Education

• BMSc. in Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences, University of Western Ontario, 2017
• Ph.D in Biochemistry, University of Western Ontario, 2025 (Expected)

Awards

• Scholarship - NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship (PGS-D) (2021): $63,000 (CND) - ACCEPTED
• Scholarship - Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2021): $15,000 (CND) - DECLINED
• Scholarship - Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2020): $15,000 (CND) - ACCEPTED
• Award - NSF RCN Travel Award, Build-A-Cell Workshop #6 (2019): $400 (US)
• Award - NSF RCN Travel Award: SynCell2020 (2019): $750 (US)
• Award - 1st Place at SynBio Hacks Case Competition (2018): N/A
• Award - Harold B. Stewart Memorial Lecture and Research Showcase: 2nd Place Poster (2018): $20 (CND)
• Award - Symposium on Synthetic Biology 2.0: Poster Prize Winner Second Place (2017): $150 (CND)
• Scholarship - The Western Scholarship Of Excellence (2013): $2000 (CND)

Event Participation

• Phycological Society of America (PSA) 2021 Virtual Meeting (Conference/Workshop) - Speaker and Poster Presenter (2021/7)
• Molecular Life of Diatoms 6 (MLB6) (Conference) - Poster Presenter (2021/7)
• International Conference on Engineering Synthetic Cells and Organelles (Conference/Workshop) - Attendee (2021/5)
• London Health Research Day (Conference) - Poster Presenter (2020/5)
• Build-A-Cell Workshop #6 (Conference) - Poster Presenter (2020/1)
• Harold B. Stewart Memorial Lecture and Research Showcase (Conference) - Attendee (2020/1)
• Synthetic Biology Symposium 4.0 (Conference) - Speaker (2019/5)
• Canada SynBio 2019 (Conference) - Attendee (2019/03)
• London Health Research Day (Conference) - Poster Presenter (2019/4)
• Build-A-Cell #4 (Workshop) - Attendee, (2019/02)
• Canadian Algal Workshop (Workshop) - Poster Presenter (2019/2)
• Build-A-Cell #3 (Workshop) - Attendee (2018/8)
• Synthetic Biology Symposium 3.0: Inventing the Future (Conference) - Poster Presenter (2018/7)
• London Health Research Day (Conference) - Poster Presenter (2018/5)
• Harold B. Stewart Memorial Lecture and Research Showcase (Conference) - Poster Presenter (2018/1)
• Symposium on Synthetic Biology 2.0 (Conference) - Poster Presenter (2017/7)

Volunteering

• Rotary Internation RotarACT Club of London (2020-)
• Forest City Synthetic Biology (2019-)
• Strong Bone Stong Minds Strong Muscles (2017-)
• Be-Al-U-Can-B (2017-)
• Raising Hope (2017-)

Committee experience

• Mentor/RotarACT Club Sponsor: - Rotary Internation InterACT Club of London (2020-)
• Chair: Community Events - Rotary Internation RotarACT Club of London (2020-)
• Steering Committee Member - Forest City Synthetic Biology (2019-20)
• Chair: Communitcations and Outreach - Biochemistry Graduate Student Associations (BGSA) (2019-)
• Committee Member - Biochemistry Graduate Student Associations (BGSA) (2018-2019)

Service and Leadership

Students

• Samir Hamadache - 4th year thesis (2018-2019)
  • Thesis title: Directed evolution of the conjugative plasmid pTA-MOB for scientific and industrial applications.
• Jennifer Davis - 3rd year thesis/lab volunteer (2018-2020)
  • Thesis title: The Development of Inducible Gene Expression in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum.
• Daniel Tsyplenkov - 4th year theis (2017-2018)
  • Thesis title: Cloning of chloroplast genome from Phaeodactylum tricornutum in yeast.
• Joy Wang (2018-2021)
  • Undergraduate Volunteer
• Samuel Tholl (2018-2020)
  • Undergraduate Volunteer
• Western Synthetic Biology Research Program: WSBR (2017-2019)
  • Team Mentor

Publications

Designer Sinorhizobium meliloti strains and multi-functional vectors enable direct inter-kingdom DNA transfer

SL. Brumwell, MR. MacLeod, T. Huang, RR. Cochrane, RS. Meaney, M. Zamani, O. Matysiakiewicz, KN. Dan, P. Janakirama, DR. Edgell, TC. Charles, TM. Finan, BJ. Karas. (2019). "Designer Sinorhizobium meliloti strains and multi-functional vectors enable direct inter-kingdom DNA transfer." PLoS ONE. 14(7): e0219562.

Rapid method for generating designer algal mitochondrial genomes

RR. Cochrane, SL. Brumwell, MPM. Soltysiak, S. Hamadache, JG. Davis, J. Wang, SQ. Tholl, P. Janakirama, DR. Edgell, BJ. Karas. (2019). "Rapid method for generating designer algal mitochondrial genomes." bioRxiv.

Cloning of Thalassiosira pseudonana’s Mitochondrial Genome in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli

RR. Cochrane, SL. Brumwell, A. Shrestha, DJ. Giguere, S. Hamadache, GG. Gloor, DR. Edgell, and BJ. Karas. (2020). "Cloning of Thalassiosira pseudonana’s Mitochondrial Genome in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli." Biology. 9(11): 358.

Talks & Presentations

Development of Synthetic Algal Organelle Genomes for Commercial and Scientific Use

February 20, 2019

Poster at Myhal Center for Engineering and Entrepreneurship, Toronto, Canada

Development of Synthetic Algal Organelle Genomes for Commercial and Scientific Use

May 27, 2019

Talk at Engineering Building, Waterloo, Canada

Development of Synthetic Algal Organelle Genomes for Commercial and Scientific Use

January 31, 2020

Poster at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett field, California

Work experience

• Summer 2015: Research Assistant
  • University of Western Ontario
  • Duties included: Running experiments, maintaining moth populations, lab maintainance
  • Supervisor: Dr. J McNeil
• Winter 2018: Teaching Assistant
  • Course: Biology for Science II (1002B)
  • University of Western Ontario
  • Duties included: Marking, skills lab set-up/clean-up, and directing in lab sessions
  • Supervisor: Winona Gadapati
• Fall 2018: Teaching Assistant
  • Course: Biological Macromolecules (3381A)
  • University of Western Ontario
  • Duties included: Marking, tutorial session, and held office hours.
  • Supervisor: Dr. M Junop
• Summer 2019: Teaching Assistant
  • Course: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2280A)
  • University of Western Ontario
  • Duties included: Marking.
  • Supervisor: Dr. B Dempsey
• Fall 2019: Teaching Assistant
  • Course: Biological Macromolecules (3381A)
  • University of Western Ontario
  • Duties included: Marking, tutorial session, and held office hours.
  • Supervisor: Dr. M Junop
• Spring 2020: Teaching Assistant
  • Course: Clinical Biochemistry (3386B)
  • University of Western Ontario
  • Duties included: Marking and held office hours.
  • Supervisor: Dr. A Rutledge