Microbiome, Inside and Out
Due to the ongoing labour disruption at Dalhousie University, this event has been cancelled. We look forward to seeing everyone in October!
Our theme for September 2025, our inaugural seminar, is “Microbiome, Inside and Out.” We will explore different ways in which microbiome research can be applied in diverse settings, namely the human and ocean environments.
This seminar will be presented in a Hybrid format: in-person at Dalhousie University (Room TBD) and online via Microsoft Teams. The seminar will be followed by an in-person social event Dalhousie University (Room TBD). We hope you’ll join us to network with our speakers and peers!
Schedule
| Time (AST) | Event | Format | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17:00 | Seminar | Hybrid | In-person: (Room TBD), Goldberg Computer Science Building, 6050 University Ave, Halifax, NS B3H 1W5 Virtual: Microsoft Teams |
| 18:00 | Social Event | In-person | Atrium, Goldberg Computer Science Building, 6050 University Ave, Halifax, NS B3H 1W5 |
Meet our Speakers:
Dr. Nelly Amenyogbe, Assistant Professor at
Dalhousie University
Dr. Nelly Amenyogbe is an Assistant Professor with Dalhousie’s depts. Of Pathology and Microbiology & Immunology. Dr. Amenyogbe completed their PhD in Experimental Medicine at the University of British Columbia, where their work centered on better understanding how immune development was shaped in early life, and how this knowledge could guide the development of low-cost and feasible interventions to prevent infectious morbidity and mortality in infancy. Dr. Amenyogbe completed their first post doctoral fellowship at The Kids Research Institute and the University of Western Australia, funded by the Raine Medical Foundation to investigate how newborn metabolism drives susceptibility to infectious diseases. Currently, Dr. Amenyogbe is expanding on this work at Dalhousie to investigate how two interventions – early colostrum feeding and BCG vaccination at birth – can work together to prevent deaths due to neonatal sepsis. This work is supported by the CIHR and Open Philanthropy.
Diana Haider, Graduate Student at
Dalhousie University
I completed my bachelor degree in Biology at Concordia University where I developed my curiosity for the ocean and for solving complex biological problems using genetics. I am interested particularly in how methodological choices in high-throughput sequencing analysis shape our interpretation of microbial communities, and in how we correct them. In my Ph.D. research, I aim at quantifying these biases to build reproducible pipelines that more accurately reflect biological patterns. I then apply them for describing community responses to environmental disturbances in a multi-year ocean microbiome time series.
Meet our Hosts:
Dr. Rob Beiko, Professor at Dalhousie University,
CBH Atlantic Node Director
Rob (or “Dr. Robert Beiko”, if you want to be all formal about it) is an Associate Professor in Bioinformatics in the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University. Before coming to Dal in 2006, he was a postdoc in the lab of Mark Ragan at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. And before that, he completed a PhD in Biology at the University of Ottawa (1998-2003). Although all of his formal training was in biology, an interest in machine-learning approaches, algorithms for identifying important evolutionary events, and visualization of biological data have ultimately led him to put down stakes in Computer Science and collaborate with some of the best in the business here.
Ben Fisher, Atlantic Regional Coordinator for the Canadian Bioinformatics Hub
My role is Atlantic Regional Coordinator for the Canadian Bioinformatics Hub. Through this position, I work closely with Dr. Rob Beiko and a pan-Canadian network of experts and knowledge users. Our mission is to accelerate the growth of a vibrant health and life sciences sector by scaling up Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, and Data Science capacity.
I have a Master of Science degree in Microbiology and Immunology, completing my bioinformatics training under Dr. Morgan Langille at Dalhousie University. Throughout my career, I have instructed others in genetics, molecular biology, and microbiome data science. I am passionate about continued education of trainees and professionals, and firmly believe that enhancing bioinformatics and computational biology competencies will support the success of Canada’s current and future scientists.
