Current Research Group

August 2023, in front of the Rideau Canal
Front row (left to right): Niayesh Zarifi, Rojo Rakotoharisoa, Roberto Chica, Serena Hunt, Hang Pham
Back row (left to right): Ben Smith, Anika Vojvodic, Jack Miller, Ilya Dementyev

Graduate Students

 

Ilya Dementyev
M.Sc. candidate (2022/09-present)
B.Sc. Bio-Organic Chemistry, McGill University (2018-2022)
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

NSERC CREATE Scholarship (2022-2024)

Research Project: Methods for flexible backbone enzyme design

 

 

Jean Roch Kouassi
M.Sc. candidate (2024/01-present)
B.Sc. Biochemistry, University of Ottawa (2019-2023)
Hometown: Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Dr. Yu Scholarship for International Students (2024-2025)

Research Project: Computational design of artificial enzymes from de novo protein scaffolds

 

 

Jack Miller
M.Sc. candidate (2023/01-present)
B.Sc. Biochemistry, University of Guelph (2022)
Hometown: Thornton, Ontario, Canada

NSERC CREATE Scholarship (2023-2025)

Research Project: Design of miniature fluorescent proteins

 

 

Ben Smith
M.Sc. candidate (2024/05-present)
B.Sc. Biochemistry, University of Ottawa (2024)
Hometown: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Research Project: Computational design of artificial enzymes from de novo protein scaffolds

 

 

Niayesh Zarifi
Ph.D. candidate (2019/09-present)
B.Sc. Biotechnology, University of Tehran (2019)
Hometown: Kish Island, Iran

NSERC CREATE Scholarship (2019-2021)
Dr. Yu Scholarship for International Students (2019-2020)

Research Project: De novo enzyme design

 

Postdoctoral Fellows

 

Cindy Klaus
Postdoctoral Fellow (2023/11-present)
Ph.D. Chemistry, Bielefeld University (2023)
M.Sc. Biology, ETH Zürich (2019)
B.Sc. Biology, ETH Zürich (2017)
Hometown: Zürich, Switzerland

Research Project: De novo design of C-C bond forming enzymes

 

 

Hang Pham
Postdoctoral Fellow (2022/07-present)
Ph.D. Biochemistry, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (2022)
M.Sc. Biochemical Engineering, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse (2014)
Hometown: Nha Trang, Vietnam

Research Project: Multistate enzyme design

 

 

Rojo Rakotoharisoa
Ph.D. Chemistry, University of Ottawa (2024)
M.Sc. Chemistry, Université Paris Diderot (2018)
B.Sc. Biology, Biomolecules, Bioinformatics, Université Paris Diderot (2015)
Hometown: Antananarivo, Madagascar

NSERC CREATE Scholarship (2019-2021)

Research Project: Computational design of protein nanotubes

Undergraduates

Pavlo Ignatusha
B.Sc. Biochemistry, University of Ottawa (2020-Present)
Hometown: Kyiv, Ukraine

Research Project: Characterization of computationally designed protein nanotubes

 

 

Anika Vojvodić
B.Sc. Biochemistry, University of Ottawa (2024)
Hometown: Vinkovci, Croatia

Research Project: Characterization of computationally designed protein nanotubes

 

 

Alumni

For a list of past members, click here.