Team Members

Dr. Jeff Biernaskie

Email: jeff.biernaskie@ucalgary.ca

Dr. Biernaskie completed his BSc in Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge, his PhD in Neuroscience at Memorial University and postdoctoral training in Stem Cell Biology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. In 2009, he joined the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Calgary, where is he currently a Professor in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. He is a member of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and he holds the Calgary Firefighters Burn Treatment Society Chair in Skin Regeneration and Wound Healing.  In 2019, he was elected to the Royal Society of Canada College of Scientists, Artists and Scholars.

His research program is focused on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying tissue regeneration and the potential to exploit tissue-resident stem cells toward restoration of function following injury or disease. He is specifically interested in how skin and brain stem/progenitors cells are regulated during homeostasis and how factors like injury, advanced aging and the immune system impact their function.

Eren Kutluberk (PhD Candidate)

Eren's primary research interest is to identify regenerative fibroblast responses to tissue injury that may be leveraged to alleviate fibrosis in patients. To this end, he is leading two projects: the first asks why ​the peripheral nerve loses regenerative capacity with advanced age, and the second asks what the role of the extracellular matrix (ECM) is in promoting skin regeneration.

Eren completed his BSc at the University of British Columbia (Cell and Developmental Biology specialization). He collaborated with both the Biernaskie Lab and Rossi Lab for his Honours Thesis on the effects of macrophages on skin regeneration. 

Awards: CIHR CGS-M; HBI Graduate Recruitment Scholarship in Neuroscience

Isabel Rea (PhD Candidate)

Isabel’s project is focused on how the gut microbiome communicates with the brain in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), affecting pathogenesis and sex differences. To investigate this question, Isabel will identify and validate differences in gene expression in the brain, blood, and gut of an ALS mouse model displaying sexual dimorphism similar to human ALS.

Isabel completed her Bachelor of Health Sciences in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Calgary. For her undergraduate thesis she worked under Dr. Tim Shutt, investigating the role of a novel mutation causing rare mitochondrial disease. In her free time Isabel enjoys skiing, running, and cooking.

Awards: Alberta ALS Research Network (AARN) Research Trainee Award; Vascular Training (VAST) Trainee Award; ALS Canada/ Brain Canada Pierre Auger Morissette Capacity-Building Award in ALS Research; Hotchkiss Brain Institute Graduate Scholarship in Neuroscience

Jaimie Warren, DVM (MSc Student)

Jaimie’s research examines how post-surgical analgesics influence regenerative skin wound healing. Using a mouse wound model, she is investigating the effects of commonly used analgesics, including opioids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). This work aims to inform and refine analgesic protocols in research settings, with potential applications in both human and veterinary medicine.

Jaimie earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in 2024. During her training, she completed a summer research project on the heritability of cardiomyopathy in Vancouver Island marmots. Since graduation, she has worked as a small animal veterinarian and is now pursuing graduate studies.

Outside the lab, Jaimie enjoys climbing, skiing, and hiking, and spends as much time as possible in the mountains.

Awards: Margaret Gunn Endowment for Animal Research Fellowship

James Colter, PhD

James is a postdoctoral fellow in the Biernaskie lab. He designs artificial neural systems to learn molecular, cell, and tissue state representations of regenerative competence. He captures the dynamics that drive fibrotic and regenerative wound healing through predictive computational models - and perturbs them in silico - to identify targets that will improve wound healing outcomes and prevent scarring in burn survivors.

James obtained his PhD in Biomedical Engineering (2025) at the University of Calgary under Drs. Michael Kallos and Kartikeya Murari, after completing his BSc in Electrical Engineering.

Outside the lab, James spends his time backcountry hiking, ski touring, and photographing the natural world.

Fellowships: Postdoctoral Fellow, Alberta Innovates 2026 Enhancement Award

Brian Lozinski, PhD

Brian was born and raised in Calgary and received his BSc in cellular and molecular biology from Mount Royal University in 2018. His interest in Multiple Sclerosis led him to complete his PhD in neuroscience with Dr. Wee Yong, studying the role of fibroblasts and aging in central nervous system injury and demyelination. To further his training in neuroimmunology, he took a visiting postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in Dr. Dorian McGavern’s lab where he studied the interactions between the meninges and skull bone marrow in viral meningitis. From there he joined Dr. Biernaskie’s lab, co-supervised by Dr. Deborah Kurrasch, to study ependymal cells in neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration. He has a particular interest in applying neuroimmune techniques to study how developmental perturbations and insults can influence degenerative outcomes in later life.

Awards: NIH NINDS Visiting Postdoctoral Fellowship; VPR Postdoctoral Match-Funding Fellowship Program; Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA) Program

Edna Mandujano, PhD

The primary goal of Edna´s postdoctoral research is to understand how fibroblasts-immune interactions can improve either skin regeneration or scar formation. She will perform targeted in vivo screens and single-cell sequencing analysis to identify FDA-approved drugs that modulate the neutrophil or monocyte/macrophage dynamics within the wound and improve healing outcomes. Furthermore, some candidate drugs will be tested in large animal models to demonstrate their applicability in humans. The results of this project will identify new therapeutics and catalyze their initial translation towards clinical trials that will improve the quality of life for burn survivors. 

Edna completed her PhD and her BSc at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México by studying cellular and molecular behaviors of tumor cells. After that, she became a young researcher at Instituto Nacional de Rehabilitación, México where she started her studies in the molecular biology of deep burns.

Ross Fitzsimmons, PhD

The focus of Ross’s research is to better understand the regenerative capacity of reindeer antler velvet and to translate these findings into therapeutics for combatting fibrosis and promoting regeneration after dermal injury. This work employs a wide range of experimental approaches, including single cell transcriptomics, proteomics, and in silico cell fate prediction, along with harnessing in vitro screens and murine models of hair follicle neogenesis.

Before joining the lab, Ross earned his PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto where he studied vascularization of engineered tissues and characterized iPSC-derived endothelial cells using RNA-seq in the lab of Prof. Craig Simmons. Prior to this, he completed a BSc in Molecular Genetics and developed lipid-polymer nanodelivery systems for gene therapy during his MSc studies in Prof. Hasan Uludag’s lab at the University of Alberta.

Fellowships: NSERC Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA) (2026); ACHRI Postdoctoral Fellowship (2023); UofC Eyes High Postdoctoral Fellowship (2022)

Nicolás Collao, PhD

Nico’s postdoctoral research focuses on understanding the cellular composition and molecular signalling that occurs during acute human wound healing. To investigate this, he is using a multi-omics approach to get insights into the mechanisms underlying our propensity to form scar during human wound healing. Moreover, by cross-referencing this data with similar datasets in regenerative species (reindeer), he aims to validate potential therapeutic targets that may be relevant for use in humans to improve healing outcomes and quality of life after severe skin injury/disease.

Nico completed his Master’s degree in Human Physiology at the Universidad de Concepción in Chile, and he received his PhD in Health Science at the University of Ottawa. For his PhD thesis, Nico investigated the interactions between muscle stem cells and their microenvironment following cancer treatment, as well as how exercise training may prevent or mitigate the long-term skeletal muscle defects caused by cancer therapy.

Outside of the lab, Nico enjoys hiking, camping, skiing, and other outdoor activities.