Our team is diverse, both culturally and professionally. Each of us brings unique talents and personalities and together, we help each other during these unprecedented times.

Dr. Anna Motnenko
Postdoctoral Fellow
Anna comes with a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Oxford University and an interest in developing novel methods for detecting microbial pathogens. Winter in Winnipeg? Not a problem if you smile!

Andrew Hogan
Ph.D. Candidate, Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar
His mission: to fight bad bugs by discovering novel antimicrobial targets and drugs. Andrew is @MicrobeAndrew on Twitter, and if you follow him, you will have fun and learn a lot of microbiology!

Zisan Rahman
Ph.D. Candidate, U of Manitoba Graduate Fellow
Zisan is unstoppable and our CRISPR “go-to person.” Zisan is building a CRISPRi library one 96-well plate of gRNAs at a time! Does he dream in 96-well format?

Dustin Maydaniuk
Ph.D. Student, Canada Graduate Scholar
With passion and determination, Dustin is focused on elucidating the mode of action of novel antibiotic molecules discovered by our collaborator, Dr. Mingdi Yan. Did I say passion? Follow @dustin09t as an advocate for social change!

Zhong Ling Yap
Ph.D. Student, U of Manitoba Graduate Fellow
Zhong Ling is a fan of Burkholderia and its potential for biotechnological applications. Will she discover novel enzymes in Burkholderia genomes?
Follow her on @zhonglingyap

Rebecca Lohmann
Master’s Student, U of Manitoba Graduate Fellow
Becca comes with a Bachelor’s degree from MacEwan University and a strong interest in CRISPR/Cas gene editing methodologies. Burkholderia is waiting for her!

Zayra Yael Batun
Master’s Student, MITACS scholar
Zayra joined our lab as a graduate student after her 2019 MITACS summer internship. Zayra will develop biocontainment strategies in bacteria of biotechnological interest.

Atif Ul Aftab
Bioinformatician
Atif has a passion for bioinformatics and machine learning and he is our python guru. Afif obtained a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Manitoba.

Archit Devarajan
Summer Student Mitacs Internship
Welcome, Archit! CRISPRi mutants and new antimicrobials are waiting for you.

Krish Patel
Summer Student URA award
Welcome, Patel! we are all excited with your project on plan-based antimicrobials

Julieta Novomisky Nechcoff
Julieta (Juli) Novomisky is joining the Cardona Lab!
Juli comes with a bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology and Molecular Biology from the National University of La Plata (La Plata, Argentina).