Dr. Hynes obtained his BSc from the University of Calgary, and has spent the years since working on bacteriophages in one form or another – first, through a PhD at Memorial University of Newfoundland with Dr. Andrew S. Lang, and then later as a Postdoc with Dr Sylvain Moineau, at Université Laval. As the Farncombe Family Chair in Phage Biology, he brings this expertise to complement the exciting microbiome research that is already a signature of the institute.

Dr. Hynes obtained his BSc from the University of Calgary, and has spent the years since working on bacteriophages in one form or another – first, through a PhD at Memorial University of Newfoundland with Dr. Andrew S. Lang, and then later as a Postdoc with Dr Sylvain Moineau, at Université Laval. As the Farncombe Family Chair in Phage Biology, he brings this expertise to complement the exciting microbiome research that is already a signature of the institute.

WHITE, D., GU, J., STEINBERG, C.J., YAMAMURA, D., SALENA, B.J., BALION, C., FILIPE, C.D., CAPRETTA, A., LI, Y. AND BRENNAN, J.D.Investigation of discordant SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR results using minimally processed saliva Scientific reports, 12(1), pp.1-6. Feb, 2022. Named Co-author

ZHANG, Z., LI, J., GU, J., AMINI, R., STACEY, H.D., ANG, J.C., WHITE, D., FILIPE, C.D., MOSSMAN, K., MILLER, M.S. AND SALENA, B.J.,A Universal DNA Aptamer that Recognizes Spike Proteins of Diverse SARS?CoV?2 Variants of Concern. Chemistry A European Journal, 28(15), p.e202200078 Named Co-author

ZHANG, Z., PANDEY, R., LI, J., GU, J., WHITE, D., STACEY, H.D., ANG, J.C., STEINBERG, C.J., CAPRETTA, A., FILIPE, C.D. AND MOSSMAN, K.High?Affinity Dimeric Aptamers Enable the Rapid Electrochemical Detection of Wild?Type and B. 1.1. 7 SARS?CoV?2 in Unprocessed Saliva Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 60(45), pp.24266-24274. Aug, 2021. Un-named Co-author

LI, J., ZHANG, Z., GU, J., STACEY, H.D., ANG, J.C., CAPRETTA, A., FILIPE, C.D., MOSSMAN, K.L., BALION, C., SALENA, B.J. AND YAMAMURA, D.Diverse high-affinity DNA aptamers for wild-type and B. 1.1. 7 SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins from a pre-structured DNA library. Nucleic Acids Research, 49(13), pp.7267-7279. Jul, 2021. Named Co-author

 WHITE, D., GU, J., STEINBERG, C.J., YAMAMURA, D., SALENA, B.J., BALION, C., CAPRETTA, A., LI, Y. AND BRENNAN, J.DInvestigation of Discordant SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Results Using Neat Saliva. Oct, 2021. Named Co-author

WHITE, D., GU, J., STEINBERG, C.J., YAMAMURA, D., SALENA, B.J., BALION, C., FILIPE, C.D., CAPRETTA, A., LI, Y. AND BRENNAN, J.D.Investigation of discordant SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR results using minimally processed saliva Scientific reports, 12(1), pp.1-6. Feb, 2022. Named Co-author

ZHANG, Z., LI, J., GU, J., AMINI, R., STACEY, H.D., ANG, J.C., WHITE, D., FILIPE, C.D., MOSSMAN, K., MILLER, M.S. AND SALENA, B.J.,A Universal DNA Aptamer that Recognizes Spike Proteins of Diverse SARS?CoV?2 Variants of Concern. Chemistry A European Journal, 28(15), p.e202200078 Named Co-author

ZHANG, Z., PANDEY, R., LI, J., GU, J., WHITE, D., STACEY, H.D., ANG, J.C., STEINBERG, C.J., CAPRETTA, A., FILIPE, C.D. AND MOSSMAN, K.High?Affinity Dimeric Aptamers Enable the Rapid Electrochemical Detection of Wild?Type and B. 1.1. 7 SARS?CoV?2 in Unprocessed Saliva Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 60(45), pp.24266-24274. Aug, 2021. Un-named Co-author

LI, J., ZHANG, Z., GU, J., STACEY, H.D., ANG, J.C., CAPRETTA, A., FILIPE, C.D., MOSSMAN, K.L., BALION, C., SALENA, B.J. AND YAMAMURA, D.Diverse high-affinity DNA aptamers for wild-type and B. 1.1. 7 SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins from a pre-structured DNA library. Nucleic Acids Research, 49(13), pp.7267-7279. Jul, 2021. Named Co-author

 WHITE, D., GU, J., STEINBERG, C.J., YAMAMURA, D., SALENA, B.J., BALION, C., CAPRETTA, A., LI, Y. AND BRENNAN, J.DInvestigation of Discordant SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Results Using Neat Saliva. Oct, 2021. Named Co-author

Michael Surette, a professor of medicine and one of Canada’s top microbiologists, is shedding new light on why some microbes keep us healthy while others cause illness, what role our microbes play in chronic diseases, how the microbiome develops and changes across the lifespan, and how changes with age affect susceptibility to disease.

While it is often stated that most of the microbiome is not accessible by laboratory culturing methods, Surette’s lab has challenged this assumption. His pioneering approach combining culture-enriched molecular profiling with state-of-the-art genome sequencing allows his laboratory to routinely grow more than 99.9% of bacterial populations, and typically recovers 2-3 times the diversity of bacteria than recovered by molecular profiling alone.

These approaches are being used to investigate specific diseases such as cystic fibrosis, asthma, ulcerative colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome, and to address fundamental questions about microbe-microbe/host interactions. Exploiting beneficial properties of the human microbiota holds promise for the development of new microbiome-derived therapies for the treatment of a wide range of conditions impacted by the health of our microbiota.

Michael Surette, a professor of medicine and one of Canada’s top microbiologists, is shedding new light on why some microbes keep us healthy while others cause illness, what role our microbes play in chronic diseases, how the microbiome develops and changes across the lifespan, and how changes with age affect susceptibility to disease.

While it is often stated that most of the microbiome is not accessible by laboratory culturing methods, Surette’s lab has challenged this assumption. His pioneering approach combining culture-enriched molecular profiling with state-of-the-art genome sequencing allows his laboratory to routinely grow more than 99.9% of bacterial populations, and typically recovers 2-3 times the diversity of bacteria than recovered by molecular profiling alone.

These approaches are being used to investigate specific diseases such as cystic fibrosis, asthma, ulcerative colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome, and to address fundamental questions about microbe-microbe/host interactions. Exploiting beneficial properties of the human microbiota holds promise for the development of new microbiome-derived therapies for the treatment of a wide range of conditions impacted by the health of our microbiota.

Research Interests: Conventional meta-analysis; meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy; Health Technology Assessment.

Research Interests: Conventional meta-analysis; meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy; Health Technology Assessment.