Elected Officials
President
Dr. Stacy Singer
Dr. Stacy Singer obtained her PhD from the University of Regina, carried out postdoctoral fellowships at the USDA’s Appalachian Fruit Research Station and Cornell University’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, and worked as a research associate at the University of Alberta. She is presently a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge, Alberta, and holds adjunct positions at the University of Lethbridge and University of Alberta. Her research focuses on the elucidation of molecular mechanisms driving plant tolerance to various abiotic stresses, and the use of biotechnological tools such as gene editing to enhance forage crop resilience to environmental challenges related to climate change. Stacy is also engaged in efforts concerning public perception and regulation in the context of plant biotechnology. She has co-authored over 70 scientific publications and book chapters, co-edited a book, and co-led the organization of multiple national and international workshops on gene editing. She is also co-chair of the AAFC Genome Editing Network Working Group and acts as Senior Editor for the journal ‘Plant-Environment Interactions’. Stacy currently serves as President of the Canadian Association for Plant Biotechnology.
Vice President
Dr. Andrii Bilichak
Dr. Andriy Bilichak is a Research Scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Morden Research and Development Center in Manitoba. His work centers on utilizing biotechnology and bioinformatics to enhance elite Canadian wheat cultivars. He earned his Ph.D. in Biomolecular Science/Plant Biotechnology from the University of Lethbridge in 2013. From 2013 to 2018, he was a postdoctoral fellow at AAFC-Lethbridge, collaborating with Dow AgroScience (now Corteva) on pioneering gene-editing techniques in wheat. In 2020, Dr. Bilichak participated in a national virtual panel on the Science of Gene Editing and Other Plant Breeding Innovations, contributing to Health Canada's new regulatory guidance for novel foods in plant breeding. He also holds positions as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Plant Science at the University of Manitoba and as an associate member of the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Lethbridge. Dr. Bilichak has published 30 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 16 book chapters, and a co-edited book.
Immediate Past President
Dr. Dominique Michaud
Dr. Michaud started his career at Laval U in the mid-1990’s, after completing doctoral and postdoctoral studies in Plant Biology at Laval U in Québec City QC, at CNRS in France, and at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver BC. Over the years, Dominique has developed recognized expertise in Plant Molecular Biotechnology and Proteomics, notably working on the basic and technological aspects of recombinant protein expression, maturation and processing in plant systems. He also has shown interest in the societal and regulatory aspects of plant biotechnology, conducting several impact studies on GM crops for the Québec government, and being part of different plant biotechnology panels and committees at the national and international levels. Dominique currently is Head of Laval U’s Plant Research and Innovation Centre; Director–Communication for the Canadian Association for Plant Biotechnology; and Senior Editor for the Plant Biotechnology Journal, Wiley-Blackwell’s flagship journal in plant molecular biotechnology.
Secretary
Dr. Guanqun (Gavin) Chen
Dr. Guanqun (Gavin) Chen is currently an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Plant Lipid Biotechnology at the University of Alberta. He obtained his PhD from The University of Hong Kong. His research interests include expanding our understanding of storage lipid biosynthesis and developing biotechnological approaches to enhance oil yield and quality in both plants and microorganisms. This knowledge platform further enables him to redesign lipid biosynthesis in these organisms, producing unusual fatty acids for applications in food, nutraceuticals, and industrial settings. In addition to the CRC, his contributions to plant biotechnology have also been recognized with the Fulbright Scholar Fellowship and the C.D. Nelson Award in Plant Biology.
Treasurer
Dr. Yuhai Cui
Research Scientist, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, London Research and Development Centre, London, Ontario; Adjunct Professor, The University of Western Ontario (currently Western University), Department of Biology Dr. Cui obtained his PhD from the University of Guelph in Molecular Biology and Genetics. He joined AAFC in June 2000 as a research scientist. His expertise areas include plant chromatin biology and gene expression control (epigenetics), plant nitrogen use efficiency, seed development and soybean seed quality improvement. Specifically in the field of plant biotechnology, his contributions include the construction and donation to the public resources centre of a set of gateway-compatible vectors for studying protein-protein interactions (BiFC and Yeast Two Hybrid), and recent work in gene editing in soybean and Arabidopsis. His laboratory works with both soybean and Arabidopsis. His research program has been supported by AAFC Crop Genomics Initiatives and A-Base funding, NSERC Discovery grants, Genome Canada and other funding agencies.
Advisory Board
IAPB Representative
Dr. Pankaj Kumar Bhowmik
Dr. Bhowmik received his Ph.D. in Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology from Kagawa University, Japan. Following JSPS, Killam and NSERC post-doctoral training Pankaj joined the National Research Council of Canada in Saskatoon where he is now a Senior Research Officer leading NRC’s Plant Tissue Culture and Transformation platform. Pankaj also has an additional role as the Scientific Support Lead for NRC’s Sustainable Protein Production (SPP) program where he closely works with small and large companies in the plant biotech and ag-food sector, academia and other Government Departments to establish multi-organizational research collaborations with external stakeholders. He has more than 20 years of experience in plant cell technologies and tissue culture. His specific research focuses on improvement of crops through tissue culture, transformation and gene editing. Pankaj is also serving as an adjunct faculty under the Department of Biology, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science, University of British Columbia Okanagan. Pankaj has been a member of IAPB since 2007.Since joining CAPB Executive Committee in 2014, Pankaj has contributed to CAPB’s purposes inspiring and promoting the interaction among plant biotechnology researchers in Canada. Pankaj has served at the past CAPB executive committee as the treasurer and led the first registration of the association under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act. Pankaj has also volunteered as one of the organizing committee members at the CAPB 2018 conference in Saskatoon. Pankaj was also part of the committee who had drafted the first bylaws for the CAPB.
Membership Director
Unclaimed Position
Contact info@canadianplantbiotech.ca for information or to express interest in this position.
Coommunications Director
Carly Charron
Carly obtained her BSc in Genetics in 2020 and is currently pursuing a PhD in Biology at Western University. Her research is focused on using plants to produce an edible, nanoparticle-based vaccine to prevent Salmonella infection in poultry.
Seminar Coordinator
Dr. Rima Menassa
Dr. Menassa obtained her PhD from the Department of Biology at McGill University in 1998 in molecular genetics of canola. She is currently a senior research scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and holds an adjunct professor appointment at the Biology Department of Western University. She leads the molecular farming effort for the production of recombinant proteins in plants at AAFC. Her research program is focused on producing veterinary subunit vaccines and antibodies in plants. Rima has co-authored over 70 scientific publications, has co-edited a book and was involved in five patent applications. Dr. Menassa has served as the president of the Canadian Association for Plant Biotechnology 2018-2022, and as secretary of of Plant Canada 2019-2024. She is currently the president of the International Society for Plant Molecular Farming.
Regulatory Affairs
Jennifer Hubert
Jennifer Hubert is the Executive Director of Plant Biotechnology for CropLife Canada, an industry association representing developers and distributers of plant science innovations. In this role, Hubert works with domestic and international agricultural stakeholders and governments on the development of policies, regulations, and scientific positions related to plant biotechnology. She brings more than 15 years of experience in seed regulatory functions, including over decade working for multinational companies in securing approvals for plants with novel traits, novel foods and novel feeds in Canada. Hubert has a passion for communicating the safety and benefits of plant biotechnology. She holds a master’s degree in Nutritional Science from the University of Guelph.
Industry Liaison
Dr. Pooja Saxena
Pooja Saxena has over a decade of research experience in plant molecular farming and development of plant-derived virus-like particle vaccines. Pooja received her PhD in plant biotechnology from the John Innes Centre, UK and pursued post-doctoral research in structural virology at Indiana University, USA. Subsequently, at the Canadian pharma company - Medicago, Pooja supported discovery and development activities for plant-based vaccines for infectious diseases including COVID-19. Pooja continues to be active in the academic and pharmaceutical space and currently serves as the Vice-Secretary of the International Society of Plant Molecular Farming (ISPMF) and Senior Alliance Manager at BlueRock Therapeutics.
Webmaster
Jordan VanderBurgt
Jordan is currently pursuing a PhD in Biology from Western University in conjunction with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. He obtained his BSc in Genetics in 2019 and MSc in Biology in 2021, both also from Western University. Jordan’s graduate research has focused on using plants as an expression platform to recombinantly produce a protein-based vaccine against a prominent viral disease affecting pigs.
Postdoc & Student Affairs
Unclaimed Position
Contact info@canadianplantbiotech.ca for information or to express interest in this position.
Advisor
Dr. Sangeeta Dhaubhadel
Dr. Sangeeta Dhaubhadel obtained her Ph.D. from the Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario in 2001. During her Ph.D. Dr. Dhaubhadel discovered the first direct evidence on the mechanism of brassinosteroid-induced thermotolerance in plants. Dr. Dhaubhadel is a Research Scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and also holds an adjunct professor appointment at the Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario. Her research interest lies in gene expression and regulation in the biosynthesis of plant natural compounds. The current research in her laboratory focuses on identifying and characterizing the factors involved in biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids in legumes with the long-term goal to develop strategies and technologies to accelerate the selection of genotypes with desired production, disease resistance and value added quality traits.
Past Presidents and
National Correspondents
1974-1978 Dr. Oluf Gamborg
1982-1986 Dr. Kutty Kartha
1986-1990 Dr. Wilf Keller
1990-1994 Dr. Ken Kasha
1994-1998 Dr. Dan Brown
1998-2002 Dr. Ravi Chibbar
2002-2006 Dr. Kris Pruski
2006-2010 Dr. Alison Ferrie
2010-2014 Dr. Lining Tian
2014-2018 Dr. Yafan Huang
2018-2022 Dr. Rima Menassa
2022-2024 Dr. Dominique Michaud