Dr. John Paul Pezacki

Full Professor
Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Ottawa
Curriculum Vitae
Positions available. Contact Dr. Pezacki for more details. 

 Research Associates and Postdoctoral Fellows

Dr. Shadi Sedghi Masoud

Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Developing bioorthogonal probes and novel bioorthogonal chemistry

 Graduate Research Students 

​​Rhea Alonzi

​​Tyler Shaw

​​Didier Bilodeau
PhD candidate
PhD candidate
PhD candidate
  • ​​Investigating the roles of exosomes in host‑pathogen interactions and viral propagation​
  • Investigating the effects of small molecules on sorting exosomal cargo
  • Engineering exosomes as biocompatible, pan‑antiviral delivery systems for therapeutic applications
  • ​​Activity-based profiling of host-virus interactions and investigation of microRNA modulation of metabolic pathways during viral infection​
  • ​Developing and optimizing new bioorthogonal chemistry, namely the Kinugasa reaction
  • Exploring nitrone reactivity

Spencer Uguccioni

Jason D. Josephson

Parrish Evers
​PhD candidate
​PhD candidate
​PhD candidate
  • Increasing the production of cytokines for enhanced virus-fighting capabilities
  • Altering the levels of mature microRNAs and their downstream targets to affect cell signaling 
  • Assessing the activity of metabolic enzymes during infection, and the differential binding of copper ions to cysteine residues to affect the functions of proteins
  • Computationally modelling bioorthogonal reactions using density functional theory (DFT) and distortion-interaction analysis
  • Synthesizing novel bioorthogonal compounds
  • Simulating molecular dynamics of proteins with incorporated unnatural amino acids
  • Developing machine learning models for prediction of DFT-calculated transition state barriers
  • Applying activity-based protein profiling and chemical biology methods to understand protein regulation, post-translational modifications and the effects of viral pathogenesis
  • Probing protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions using non-canonical amino acids and expanded genetic code
​

Eryn Lundrigan

Elexa Scott

Salmaan Chummun
​PhD candidate
​PhD candidate
​MSc candidate
  • Performing functional profiling of SARS-CoV-2 accessory and non-structural proteins Orf3a, Orf6 and Nsp9
  • Developing biorthogonal probes and bioorthogonal chemistry
  • ​​​Investigating the role of RNA G-quadruplexes in HCV replication and pathogenicity

Jordan Pham

Tiffany Stern
​MSc candidate
​MSc candidate
  • Using an expanded genetic code and unnatural amino acids to modify AGO2 for miRNA profiling
  • ​​Interested in the role of hepatic microRNAs during the immunometabolic response to viral infection

Undergraduate Research Students and Volunteers

Baha Altamimi

Joelle Rahme

Jean Paul Kazzi
​BSc candidate
​BSc candidate
​BSc candidate
  • Working in chemical synthesis of protein probes using bioorthogonal chemistry involving unnatural amino acids with the aim to study protein interactions and processes in the body
  • Interested in the development and application of new bioorthogonal reactants
  • Investigating the role of palmitoylation on protein function and activity using ncAA-based chemical biology and computational methods
  • Exploring bioorthogonal reactions related to cyclopropenone-caged diynes and their applications in biological systems
Recent members

Research associates and Post-doctoral fellows: 
Megan Powdrill, PhD
Christopher Ablenas, PhD 
Dennis Özcelik, PhD
Mirka Strmiskova, PhD
Allison Sherratt, PhD
Dave Prescott, PhD

Graduate students: 
Matthew Lafrenière, PhD
Ragunath Singaravelu, PhD
Dana Foss, PhD
Neda Nasheri, PhD
​Rodney Lyn, PhD
Geneviève Desrochers​, PhD
Caroline Toudic, PhD
Nadine Ahmed, PhD
Noreen Ahmed, PhD
Roxana Filip, PhD
Julie Delcorde, MSc
Doug MacKenzie, MSc
Kaitlyn Margison, MSc
David Lefebvre, MSc
Kaitlyn Morrill, MSc
Mariam Serhan, MSc
Varis Gupta, MSc
Gabriel Sullivan, MSc
Christine Hum, MSc

Laboratory managers:
​Shifawn O'Hara, MSc
Mariya Chigrinova, MSc
Yanouchka Rouleau, MSc




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