Past Members

Our lab is grateful to have worked with many talented students and researchers.


Postdoctoral Fellows

Dmitrii Paniukov

PhD in Experimental Psychology, Texas Tech University

Project Title: Effects of mother's psychological distress on children's brain development using MRI imaging

Elnaz Vaghef Mehrabani

PhD in Nutritional Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences

Project Title: Stress and nutrition interaction during development

Daphne Vrantsidis

PhD in Psychology, University of Alberta
Project Title: Interactions between a glucocorticoid receptor gene co-expression network and prenatal stress on children’s mental health problems in early childhood

Yanan Wang

PhD in Human Nutritional Sciences, University of Manitoba

Research interests: Human nutrition, dietary fibre, microbiome

Graduate Students

Delaney Barth

MSc in Medical Science

Project Title: ‘Old Friends’ and learning to be friendly: How hygiene and social contact may affect the early-life gut microbiome and socioemotional development

Emily Cameron

MSc in Clinical Psychology

Project Title: The effects of prenatal and early infancy exposure to cortisol on working memory performance in preschool children 

Danielle Cattani

MSc in Medical Science

Project Title: The role of cortisol in the association between prenatal depression and child cortical thickness: Implications for executive function

Stephana Cherak

PhD in Epidemiology

Project Title: Mood entropy and fetal programming

Laura Rojas

MSc in Medical Science

Project Title: Investigating the association between prenatal stress and neurodevelopment

Jenna Thomas

MSc and PhD in Clinical Psychology

Project Title: The intergenerational transmission of stress: mechanisms and moderators in the association between prenatal stress and child development 

Julia Zinman

MSc in Medical Science

Project Title: The role of stress biomarkers in mediating the relationship between the gut microbiota and social behaviour in preschool children

Undergraduate Research

Greis Beharaj

BSc in Psychology
Project Title: Can Probiotic Use Improve Sleep Quality and Reduce Crying Episodes in Infants?

Amnish Brar

BA in Psychology
Project Title: The association between Mediterranean diet adherence and childhood internalizing problems

Aya Ebdalla

BSc in Psychology and Anthropology
Project Title: Can coping behaviours buffer the effects of cortisol during pregnancy?

Marina Ferreira

BSc in Neuroscience
Project Title: The Effects of Antenatal Maternal Cortisol and Depression on Child Neurodevelopment

Chloe Fichter

BSc in Behavioural Neuroscience, University of British Columbia
Project Title: The role of the gut microbiota in birth condition-associated cognitive outcomes

Nariman Kiani

BSc in Psychology
Project Title: Gut microbiota and neurodevelopment

Avery Krupa

BSc in Psychology
Project Title: The association between prenatal depression and early childhood behavioral development: Moderation effects of prenatal diet quality

Aisha Lillywhite

BHSc in Biomedical Science
Project Title: Does the 'cry-it-out' sleeping training method harm attachment?

Ryan Lim

BSc in Psychology
Project Title: Elevated risks for deficits in productive vocabulary in children during the COVID-19 pandemic

Chantelle Magel

BSc in Psychology
Project Title: Maternal childhood abuse and infant emotional development

Raef Mina

BSc in Psychology
Project Title: Fetal exposure to maternal depression is associated with child emotion regulation problems - Mediation by postnatal depression and child temperament

Tina Nguyen

BSc in Psychology
Project Title: The Effects of Maternal DHA on Infant’s Executive Function

Jessica Park

BSc in Psychology
Project Title: Buffer Effect of Social Support on Prenatal Anxiety and Preterm Birth during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Stuti Patel

BSc in Psychology
Project Title: Understanding the Associations Between Prenatal Maternal Depression Symptoms, Infant Temperament, and the Gut Microbiome

Samarpreet Singh

BSc in Psychology
Project Title: Antibiotics and C-section Section Impact on HPA–Axis

Nisha Vashi

BSc in Psychology
Project Title: Operationalizing maternal dietary intake questionnaire

Emily Ward

BSc in Psychology
Project Title: Daily Physical Activity Level and the Function of the Stress Response System (HPA Axis) During Pregnancy