Current Trainees / Staff in the Mookherjee Lab:
Dina Mostafa
MSc Student
Dina is a MSc student, examining sex-related differences in allergen-challenged responses in a preclinical murine model. She joined the Mookherjee lab after completing her undergraduate students in the UK, and has now used to the Winnipeg winter! Dina has won several awards for her research in defining specific differences in immune response to allergens.
Anthony Altieiri
PhD Candidate
Anthony Altieri completed his undergraduate research project in the Mookherjee Lab, following which joined the lab as a grad student. His PhD research project is focused on defining cytokine IL-17-mediated inflammatory responses in bronchial epithelial cells, and how cationic host defence peptide LL-37 alters these responses. Anthony is supported by a studentship from Research Manitoba and Canadian Respiratory Research Network. He has won several academic awards. Anthony is also a soccer enthusiast and plays for a local league!
Courtney Marshall
MSc Student
Courtney completed two co-op research term in the Mookherjee lab, subsequently decided to pursue her graduate studies in the Mookherjee lab! She was awarded the Undergraduate Student Research Award from University of Manitoba for summer research term 2020. She has also received the highly competitive CIHR Canada Graduate Studentship as a MSc student (2021-2022). Courtney's project is on examining mechanisms that underpin the ability of IDR peptides to suppress IL-33 in airway inflammation.
Dr. Hemshekhar Mahadevappa
Research Associate (Postdoctoral Fellow)
Dr. Hemshekhar Mahadevappa joined our lab as a postdoctoral fellow after completing his PhD in Biochemistry from University of Mysore, India. Subsequently, Shekhar was promoted to Research Associate. He is involved in many projects in the lab, including examining the effects of host defence peptides & synthetic innate defence regulator peptides in the processes underlying cartilage degradation and oxidative stress in inflammatory arthritis, and airway inflammation in asthma. He is an expert in animal models of these diseases. He he is also involved in projects to determine how air pollution impacts global protein response in asthma and airway inflammation. Shekhar is a fantastic early career mentor to the students in the Mookherjee lab.
Dylan Llyod
Research Assistant - Tech I
Dylan completed two Co-op research terms in the Mookherjee lab, and graduated with his BSc degree in 2020. He has subsequently joined the Mookherjee lab as a full time Research Assistant, and is currently involved in many projects in the lab. Dylan helps to maintain the sanity of the lab by his exceptional organizational skills, and meticulous ability to maintain cells & perform numerous western blots when required!
Dr. Vidyanand Anarpati
Postdoctoral Fellow / Research Associate
Dr. Vidyanand Anarpati is co-supervised by Drs. El-Gabalawy and Mookherjee (Rheumatology research group). Nandu completed his PhD in Immunology from University of Manitoba and joined the rheumatology research group. Nandu’s research focus is in defining the epigenetic mechanisms in the disease progression of rheumatoid arthritis. Nandu is supported by a Fellowship from Research Manitoba.
Recent Graduates / Alumni
Dr. Hadeesha Piyadasa
PhD Graduate
Hadeesha completed his PhD from the Mookherjee Lab in 2020. He won several prominent academic awards. His research established ability of an innate defence regulator (IDR) peptide in the control of airway inflammation and airway hyperresposiveness in allergic asthma. He is also a car fanatic, and dreams of driving a Ferrari along the Amalfi coast someday!! Hadeesha has recently started a Postdoctoral position in Stanford University, and we wish him all the very best.
Dr. Ka-Yee Grace Choi
PhD Graduate
Grace completed her PhD from the Mookherjee lab in 2017, and in currently a postdoctoral fellow in University of British Columbia. Her PhD project was in the immunomodulatory role of human host defence peptide LL-37 in macrophages, and processes to regulate inflammatory arthritis.
Tamarah Singh
Undergraduate Research Student
Tamarah received a competitive Undergraduate Research Award (VP office University of Manitoba) to pursue a summer research terms in the Mookherjee Lab in 2020. She trained in bioinformatics and worked on a project to define interferon mediated proteomic changes in human bronchial epithelial cells.
Kosi Hosani
Undergraduate Research Student
Kosi received a competitive Undergraduate Research Award (VP office University of Manitoba) to pursue a summer research terms in the Mookherjee Lab in 2020. She trained in bioinformatics and worked on a project to define allergen mediated proteomic changes in the human lungs.
Stephanie Borlase
BSc Research Student
Stephanie completed two co-op research term in the Mookherjee lab, following which she continued to pursue her BSc Honors research project working with Dr. Mookherjee. Her research project examined the immunomodulatory activity of novel small molecules and how that changes the biological effects of common antibiotics. This project was in collaboration with Dr. Frank Schweizer (Dept of Chemistry). She is currently pursuing her MSc in Biochemistry & Med Genetics.
Breann Rekseidler
BSc Research Student
Breann completed two Co-op research terms in the Mookherjee lab, and won several undergraduate research awards, including the highly competitive NSERC USRA. Her training in the Mookherjee lab contributed to her securing an international placement in Germany for her subsequent undergraduate Co-OP research term. She is currently training to be a Medical Technologist at BCIT, Canada.
Natasha Osawa
BSc Research Student
Natasha trained as an undergraduate Co-op research student in the Mookherjee lab, following which she worked as a research assistant in our lab for a year. She worked on examining the sequence-to-function relationship of IDR peptides in bronchial epithelial cells. Natasha started her graduate school in 2019, and is currently a MSc student in Genetic Counselling. We are so proud of her accomplishment in securing a position in a highly competitive training program!