BSc – University of British Columbia, 2003.
PhD – Simon Fraser University, 2010.
Postdoctoral Fellow – The Scripps Research Institute, 2010-2014.
Assistant Professor – The Scripps Research Institute, 2014-2017.
Assistant Professor – University of Alberta, 2017-2022
Associate Professor – University of Alberta, 2022-present

Trained as a biochemist, Dr. Macauley carried out his PhD with Professor David Vocadlo, at Simon Frasier University, using chemical biology to tackle roles for glycosylation. This interest was further developed during his Postdoctoral research with Professor James Paulson, at The Scripps Research Institute, where Dr. Macauley developed an expertise in glycoimmunology. Following two years as an Assistant Professor at The Scripps Research Institute, Dr. Macauley joined in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Alberta in 2017. Dr. Macauley is a tier II Canada Research Chair in Chemical Glycoimmunology and the Raymond U. Lemieux Chair of Carbohydrate Chemistry. Dr. Macauley is passionate about all things ‘glyco’, including: research, teaching, and mentoring.

email: macauley@ualberta.ca

I completed my BSc degree in Chemistry, including 1 year bachelor thesis in biochemistry, at University of Crete, Greece and I continued doing a MSc degree in Nutrition, Public Health and Policies at the Agricultural University of Athens, Greece. My first encounter with glycobiology was during my Erasmus+ Master’s internship which I interned at the Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich, UK under the supervision of Dr. Norihito Kawasaki. In the same lab, I continued working as a research assistant looking at the immunomodulatory effects of food and microbial derived glycans through lectins, focusing on Dectin-1 and -2. Further, at the same institute and under the supervision of Prof. Nathalie Juge, I completed my PhD where I investigated the mechanisms of which colorectal cancer-associated bacteria modulate innate immune response, focusing on the bacterial cell surface-derived glycoconjugates and mammalian lectin interactions. During my academic journey I became passionate about working with mammalian lectins, therefore I joined the Macauley and Mahal labs to explore further the lectin-glycan interactions in immunomodulation.

Email: lamprina@ualberta.ca

I did my undergraduate studies in Cell and Molecular Biology at University of Tehran and continued my studies as a M.Sc. student in Biochemistry at the same University. For my M.Sc. thesis I worked on the impact of cytoskeleton dynamics on memory formation in animal models (Wistar rats). I then moved to University of Alberta in 2013 and joined the group of Dr. David Westaway. During my Ph.D. studies I worked with several animal models of neurodegenerative diseases including tauopathy and prion disease mouse models. I defended my Ph.D. thesis in 2020 and have joined Dr. Macauley’s group to learn about the microglia and their role in Alzheimer’s disease. My biggest passion is studying the molecular and biochemical mechanism of brain function, and more specifically how it gets affected in case of neurodegeneration.

Email: ghazaleh@ualberta.ca

Taylor received her B.Sc. Honours in Chemistry at the University of British Columbia Okanagan in 2020. She trained in the research lab of Dr. Wesley Zandberg between 2018 and 2021 where she worked on projects using analytical tools to enable the high throughput analysis of dairy carbohydrates. Taylor also worked on a project to create a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method to analyze nucleotide sugars, allowing her to perform some collaborative work with the Macauley lab during her undergrad. She has now joined the Macauley lab for her graduate studies at the University of Alberta and is excited to further explore the chemistry of carbohydrates.

Email: tegray@ualberta.ca

Kelli received her B.Sc. Honours in Biochemistry from Brock University in 2018 under the supervision of Dr. Paul Zelisko. Her thesis project focused on the optimization of various lipases for the synthesis of silicon containing phospholipids.

email: mccord1@ualberta.ca

Zeinab comes from Iran. She completed her B.Sc. in Chemistry at University of Tehran. She is now starting her Graduate Program at the University of Alberta and looking forward to working at the interface of chemistry and biology within the Prof. Matthew Macauley’s group. Aside from her interest in science, Zeinab likes playing music and travelling.

Email: zjameche@ualberta.ca

Originally from the Philippines, Jhon completed a BSc (magna cum laude) in Chemistry at Xavier University before receiving his MSc in 2015 at the University of Alberta where he developed novel fluorescent protein-based tools for studying protein-protein interactions. Now, after two years of working with epigenetics and genomics at the BC Cancer Research Centre, Jhon has returned to the university of Alberta as a PhD student in Immunology where he will be studying the roles of Siglecs and their glycan/glycoprotein partners in the germinal centre reaction and B-cell associated disorders.

Email: enterina@ualberta.ca

Eddie Schmidt completed his Honours Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from Wilfrid Laurier University in 2019.  His Honours thesis project which was supervised by Dr. Geoff Horsman involved the engineering of bacterial cytidylyltransferases and synthesis of various phosphonates.

email: enschmid@ualberta.ca

A native of India, Dhanraj Kumawat completed his B.Sc. in Chemistry from Hindu College University of Delhi and then graduated with Master’s Degree in Chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar in 2019. His M.Sc. thesis project was supervised by Dr. Chandrakumar Appayee was entitled: “Synthesis of Noval Hydrogen Bond Donor Organocatalysts and Biologically Active Fargesin and Methyl Piperitol”.

Email: kumawat@ualberta.ca

Jeremy Jerasi completed his B.Sc in Biological Sciences minoring in Chemistry from the University of Alberta in 2019. In his final year, he was a research member of the Wine Lab under the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the UofA. His research project investigated the role of dietary fiber in its interaction with the host microbiome in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD).

email: jerasi@ualberta.ca

Jaesoo Jung finished his bachelor’s degree in Fine Chemistry from the Seoul National University of Science and Technology in 2015. He was a research member of Nano and Bio Cosmetic Laboratory and researched some natural materials which have antioxidative activity. He was in charge of extraction of effective natural molecule by using a variety of solvents which have different polarity. In 2014, he worked as a research assistant at Amorepacific Research Center under the supervision of Dr. Choi. Jaesoo was a member of cosmeceutical team and participated in a cutting-edge project. Specifically, his research was to find a composition of cream to stabilize pharmaceutical molecule through studying polymers, waxes, surfactants.

email: jaesoo@ualberta.ca

Chris completed his B.Sc. in Molecular Genetics in 2002 at the University of Alberta. He worked as a Lab Technician/Lab Manager for Dr. Dean Befus in the Department of Medicine at the U of A, from 2002-2015 studying Mast Cells and inflammation. He then worked for Dr. Ian MacDonald, Department of Ophthalmology, U of A, from 2015-2019 running the Viral Vector Core, where he developed and produced AAV and Lentiviral vectors for use in Gene Therapy pre-clinical trials. Chris joined the Macauley group in April 2019.

Email: cds@ualberta.ca

Fahima is currently in her forth year of studies at the University of Alberta, finishing up a Bachelor of Science with a double major in Biological Science and Chemistry. Fahima is excited to obtain research experience, especially in the area of synthesis, while more generally broadening her knowledge in science.

Email: mozaneh@ualberta.ca

Susmita Sarkar finished her B.Tech in Pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals from Rajabazar Science College, Kolkata, India in 2001. She worked for a pharma company in India till 2007. In 2008, she joined University of Alberta to do her masters in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences under the supervision of   Prof M. R. Suresh. There, she worked on designing antibody-based point of care diagnostics for tuberculosis. In 2011 she joined Prof. D. R Bundle in chemistry as research technician and worked in the field of synthetic vaccines. In 2016, she joined Prof. R. Derda’s group in chemistry and worked in the project for designing genetically encoded array technologies. In 2017, she joined Prof. M. Macauley group as research technician.

Email: susmita@ualberta.ca

Xue Yan is currently in her second year of undergraduate studies in Pharmacology at the University of Alberta. Her curiosity for academic research in the fields of biochemistry and organic chemistry encouraged her to apply for the Macauley Lab. She is excited to work with her in-lab mentor (Edward Schmidt) on her summer project involving Siglec and ganglioside interactions. She hopes to gain more knowledge in the field of glycobiology and enhance her laboratory skills. During her free time, Xue Yan enjoys wall climbing and hiking with her family.

email: xueyan5@ualberta.ca

Kennedy is going into her second year at the University of Alberta, studying Honours Immunology and Infection. During her summer research project, she will be working with Jhon Enterina to learn more about immune cell interactions and lymphoma development. She is excited to gain research experience and develop new skills. In her free time, Kennedy enjoys hiking, playing soccer, and volunteering with the boys and girls club (BGCbigs).

Email: kennedy2@ualberta.ca