Meet The Team
Principal Investigator
Lindsay Cahill (lcahill@mun.ca)
Lindsay Cahill is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and cross-appointed to Radiology and Pharmacy. She is a biophysical chemist and currently teaches Introductory Chemistry (Chem 1010), Thermodynamics and Kinetics (Chem 2301) and Biophysical Chemistry (Chem 4390). She also co-coordinates the fourth year Honour's thesis.
Ph.D. Student
Grace Mercer
Grace Mercer obtained her undergraduate chemistry degree from MUN. Her research uses solid-state NMR to look for metabolic biomarkers of placental disease and neurodegeneration. Grace is the group artist - her rendering of a mouse is award-winning.
Ph.D. Student
Nikita Harvey
Nikita Harvey is also a MUN alumni. Her research project involves the study of micro-/nanoplastics in the human placenta. In her spare time, Nikita plays softball and is also a very talented artist.
M.Sc. Student
Jenna Hanrahan
Jenna Hanrahan is a MUN alumni. She is using MRI to study a mouse model of Huntington disease. She has also become an expert at ultrasound imaging of pregnant mice. She has an impressive record collection (she owns one that is older than Dr. Cahill!)
M.Sc. Student
Kenna Hynes
Kenna Hynes is a MUN chemistry alumni who is interested in NMR metabolomics. She is also dedicated to public outreach and volunteers with Let's Talk Science!
M.Sc. Student
Rachel Neita
Rachel Neita joins us from Ontario. Her biochemistry background makes her a superstar at studying brain metabolism. In her spare time, she can be found watching the Seahawk basketball teams.
Undergraduate Honours Student
Drew Locke
Drew Locke is a fantastic fourth year in the biochemistry program. He has four(!) dogs and enjoys motorcycle riding (motorcycle club member #1). He also likes thermodynamics.
Undergraduate Honours Student
Sophie Kiefte
Sophie Kiefte is a fearless fourth year who is very good at collecting NMR data. A fun fact about her is that her birthday is on International Women's Day!
Undergraduate Honours Student
Thomas O'Brien
Thomas ("Tommy") O'Brien is a fascinating fourth year in biochemistry. He likes hockey and when he isn't walking one of Drew's dogs, I suspect he is motorcycle club member #3.
Undergraduate Honours Student
Caroline Ryan
Caroline Ryan is a friendly fourth year in chemistry. She likes to hike, travel and play with her dog. She is also a Potterhead (she is definitely Hufflepuff).
Undergraduate Honours Student
Sara Butt
Sara Butt excels at many things including chemistry and graphic design!
Undergraduate Honours Student
Robyn Grandy
Robyn Grandy is a formidable fourth year who can be found analyzing countless ultrasound images. She enjoys spending time outdoors and learning about biomedical imaging.
Undergraduate Researcher
Haley Adams
Haley Adams is a fabulous fourth year in the chemistry program. She knows our decrepit mice better than anyone. She is originally from Nova Scotia and enjoys reading and studying kinetics.
Research Assistant
Nadine Burry
Nadine Burry brings her experience in running human research studies to our group! She also is a champion at multi-tasking, organization and helping with genotyping.
Undergraduate Researcher
Lauren Ringer
Lauren Ringer is a festive fourth year in the chemistry program. She loves photography, hiking and sunrises. She also has the MUN course calendar memorized.
Medical Learner
Darcie Stapleton
Darcie Stapleton is a second year medical learner at MUN. She is a superhero and is involved in almost every project in Dr. Cahill's lab. Much of her time is spent collecting human placentas.
Medical Learner
Katie Steeves
Katie Steeves is a second year medical learner at MUN. She completed her Honours project in our group and is our resident expert in NMR metabolite assignment. No one reads a 2D COSY like her.
Research Assistant
Mark Russell
Mark Russell is a MUN alumni. He is our animal expert and is using ultrasound to study a mouse model of neurodegeneration. In his spare time, he is a true Newfoundlander and likes to fish.
Undergraduate Researcher
Catherine Barrett
Catherine Barrett is a fastidious fourth year in Kinesiology. She has been instrumental in implementing patient-oriented research in the group and she is becoming a whiz at spreadsheets. In her spare time, she coaches swimming!
Undergraduate Researcher
Avery Macdonald
Avery is a superb second year who is a great help in the lab!
Researcher
Gabrielle Newman
Gabby is a fourth year in the Bachelors of Science in Nursing program. She is great with spreadsheets and in her space time, runs her own tutoring business.
Highschool Volunteer
Lauren Stratton
Lauren is a fantastic high school volunteer! Welcome to the team!
Alumni
Past M.Sc Student
Zahra Aghaei
Zahra Aghaei obtained her degree from Sharif University of Technology in Iran. Her current project focuses on studying the impact of maternal exposure to micro- and nanoplastics on fetal growth and placental metabolism. Zahra is very talented at making resin art and practices yoga.
Past Undergraduate Honours Student
Hannah George
Hannah George was a 4th year chemistry major. Her research focuses on studying placental metabolism in a genetic mouse model of fetal growth restriction. She also studied brain structure and function in these mice in young adulthood. In her free time, Hannah loves to surf and dive for scallops.
Past Undergraduate Researcher
Leah Paranavitana
Leah Paranavitana has a B.Sc. in biochemistry from MUN. She is currently in her last year in the Bachelor of Education program. She has worked with Dr. Cahill on a number of different projects including sex differences in ultrasound parameters. In her spare time, she enjoys baking and cake decorating.
Past Undergraduate Honours Student
Ashley Pelley
Ashley Pelley was a 4th year biochemistry major. Her research is focused on NMR-based metabolomics of human placental tissue. In her spare time, Ashley loves to dance!
Past Undergraduate Researcher
Dakshita Jagota
Dakshita Jagota was a NSERC URSA in Dr. Cahill's lab. She analyzed thousands of clinical ultrasound images! She is currently a student in Medicine at MUN.
Past Undergraduate Researcher
Alexander Darmonkow
Alex Darmonkow was a NSERC USRA student in Dr. Cahill's lab. He worked on a clinical research project, exploring the impact of marginal cord insertions in the placenta on pregnancy outcomes. He is currently a student in Medicine at MUN.
Past Undergraduate Honours Student
Hayley Rideout
Hayley was a 4th year Honours student in Chemistry. She is working on using chemical approaches to weather micro- and nanoplastics. She has a black belt in karate!
Past Undergraduate Honours Student
Sam Haven
Sam was a 4th years Honours student. He is our synthesis expert and is producing toxicants for toxicity tests in mice. He speaks multiple languages and lists "organic chemistry" as one of his hobbies!
Past Undergraduate Honours Student
Katherine Dibbon
Katherine Dibbon is a 5th year pursuing a joint degree in chemistry (lab coat) and political science (no lab coat). She is an active volunteer and is keen to mentor other young leaders. She likes hiking, swimming and ice cream!
Past Research Assistant
Alexandre Maekawa
Alex Maekawa is a Master's student in Medicine (Cancer and Development program). He is a biotechnologist in our group and is known as "the PCR guy".
Past Undergraduate Researcher
Jada Santuccione
Jada Santuccione is a tranquil third year in the biochemistry program. She likes microscopes and her fingers are often stained purple.
Past Undergraduate Researcher
Will Williams
Will Williams is a team-playing third year in the biochemistry program. He likes golf and chess and he is very good at coming up with names for mice that start with the letter D.
Past Undergraduate Researcher
Amy Stephenson
Amy Stephenson is triumphant third year in the chemistry program. She is very outdoors-y and also loves to travel. Like her colleagues, she enjoys a good differential equation.