People

Hamza Mbareche joined the Croitoru lab at Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute (Sinai Health – University of Toronto) as a post-doctoral research fellow as a part of the Genetic Environmental Microbial (GEM) project to investigate the pre-clinical state of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Hamza is particularly interested in defining the specific mechanisms through which the gut microbiome alters the development of IBD by incorporating environmental data with molecular sequences into a statistical framework using cutting-edge bioinformatics tools. This builds upon his graduate research of developing molecular methods to study the microbial diversity of fungi and bacteria in the air of different environments in the context of occupational exposure. His research also encompasses whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of SARS-CoV-2 from patients' swabs and environmental samples (air and surfaces), the WGS of Influenza A virus in bioaerosols collected from swine barns, and the detection and sequencing of Orthobunyaviruses from mosquitoes collected in Southern Ontario. Hamza's research interests lay at the intersection of environmental health and patient care.