Principal Investigator
Dr. Xiaonan Lu
Dr. Lu is from Tianjin, China. After study in Tianjin No.1 Middle School (1997-2003), he received his BSc (Food Science) from Ocean University of China in 2007 and PhD (Food Science with minor in Analytical Chemistry) from Washington State University in 2011. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University before he joined the University of British Columbia (UBC) as Assistant Professor in January 2013, leading UBC's Food Safety & Health Engineering Laboratory. He received tenure with promotion to Associate Professor in June 2017. In 2020, his research group moved to McGill University. He was promoted to Full Professor in 2024. He is appointed as Ian & Jayne Munro Chair in Food Safety, leading McGill's Food Safety and Quality Program. He is currently the editor of Trends in Food Science & Technology, associate editor of Journal of Food Science, BMC Microbiology, Frontiers in Food Science and Technology, etc., and editorial board member of Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Microbiological Research, Frontiers in Microbiology, ACS Food Science & Technology, etc. His lab has interest in developing innovative and rapid sensing, instrumentation systems and detection methods for ensuring food safety as well as preventing food bioterrorism and fraud. His lab also applies molecular biology and genomic approaches to investigate stress response and pathogenesis of microorganisms that pose threats to agri-food systems and public health. Recently, his lab has started 1) food synthetic biology and cellular agriculture that allow for the production of food with higher and tailored nutritional value, food with longer shelf life and devoid of harmful ingredients (e.g. allergens) and 2) investigation of the interaction between food components and gut microbiota.
Awards and Recognitions
- Fellow, American Chemical Society, AGFD, 2025
- Tier-1 Canada Research Chair in Food Safety, 2025
- W.J. Eva Award, Canadian Institute of Food Science & Technology, 2024
- Foods Young Investigator Award, 2022
- McGill Sustainability Education Fellow, 2022
- McGill William Dawson Scholar, 2021
- Young Scientist Award, Agricultural & Food Chemistry Division, American Chemical Society, 2021
- Samuel Cate Prescott Award, Institute of Food Technologists, 2021
- NSERC Discovery Accelerator Award, 2019
- UBC Peter Wall Scholar, 2017
- Larry Beuchat Young Researcher Award, International Association for Food Protection, 2017
- Young Scientist Excellence Award, International Union of Food Science and Technology, 2015
Postdoctoral Fellow
Graduate Student
Chen Chen (Ph.D. student)
B.S., Food Science and Engineering, Nanjing Agricultural University, China, 2021
M.S., Food Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, 2024
Yi Chen (Ph.D. student)
B.S., Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA, 2021
M.S., Human Nutrition, Imperial College London, UK, 2022
Negar Haghighatpanah (Ph.D. student)
B.S., Food Science, University of Isfahan, Iran, 2015
M.S., Food Science, University of Tehran, Iran, 2020
Yihan He (Ph.D. candidate)
B.S., Food Science, Zhejiang University, China, 2021
Ivy Li (Ph.D. candidate)
B.S., Food Science, University of British Columbia, 2017
M.S., Food Science, University of British Columbia, 2020
Jinxin Liu (Ph.D. candidate)
B.S., Computer Science and Technology, Tianjin University of Technology, China, 2019
M.S., Computer Science and Technology, Tianjin University of Technology, China, 2022
Alexia Joana López Gachuzo (Ph.D. student)
B.S., Food Science, Autonomous University of Queretaro, Mexico, 2019
M.S., Food Science and Technology, Autonomous University of Queretaro, Mexico, 2022
Pierre-Luc Longchamps (Ph.D. student)
B.S., Food Science, McGill University, 2023
Yuxiao Lu (Ph.D. student)
B.S., Food Science, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA, 2022
Adaku Ngadi (M.S. student)
B.S., Microbiology, Abia State University, Nigeria, 2020
Li Xiao (Ph.D. candidate)
B.S., Food Science and Engineering, Southwest University, China, 2015
M.S., Food Science, Southwest University, China, 2018
Yudong Xing (Ph.D. student)
B.S., Preventive Medicine, Wuhan University, China, 2021
M.S., Occupational and Environmental Health, Wuhan University, China, 2024
Tian Yang (Ph.D. student)
B.S., Food Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, China, 2021
M.S., Food Science, Zhejiang University, China, 2024
Undergraduate student
Blanche Babin
Food Science, McGill University
Selin Sermet
Food Science, McGill University
Sally Zhao
Food Science, McGill University
Lab Mascot
TUTU
Lab Alumni
Research Associate:
Dr. Lina Ma (2020) – now: Senior Research Fellow, UBC Michael Smith Laboratories, Canada
Dr. Emma Sproston (2020) – now: Microbiologist, University of Aberdeen, UK
Postdoctoral Fellow:
Dr. Hai Jiang (2014) – now: Associate Professor, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, China
Dr. Mohamed S. Draz (2016) – now: Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University, USA
Dr. Yiwei Tang (2016) – now: Associate Professor, Hebei Agricultural University, China
Dr. Jane Ru Choi (2017) – now: Research Scientist, Artron Laboratories Inc., Canada
Dr. Azadeh Nilghaz (2018) – now: Research Scientist, University of South Australia, Australia
Dr. Lei Chen (2019) – now: Assistant Professor, Jinan University, China
Dr. Dustin Heeney (2020) – now: Microbiologist, PHAXTEC Inc., USA
Dr. Jingsong Feng (2020) – now: Associate Professor, Zhejiang University, China
Dr. Yaxi Hu (2021) – now: Assistant Professor, Carleton University, Canada
Dr. Zhilong Yu (2022) – now: Associate Professor, Jiangnan University, China
Dr. Lixue Liu (2023) – now: Clinical Research Scientist, BGI, China
Dr. Kaidi Wang (2024) – now: Assistant Professor, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Ph.D. Student:
Fang Gao (2015) – now: Analytical Technologist, BP, China
Jinsong Feng (2017) – now: Associate Professor, Zhejiang University, China
Yaxi Hu (2018) – now: Assistant Professor, Carleton University, Canada
Mohammed Hakeem (2020) – now: Assistant Professor, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia
Luyao Ma (2021) – now: Assistant Professor, Oregon State University, USA
Shaolong Feng (2021) – now: Assistant Professor, Shandong Normal University, China
Jingbin Zhang (2023) – now: Assistant Professor, Beijing Life Science Academy, China
Kaidi Wang (2024) – now: Assistant Professor, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Marti Hua (2024) - now: Postdoc Fellow, National Research Council, Canada
M.Sc. Student:
Yaxi Hu (2015) – now: Assistant Professor, Carleton University, Canada
Jiaqi Li (2016) – now: Registered TCM Practitioner, Healthland Clinic, Canada
Luyao Ma (2016) – now: Assistant Professor, Oregon State University, USA
Gracia Windiasti (2016) – now: R&D Scientist, Daiya Foods Inc., Canada
Jingyi Feng (2017) – now: Teacher, Richmond School District No. 38, Canada
Bowen Zhao (2017) – now: Consulting Manager, Frost & Sullivan, China
Evan Trofimchuk (2019) – now: Consultant, EY, Canada
Lu Han (2019) – now: R&D Scientist, Daiya Foods Inc., Canada
Kaidi Wang (2019) – now: Assistant Professor, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Marti Hua (2019) – now: Postdoc Fellow, National Research Council, Canada
Anestis Tzanidis (2019) – now: Quality Control Specialist, New Beta Innovation Canada Ltd, Canada
Ivy Li (2020) – now: PhD Student, McGill
Marlen Petersen (2021) – now: PhD Student, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Cassendra Chen (2022) – now: Technician, FG Deli Group Ltd, Canada
Ziyu Liao (2022) – now: Quality Control Specialist, Jiangxi Jemincare Group Co. Ltd, China
Zeqiao Wang (2023) – now: Sales Representative & Production Assistant, Tokyo Beauty, Canada
Xinyu Yan (2023) – now: Management Trainee, Ferrero Rocher, China
Laura Webb (2023) – now: Client Relationship Supervisor, Medina Quality, Canada
David Tong (2023) – now: PhD student, Cambridge University, UK
Jingjing Li (2024) – now: Quality Control Specialist, L’Oréal, Research & Innovation, China
Arusha Fleming (2024) - now: Research Technician, Diageo, Canada