Meet The Team!
Dr. Dinesh Christendat
Principle Investigator
Dr. Dinesh Christendat is a full professor in Cell & Systems Biology at UTSG (University of Toronto, St. George) and serves as the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies. He earned his Ph.D. in September 1998 from the Department of Chemistry/Biochemistry at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, under the guidance of Dr. Joanne Turnbull. His doctoral research primarily investigated the mechanistic aspects of E. coli Chorismate Mutase – Prephenate Dehydrogenase.
Dr. Christendat’s research interests span several areas, including Bioinformatics/Computational Biology, Metabolomics, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Plant Biology, and Structural Biology. His current research focuses on investigating the regulation of central metabolites synthesized through the shikimate pathway in plants. He aims to uncover the biological cues involved in pathway regulation and enhance the biosynthesis of specific central metabolites, particularly those with nutritional importance.
Graduate Student
Elina Kadriu
PhD Candidate
Elina received her B.Sc at the University of Toronto where she completed her undergraduate thesis in the Christendat Lab. She continued her studies in the Christendat Lab as a PhD student. Her project focuses on the transcriptional regulation of the shikimate dehydrogenase (SDH) enzymes in the plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria Pseudomonas putida KT2440. In addition, she investigates uncharacterized genes within the operons containing these SDHs using structural biology approaches and microbiology techniques to understand their role in plant symbiosis. Within the CSB department she is a member of the Cell and Systems Biology Graduate Student Union as the ombudsperson. During her free time, she enjoys taking her nieces to the park and taking long walks.
Tristan Philip
M.Sc Candidate
Tristan graduated from the University of Toronto in 2021 with an Honors Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Cell/Systems Biology and Genome Biology. His research interests lie in structural biology and protein evolution. He is continuing his undergraduate independent research project under the supervision of Dr. Christendat with his Masters project, where he is studying how plants have evolved to regulate the flux of an important metabolic pathway, using a model for early plants. In his spare time, Tristan enjoys sketching, photography and keeping up with recent paleontology findings.
Iris Low
M.Sc Candidate
Iris graduated from the University of Toronto in 2023 with an Honours Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Cell/Systems Biology and molecular biology. Her research interests lie in structural biology and protein evolution. Her research aims to characterize SKL2 by crystallization of its protein structure and identification its protein interactors. Characterization of SKL2, which is an important regulator of drought and salt tolerance in plants, furthers our understanding in the regulatory mechanism of drought and salt tolerance in plants for engineering drought and salt tolerant plants in the future.
Emily Deng
M.Sc Candidate
Emily received an Honours Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto in 2022, majoring in Cell & Molecular Biology and Human Health & Disease. In her fourth year of undergrad, she assisted in the analysis of shikimate kinase-like 1 (SKL1) localization in developing Arabidopsis tissues as part of an ongoing study at the Christendat Lab. Previous works have provided compelling evidence that SKL1 performs an essential role in chloroplast biogenesis, and hypothesize its involvement in the terrestrialization of plants. Under Dr. Dinesh Christendat’s supervision, Emily’s work will continue the investigation of SKL1’s evolutionary origin and the molecular complexity underlying its function in the chloroplast.
Samini Hewa
M.Sc Candidate
Samini completed her undergraduate degree at McMaster University in 2023 where she received a Honours Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Chemical Biology. She joined the Christendat Lab shortly after as a MSc student. She will be studying the plant pathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens and investigating the biochemical processes involved in energy production. Samini’s project will look at establishing strategies to control A. tumefaciens propagation in plants by looking at proteins and enzymes involved in the utilization of aromatic compounds via the β-ketoadipate pathway for energy as well as identifying inhibitors for key proteins.
Alumni (2018-present)
Artyom Gritsunov
Alumni 2023
Artyom obtained his Undergraduate Biochemistry degree at The University of Toronto St. George campus in 2015. He did his 4th year research thesis project at St. Michael’s Hospital under Professor Gregory Fairn’s supervision. The purpose of the project was to study the role of flippases in cancer cells.
Artyom investigates the role of Quinate and Quinate dehydrogenases in Chlorogenic acid biosynthesis in plants.
He is hoping to develop skills in Enzymology, Structural Biology and CRISPR. During his free time, Artyom enjoys weightlifting, swimming, biking, barbecuing, sudoku and chess.
Kevin Xue
Alumni 2023
Kevin joined the Christendat lab in September 2016 and graduated with his doctoral degree in 2023. He enjoys binging on food and drinks in his spare time while reading pre-renaissance historical accounts. He also enjoys moving certain objects at the gym. In the lab, he takes interests in microbiology and biochemistry. In his doctoral work, Kevin strives to investigate aromatic metabolism in Listeria monocytogenes. More specifically, his research aims include:
1. Characterizing protocatechuate metabolism associated enzymes in Listeria.
2. Elucidating the regulation of protocatechuate metabolism in Listeria.
3. Investigating microbial interactions between Listeria and other microorganisms
His publications include:
– https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29530613/
Here we characterize the LysR type transcriptional regulator, QuiR, and its role in inducing protocatechuate biosynthesis in Listeria
– https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32190965/
Here we characterize the novel Listeria dehydroshikimate dehydratase, QuiC2, and its role in synthesizing protocatechuate
Michael Kanaris
Alumni 2023
Prior to joining the Christendat lab, Michael acquired an H.BSc. degree with a specialist in molecular biology and minor in chemistry at the University of Toronto, Mississauga. Within the Christendat lab, Michael’s doctoral thesis investigated two genes related to the shikimate pathway, SKL1 and DAHPS, with the goal of establishing a better understanding for how these genes contribute to overall plant growth and development.
In November 2021, Michael published a first-authored paper within The Plant Journal uncovering a novel mechanism associated with DAHPS regulation and how the amino acid tyrosine contributes to tuning carbon flux through the shikimate pathway leading to aromatic specialized metabolism. Importantly, a 14-3-3-dependent mechanism was uncovered for the regulation of DAHPS, a first-described case within the literature, and highlights important features for shikimate pathway regulation that is distinct from mechanisms described in microbial organisms.
Chloroplasts are ancient organelles, and their function involved in the fixation of atmospheric carbon dioxide into organic sugars is an important feature surrounding plant biology. Michael’s research on SKL1 focuses on how this gene contributes to chloroplast biogenesis in plants, with a special interest in describing evolutionary mechanisms that led to the neofunctionalization of this protein from an ancient shikimate kinase enzyme.