MEET THE TEAM

Current Lab Members

Rodrigue Brossaud

Postdoctoral Fellow
Rodrigue is a postdoctoral fellow at McMaster University and Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute. Supported by a DeGroote Postdoctoral Award, his research explores how prenatal cannabis exposure affects the development of the microbiota–gut–brain axis. He focuses on the role of the endocannabinoid system in the developmental process of the enteric and central nervous system, combining a novel in vivo cannabis smoke exposure model with advanced in vitro systems.

Fun Fact: I can recognize over 20 types of cheese in a blind tasting – a very French skill, probably.
Sierra D'Amico

MSc. Medical Sciences Candidate
Sierra is a second-year master's student in the Medical Sciences Graduate Program, where she investigates the development of the gut-brain axis using a model of whole-body cannabis smoke exposure during pregnancy. Her research asks the question: "Does in-utero cannabis exposure affect the development and function of the gut-brain axis?"

Fun fact: I grew up 20 minutes away from McMaster University!
Chiara Fricano

MSc. Neuroscience Candidate
Chiara is a graduate of the Honours BSc. Biology and Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour program. Her undergraduate thesis project collaborated with Western University to explore the impact of edible ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) usage and supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids on the development of the gastrointestinal tract of an adolescent rat model. Chiara is now a student in the MSc. Neuroscience program, where she investigates the effect of in utero cannabis smoke exposure on the gut-brain-microbiota axis through a rodent model and parallel clinical study in humans.

Fun Fact: was a competitive figure skater.
Winnie (Hyojin) Park

Undergraduate Research Assistant
Winnie is an undergraduate research assistant in the Ratcliffe Lab interested in exploring the fascinating gut-brain axis connection. She is currently working on the FiNCH Project to investigate the neurodevelopmental and gut microbial outcomes of in utero cannabis exposure.

Fun fact: I love strawberry yogurt!
Jessica Roberts

Undergraduate Research Assistant
Jessica is an undergraduate research assistant in the Honours B.Sc. Kinesiology Program. Jessica completed her research practicum in the lab exploring reasonable outcome metrics for a study of neurodevelopmental outcomes in cannabis exposed infants, with a primary focus on recruitment, consent, and follow-up rates. Jessica is an active member of our laboratory team, currently working with the FiNCH project on participant recruitment and data collection.

Fun Fact: I've been playing the piano since the age of 5!
Daniel Xie

Undergraduate Research Assistant
Daniel is a lab volunteer in the iBioMed program. As a Lab Assistant last summer, his project explored the impact of cannabis exposure in utero on the neurodevelopment of the GI tract. He is involved in other projects within the research group.

Our Alumni

Ally Zhao

Bachelors of Health Sciences
Ally completed her thesis with the FiNCH project and is working on this project over the summer. She is looking into developing a collection pipeline in looking at the feasibility of collection/analyzing biological samples for cannabis exposure.
Ashwini

Bachelors of Health Sciences
Ashwini is a 3rd year Bachelor of Health Sciences student in the Ratcliffe Lab. Her research project explores the expression of cannabinoid receptors in dopaminergic neurons in the fetal and early postnatal intestine. She is involved in several ongoing projects at the Ratcliffe Lab as a Lab Assistant.
Samridhi Sharma

Biomedical Discovery and Commercialization
Samridhi is a fourth-year thesis student in the Ratcliffe Lab. Her project explores the interaction between CB1 and enteric glial cells in adult gut tissues to inform developmental outcomes associated with prenatal cannabis exposure.
Maria Sunil

M.Sc. Candidate
Maria is a M.Sc. student in the Ratcliffe lab investigating the impacts of in utero cannabis exposure on the development of the GI endocannabinoid system and enteric nervous system. In addition to this, she is currently mapping out normal development of the endocannabinoid system in the gastrointestinal tract.
Kavina Uthayakumaran

Biomedical Discovery and Commercialization
Kavina is a fourth-year thesis student in the Ratcliffe Lab. Her research project explores the interactions between axon guidance molecules, namely netrin-1, and the endocannabinoid system in the developmental programming of the gut-brain axis. By better understanding these interactions, some of the observed neurodevelopmental defects from exogenous cannabis exposure may be explained.
Jasjeet Chhoker

Honors Biology
Jasjeet is a fourth-year thesis student. Her project will be exploring the expression of cannabinoid receptors in enteric glial cells in adult tissues and the developmental timeline of receptor expression in fetal/early postnatal tissues.
Mahnoor Adnan

Biomedical Discovery and Commercialization, McMaster University
Sophia Farcas

Bachelor of Health Sciences, McMaster University
Jennifer Ma

Integrated Sciences, McMaster University
Eileen Tang

Bachelor of Health Sciences, McMaster University