Lab News & Events
Updates from the lab, conferences, and social outings.
Lab Beach Day 2026
📅 August 12, 2026
The lab traded incubators for sunshine and drove out to Grand Beach on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg for our summer beach day. Between swimming, snacks, and a cooler that doubled as furniture, it was a proper reset before the fall term — and, as far as we can tell, the only lab activity all year that required sunscreen.
Family members came along, the chips supply was generous, and nobody mentioned sequencing depth even once. A good day.
The obligatory group selfie. Two peace signs, zero regrets.
The full lineup, Lake Winnipeg stretching out behind us. Sunscreen: applied. Mostly.
A rigorous arm-wrestling trial. Sample size: 2. Cooler: load-bearing.
Congratulations, Fatemeh — MSc Thesis Defended!
📅 July 24, 2026
Fatemeh Mohammadian successfully defended her MSc thesis in the Department of Animal Science, supervised by Dr. Hooman Derakhshani with advisors Dr. Chengbo Yang and Dr. Sean Walkowiak.
Well deserved — the hard work paid off. We are proud to celebrate this important milestone and wish Fatemeh all the best in her future endeavors.
Mid-defense: walking the room through antimicrobial peptides across bacterial lineages.
With her supervisor and advisory committee — and a very well-earned bouquet.
Supervisor and student, one thesis lighter.
The TLMR crew showed up in force. No one left before the flowers.
Departmental BBQ Summer 2026
📅 May 28, 2026
Our lab members rolled up their sleeves to volunteer at the Departmental BBQ Summer 2026 — because apparently, we don't just run experiments in the lab, we also feed people. From manning the grill to running the registration table, the TLMR crew brought the same enthusiasm to burger-flipping as they do to bench work.
It was a sunny afternoon of good food, good company, and a crab apple tree that absolutely refused to stay out of frame. A great way to connect with the broader department community — outside of a seminar room.
The PI insisted he was 'just supervising.' The tongs say otherwise.
The queue. Proof that nothing brings a department together quite like food.
Condiment table: approved. Two thumbs up from our most rigorous quality control officer.
Food station duty: unexpectedly competitive résumé material.
The registration crew: keeping the chaos organized and smiling through every ticket stub.
Full squad, full stomachs. The crab apple tree demanded to be in the photo — we let it.
Annual Holiday Party 2025
📅 December 18, 2025
We had a great time celebrating a successful year of research! It was a wonderful opportunity for everyone to get together and chat about topics beyond science.
Looking forward to next year!
TLMR Team at CSM 2025
📅 June 2025
The TLMR team had a strong presence at the Canadian Society of Microbiologists (CSM) conference 2025! Our members presented their latest research through a series of poster presentations, covering diverse topics from antimicrobial resistance to rumen and swine gut microbiome.
It was a fantastic opportunity to share our findings, receive valuable feedback, and connect with the wider microbiology community. Great reception and interesting questions from the audience!
The squad looking sharp (and highly caffeinated) before the session started.
Larissa spotted in her natural habitat: explaining the data with style and a smile. End result? Larissa: 1, Tough Questions: 0.
Nahidur explaining complex ARG data while trying not to think about lunch.
Fatemeh proudly standing next to her "poster child" (months of work compressed into 4x3 feet).
