Our team

Dr. El-Halfawy is a Canada Research Chair in Chemogenomics and Antimicrobial Research and an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Regina.

Originally from Egypt, El-Halfawy received his B.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Alexandria University in 2005. After working as a Community Pharmacist, he returned to academia and received his M.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Microbiology from Alexandria University in 2009. 

In 2010, he moved to Canada and completed his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Western Ontario in Dr. Miguel Valvano’s lab, focusing on mechanisms of intrinsic antibiotic resistance mediated by metabolites and other bacterial small molecules. 

In 2015, El-Halfawy started a postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. Eric Brown’s Lab at the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences and the M.G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, where he explored novel solutions to target multi-drug resistant bacteria. 

In 2020, El-Halfawy received a prestigious Canada Research Chair award and started his independent research group at the University of Regina. His research group is actively working towards solutions for the current antibiotic crisis. His group uses a wide range of approaches spanning microbiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, chemical biology, and chemogenomics to uncover novel antibiotic resistance and microbial virulence mechanisms, and discover new antimicrobial strategies.

Ahmed Soliman, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

(April 2023 – present)

Ahmed obtained his PhD in microbiology from Hiroshima University, Japan, where he studied the role of mobile genetic elements in the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance in Gram-negative pathogens. He received an MSc in microbiology from Hiroshima University in 2017 and a BSc in pharmaceutical sciences from Beni Suef Univeristy, Egypt in 2011. Ahmed joined our lab in April 2023, where he is studying microbial virulence under infection-mimetic conditions. 

Peri Moulding

PhD student

(January 2022 – present)

Peri obtained her BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Regina. She started an MSc in January 2022 and tranferred to the PhD program in September 2023. She is studying the effect of small molecules bacteria may encounter during infection on antibiotic resistance and virulence in Gram-positive bacteria. She received a CIHR CGS-M scholarship to support her work. Peri first joined the lab in Summer 2021 as an undergraduate researcher through a Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research Undergraduate Research Award.

Gehad Soliman, MSc

Ph.D. student

(January 2022 – present)

Gehad obtained her BSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences and MSc in Microbiology from Minia University, Egypt. She joined the lab as a Ph.D. student in January 2022. Gehad is studying bacterial responses to antibiotics under infection-mimetic conditions. She received a competitive scholarship from the Egyptian Government to support her doctoral studies in Canada.

Joshua Adams

MSc student

(September 2022 – present)

Joshua obtained his BSc Honours in Biochemistry from the University of Regina. He first joined the lab in September 2021 to conduct his Honours research. He returned in September 2022 to complete an MSc; he is studying the effect of certain small molecules bacteria may encounter during infection on antibiotic resistance in Gram-negative bacteria. 

Colin Rieger

MSc student

(May 2023 – present)

Colin completed his BSc degree in Biochemistry at the University of Regina. He first joined the lab in May 2022 as an undergraduate researcher. He started an MSc in May 2023, studying bacterial responses to antibiotics under infection-mimetic conditions. He received a CIHR CGS-M scholarship to support his work. 

Tyler Hamelin

MSc student

(Jan 2024 – present)

Tyler completed his BSc Honours degree in Biochemistry at the University of Regina. He started an MSc in January 2024. He first joined the lab in May 2022 as an undergraduate researcher. He received an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) twice (in 2022 and 2023). He completed his Honours thesis research during Fall 2022 and Winter 2023. Tyler is studying bacterial responses to antibiotics under infection-mimetic conditions. He received a CIHR CGS-M scholarship to support his work.

Tifany Valladon

Visiting undergraduate researcher - Mitacs intern

(May 2024 – present)

Tifany is currently completing her undergraduate degree at Ecole Supérieur d'Ingénieurs en Agroalimentaire de Bretagne atlantique (ESIAB), France. She received a Mitacs Globalink Research Internship, which allowed her to join our lab during Summer 2024. Tifany is studying bacterial survival and responses to antibiotics under infection-mimetic conditions. 

Chiwetalu Jo-Mokwe

Undergraduate researcher

(May 2024 – present)

Chiwetalu is in the final year of the BSc in Biochemistry program at the University of Regina. She received a Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research Undergraduate Research Award (FGSR UGRA), which allowed her to join our lab during Summer 2024. Chiwetalu is studying bacterial responses to antibiotics under infection-mimetic conditions. 

Vraj Patel

Undergraduate researcher

(May 2024 – present)

Vraj is completing a BSc in Biology at the University of Regina. He received a Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research Undergraduate Research Award (FGSR UGRA), which allowed him to join our lab during Summer 2024. Vraj is studying biofilm formation and microbial virulence under infection-mimetic conditions. 

Akash Ramoo

Research Assistant

(May 2024 – present)

Akash completed a BSc Honours in Cellular, Physiological and Pharmacological Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan. He joined our lab in May 2024. Akash is studying the effect of interbacterial interactions on bacterial responses to antibiotics under infection-mimetic conditions. 

Marta Kulyk

Visiting undergraduate researcher - Mitacs intern

(July 2024 – present)

Marta is currently completing her BSc Biology degree at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine. She received a Mitacs Globalink Research Internship, which allowed her to join our lab during Summer 2024. Marta is studying bacterial survival and responses to antibiotics under infection-mimetic conditions.