Joe McPhee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biology at Toronto Metropolitan University where his research group studies how host-pathogen interactions are regulated in different enteropathogens and uropathogens. The lab has studied numerous types of bacterial pathogens, including Escherichia coli, Salmonella and Shigella.

Joe received a Bachelor of Science (Hons.) in Chemistry and Biology from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. He received his PhD from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of British Columbia for work done in the laboratory of Dr. Bob Hancock, one of the world’s foremost experts in the development of, and resistance to, cationic antimicrobial peptides. While there, he received extensive training in molecular biology, bacterial gene regulation and microbiology. He undertook post-doctoral research in Dr. Jim Bliska’s lab at Stony Brook University where he studied virulence factors of the enteropathogen Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and the causative agent of plague, Y. pestis utilizing small animal models of host-pathogen interactions. He returned to Canada in 2011 to research adherent-invasive Escherichia coli in the laboratory of Brian Coombes at McMaster University. While there, he was a member of a team of researchers responsible for developing an animal model for this pathogen as well as characterizing genes associated with bacterial fitness.

Joe has also served as the Academic Coordinator for Biology for the Chang School of Continuing Education and as the Undergraduate Program Director for the Biomedical Sciences program.

My thoughts on science, parenting and occasionally homebrewing/craft beer can be seen on Twitter @JoeBMcPhee