training at the University of Bonn. Her graduate work characterized and coordinated cell wall and capsule biosynthesis in Staphylococcus aureus, while also elucidating MOAs of novel natural product antibiotics. For her postdoc in the Brown lab she ventured into new territories: she is currently investigating the therapeutic potential of fungal natural products using high-content microscopy with human cells, and she has jumped in at the deep end of data science, using advanced image analysis and computational techniques (including machine learning and deep learning) to further her research. When not hunched in front of a microscope in the lab, Julia can be found collecting various gnomes and trolls, adding to her "Wertvolle Sammlung". Julia's collection was voted "most enthusiastic" in the 2022 Hamilton Troll Collector's Show which had more than 6 people in attendance. When not hunting for collectables, Julia can be found riding her bike, listening to vinyls, preferably post-doom metal, and cooking up a storm.

 
 

Publications:

Featured
Dual targeting of the class V lanthipeptide antibiotic cacaoidin

Authors: Deisinger JP, Arts M, Kotsogianni I, …, Schneider T

Reference: iScience. 2023 April 21; doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106394

Host Defense Peptides: Dual Antimicrobial and Immunomodulatory Action

Authors: Drayton M, Deisinger JP, Ludwig KC, Raheem N, Müller A, Schneider T, Straus SK

Reference: International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2021 October 16; doi: 10.3390/ijms222011172

Cacaoidin, First Member of the New Lanthidin RiPP Family

Authors: Ortiz‐López FJ, Carretero‐Molina D, ..., Deisinger JP, Schneider T, Genilloud, O

Reference: Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 2020 May 14; doi: 10.1002/anie.202005187

ATP-Dependent Persister Formation in Escherichia coli

Authors: Shan Y, Brown Gandt A, Rowe SE, Deisinger JP, Conlon BP, Lewis K

Reference: MBio. 2017 February 7; doi: 10.1128/mBio.02267-16

Coordination of capsule assembly and cell wall biosynthesis in Staphylococcus aureus

Authors: Rausch M, Deisinger JP, …, Schneider T

Reference: Nature Communications. 2019 March 29; doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-09356-x