Team Members

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Current Lab Members

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Tami Sauder

Research Technician

I was fortunate to join the Jardine team in July of 2011. I help with field logistics, sample collection, sorting and archiving, equipment, training on lab techniques and anything else the grad students, summer students, project students or volunteers require. No day is ever the same in the Jardine lab and I consider myself very lucky to be a part of it.

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Christina McKenzie, DVM

DVSc candidate
(co-advisor Dr. Nicole Nemeth)

Fungal diseases have emerged as a major threat to global biodiversity, triggering extensive population-level declines in many species from bats and frogs to corals and bees. Over the past decade, snake fungal disease (SFD), caused by Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola, has been recognized as an important disease in captive and free-ranging snakes worldwide. SFD was first recognized as a distinct entity in 2008, causing facial swelling, dermatitis and death in wild snakes. Although our knowledge of SFD and O. ophiodiicola has grown immensely over the past decade many integral questions remain unanswered. The aim of my research is to determine if transmission can occur horizontally between snakes and the impact SFD has in brumation. Understanding how these diseases emerge is integral to conservation efforts, as many of the snake species affected by SFD are species at risk in Ontario, including the eastern foxsnake (Pantherophis gloydi), timber rattle snake (Crotalus horridus) and Massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus).

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Samantha Allen, MSc, DVM

PhD candidate
(co-advisor Dr. Nicole Nemeth)

Dr. Allen is performing a risk assessment for the incursion and establishment of livestock and wildlife orbiviruses (e.g., epizootic hemorrhagic disease and bluetongue viruses) in southern Ontario. This will entail serosurveillance in free-ranging white-tailed deer (and livestock) and characterization of current vector composition and distribution throughout high-risk areas. The methods and concepts developed by this project will also be broadly applicable to studying the epidemiology of vector-borne diseases in Canada, which is at-risk for the incursion of causative pathogens, their vectors and hosts as they expand northward into favourable warming climates.

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Shannon French, DVM

PhD candidate
(co-advisor Dr. David Pearl)

Shannon French is examining the ecology of Baylisascaris procyonis in Ontario. Raccoons are the primary host of the raccoon roundworm, which is a parasite that can cause neurologic disease when it infects people and other animals. We have been monitoring the prevalence of this parasite over the past 4 years in order to better understand factors that influence the presence and spread of the parasite. Additionally, we are investigating both infection and potential exposure of other mammals and birds. We hope to use this information as well as identification of any infection hot spots to help guide public health efforts and public education.

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Jonathon D. Kotwa, BSc

PhD candidate
(primary advisor Dr. Andrew Peregrine)

Jonathon’s work focuses on using multidisciplinary perspectives for approaching emerging zoonoses. Specifically, Jonathon is investigating the role of wild canids as sentinels for pathogens of public health and/or veterinary significance in southern Ontario, including: Echinococcus multilocularis (human/canine alveolar echinococcosis), Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease), Anaplasma phagocytophilum (canine/human granulocytic anaplasmosis), Ehrlichia ewingii (human/canine granulocytic ehrlichiosis), and Dirofilaria immitis (heartworm). The resultant data can help us to understand the risks to human and domestic animal health associated with these emerging pathogens and guide public health and veterinary prevention and control strategies.

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Nadine Vogt, DVM, MSc

PhD student
(primary advisor Dr. David Pearl)

Salmonellosis is a significant disease for human and agricultural animal populations in Canada. Using a “One Health” approach, our research aims to better understand the movement of Salmonella and E. coli and associated antimicrobial resistance elements within the ecosystem using whole genome sequencing (WGS) data. We will identify the potential for transmission of antimicrobial resistant Salmonella and E. coli isolates between humans, livestock, and different components of the environment (i.e., wildlife, soil, and water) in the Grand River watershed. The results of this study will increase our preparedness for, and ability to rapidly control, future Salmonella outbreaks by contributing to the current database of whole genome sequences that can be used as a reference for source attribution during disease outbreaks.

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Tyler Greer, BSc

MSc candidate
(primary advisor Dr. Andrew Peregrine)

I am one of many researchers, investigating the prevalence of Echinococcus multilocularis in dogs, and risk factors for infection, in southern Ontario.

Since 2012, there have been six cases within southern Ontario, of domestic dogs infected with Echinococcus multilocularis, which causes a fatal disease if untreated. E.multilocularis, is a small (up to 5 mm in length) cestode that has a sylvatic life cycle between the definitive host, wild canids and intermediate hosts, small rodents (Eckert et al. 2004). Prior to 2012, there wasn’t any E. multilocularis infections documented and all five dogs never traveled outside of the province, providing evidence that all dogs must have become infected from an internal source.

For additional information on the tapeworm and projects being conducted please visit: www.emultiontario.com

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Diana Sinclair, DVM

PhD candidate

Given the challenges that today’s wildlife face, understanding which populations are healthy and which are not is essential for wildlife conservation. Yet it has been suggested that the wildlife health field primarily focuses on studying disease, rather than considering how to study health. Thus my PhD work explores how concepts of health are applied to wildlife. I am doing this by looking at how wildlife health is contextualized in peer-reviewed literature, using focus groups to explore how different wildlife fields conceptualize and measure health, using social network analysis to outline the flow of Ontario wildlife health data, and finally, an analysis of Ontario wildlife health policy. The aim of my research is to see if it is possible to modernize how we use and apply concepts of health in wildlife so that we can create more proactive health management strategies.

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Alumni

Ariel Porty, MSc, 2016.  Coxiella burnetti and wildlife/livestock interface (primary advisor: Dr. Albrecht Schulte Hostedde, Laurentian University)

Kristin Bondo, PhD, 2015.  Enteric pathogens and antimicrobial resistance in wildlife.

Mythri Viswanathan, MSc, 2015.  Campylobacter in wildlife (primary advisor Dr. David Pearl, Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph)

Lisa Werden, MSc, 2012 . Ecology of Lyme disease

Evan Schneider, MSc, 2012.  Ciguatera toxicity (primary advisor: Dr. Karen Morrison, Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph)

Holly Dodds, MSc, 2011. Enteric pathogens and antimicrobial resistance in wildlife

Samantha Allen, MSc, 2010. Enteric pathogens and antimicrobial resistance in wildlife