Postdoctoral Fellows and Visiting Professors

Dr. Yan Cheng
PhD. in Medical Genetics, Lanzhou University
Visiting Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba
Period: Aug 2016 - Aug 2017. Current Position: Associate Professor, Northwest University for Nationalities, China. 

Dr. Svetlana Frenkel
Postdoctoral Fellow
PhD. in Computational Biology, University of Haifa, Israel 
Co-supervisor: Dr. Charles Bernstein
Recipient of “Poster of Distinction” award at 2017 American Gastroenterological Association’s (AGA) Digestive Disease Week
Period: Sep 2016 - Aug 2018. Current Position: Analyst in Department of Agriculture, Manitoba, Canada

Graduate Students (University of Manitoba)

Hafsa Moontari Ali
MSc  in Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Co-supervisor: Dr. Yang Wang

Period: 2020 - Aug 2021. Current Position: Ph.D. student in computer science at Concordia University

Yong Won Jin
B.S. with high distinction  in  Science, University of Toronto

MSc. in Bioinformatics in the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba
Period: Sep 2018 - Aug 2021.
Recipient of 2019 Research Manitoba Master's Studentship Award
Recipient of 2020 President’s Graduate Scholarship in Human Genetics

Shuo Jia
B.S.  in Life Science, Sichuan University, China
MSc. in Bioinformatics in the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba

Period: May 2018 - April 2020. Current Position: AI Software Engineer in Huawei Canada Research Center, Toronto

Rayhan Shikder
B.S. in Computer Science & Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET)
MSc. in Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Co-supervisor: Dr. Pourang Irani

Period: Sep 2017 - July 2019. Current Position: Software Engineer in Veeva Systems, Toronto

Qian Liu
B.S.  in Medical Imaging, Sichuan University, China
MSc. in Bioinformatics in the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics (BMG), University of Manitoba (UM)
Recipient of the Best Oral Presentation Award in 2019 IEEE 7th International Conference on Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Conference
Period: Sep 2017 - Aug 2019. Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate in Individual Interdisciplinary Studies, Departments of Computer Science and BMG, UM

Nikta Feizi
B.S.  in Cell & Molecular Biology, University of Tehran, Iran
MSc.in Bioinformatics in the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba
Period: Sep 2017 - Aug 2019. Current Position: Bioinformatician at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto.

Jiaying You
B.S. in Computer Science, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology
MSc  in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Manitoba
Co-supervisor: Dr. Bob McLeod

Period: Sep 2016 - Oct 2018. Current Position: Data Scientist, InVivo AI, Montreal; now Ph.D. student at The University of British Columbia

B.S. in Computer Science & Engineering, University of Chittagong
MSc  in Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Co-supervisor: Dr. Yang Wang

Recipient of 2016 Manitoba Graduate Scholarship

Period: Aug 2016 - Dec 2017. Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba

B.S. in Computer Science, Islamic University of Technology
MSc. in Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Co-supervisor: Dr. Michael Domaratzki

Period: Sep 2015 - Sep 2017. Current Position: Software Engineer in Winnipeg City Hall (City of Winnipeg)

B.S. in Biology, University of British Columbia
MSc. in Bioinformatics in the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba

Recipient of 2016-2017 Nancie J. Mauro Graduate Scholarship in Oncology Research

Recipient of 2016 Charles J. Epstein Trainee Award for Excellence in Human Genetics Research – Semifinalist from ASHG

Recipient of Mindel and Tom Olenick Research Studentship in Medicine

Recipient of Phyllis J. McAlpine Graduate Fellowship

Period: May 2015 - June 2017. Current Position: Analyst in Department of Agriculture, Manitoba

Kaiqiong Zhao
B.S. in Statistics, Beijing Institute of Technology
MSc. in Bioinformatics in Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba

Period: Sep 2014 - Aug 2016. Current Position: Ph.D. candidate in biostatistics at McGill University

Shujun Huang
Ph.D. in Bioinformatics in College of Pharmacy, University of Manitoba
Supervisor: Dr. Ted Lakowski
My role is in project-based supervision on bioinformatics

Period: May 2018 - March 2020. Current Position: Research Programmer in BC Cancer Genome Science Center, Vancouver

Graduate Students (University of Toronto)

Zhongyuan Zhang 
MSc. in Biostatistics (Emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Data Science), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
B.S.  in Mathematics and Statistics, University of Waterloo
Co-supervisor: Dr. Wei Xu

Period: September 2019 - August 2021.
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Yao Li
B.S. and MSc.  in Mathematics, University of Waterloo

Ph.D. candidate in Biostatistics (Emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Data Science), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Co-supervisor: Dr. Wei Xu
Period: September 2020 - August 2021. Current Position: candidate in Biostatistics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Xu Li 
B.S.  in Mathematics and Statistics, University of Toronto

MSc. in Biostatistics (Emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Data Science), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Period: September 2020 - August 2021. 

Haiying Zhu
B.S.  in Mathematics, University of Waterloo

MSc. in Biostatistics (Emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Data Science), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Period: September 2020 - August 2021. 

Bowen Cheng
B.S.  in Statistics, University of Toronto
MSc. in Biostatistics (Emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Data Science), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Period: September 2019 - August 2020. Current Position: Graduate student at the University of Toronto

Andrew Tran
B.S.  in Medical Sciences, University of Western Ontario
MSc. in Biostatistics (Emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Data Science), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Co-supervisor: Dr. Claudia DosSantos

Period: September 2019 - August 2020. Current Position: Medical school (BSc Medicine) student at University of Ottawa

Jiahui Zhang
B.S.  in Mathematics and Statistics, University of Waterloo
MSc. in Biostatistics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Co-supervisor: Dr. Wei Xu
Period: Sep 2017 - July 2019. Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate in Biostatistics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Fei Zuo
B.S.  in Genetics, University of Toronto
MSc. in Biostatistics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Co-supervisor: Dr. Wei Xu
Period: Sep 2018 - July 2019. Current Position: Research Biostatistician in St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto

Wenxin Jiang
B.Eng.  in Electronic Information Engineering, Bei Hang University, China
MSc. in Biostatistics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Co-supervisor: Dr. Wei Xu
Period: Sep 2016 - July 2017. Current Position: Analyst in Canadian Institute for Health Information, Toronto

Bingqing Shen
B.S. in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
MSc. in Biostatistics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Period: Oct 2015 - Jan 2016. Current Position: Information Management Analyst position in Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto

Chris Walsh
Ph.D. in Medicine, University of Toronto
Supervisor: Dr. Claudia Santos
My role is in project-based supervision on bioinformatics

Period: Feb 2014 - Jul 2019. Current Position: Respirologist at Toronto East Health Network

Peiran Jiang
Bioinformatics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China
Recipient of Mitacs Globalink Research  Internship Award
Winner of Best Basic Research Presentation at 2019 CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute Summer Student Symposium
Summer research published on Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal as a first author

2019 Summer undergraduate student. Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate in Computational Biology/Computer Science in Carnegie Mellon University, USA

Zexuan Sun
Statistics and Mathematics, Wuhan University, China
Recipient of Mitacs Globalink Research  Internship Award

Summer research published on Bioinformatics as a first author
2019 Summer undergraduate student. 

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Xinyu Hou
Automation, Beijing Institute of Technology, China
Recipient of Mitacs Globalink Research  Internship Award

Recipient of the Best Paper Presentation Award (summer research) in 11th International Conference on Machine Learning and Computing

2018 Summer undergraduate student. Current Position: Ph.D. candidate in Engineering Science in University of  Oxford, UK

Linfan Zhang
Statistics, Zhejiang University, China
Recipient of Mitacs Globalink Research  Internship Award

Summer research published on Frontiers in Genetics as a first author.
2016 Summer undergraduate student. Current Position: Ph.D. candidate in Statistics at University of California, Los Angeles, USA

Masami Ando Kuri
Genome Sciences, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México UNAM
Recipient of Mitacs Globalink Research  Internship Award
2015 Summer undergraduate student, Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Biology, Emory University, USA

Xiaohui Ding
Mathematics and Statistics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China
Recipient of Mitacs Globalink Research  Internship Award
2015 Summer undergraduate student. Current Position: MSc student in Data Mining in Nanjing University, China

Katerina (Christiana) Cholakis
Mathematics and Biology, St. Olaf College, USA
2021 Undergraduate Summer Studentship Award from CHI

​Period: 2021 May - 2021 Aug.

Judah Zammit 
Computer Science, University of Manitoba
2021 Undergraduate Summer Studentship Award from RIOH

Winner of the Best Research Presentation at 2021 CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute Summer Student Symposium
Period: 2021 May -  2021 Aug. Current Position: MSc student in Computer Science, University of Manitoba

Yolanda Ding
Medical Science, University of Western Ontario
2020 Undergraduate Summer Studentship Award from CHI

Period: May 2020 - August 2020

Yun Xu
Neuroscience and Statistics, University of Toronto
2020 Undergraduate Summer Studentship Award from RIOH
​Period: September 2019 - August 2020. Current Position: MSc student in biostatistics, University of Toronto
Summer research published on Frontiers in Pharmacology as a first author.

Daryl Fung (Co-supervised with Carson Kai-Sang Leung)
Honours Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Honour Thesis Project Student

Period: May 2020 - August 2020; Current Position: MSc candidate in Computer Science in the University of Manitoba
Thesis research published on Journal of Translational Medicine as a first author.

Judah Zammit (Co-supervised with Carson Kai-Sang Leung)
Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Industrial project Student

Period: May 2020 - August 2020; Current Position: MSc candidate in Computer Science in the University of Manitoba

Lukas Timmerman (Co-supervised with Dr. Silvia Cardona and Dr. Rebecca Davis)
Co-op Undergraduate Student in Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Period: September 2019 - April 2020

Allan Bruinooge
Honours Bachelor of Science in Genetics, University of Manitoba

Honour Thesis Project Student
Period: September 2019 - August 2020; Current Position: MSc candidate in the University of Manitoba

Thesis research published on Genomics as a first author.

Lourens Jacobs
BSc Medicine,  University of Manitoba
BSc Med Summer Studentship
Period: May 2018 - August 2019.

Katerina (Christiana) Cholakis
Mathematics and Biology, St. Olaf College, USA
2019 Summer undergraduate student.
Period: May 2019 - August 2019.

Liam Grenier
Bachelor of Science,  University of Manitoba
Undergraduate Summer Studentship Award from CHRIM

2018 Summer undergraduate student.  Current Position: Medical school (BSc Medicine) student at University of Manitoba

Summer research published on Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal as a first author.

Nikho Hizon
Honours Bachelor of Science in Genetics, University of Manitoba
Period: September 2016 - August 2017. Current Position: MSc candidate in Medical Genetics in University of Manitoba

Huyen Le (Co-supervised with Dr. Yang Wang)
Math and Statistics, University of Manitoba
2015 Summer undergraduate student. Now at Field Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences, University of Toronto

Jessica Bondoc (Co-supervised with Dr. Kevin Coombs)
Statistics and Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Recipient of CIHR Computational Biology Undergraduate Summer Student Health Research Award, 2015

Period: May 2015 - Apr 2016

Research Associates and Co-op Students