Ph.D

Caroline E. Cameron

Dr. Caroline Cameron is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at the University of Victoria in Victoria BC, Canada, Chair of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion committee within the Department, and an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, USA.  She is Past-President of the International Society for Sexually Transmitted Diseases Research (ISSTDR) and chaired the 2019 STI & HIV World Congress held in Vancouver, BC, Canada.  She is internationally funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.  Caroline’s research program focuses upon the identification and characterization of molecules that are central to the pathogenesis of the spirochetes Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum (causative agent of syphilis) and Leptospira spp (causative agent of leptospirosis), with the ultimate goal of translating these research discoveries into vaccine candidates and novel diagnostic assays.

Ph.D., Research Associate

Simon Houston

Simon is a Research Associate in the laboratory of Dr. Caroline Cameron in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at the University of Victoria. After completing his M.Sc. in Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto, he worked as a protein scientist in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries in Toronto. He then obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology at Queen’s University Belfast (UK) and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in spirochete pathogenesis at the University of Victoria. His current research interests focus on the molecular mechanisms that facilitate tissue invasion and widespread dissemination of the highly invasive syphilis spirochete, Treponema pallidum.

Lab Manager

Alloysius Martin Gomez

Alloysius moved from Malaysia to Victoria to obtain his BSc in Microbiology (Minor in Biology) from the University of Victoria. He has always been fascinated by STIs because of the stigma surrounding them in Malaysia. He is currently working on syphilis vaccine development experiments and working with collaborators to develop a direct diagnostic test for syphilis

Postdoctoral Researcher

Mara Goodyear

Mara joined the lab as a Postdoctoral Fellow after completing her PhD at the University of Guelph. During her PhD Mara studied antibiotic resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and used proteomics to compare clinical strains and their responses to antibiotic treatments. In the Cameron Laboratory Mara will continue to apply proteomics to study syphilis infections, with an interest in both microbial pathogenesis and host responses.

Research Coordinator

Amanda Assen

Amanda has a Masters degree in Biomedical Technology from the University of Calgary, and a BSc from UVIC. Her research includes designing a point of care diagnostic to mitigate the spread of Candida auris in clinical settings. She has also worked in medical diagnostics, and business development in the biotech sector.  

Amanda is interested in infectious diseases, particularly those carrying social stigmas. Her hope is that open communication and reconciliation in the science community can help de-stigmatize STI research. As Research Coordinator, she will be helping the team work through the administrative, ethical, regulatory, and scientific challenges that come with the development of a Syphilis vaccine.

Research Technician

Akash Ranasinghe

Akash is returning to the lab as a research technician after completing his BSc in microbiology (honours) from the University of Victoria. Originally from Sri Lanka, and as a part of the lgbtq+ community, Akash has a strong interest in syphilis research as a means to combat the stigma associated with lgbtq people and STIs that exists to this day. His work will contribute to the development of a protective syphilis vaccine, as well as investigating the mechanisms of pathogenesis employed by T. pallidum.

Senior Research Technician

Fangni Peng

Fangni obtained her M.Sc. in Biochemistry at the University of Victoria. She then worked as a research technician at UVic, determining the molecular mechanisms of vector-borne diseases caused by Apicomplexa using proteomic approaches. Fangni joined the Cameron lab as a senior research technician and will be working on the development of a syphilis vaccine.

Research Technician

Steven Marshall

Steven grew up on the island and moved to Ontario to complete his undergraduate studies at the University of Ottawa where he got his Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science. Following graduation, he moved to Victoria and joined the Cameron Laboratory as a Lab Technician. In this role he is utilizing proteomics in the hopes of further uncovering the mechanisms that T. pallidum employs to evade the host immune system. Steven has always been passionate about biomedical research and is looking forward to begin his career in the field.

Graduate Student

Sean Waugh

Sean’s research is focused on characterizing signal transduction pathways as well as transcriptomic and proteomic alterations in human brain endothelial cells when exposed to Treponema pallidum. Additionally, Sean contributes to the development of a syphilis vaccine.

Graduate Student

Angela Mitchell

Angela completed her BSc (Hons.) Microbiology at the University of Victoria and is now a Masters student in the Cameron Lab. Her research focuses on using mass spectrometry to analyze changes in the proteome of Treponema pallidum, the bacterium that causes syphilis, during infection. This work has the potential to further our understanding of the mechanisms of pathogenesis utilized by T. pallidum and identify proteins for use in the development of a syphilis vaccine. She is especially interested in infectious diseases and reducing the stigma associated with sexually-transmitted infections. Fun fact: Angela loves discovering new food spots around town and maintains a detailed list of the best places she has visited.  

Undergraduate: Research assistant

Seoyoon Lee

Seoyoon is a fourth-year biochemistry student at the University of Victoria, scheduled to start her Honours in the Cameron Lab this fall. Her project will take a multiomics approach to studying Treponema pallidum and further investigate how multiomics contributes to syphilis vaccine development.

Co-op

Koa Planedin

Koa recently completed her BSc (Hons.) Biology at the University of Victoria, focusing on genomics and bioinformatics. Her research in the Cameron Lab is on proteomic analysis of Treponema pallidum pathogenesis. Her previous research has involved the evolutionary history of sex chromosomes, and analysing new antibiotic resistance markers in bacteria infecting cattle. Koa has been volunteering in community health organizations for 10+ years and is excited to contribute to syphilis vaccine design.

Undergraduate: Research Assistant

Cassandra Popoff

Cassandra is a fourth-year Biochemistry student at the University of Victoria. Currently, she is developing computational tools to prioritize antigens for prophylactic vaccine development in syphilis. Cassandra will be returning to the Cameron lab this fall to start her honours project.

Research Assistant

Austin Miller

Austin Miller is joining the Cameron lab to help work on vaccine discovery for the causative agent of Syphilis, Treponema pallidum subsp pallidum. His focus is on identifying target proteins that may be potential vaccine markers. Due to the Syphilis Treponeme being rather elusive to the human immune system, finding proteins that are common amongst all strains of the Syphilis Treponeme is a priority. Approaching this via computational biology to discover, Austin is working on different methods to visualize important regions in these marker proteins.

Originally hailing from Ontario, Austin moved out west five years ago. His educational background is in Environmental Sciences and Biotechnology. When not found coding behind a computer screen, he can be found enjoying the outdoors on bicycle or capturing macro images on his digital camera. Austin has a passion for learning, education and teaching, having been working with the department of Biology guiding students through the first-year biology laboratory courses.

Undergraduate: Co-op

Seraphina Lu

Seraphina is a fourth-year biochemistry student studying at the University of Victoria. She will be completing a co-op term over the summer before transitioning into an Honours project with the Cameron Lab. Her projects will focus on examining host response to Treponema pallidum and investigating long non-coding RNAs.