Lab Members

Thamali Kariyawasam
Postdoctoral Fellow
thamali.kariyawasam@queensu.ca

Research Project/interests: To create an innovative, sustainable wound care solution using living microalgae and algae-derived materials. These microalgae will harness photosynthesis to supply oxygen and will be engineered to produce immunomodulatory compounds, facilitating the resolution of chronic inflammation and promoting wound closure.

Yuxi Zhang
PhD Candidate
yuxi.zhang@queensu.ca

Research Project/interests: Emphasize the development of an in vitro platform to profile the foreign body reaction to implantable materials, with a specific focus on people living with diabetes.

Fredrick Bulondo
PhD Student
21fb25@queensu.ca

Research Project/interests: My research focuses on host responses to biomaterials, Tissue and cellular engineering. My PhD project seeks to develop a novel biomaterial testing platform that is predictive of human-material foreign body responses using patient-specific cells.

Kathryn Jalink
PhD Student
16kdj1@queensu.ca

Research Project/Interests: My interests lie at the intersection of biomaterial development and regenerative medicine. My research focuses on the development and characterization of natural polymers and their application in the regeneration of the human crystalline lens.

Skyler Knibbs
MASc
21slk7@queensu.ca

Research Project/Interests: Pro-inflammatory effect of commercial insulin in TLR-induced macrophage responses.

Meghan VanBuuren
MASc
19mnvb@queensu.ca

Research Project/Interests: 3D in vitro modeling of the human foreign body reaction using tissue engineering.