Team
Jennifer Thompson PhD, Principal Investigator
Dr. Thompson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology and member of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute and Alberta Children's Health Research Institute at the University of Calgary. She received her Ph.D. in Physiology at Western University in London, Ontario, and subsequently undertook postdoctoral training in the Vascular Biology Center at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia. She is a National Heart and Stroke Foundation New Investigator and past recipient of the Perinatal Research Society New Investigator & Cassady Presidential Award.
Current Trainees
Taylor Scheidl, PhD student
Taylor Scheidl has an Honours Degree in Physiology from the University of Alberta and has recently transferred to a PhD program. Her interests lie in the developmental origins of obesity. In the Thompson lab, Taylor's research focuses on stem cells and programming of adipose tissue dysfunction in offspring of obese dams. Taylor currently holds a doctoral scholarship from CIHR and is a past recipient of the Giving Day Scholarship, a graduate scholarship from the Libin Cardiovascular Institute, and a doctoral scholarship from the Libin Women's Cardiovascular Health Initiate. She is passionate about knowledge translation and has collaborated with partners at the University of Calgary to spearhead a community outreach program designed to address childhood obesity through enhancing health literacy among youth.
Jessica Wager, Master's student
Jessica Wager completed her undergraduate degree in the Bachelor of Health Sciences in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Calgary. Currently, Jessica is a PhD student funded by an NSERC graduate scholarship. Her works investigates the role of macrophages in adaptive adipose remodelling and in the pathophysiology of obesity.
PAST TRAINEES
Liam Connors MSc, Medical student
Liam Connors recently completed his master's degree in our lab, and has now started his journey as a medical student in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. In our lab, Liam was awarded graduate scholarships from the CIHR, Libin Cardiovascular Institute, Faculty of Graduate Studies, and Cumming School of Medicine. Liam's research uncovered sex-specific effects of gestational BPS exposure on microvascular function in the offspring. He is current a medical student at the University of Calgary.
Sarah Easson MSc
Sarah Easson completed her undergraduate degree at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and recently completed a MSc in our laboratory. Her work revealed that exposure to a low-dose of BPS impaired microvascular endothelial function through the promotion of oxidative stress and eNOS uncoupling. Her work was recently accepted to Environmental International.
Radha Singh PhD, Postdoctoral Scholar
Dr. Radha Singh embarked on postdoctoral research in our laboratory after completing a PhD at the Department of Developmental Toxicology at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research while registered at the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR) in New Delhi. Radha's work in our laboratory was supported by a Kertland fellowship from the Libin Cardiovascular Institute and a fellowship from the Molly Towell Perinatal Research Foundation. Her work identified oxidative stress as a unifying mechanism that explains the adipogenesis-enhancing effect of BPA and its structural analogues. Radha has recently joined the University of California San Francisco to pursue the next step in her career.