Our team

Dr. El-Halfawy is a Canada Research Chair in Chemogenomics and Antimicrobial Research and an Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Regina.

Originally from Egypt, El-Halfawy received his B.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Alexandria University in 2005. After working as a Community Pharmacist, he returned to academia and received his M.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Microbiology from Alexandria University in 2009. 

In 2010, he moved to Canada and completed his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Western Ontario in Dr. Miguel Valvano’s lab, focusing on mechanisms of intrinsic antibiotic resistance mediated by metabolites and other bacterial small molecules. 

In 2015, El-Halfawy started a postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. Eric Brown’s Lab at the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences and the M.G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, where he explored novel solutions to target multi-drug resistant bacteria. 

In 2020, El-Halfawy received a prestigious Canada Research Chair award and started his independent research group at the University of Regina. His research group is actively working towards solutions for the current antibiotic crisis. His group uses a wide range of approaches spanning microbiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, chemical biology, and chemogenomics to uncover novel antibiotic resistance and microbial virulence mechanisms, and discover new antimicrobial strategies.

Peri Moulding

PhD student

(January 2022 – present)

Peri obtained her BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Regina. She started an MSc in January 2022 and tranferred to the PhD program in September 2023. She is studying the effect of small molecules bacteria may encounter during infection on antibiotic resistance and virulence in Gram-positive bacteria. She received a CIHR CGS-M scholarship and a CIHR CGS-D scholarship to support her work. Peri first joined the lab in Summer 2021 as an undergraduate researcher through a Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research Undergraduate Research Award.

Gehad Soliman, MSc

Graduate student

(January 2022 – present)

Gehad obtained her BSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences and MSc in Microbiology from Minia University, Egypt. She joined the lab in January 2022. Gehad is studying bacterial responses to antibiotics under infection-mimetic conditions. She received a competitive scholarship from the Egyptian Government to support her studies in Canada.

Joshua Adams

PhD student

(September 2022 – present)

Joshua obtained his BSc Honours in Biochemistry from the University of Regina. He first joined the lab in September 2021 to conduct his Honours research. He returned in September 2022 to complete an MSc and tranferred to the PhD program in Fall 2024; he is studying the effect of certain small molecules bacteria may encounter during infection on antibiotic resistance in Gram-negative bacteria. He received a CIHR Strategic Masters scholarship to support his work.

Colin Rieger

PhD student

(May 2023 – present)

Colin completed his BSc degree in Biochemistry at the University of Regina. He first joined the lab in May 2022 as an undergraduate researcher. He started an MSc in May 2023 and tranferred to the PhD program in Summer 2025. He studies bacterial responses to antibiotics under infection-mimetic conditions. He received a CIHR CGS-M scholarship to support his work. 

Tyler Hamelin

PhD student

(Jan 2024 – present)

Tyler completed his BSc Honours degree in Biochemistry at the University of Regina. He started an MSc in January 2024 and tranferred to the PhD program in Fall 2025. He first joined the lab in May 2022 as an undergraduate researcher. He received an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) twice (in 2022 and 2023). He completed his Honours thesis research during Fall 2022 and Winter 2023. Tyler is studying bacterial responses to antibiotics under infection-mimetic conditions. He received a CIHR CGS-M scholarship to support his work.

Abdelrahman Hassan

Visiting MSc student

(October 2025 – present)

Abdelrahman is currently completing his MSc in Microbiology degree at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Helwan University, Egypt. He received a Study in Canada Scholarship (SICS) from Global Affairs Canada, which allowed him to join our lab from October 2025 for six months. 

Makayla Fleming

Undergraduate researcher

(May 2025 – present)

Makayla is in the final year of the BSc in Biochemistry Honours program at the University of Regina. She received an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA), which allowed her to join our lab during Summer 2025. She is currently completing her Honours thesis research in the lab. Makayla is studying the effects of interbacterial interactions on bacterial responses to antibiotics under infection-mimetic conditions.