AVI Team
Director | Leadership | The Team
Specific Areas
OPERATIONS
Darren Hockman, BSc (Biochemistry)
Laboratory Coordinator
With over 15 years of experience as laboratory technician, Darren is in charge of running the AVI's laboratory and ensuring all the scientists have the reagents and equipment they need while also enforcing biosafety standards. Darren is also an accomplished scientist with multiple publications in the areas of biochemistry and immunology. He is also a key member of the vaccine development team, specifically the downstream protein purification group.
Phone: 780.492.4626
Email: dhockman@ualberta.ca
Iman Ibrahim
Administrative Assistant
Phone: 780.248.5816
Email: ii1@ualberta.ca
Janelle Johnson, BSc, MSc
GMP Manufacturing Technician
With several years of experience as a laboratory and animal technician, Janelle has been involved with several aspects relating to the development, testing and production of the HCV vaccine. Janelle has multiple roles in the AVI: she helps Darren with the coordination of the AVI laboratory, mainly involved in the maintenance of equipment, she assists the HCV R&D team with the conduction of neutralization assays and most recently, she has become a member of the downstream GMP protein purification team, contributing to the purification of a protease required for the manufacturing process, as well as assisting the team with the purification of the HCV vaccine.
Phone: 780.492.4626
Email: jjohnson@ualberta.ca
James A. Nieman, BSc, PhD
Head of Chemistry
James has over 20 years of drug discovery experience at large pharma (Pfizer/Pharmacia), academia (UBC and UofA) and with biotech companies (e.g. Anacor). He has worked in multiple different therapeutic areas on programs at every discovery stage and James and his direct report's contributions have produced 3 compounds that entered clinical trials. James is the author or co-author of 20 peer-reviewed publications and is an inventor on over 130 patents and patent applications in different countries around the world. James is responsible for supervising the chemistry operations in the LKSAVI and business development activities for the institute and its spin out companies. He is also the principal investigator for an antiviral drug discovery project and the medicinal chemistry leader on the Alzheimer's Disease project.
Phone: 780.492.8704
Email: jnieman@ualberta.ca
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Bing Bai, PhD
Research Associate
After obtaining his PhD degree at the University of Alberta, Bing worked in industry for 3 years on custom synthesis and drug discovery projects. Bing joined the Institute in 2017 where, based on results from team biologists and modellers, he designs and synthesizes compounds to develop new drugs against viral and CNS diseases.
Phone: 780.492.3950
Email: bb@ualberta.ca
Alexandr Belovodskiy, PhD
Research Associate
Alexandr obtained his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the Vorozhtsov Novosibirsk Institute of Organic Chemistry (Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch), after a short Post-Doc at Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie (Paris, France) Alexandr came to Canada as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Alberta to work on Breast Cancer imaging probes with Professors Frederick G. West and Chris I. Cheeseman. He joined the AVI in 2013, initially as a PDF then later he was promoted to an RA, where he works as a medicinal chemistry on drug discovery projects predominantly in the areas of antivirals, cancer immunotherapy, and CNS. Alex also is responsible for maintaining the LC/MS in the AVI and for non-routine analyses (qualitative/quantitative; occasionally).
Phone: 780.492.3950
Email: belovods@ualberta.ca
Krishna Swaroop Desireddy, PhD
Post-doctoral Fellow
After completing his PhD in India, Krishna Swaroop completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Dalhousie University (Feb 2020 to Mar 2022) and worked under the supervision of Professor Stephen L. Bearne. Krishna Swaroop joined AVI in April 2022 and is mainly involved in two projects: one is HCMV and the other is COVID-19. Within these projects, he is designing and synthesizing novel compounds to develop drug candidates based on the computational and biological results. The intent of his work on small molecules is to develop new antiviral drugs.
Email: desiredd@ualberta.ca
Mostofa Hena, PhD
Research Associate
After obtaining a PhD in organic synthesis, Mostofa undertook postdoctoral research at the University of Notre Dame and then the University of Alberta (AHFMR research fellow). Mostofa then joined a local company working with international clients performing drug discovery where he worked for 14 years. In 2016, Mostofa joined the Li Ka Shing AVI where he is involved in the design and synthesis of small molecules for interdisciplinary drug discovery teams in several therapeutic areas.
Phone: 780.492.3950
Email: mostofa@ualberta.ca
Appan Srinivas Kandadai, PhD
Senior Synthetic Chemist
Srinivas obtained his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from University of Delhi, India. After completing his postdoctoral research at McMaster University, Srinivas joined the pharmaceutical industry and he worked for three different companies. He has over 10 years of experience in synthesizing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and other building blocks from milligram scale to kilogram scale. In 2016, Srinivas joined the AVI. He is actively involved in the design and synthesis of small molecules for various AVI drug discovery programs.
Phone: 780.492.3950
Email: kandadai@ualberta.ca
Kevin Crawford, BA
Senior Research Specialist
Kevin has over a decade of experience working for pharmaceutical companies producing GMP clinical-grade mammalian cell lines to be used in manufacturing of human vaccines. He has expertise in expressing and characterising intracellular and extracellular proteins in mammalian cell-lines and is an expert in contemporary methods of mammalian cell expression of heterologous proteins as well as in molecular biological and immunological techniques associated with producing vaccine antigens in mammalian cell-lines. Kevin's main responsibilities include candidate vaccine antigen characterization and cell line development for the HCV Vaccine product. Kevin is part of the GMP large-scale cell manufacturing team as well as the and GMP protein purification team.
Email: kjcrawfo@ualberta.ca
Drew Colin Nahirney, DBS, CTech
Biological Technologist
With over 15 years of experience as a research technician, Drew has worked in a large variety of projects of different nature and has expertise in a wide range of techniques. He has a Diploma in Biological Sciences (Laboratory & Research) and a C. Tech. from Association of Science and Engineering Professionals of Alberta (ASET). Drew is a member of the upstream Hepatitis C vaccine cell manufacturing team and is also responsible for the management of supplies for this group.
Phone: 780.492.5781
Email: nahirney@ualberta.ca
Catalina Mesa Prince, BSc (Bioanalysis)
Biological Technologist
Catalina is part of the upstream Hepatitis C vaccine GMP cell manufacturing team. Catalina brings years of experience in the field of clinical medical laboratory and applies her strong organizational skills and detail-oriented personality to ensuring the upstream manufacturing processes are meticulously conducted in a timely manner.
Phone: 780.492.4626
Email: mesaprin@ualberta.ca
Mark Wininger
Vaccine and Diagnostic Cell Culture Coordinator
With over 20 years of experience directing an industrial GMP mammalian cell manufacturing facility and operating large scale (100-250L) mammalian cell line perfusion bioreactors, Mark has extensive expertise in GMP mammalian cell manufacturing of vaccines and diagnostics for clinical trials and licensed products. He designed the specialized perfusion bioreactors that we are currently using for the manufacturing of our Hepatitis C vaccine and leads a team of technicians that he has trained in the operation of the bioreactors.
Email: wininger@ualberta.ca
Kevin Crawford, BA
Senior Research Specialist
Kevin has over a decade of experience working for pharmaceutical companies producing GMP clinical-grade mammalian cell lines to be used in manufacturing of human vaccines. He has expertise in expressing and characterising intracellular and extracellular proteins in mammalian cell-lines and is an expert in contemporary methods of mammalian cell expression of heterologous proteins as well as in molecular biological and immunological techniques associated with producing vaccine antigens in mammalian cell-lines. Kevin's main responsibilities include candidate vaccine antigen characterization and cell line development for the HCV Vaccine product. Kevin is part of the GMP large-scale cell manufacturing team as well as the and GMP protein purification team.
Email: kjcrawfo@ualberta.ca
Darren Hockman, BSc (Biochemistry)
Laboratory Coordinator
With over 15 years of experience as laboratory technician, Darren is in charge of running the AVI's laboratory and ensuring all the scientists have the reagents and equipment they need while also enforcing biosafety standards. Darren is also an accomplished scientist with multiple publications in the areas of biochemistry and immunology. He is also a key member of the vaccine development team, specifically the downstream protein purification group.
Phone: 780.492.4626
Email: dhockman@ualberta.ca
Janelle Johnson, BSc, MSc
GMP Manufacturing Technician
With several years of experience as a laboratory and animal technician, Janelle has been involved with several aspects relating to the development, testing and production of the HCV vaccine. Janelle has multiple roles in the AVI: she helps Darren with the coordination of the AVI laboratory, mainly involved in the maintenance of equipment, she assists the HCV R&D team with the conduction of neutralization assays and most recently, she has become a member of the downstream GMP protein purification team, contributing to the purification of a protease required for the manufacturing process, as well as assisting the team with the purification of the HCV vaccine.
Phone: 780.492.4626
Email: jjohnson@ualberta.ca
Jeanine Koshelek, DBS
Protein Biochemist
A graduate of the NAIT Biological Sciences (Laboratory and Research) program, Jeanine has gained a wide range of experience working for about a decade in biological labs. She has expertise in protein expression and purification, as well as molecular biological analysis methods. Jeanine assists with the development and execution of the HCV vaccine purification process. She also contributes to purifying a protease required for the manufacturing process. Jeanine’s meticulous and potent level of organization help to ensure that downstream manufacturing processes are accomplished with great success.
Phone: 780.492.4626
Email: jkoshele@ualberta.ca
Michael R Logan, PhD
Research Associate
With over 15 years of experience in virology, cell biology and biochemistry, Michael has a strong scientific background and a critical mind. Mike was one of the first members of the institute and the one who designed the major component of the HCV vaccine. Michael is part of the team working on the downstream GMP protein purification of the HCV vaccine.
Phone: 780.492.4626
Email: logan@ualberta.ca
Juthika Kundu, PhD
Research Associate
Juthika is part of the R&D team for the HCV vaccine project and performs various biochemical assays as part of the development of a potent and broadly-acting vaccine. She is also involved in the screening of antiviral agents targeting different viruses, as well as experimental modelling and screening of small molecules as novel therapeutics for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Phone: 780.492.4626
Email: juthika@ualberta.ca
John Law, PhD
Research Associate
John is an accomplished and well-published scientist and the main virologist of the institute. While leading younger scientists and technicians he has been involved in many of the antiviral-related projects of the institute. He is involved in the R&D side of the Hepatitis C Vaccine project studying virus and host factors affecting Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) neutralization via antibodies. John led the team demonstrated for the first time that the HCV vaccine elicits broad cross-neutralising antibodies against the various global forms of the virus.
Phone: 780.492.5367
Email: llaw@ualberta.ca
Amir Landi, MD, PhD
Research Scientist
Amir is a trained immunologist and medical doctor with 18 years of intensive experience in the fields of basic and translation medicine. He is currently working as the lead scientist for the Autoimmune Liver Disease project. He is also the immunologist for the Hepatitis C Virus Vaccine Development group in Dr. Houghton's laboratory. Amir has been instrumental in designing a key component of the Hepatitis C vaccine and has an issued patent.
Phone: 780.492.8053
Email: landi@ualberta.ca
Kamlesh Kumar Sahu, PhD
Research Associate
Kamlesh's research includes computational calculations involving molecular dynamic simulations/binding energy calculations, pharmacophore modeling, and ligand and structure-based drug-design. His models helped us save years of research by predicting hits in the small molecule projects of Alzheimer's Disease and Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease projects.
Phone: 780.248.5816
Email: ksahu@ualberta.ca
Nicole Brown, BSc
Interim Quality Control Department Head
Phone: 780.248.1888
Email: nchomin@ualberta.ca
Louise Tan, BSc (Biochemistry)
Quality Assurance & Regulatory Affairs Specialist
With over 25 years of experience in biopharmaceutical companies that had products enter phase III clinical trials, Louise has extensive working knowledge in setting up and implementing Quality Management System (QMS), Quality Control and validation programs that comply with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) from various jurisdictions (FDA, Health Canada, EU, ICH, WHO) for mammalian, bacterial, and insect cell lines, as well as implementing ISO 15189 Standards for Medical Laboratory. At the AVI, Louise manages the Quality Assurance, Quality Control and Regulatory Affairs department where she assures quality is built into the Hepatitis C vaccine product.
Phone: 780.492.8052
Email: lht@ualberta.ca
Jason Wong, PhD
Quality Control Technician
Jason completed his PhD with Dr. Houghton, investigating the epitopes and mechanisms of neutralization of the humoral immune response elicited by HCV vaccine constructs. He is now working on the Quality Control team supporting the HCV vaccine project and ensuring a safe and effective drug product.
Email: jasonale@ualberta.ca
Joydeb Kumar Kundu, PhD
Research Associate
Screening of small molecule interaction with validated drug targets using Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) spectroscopy for developing new drugs for the treatment of cancer and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Phone: 780.492.1216
Email: joydeb@ualberta.ca