Lab Members

Marco Todesco

Marco is an Assistant Professor in the Michael Smith Laboratories, the Department of Botany and the Department of Biology (UBC Okanagan). He received a M.Sc. in Plant Biotechnology at the University of Padua in Italy, and a PhD at the Eberhard Karls Universität and Max Planck Institute for Biology in Tübingen, Germany, working on natural variation and micro RNAs in Arabidopsis. He then moved to UBC as a HFSP postdoctoral fellow to study adaptation in wild sunflowers. He is broadly interested in understanding the how and why of plant diversity.

Email: mtodesco(at)msl.ubc.ca
Phone: +1 604 822 5542
Office: MSL 319, 2185 East Mall

Kenneth Askelson

Kenny, a post-doctoral research fellow in the Todesco lab, earned his PhD investigating cryptic speciation in birds through genome sequencing. He has extensive experience in conservation genomics, particularly with Northern Goshawks and Western Screech owls in British Columbia. Now, in the Todesco lab, he aims to understand the genetic mechanisms behind seed camouflage in the western sunflower (Helianthus anomalus) using a comprehensive approach integrating sequencing data and field experiments. His overarching interest lies in using genomics to understand speciation and adaptation processes.

Cassandra Elphinstone

Cassandra is an NSERC postdoctoral fellow studying the genomics of Arctic plants. She will be mainly based out of Siri Birkeland’s lab at the University of Oslo in Norway but will spend about a third of her time in the Todesco Lab. Her postdoctoral research is exploring the role of structural variation in local adaptation in selfing and outcrossing Arctic species.

Dylan Moxley

Dylan is a PhD student co-supervised with Loren Rieseberg. He received a Bachelor of Science in Applied Biology with a focus in Applied Plant and Soil Science from the University of British Columbia. He works on new approaches for sunflower transformation, analyses of recombination patterns, and single cell-genomics, mostly in sunflower and cannabis.
His interests are broadly in plant breeding (QTL mapping, tissue culture, genetic transformation, altering recombination landscapes, improving genome quality, rapid cycle breeding, the break down and utilization of self-incompatibility in wild crop pre-breeding).

Other interests include:
-Plants in textiles: cellulose fibre quality, natural pigments as dyes, naturally coloured fibre production
-Improving & screening of orphan crops for food/fibre production.
-Controlled environment agriculture: varietal screening of leafy green/oilseed/fibre plants for production in vertical agriculture, and integrated CEA systems of plants and mushrooms for improved carbon utilization.

Raisa Ramdeen

I’m a tropical transplant from Trinidad and Tobago, a recent addition to the Botany program at UBC, co-supervised by Marco Todesco and Loren Rieseberg. My PhD research will use genomic approaches to understand how seagrasses will adapt to the climate crisis. 

Zhiqin Long

Zhiqin is a PhD student co-supervised with Loren Rieseberg. She grew up in China and obtained a master degree from Sichuan University and a bachelor from China Agricultural University. She is interested in understanding the species evolutionary process and the interplay among them. In addition, she is interested in prediction of species fate in the context of climate change and providing conservation strategies.

Vincent Fetterley

Vincent completed a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences at Université de Montréal and a Master`s of Science in Plant Science at UBC, where he investigated wheat relatives for novel sources of stripe rust genetic resistance. His desire to understand and harness plant natural genetic diversity to improve crop production and sustainability pushed him join the Todesco lab as a PhD student, where his project will focus on characterizing the genetic diversity found in hemp-type cannabis. He is motivated to identify agriculturally important alleles that can be used to improve hemp`s fiber production and adapt the crop to the Canadian climate. His research interests extend to plant transformation, molecular biology, and plant breeding.

Jonathan Beutler

Before grad studies, Jonathan spent 10 years working in rural economic development, agricultural education, and commercial farming on variety of projects from the American Midwest to Maui, Hawaii. From 2013-2018 he managed a diversified fruit, vegetable, and poultry operation on the North Shore of Maui, and in 2015 he founded Maui Olena Company, a production farm specializing fresh-root turmeric. He returned to grad school when a soilborne Ralstonia solanacearum (bacterial wilt) infestation forced him to dissolve the business. He completed an M.Sc. at UC Davis, with a thesis project quantifying the host-range of the unique R. solanacearum (IIB-4) clade from the tropical and subtropical Americas. He began his Ph.D. in Plant Science with Dr. Gurcharn Brar in 2021 and transferred to the Todesco Lab in 2023 when Dr. Brar accepted a wheat breeding position at UAlberta. Jonathan’s research seeks to apply Nanopore sequencing technology to improve surveillance and characterization of Pyrenophora fungal pathogens in Canadian cereal grains, and to accelerate resistance breeding. He is confident that there has never been a better time to be a plant biologist and can’t wait to see where new genomic tools can take the field of crop improvement.

Esmé Padgett

Esmé is a PhD student in the Genome Science and Technology program, following a MBiol from Durham University specializing in plant genomics and pangenomics. In the Todesco lab, she will continue to use pangenomes to explore the structural variation of cultivated crops and their wild relatives using sunflowers (Helianthus annuus). Using wild and landrace diversity, she believes we can innovate crops for a more sustainable, nutritious future.

Xiner QuMu

Xiner is a PhD student in the Todesco lab. She grew up in China and obtained a master’s degree from Sichuan University.  She is interested in the genomic and phenotypic drivers of differentiation in sunflowers, integrating genomic, phenotypic, and environmental data with deep learning approaches. In particular, she is interested in how adaptive traits such as petal and seed coloration are genetically regulated and how these traits contribute to speciation and adaptation. Outside of research, she enjoys swimming, photography, and exploring new places.

Ara Jamaldin

Ara is currently pursuing a MSc degree in the Department of Botany. She earned a BSc in Biology with a minor in Classics from the University of Alberta, where she researched pine tree responses to pathogen attack and cryptic species of Albertan lichens. At the Todesco lab, her primary research focus revolves around investigating how chromosomal inversions contribute to local adaptation in sunflowers; achieved through transcriptomic analyses. Beyond this, Ara’s interests include comparative genomics, phylogenomics, and understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying adaptation and evolution.

Haenglim Lee

Haenglim completed an MSc degree in Applied Science of Life at GNU, where she created industrial microorganisms using a metabolic engineering system. She loves learning new things and became interested in the field of bioinformatics, which led her to join the Todesco lab. She is currently working on a project about the recent evolution of the wild sunflower genome using herbarium genomics approaches. Outside of the lab, she enjoys reading psychological books, working out, and exploring cafes.

Justin Chan

Justin is a fourth-year undergraduate student completing an Honours in Plant Biology at UBC. His work seeks to characterize a transcription factor associated with UV-patterning and desiccation tolerance in sunflower ligules through physiological and transcriptomic approaches.

Christa Agoawike

Christa is a fifth-year undergraduate student completing a combined major in Biology and Oceanography at UBC. They are a work-learn student working on supporting multiple projects relating to characterizing genes that control adaptive diversity in wild sunflowers and cannabis. Outside the lab, they are interested in reading, crocheting, and spending time in the sun.

Kaede Hirabayashi

Kaede is a research assistant and a lab technician/manager. She completed a BSc (Hon.) in Biochemistry at UBC Okanagan. Her honours research investigated the climate change resilience of wild North American berries. She received an MSc in Biology, studying genome diversity and evolution of lingonberry at University of Victoria. Although she has a particular affection towards bog berries (Vaccinium species, specifically), she hopes to contribute to the sustainable agriculture as a whole through her work.