Post Doctoral Fellows and Research Associates
Dr. Hindra
Hindra completed his B.Sc. in Food Technology at the University of Pelita Harapan (Indonesia), before coming to Canada, where he completed his MSc in Applied Microbiology and Food Science at the University of Saskatchewan, and his in Molecular Microbiology at McMaster University. Hindra than undertook post-doctoral studies at The Scripps Research Institute (Florida), in the lab of Prof. Ben Shen, where he added a strong foundation in 'chemical biology' to his extensive skill repertoire! Hindra returned to McMaster in 2017, and he is working to combine his chemical biology expertise with his microbial genetic skills, to identify new natural products. Hindra epitomizes 'cool, calm and collected' in the lab, and is proving to be a strong mentor. Outside of the lab, Hindra is known for his love of soup, his impressive volleyball capabilities, his amazing daughters, and his unusual birthday traditions (where HE makes his family an exotic dinner!).
Dr. Evan Shepherdson
Evan completed his BSc in Biochemistry at the University of Waterloo (following in the footsteps of Dave, Henry and Matt M., who were all also Waterloo graduates), before moving to McMaster for his PhD in our lab, where his work was supported by an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), alongside highly prestigious NSERC CGS-M and CGS-D scholarships. Evan's work has been - and continues - to forge new directions in understanding the environmental, genetic and metabolic aspects underlying Streptomyces exploratory growth. Evan has proven to be a pun-maker extraordinare, and together with Meghan, launched the lab trivia team into prize winning territory for the first time in ages. Like many others in the lab, he has his food quirks, which include a worrying taste in cereals (who doesn't like Shreddies?!?!) but impeccable taste in chocolate (Coffee Crisp is indeed the best Halloween treat). Evan is also a sports enthusiast, cheering for the Panthers (NFL, not NHL), playing softball (where, despite his competitive spirit, fun is the priority), and organizing volleyball teams (and then excelling while playing on them!).Graduate Students
Christine Baglio (MSc candidate)
Christine joined us in January 2021 for her first co-op term within the Molecular Biology and Genetics co-op program. After 8 months, she transitioned into doing her 4th year thesis with us, and was having such an amazing time (and doing such terrific work), that she then opted to do her final co-op term with us as well! After taking 6 months off to explore Europe, she has returned to us! - starting her MSc in September 2023, supported by an Ontario Graduate Scholarship. Christine's work is aimed at better understanding the factors that influence exploratory growth by Streptomyces bacteria. As this would all suggest, Christine settled into the lab quickly, and has proven to be more than capable of handling Matt's sarcasm with witty retorts, and has been a natural when it comes to playing 'spikeball'. She too carries on the lab tradition of having strange food quirks - apparently 'salads' are not her thing?! To be fair, 'salads' can mean different things to different people (iceberg lettuce and tomatoes aren't very exciting), but we're hoping to bring her around by exposing her to the more exotic side of the salad realm...
Brandon McMurray (MSc candidate)
Brandon had the joy of interviewing for the lab during peak COVID times (yay for Zoom??), and we had the pleasure of meeting him in person when he joined our group in September 2022. Like Evan (and many others before him), Brandon completed his BSc at the University of Waterloo (Biology co-op program), and in between graduation and joining us, he worked for a year at U of T, focussing on both computational and lab-based analyses of regulatory RNAs in eukaryotic systems. He has been putting his computational skills to work with us, mining all of our RNA sequencing data for small RNAs, and probing the function of interesting candidates. During his time in the lab, Brandon has transformed lab meeting 'paper presentations' (or rather, has us all on pins and needles, waiting to see how he will kick them off...although I'm not sure that his approach to introducing papers will be taking off more broadly...), has worked to challenge Marie with her birthday cake-baking repertoire (orange cake anyone?!), and has won the award for most unexpected sports injury (thumbs and soccer are not the first combination that come to mind...).
Meghan Pepler (PhD candidate)
Meghan started her graduate studies in the lab in September 2020, after having completed her Molecular Biology and Genetics co-op program at McMaster. But her association with the lab started several years earlier, having also completed her 4th year thesis and final co-op term with us! Her graduate work has been supported by an Ontario Graduate Scholarship, and both NSERC Masters (CGS-M) and Doctoral (CGS-D) scholarships! Her work in the lab has spanned many areas, including examining the microbiome of fish eggs and probing the anti-microbial properties of 'gland extracts' from the father fish (not as disgusting as it sounds...depending on who you talk to...), in collaboration with Sigal Balshine's group in PNB. Her graduate work has focussed more on RNA-based regulation in Streptomyces bacteria, looking at the role of ribonucleases and their effect on both specialised metabolism and development. Meghan is a hot yoga aficionado (which Marie appreciates but doesn't understand), and a gifted slackliner, squash player (having been on McMaster's squash team for years!), and climber. She is also an enthusiastic chef, and a keeper of both bees and quail. To top it all off, Meghan has recently unleashed her creative talents on the lab, to GREAT effect - she has been the driver (and designer!) of our first ever 'lab swag' - spectacular hoodies with an 'Elliot lab' logo on them!
Lauren Tiller (PhD candidate)
Lauren joined the Elliot lab in September 2022, having been smitten by the amazingness of Streptomyces bacteria after having spent her 4th year thesis and MSc degree probing the biology of another very cool soil microbe, Sinorhizobium meliloti in the Finan lab at McMaster. Lauren finished her MSc just before the pandemic, and in what turned out to be impeccable timing, opted to expand her communication and teaching skill repertoire as an Instructional Assistant within the Biology department, before starting her PhD work with us once the world had opened up again. Lauren's work focuses on understanding the control of specialized metabolite production in Streptomyces, where she is employing global strategies to investigate the regulation of antibiotic biosynthetic gene clusters. Beyond the lab, Lauren is an accomplished figure skater who has recently opted to dip her toe back into the competitive world of skating. The food-quirk situation that seems pervasive in the lab has not bypassed Lauren, although we're discovering that some dislikes are conditional - despite not normally enjoying Nanaimo bars (a quintessentially Canadian dessert!), she was willing to brave a birthday celebration-iteration, and found that they were reasonably enjoyable!
Matt Zambri (PhD candidate)
Matt started his M.Sc. with us in September 2017, before transferring to the Ph.D. program in May 2019 (and acing his comprehensive exam in 2020!). He is making impressive progress on understanding the structural and environmental factors that contribute to Streptomyces exploration, and in recognition of his research excellence to date, Matt has been awarded multiple Ontario Graduate Scholarships! Matt graduated with his BSc from the University of Ottawa, where he gained extensive molecular biology experience courtesy of his co-op placements in microbiology labs associated with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Matt carries on a long-standing lab tradition of being an opponent of cherry tomatoes (not sure what the problem is - these are tasty little things!), as well as a staunch supporter of both the Blue Jays (Matt also plays high-level baseball), and the Maple Leafs (who periodically flirt with being a team worth supporting!?). In addition to his athletic and academic skills, Matt is an impressive bowler (to the point that kids in the next lane cheer every time he comes up!), and has proven to be a serious culinary innovator, creating saga-worthy dishes for multiple lab potluck dinners (he may well never buy an eggplant again...).Undergraduate Students
Myia Blanchet (MBG)
Having signed up to do her 4th year thesis with us, Myia got a head start with familiarizing herself with the lab and her project, by starting her work with us over the summer of 2023. Myia's project is focussed on understanding the regulatory and nutritional cues that promote antibiotic production (and the activation of other 'specialized' metabolites) in wild Streptomyces species. Unlike Marie, Myia is an accomplished swimmer, having taught swimming for many years, and more recently represented McMaster on their lifeguarding team (which is a very cool team that I had no idea existed before meeting Myia!). We have further had the honour of expanding her dessert experiences to include rhubarb cake (which is well worth a try for anyone who hasn't experienced it!), although her birthday request was along the slightly more conventional 'chocolate' variety...