Gender Male
Website www.hamzambareche.com/
Functioning at the intersection of microbial occupational exposure, genomics, and public health, Hamza Mbareche is a researcher, trainer and consultant who focuses on bolstering the environmental safety of workplaces and public spaces, using cutting edge technologies.
As a postdoctoral researcher of airborne microorganisms, the microbiome,
genomics and bioinformatics, he specialises in environmental health. His extensive research encompasses whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of SARS-CoV-2 from patients swabs and environmental samples (air and surfaces), the Whole Genome Sequencing of Influenza A virus in bioaerosols collected from swine barns, and the detection and sequencing of Orthobunyaviruses from mosquitoes collected in Southern Ontario.
All of this builds upon Mbareche’s graduate research of High-Throughput Sequencing technologies to describe the microbial diversity of fungi and bacteria in the air of different environments, and in the context of occupational exposure.
He has coded and analysed data using R and Python in order to write personalised bioinformatics scripts. Using such cutting edge bioinformatics tools allows for more depth, breadth and freedom in data analyses.
He believes in optimal collaboration and building collective knowledge in the field. With this in mind, he has designed and delivered training about sequencing to diverse audiences, including undergraduate and graduate students as well as hospital staff in Ontario. He has also spoken on many occasions on the topic of Next-Generation Sequencing and bioinformatics. This effort includes building and delivering a workshop called High-Throughput Sequencing and Bioinformatics for Microbial Studies in Professor Caroline Duchaine's laboratory. Additionally, he spent three years as a graduate teaching assistant in two microbiology labs at Université Laval: Technique de microbiologie and Isolement et culture des microorganisms.
Testament to his expertise, he has authored 30 articles for peer-reviewed scientific publications, 16 of which he was the first author and 5 as the corresponding author (principal investigator). Notable contributions include an article about the airborne viral transmission in a simulated Intensive Care Unit room that was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Viewed as an expert in the field, he has reviewed 38 publications for 25 peer-reviewed journals, with most of them related to next-generation sequencing studies. Mbareche is also responsible for writing a chapter in the Encyclopedia of Mycology book about Next-Generation Sequencing in environmental mycology. He is ranked 22nd on Expertscape’s “Expertise in Air Microbiology”, placing him in the top 0.25% of experts worldwide in this field.
Hamza Mbareche currently serves as the vice president of the University of Toronto’s Postdoctoral Association after three years serving as vice president of the graduate association of Laval University. Honours received include the Lab Exchange Visitor Program Award from the Canadian Society of Virology, and the roll of honours of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for the excellent quality of his thesis. Of the six scholarships he received in his quest to better the world, one was a postdoctoral fellowship from the Fond de Recherche Nature et Technologie du Québec.
