Microbiology and Immunology

During my co-op at Johnson & Johnson, I was trained in critical lab tests and completed a project using lab skills I learned at school that resulted in the use of a disinfectant still being used today. This experience confirmed my interest in working in industry, and I was thrilled to accept a role there post-graduation.

During my undergraduate studies in Microbiology and Immunology, I had the opportunity to complete my co-op work terms at a food manufacturing company for four semesters. The co-op program has helped me gain more insights into regulatory affairs, quality assurance, shelf-life studies, and how food safety impacts our daily lives! The program is designed with numerous courses that include extensive laboratory work, preparing me for literature review and scientific research. Today, I work at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), Government of Ontario as a Food Safety Advisor. I am grateful and proud to say I am a Gryphon!

I chose to study Microbiology and Immunology at Guelph for two key reasons. First, the university is renowned for fostering an inclusive and supportive community that promotes academic and personal growth. Second, the program's curriculum stands out for its strong emphasis on industrial and research applications, equipping students with practical skills and knowledge relevant to real-world challenges.

Through volunteer/work connections and research-based courses, the Microbiology and Immunology program offers countless opportunities to gain hands-on experience. I’ve learned and applied lab techniques during courses, like Advanced Methods in Microbiology. In this course, we collaborated with Tiny Earth to conduct research projects investigating antimicrobial-producing bacteria in Canadian soil, aiming to find novel antibiotics. At my job in a university research lab, I’m also constantly exposed to sophisticated laboratory techniques, like proteomics.

One thing that has stood out about the Microbiology and Immunology program has been how incredible the faculty and staff have been. I've seen how supportive and knowledgeable they are through classes and working closely with Dr. Allen-Vercoe and Dr. Cox during co-op placements. In these labs, I learned how the class content and laboratory techniques I had been learning could apply to research. This included researching antibiotic resistance in E. coli, using "Roboguts" to test the effect of a common food colourant on the human gut microbiome, and discovering new bacterial species in fecal samples from Yanomami individuals (a group of Indigenous people in the Amazon).

What excites me most about my fourth year is the fourth-year research project. You can conduct your own research and ask your own questions. So you get to take all the lab experience that you’ve had in the last couple of years of university, apply it, but then also really tap into your own interests and ask the questions that you want to know the answers to.