Colette L. Picard

Principal Investigator

Colette is an assistant professor in the Cell & Systems Biology at the University of Toronto. She did her PhD in Mary Gehring’s lab at MIT, followed by a postdoc in Steve Jacobsen’s lab at UCLA. She is interested in the genetic and epigenetic factors regulating germline and seed development, and how they are conserved, in both plants and animals.

Jacob Akil

MSc Student

Jacob is a graduate from the University of Guelph, where he studied molecular biology and genetics with a focus on plants. At UofG he researched the anatomy of Lemna trisulca and worked as a research assistant at UofGs soybean breeding program. Currently he is studying pollen development at the University of Toronto, and has a special interest in how crop genetics change to adapt with extreme climates. He enjoys cooking, video games, swimming, and ASOIAF.

Paul Song

MSc Student

Paul Song recently graduated from the undergraduate molecular biology specialist program at the University of Toronto. His current research interest is finding new genes involved in pollen development to combat the effect of climate change on crops. He has a hunger for anything that can tickle his brain and is motivated by food. 

Zoe Chung

Undergraduate Student

Kinley Padon

Undergraduate Student

Kinley is a fourth-year specialist in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology with a major in Genome Biology. Her research interests lie in small RNA biogenesis in the germline and the use of computational approaches to explore biological questions.

Gretl Baghdadi

Undergraduate Student

Gretl is a current fifth year undergraduate at the University of Toronto, studying Cell & Molecular Biology with a Focus on Plant Genomics & Biotech, Applied Genetics and Math. Her research interests currently include using bioinformatics to analyse single-nucleus RNA-seq data to find genes important to cell cycle regulation. She also enjoys crocheting and baking.