Completed Students

Below is the list of students who have graduated from the Biotechnology PhD Program since its inception.

In some cases the title is linked to the full thesis.

2023

Dr. Hamid Mortazavi   hmortaza@lakeheadu.ca

  • Thesis: Numerical Study of a Moving Baffle Oscillatory Baffled Reactor
  • Supervisor: Dr. Leila Pakzad

Dr. Yichen Liao   yliao1@lakeheadu.ca

  • Thesis: Fundamental studies of microalgal biofilm formation and microalgal-bacterial membrane photobioreactors
  • Co-Supervisors: Dr. Pedram Fatehi and Dr. Baoqiang Liao

Dr. Ryan Grow  rgrow@lakeheadu.ca

  • Thesis: The Contribution of Fish Movement to Ecosystem Function in Lake Superior
  • Supervisor: Dr. Micheal Rennie

Dr. Chonlong Chio   cchio@lakeheadu.ca

  • Thesis: Depolarization of lignin, characterization of derived products and potential applications of the value-added chemicals
  • Supervisor: Dr. Wensheng Qin

Dr. Nadia Sufdar Ali   nsufdar@lakeheadu.ca

  • Thesis: HTP screening of microorganisms for novel ligninolytic enzymes and application in biomass valorization
  • Supervisor: Dr. Wensheng Qin

Dr. Mahsa Janati   mjannati@lakeheadu.ca  

  • Thesis: Experimental Investigation of Water Entry of a Solid Object and Sand Particles
  • Supervisor: Dr. Amir Azimi

Dr. Sarita Shrestha   sshrest4@lakeheadu.ca

  • Thesis: Bioconversion of Agricultural Residues into Value-added Products by Pectinase-producing Bacteria and Expression of Pectinase Gene in E. coli for Biomass Valorization
  • Supervisor: Dr. Wensheng Qin

Dr. Niravkumar Kosamia  nkosamia@lakeheadu.ca

  • Thesis: Multicriteria Feasibility Assessment of BioSuccinic Acid Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass
  • Supervisor: Dr. Sudip Rakshit

Dr. Jonathan Alejandro Diaz Baca   jdiazba@lakeheadu.ca

  • Thesis: Cross-linked Lignin-Starch Polymers with Alternative Applications
  • Supervisor: Dr. Pedram Fatehi

Dr. Maryam Amini   mamini@lakeheadu.ca

  • Thesis: Electrokinetic-Assisted Membrane Photobioreactor (EK-MPBR) for Municipal Wastewater Treatment
  • Co-Supervisors: Dr. Baoqiang Liao & Dr. Eltayeb Mohamedelhassan

2022

Dr. Duowei Lu  dlu5@lakeheadu.ca

  • Thesis: Experimental and modeling research on a lignin-based dispersion system considering DVLO theory
  • Supervisor: Dr. Pedram Fatehi

Dr. Aristide Laurel Mokale Kognou  amokale@lakeheadu.ca

  • Thesis: Characterization of Novel Biodegrading Bacterial Species and Production of High Purity Fructose-Containing Syrups from Cornstalk via Bioconversion
  • Co-Supervisors: Dr. Wensheng Qin, Dr. Chun-Bao Xu, Dr. Zi-Hua Jiang

Dr. Jocelyn Bel jsbel@lakeheadu.ca

  • Thesis: Adipose tissue remodeling in response to corticosterone β3-adrenergic receptor agonist mirabegron
  • Co-Supervisors: Drs. Simon Lees and Neelam Khaper

2021

Dr. Ryan Lehto rlehto@lakeheadu.ca

Dr. Mahshid Mohammadi mmohamm7@lakeheadu.ca

Dr. Armin Eraghi Kazzaz  aeraghi@lakeheadu.ca

Dr. Zahra Hosseinpour Feizi  zhossein@lakeheadu.ca

 

2020

Dr. Mahdieh Samavi  msamavi@lakeheadu.ca

Dr. O'Neill Tedrow  otedrow@lakeheadu.ca

  • Thesis: Development of response-predictive laboratory- and field-scale exposure scenarios to site-specific waters and sediments using wild rice
  • Supervisor: Dr. Peter Lee

Dr. Meijia Zhang  mzhang15@lakeheadu.ca

Dr. Ashley Nemec-Bakk   asnemec@lakeheadu.ca

  • Thesis: Stess-induced fetal programming of adult C57BL/6 mice: Study of cardiac and hepatic glucose metabolism and oxidative stress
  • Supervisor: Dr. Neelam Khaper

Dr. Sepideh Dadgar sdadgar1@lakeheadu.ca

Dr. Gabrielle Gaultier  gngaulti@lakeheadu.ca

Dr. Harutyun Poladyan hpoladya@lakeheadu.ca

  • Thesis: Organ-specific positron emission tomography devices based on SiPMs
  • Supervisor: Dr. Alla Reznik

 

2019 

Dr. Azadeh Bahramian abahrami@lakeheadu.ca 

  • Thesis: New analytical and numerical approaches for calculating the gas holdup and drift velocity in bubble columns
  • Supervisor: Dr. Siamak Elyasi (Chemical Engineering)

Dr. Andrew Drainville 

  • Thesis:  Principles of superposition in viscoelastic finite-difference modelling
  • Supervisor: Dr. Samuel Pichardo (formerly with Chemical Engineering)

Dr. Robert Jackson  rjackso1@lakeheadu.ca

 Dr. Sara E. Maleki  emaleki@lakeheadu.ca

  • Thesis:  Anaerobic membrane bioreactor for malting wastewater treatment and energy recovery under different temperature conditions
  • SupervisorDr. Baoqiang Liao (Chemical Engineering)

 Dr. Venkatesh Subramanian Manikandan vmanikan@lakeheadu.ca  

Dr. Ayyappa Kumar Sista Kameshwar  

 

2018 

Dr. Melissa Togtema 

  • Thesis:  The application of personalized medicine approaches to human papillomavirus 16-related cancers
  • Supervisor: Dr. Ingeborg Zehbe (formerly with Biology)

Dr. Chris Abraham

  • Thesis:  Magnetic resonance imaging guidance of high intensity focused ultrasound: Optimizing guidance on pre-clinical models
  • SupervisorDr. Laura Curiel (formerly with Chemical Engineering)

Dr. Alaa Alhazmi 

Dr. Agha Hasan 

 

2017

Dr. Shafiqur Rahman 

Dr. Sahar Khedri 

Dr. Bijaya Kumar Uprety

Dr. Bal Ram Adhikari 

Dr. Mohan Konduri  

 

2016  

Dr. Marcus Couch 

Dr. Christina Mol 

Dr. Ashley Untereiner 

Dr. Nadiya Dragneva 

Dr. Stephanie Puukila 

 

2015

Dr. Brenda Magajna  

Dr. Jordan Lewicky   

Dr. Peipei Wang

Dr. Young Jun Ju

2014

Dr. Andrew Gibson

Dr. Ali Azizishirazi

 

2013

Dr. Zaid Altany

Dr. William Dew

Dr. Ling Zhang

 

2012

Dr. Miranda Maki

Dr. Bruce Rosa

Dr. Mehdi Dashtban

 

2011 

Dr. Susanne Walford

Dr. Weijue Gao

Dr. Asieh Ahmadalinezhad