Research Associates and Postdocs

Dr. Gina Oliver – PostDoctoral Fellow

Gina obtained her BSc in Biochemistry and Physiology from Cardiff University.  She then worked at Cambridge University for five years, where she was instrumental in setting up the microarray facility in the department of Pathology.  During her time at Cambridge she was encouraged to study for her PhD.  Gina earned her PhD from Anglia Ruskin University studying gene expression profiling of aggression in pigs.  Following her time in Cambridge Gina joined the Swine Reproduction Development Program at the University of Alberta.  She is currently working on several projects including THERN, and EmbryoGENE, where she is responsible for the porcine epigenetic components.  The research models that she is investigating are 1) the effects of sow feed restriction during lactation on developing embryos, and 2) The high-low birth weight phenotype.

Dr. Jamie Wilkinson – PostDoctoral Fellow

Jamie Wilkinson received a BA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge in the UK, specializing in his final year in the genetics of human diseases and virology. He then obtained a Master’s degree on the construction and characterization of a porcine testis cDNA library from the same university. Following a 4-month period as a visiting scholar at China Agricultural University in Beijing, he worked for 2 years as a research scientist for Pig Improvement Company. During this time he worked to identify candidate genes for involvement in meat quality in the pig and disease resistance in the Pacific white shrimp based on gene expression differences between animals identified using microarray technology. From 2005-2008, Jamie completed a PhD conducting research into the genetics of susceptibility to Glässer’s disease in pigs, also at the University of Cambridge. He joined the Swine Reproduction and Development Program as a postdoctoral fellow in May 2009. His research focuses on the use of gene expression technologies to investigate how genetic and epigenetic mechanisms affect the porcine immune system and susceptibility to infectious disease.

Dr. Jorge Yáñez – Postdoctoral fellow

Jorge Yáñez received a BA in Veterinary Medicine from the Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, México. He obtained his MSc degree in Animal Production Systems from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Mexicali, México on the use of supplemental enzymes in swine nutrition. From 2005 to 2008, Jorge completed a PhD program in Mexicali, including research as a Visiting Scholar at University of Alberta on evaluation of co-products and enzymes. He received support from Conacyt, the Mexican Government, for this training. He joined the U of A as a postdoctoral fellow in January 2010 with Dr. Ruurd Zijlstra as supervisor. His research focuses on feedstuff evaluation in swine feeding programs. 

Dr. Jason Grant – Research Associate, Bioinformatics

Jason earned his PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of British Columbia, where his research focused on immune evasion mechanisms of adenovirus. Following his graduate work, he joined the bioinformatics division of the Bovine Genomics Program at the University of Alberta. There he developed a software pipeline to build high-resolution radiation hybrid maps. This pipeline was recently used to generate the first whole genome radiation hybrid map for the river buffalo. He also developed a web server version of CGView, a tool for the visualization and analysis of bacterial genomes. Jason brings to the Network expertise in the development of software tools for managing and analyzing biological data. Currently, Jason is working on developing a platform for the analysis of microarray data created by the EmbryoGENE Network.

Dr. Rajesh Jha – Research Associate, Swine Nutrition

Rajesh graduated with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry degree in 1996 from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He worked as a Livestock Researcher and Development officer for 8 years in his home country, which provided him with an excellent opportunity to explore the multifaceted practical aspects of livestock production systems. In 2006, he received his MSc from Wageningen University, the Netherlands, with specialization in monogastric nutrition. For his thesis project, he evaluated the effect of feed technological interventions and dietary manipulation on the gastrointestinal tract development of broiler birds. As a part of his MSc program, he worked at the Riddet Centre in Massey University, New Zealand for his minor thesis, where he used pig as a model for human to study nutrient digestibility. Subsequently, he continued his research career in Canada and completed a Ph.D. degree in Animal Science from the University of Saskatchewan from 2006 to 2010. His Ph.D. thesis was entitled, " Fibre Fermentation in the Pig Intestine: Effect on Metabolite Production and Nitrogen Excretion."

Rajesh joined the University of Alberta as a Research Associate in December 2009. He works in close coordination with academics, researchers and industry people that provide him with deep insight into the livestock industry of Canada, which is applicable globally. His past and present research is mostly focused on the application of feed technology and evaluation of alternative feed ingredients to be used in animal diets. Much of the motivation for this activity is to serve the need of current day’s consumer’s demand for healthy and environmentally friendly animal production while maintaining the competitiveness of the industry. He uses both in vitro and in vivo models to efficiently produce quality research outcomes.

Click here for more information about Rajesh.

Dr. Jose L. Landero – PostDoctoral Fellow

Jose L. Landero graduated from Universidad Autonoma Chapingo, Mexico in 2003, where he received his BSc in Agricultural Engineering. He then received a scholarship from CONACYT, Mexico to obtain his MSc and PhD degree with specialization in Swine Nutrition at the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Mexico. During his MSc and PhD studies, he received a research and travel award to work as a visiting graduate student at the University of Alberta under the supervision of Dr. Ruurd Zijlstra. He is currently working on several research projects with focus on feed evaluation and developing feeding programs for nursery pigs.

Dr. Zahid Nasir – PostDoctoral Fellow 

Zahid earned his Ph.D in Agriculture Sciences from the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany, where his research focused on studying the effects of natural feed additives on health, growth performance and physiological parameters of broiler chickens.

Following his graduate work, he worked for animal feed industry in Europe, where he worked for development, evaluation and marketing support of various feed additives including Eubiotics, feed enzymes, vitamins and carotenoids.

Currently, Zahid is working on rapid evaluation of nutritional and functional properties of feed ingredients using laboratory-based technologies and evaluating the effects of feed enzymes on animal health, performance and physiological parameters.

Dr. Stephen Tsoi – Research Associate, Molecular Biology

Stephen Tsoi obtained his M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Hong Kong. From 2000 - 2004 Stephen was employed as a research scientist at the Institute for Marine Biosciences, National Research Council in Halifax where he was able to develop a microarray chip as a screening tool to understand gene regulation during bacterial infection in Atlantic salmon. In 2004 he became a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, until joining EmbryoGENE in October 2008,  he worked on various NIH funded projects developing his own research interest in hypoxia. He was able to use a cell culture model under hypoxia to study human placental trophoblast gene expression. With his extensive research experience, Stephen is actively involved in the EmbryoGENE Network. His role is to construct cDNA libraries from various early developmental stages in preimplantation pig embryos. The ultimate goal is designing a microarray platform after identifying unique genes from high-throughput DNA sequencing using a novel massively parallel sequencing-by-synthesis approach.  Stephen will also provide support for porcine related projects, including setting up the standard operating procedures, training, quality control, result validation and analysis.

Dr. Adrienne Woodward – PostDoctoral Fellow

Adrienne Woodward obtained her Bachelor of Science and Master’s of Business Administration – Agriculture, from West Texas A&M University in Canyon, TX.  She then worked as a horse trainer in Formello, Rome, Italy before deciding to head back to the States to complete her schooling.  She obtained her Master’s of Science – Equine Exercise Physiology and Nutrition from Michigan State University under the mentorship of Dr. Brian Nielsen.  Her master’s work focused on the effects of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids on lameness characteristics in young and mature horses.  Dr. Woodward changed mentors for her Ph.D. and, under the guidance of Dr. Nathalie Trottier, studied the site of lysine uptake along the equine intestinal tract using molecular techniques.  At the University of Alberta, she will be working on two main research projects: 

1) Determining the influence of bacterial-derived oligosaccharides on E. coli incorporation into the epithelial cells of the small intestine using the small intestinal segment perfusion method.

2) Determining the effects of starch fermentation on small intestinal nutrient transporters.

Dr. Tofuko Awori Woyengo- Postdoctoral fellow

Tofuko earned his PhD in Animal Science from the University of Manitoba, where his thesis research focused on mechanisms by which dietary phytic acid reduces nutrient utilization in pigs. He then joined the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science as a Postdoctoral Fellow. He is currently conducting research to unravel why agro-industrial co-products are poorly digested by pigs using modern and sophisticated microscopic analysis approaches.