The Minds Behind Our Data

Jennifer is currently a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Toronto and a research trainee at the Center for Global Child Health, Hospital for Sick Children (Sickkids) in Toronto, Canada. Before embarking on her PhD journey, she earned an MSc in Medical Sciences from Newcastle University in England and a BSc in Biotechnology from Ebonyi State University in Nigeria. Her academic achievements and dedication to the scientific community have been recognized by the American Society of Nutrition, the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, the United Nations SDG Action Group amongst others.

Her PhD research employs multi-omics techniques to investigate the early infant microbiome in low- and middle-income settings. Her work is integrated into the Synbiotics for the Early Prevention of Severe Infections in Infants (SEPSiS) Project, a comprehensive, multi-component study funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This study includes both an observational cohort and a randomized, placebo-controlled phase II probiotic trial.

Using data from the observational study, Jennifer applies multi-omics methodologies to examine the development of the infant microbiome from birth to six months of age, exploring how various maternal and infant factors influence this process. Additionally, she investigates the relationships between maternal microbiomes from different body sites and the infant fecal microbiome to better understand maternal-to-infant microbiome transmission. From the probiotic trial data, she evaluates the impact of a Lactiplantibacillus-based probiotic intervention on the infant’s fecal microbiome during the first six months of life. The overarching goal of her PhD research is to enhance our understanding of the infant microbiome in low- and middle-income settings and assess the potential benefits of neonatal probiotic interventions.

At Vitract, Jennifer works as an R&D and Bioinformatics Intern, where she contributes to research and data analysis to enhance microbiome-based insights and personalized nutrition recommendations. She chose Vitract because of its pioneering use of state-of-the-art microbiome detection kits and techniques that ensure highly accurate results. Additionally, the company’s recommendations are grounded in solid scientific literature, offering evidence-based solutions to optimize health. Jennifer continues to learn from and be inspired by the brilliance of Vitract’s co founders.

Outside the lab, Jennifer is a vibrant individual with a love for dance, whether it's Afrobeats, Salsa, or Bachata. She also enjoys watching movies, particularly psychological thrillers and romantic comedies, and cherishes quality time with family, friends, and nature. She often jokes that if microbiome research hadn’t stolen her heart, she’d probably be competing on a dance show or at least embarrassing her friends at every wedding.

Ariel is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging studying the role of ketone body metabolites in the aging immune system. Her passions for nutrition, exercise, and science lead her to study aging research, as she wanted to understand why we're told to eat well and exercise to live a long and healthy life. For this reason and her interest in science communication, she worked with Vitract writing blogs about gut health and sharing the interesting science of Vitract with others. Interestingly, Ariel was connected to Linta by a friend because both women are female wrestlers!

Robert is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto within the Department of Biochemistry. Prior to pursuing a PhD, Robert earned a Bsc in microbiology from the University of Guelph where he carried out a thesis project involving genotyping a novel RNA grapevine virus under the supervision of Dr. Baozhong Meng.

His PhD work employs various biochemical, structural and biophysical techniques to characterize viral encoded protein inhibitors of an immune system found in Escherichia coli, a common resident of the gut microbiome. The overarching goal of his PhD research is to understand how viruses overcome diverse bacterial immune systems and how the molecular arms race between bacteria and viruses drives their evolution.

At Vitract, Rob works as an R&D intern where he is responsible for the analysis of data from peer-reviewed publications related to the impact of dietary and lifestyle interventions on the gut microbiome. Curated datasets generated by Rob and others on the R&D team fuel Vitract’s recommendation engine for personalized nutrition to help shape a healthier gut microbiome. Robert chose Vitract as it presents the unique opportunity to take his love for microbiology and translate it into actionable information that impacts real-world patient outcomes.

Outside of the lab, you can find Rob at a Blue Jays game, a concert, or on a patio enjoying a drink with friends.

My passion for public health and lessening the burden of health problems in my home country and around the world led me to pursue a degree in health science. To this end, I studied Biochemistry at Redeemer’s University in Nigeria, where I obtained a bachelor's degree. In 2018, I also graduated from Redeemer’s University with a master’s degree in Molecular Biology and Genomics. My research focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms for resistance to artemisinin-based combination therapy against malaria in Nigeria.

I also worked as a research fellow at the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) between 2018 and 2022, where I was part of a team that worked on a project funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council and the United Kingdom Research and Innovation to design a one-health vaccine against Lassa and Ebola fevers. The result of that project was a trivalent vaccine against Lassa, Ebola, and Marburg viruses that is now in the clinical trial phase in the UK.

After the end of the project, I migrated to Canada in January 2023 to obtain a doctorate in Immunology at the University of Manitoba. My research focuses on understanding and evaluating an immune protein, type III interferons, as a potential therapy against ulcerative colitis, a form of autoimmune disease called inflammatory bowel diseases. An arm of my research project studies the gut microbiome and how microbial factors can alleviate the inflammatory condition. This is in line with the vision of Vitract – to transform gut health through a personalized understanding of the gut microbiome. This is why I am delighted to be a member of the Research and Development team at Vitract, where I am a part of a dynamic and brilliant team, working to improve digestive health through cutting-edge and translational gut microbiome technology.