People

Bozena Samborska, MSc (University of Guelph)
Bozena completed her MSc in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Guelph studying protein structure and function of cyanobacterial carboxysomes. She has been a Research Assistant at McGill University since 2011. In the Kazak lab, she is investigating creatine metabolism in T cell function. In her spare time, she is a maker of delicious bean-to-bar chocolate. Read Bozena’s papers.

Mouna Tlili, PhD (INRS-Armand Frappier research centre)
Mouna was born in Tunis (the capital of Tunisia). She then obtained her doctorate in virology and immunology. Mouna is using genetic screens to investigate the role of creatine in tumour progression. Read Mouna’s papers.

Abhirup Shaw, PhD (University of Debrecen)
Abhirup was born in the historic city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) in the eastern part of India. After completing his Masters from University of Calcutta, he pursued his PhD from University of Debrecen in Hungary, where he studied the role of known browning inducers in the thermogenic regulation of human abdominal and neck derived adipocytes. In Kazak Lab, Abhirup is investigating the futile creatine cycle in human adipocytes.

Faiz Hussain, PhD candidate 
Faiz is a born and raised Montrealer. He completed his BSc at McGill University. He is exploring how the futile creatine cycle is triggered downstream of thermogenic inputs, using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, protein mass spectrometry and classical enzyme biochemistry. Read Faiz’s papers.

Jakub Bunk, PhD candidate 
Jakub completed his MSc at the University of Agriculture in Krakow, Poland. He then spent 2 years at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, working on proteomic changes to cardiac mitochondria in response to diet-induced obesity. Jakub spends his free time climbing and hiking.

Drishti Soni, PhD candidate 
Drishti was born in Delhi, the capital of India. She did her master’s from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. She spent 2 years at CSIR-IGIB, Delhi exploring the regulation of telomerase in breast cancer. Drishti’s PhD work is focused in vivo genetic screens to identify regulatory mechanisms important for obesity-driven breast cancer.

Maria Delgado Martin, PhD candidate 
Maria was born in Madrid, where she completed her BSc in Biotechnology. She obtained her MSc in Biomedical Sciences from Maastricht University and moved to Stockholm to continue working at the Karolinska Institute. Maria is exploring mechanisms of adipocyte GPCR signaling on energy expenditure and weight loss and metabolic disease. Maria spends a big part of her free time at the gym, but also loves music, travelling and hiking.

Qiaoqiao (Ellen) Zhang, MSc candidate
Qiaoqiao was born in Urumqi, China and went to high school in Vancouver. She is currently studying mechanisms driving fat loss through GPCR signaling in adipocytes. Qiaoqiao loves jazz dance, drama performance, hiking, and is an avid equestrian. 

Mina Ersin, MSc candidate 
Mina was born in Istanbul, Turkey. She obtained her BSc in Biochemistry with Biotechnology Specialization at the University of Waterloo. Mina is studying metabolite regulation of lipid abundance in brown adipose tissue. Mina enjoys singing and sketching in her spare time.

Maria Guerra Martinez, MSc candidate 
Maria was born in Cajamarca, Peru and relocated to Calgary, Canada. Following, Maria moved to Montreal, Canada where she earned an honors degree in Biochemistry at McGill University. Currently, she is exploring how GPCR activation on adipocytes can trigger weight loss. In her spare time, Maria enjoys painting and watching movies.

Chloe Guo, MSc candidate
Chloe was born in Tianjin, China and spent her teenage years in western Massachusetts. She is investigating adipose-brain crosstalk. In her spare time, Chloe loves to visit museums and enjoys watching baseball games with her friends.

Jonathan Cheng, honours research
Jonathan is entering his 4th year in biochemistry at McGill, studying the acute regulation of the futile creatine cycle and post-translational modifications of creatine kinase B.

Zhengrui Chen, honours research
Zhengrui is entering his 4th year in biochemistry at McGill, studying the GPCR signaling and energy expenditure.