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PI / Group Leader

Bahram Samanfar

Dr. Samanfar is a Research Scientist at AAFC, Ottawa-RDC and an Adjunct Professor at Department of Biology, Carleton University.  He is a molecular geneticist and applied genomicist with expertise in allele-specific molecular marker developments, recombination mapping, marker-assisted selection (molecular breeding), functional genomics, transcriptome-wide (RNA-seq) approaches, computational biology and bioinformatics, particularly in relation to Soybean.

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Degrees:

Ph.D. (Carleton University, Canada)

M.Sc. (Paul Sabatier University, France)

M.Sc. (University of Tehran, Iran)

B.Sc. (University of Tehran, Iran)

Technicians
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Martin Charette

Genomics & Plant Biology

Graduated from La Cité Collégial (1999-Biotechnology program) and then joined the Ottawa Research and Development Centre (Ottawa-RDC). Martin had the chance to work on multiple projects including soybean marker assisted breeding, QTL analysis on multiple soybeans population using SSR, and SNPs, etc. At the moment, he is developing allele specific markers (marker assisted selection) for economically important traits (i.e. time of flowering and maturity, SCN, etc.) in soybean. Beside his laboratory duties, he is  also one of the local administrators of the chemical inventory system and the chemical waste manager at Ottawa-RDC.

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Nathalie (Natalia) Puchacz (nathalie.puchacz@agr.gc.ca)

Genomics & Plant Biology

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Natalia is a skilled laboratory professional with a comprehensive background encompassing more than six years of research experience, in both academic and clinical domains. In 2016, Natalia began her molecular biology training in a Functional Genomics and Proteomics Lab during her Undergraduate Research Thesis, and went on to receive her Masters of Biology from Carleton University in 2018. Following stints in biotherapeutic and clinical research, she has since shifted her focus to agricultural research in the Samanfar lab. Natalia aspires to leverage the transferrable skills acquired from her previous experiences to undertake translational research with economically important crops, such as Soybean.
 

Graduate Students

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Julia Hooker (Julia.hooker@agr.gc.ca)
PhD Candidate

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Julia graduated with a Bachelor in Science in Microbiology and a minor in Molecular Biology & Genetics with honours from the University of Guelph in 2014. She completed her Master of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Guelph in 2017 with a focus on grapevine virology and disease. Her PhD project mainly focuses on environmental effects on differential gene expression in Western vs Eastern Canadian soybean, particularly on the seed protein synthesis pathway.
 

Siwar Haidar (siwar.haidar@agr.gc.ca)
PhD Candidate

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Siwar graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Clinical Laboratory Sciences in 2019 and completed her Master of Science in Biological Sciences with an emphasis in Microbial Genomics from the Lebanese American University (Beirut, Lebanon) in 2021. Her PhD research project mainly focuses on the identification of novel candidate genes involved in economically important traits in soybean, including but not limited to the time of flowering and maturity.
 

Simon Lackey (simon.lackey@AGR.GC.CA)
Master Student

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Simon graduated with a Honours Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science degree from the University of Ottawa in 2013. He has been working for a number of years in soybean breeding at Ottawa-RDC assisting with the development of new short season cultivars as well as contributing to yield testing, phenotyping, and testing for tofu, natto and sprout quality. Simon’s project involves the investigation of early maturity genes present in a G. max/G. soja cross.

Mohamad Elian (Mohamad.elian@agr.gc.ca)
PhD Student

Mohamad graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering in 2022 and completed his Master of Bioinformatics at the University of Guelph in 2023. His research project mainly focuses on the identification of novel candidate genes involved in economically important traits in soybean, and lupin.

Jakob Bruggink (jakob.bruggink@agr.gc.ca)
Master Student

Jakob graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science from the University of Ottawa in 2021. He has been working for a few years with livestock in both a production and a veterinary setting. He wishes to pursue further education in agriculture and has joined the SamanfarLab as a Master student to develop skills in genomics and plant science. His project will involve using soybean genomics to further agronomic success of soybean crops in Canada.

Undergraduate and COOP Students

 

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Deniz Pourazar
Undergrad Student (4th year project)

Deniz is a fourth-year undergraduate student at Carleton University, where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Biology. Her fourth-year project examines the environmental influences on differential gene expression between Eastern and Western Canadian soybeans, with a specific focus on the seed lipid synthesis pathway

Volunteers and Visiting Fellows

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Former Members (gone but not forgotten)

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Nour Nissan (2020-2024)

PhD- Carleton University

Project: Identification and Characterization of Novel Candidate Genes Involved in Economically Important Traits in Soybean (Glycine max)

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Laura Yokota-Savoia (2023-2024)

Undergrad-Carleton University

Project: Identification of Novel Candidate Genes for the E8 Maturity Locus Involved in Time of Flowering and Maturity in Soybean

 

Doris Luckert (2023)

Retired Technician (EG-05)

Soybean/Barley Genomics

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Mahsa Aminsalehi (2012-2024)

Visiting fellow

Project: Identification of novel candidate gene involved in differential gene expression involved in fruit development in blueberry

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Arezo Pattang (2020-2022)

Master- Carleton University

Project: Identification of novel candidate gene involved in time of flowering and maturity in soybean (E7)

 

Micheal (Mike) Sadowski (2018-2020)

Master- Carleton University

Project: Identification of novel candidate gene involved in time of flowering and maturity in soybean (E8)

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Jessica (Jess) Brown (2020)

COOP- Algonquin College

Project: Identification of novel candidate gene(s) involved in economically important pathways

 

Emilie Gervais (2020)

COOP- Algonquin College

Project: Marker-assisted screening for economically important traits in soybean

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Shin Kato (2019)

Visiting fellow

Project:  GWAS analysis of lodging resistance in soybean

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Le Hoa Tan (2019)

Volunteer/casual

Project:

  • Allele-specific marker development for new maturity locus in soybean

  • Investigating active transposable elements in soybean

  • RNA-seq

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Honorary Members

Dr. Steve Molnar

Plant Genomist

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