Rasha Maal-Bared, Ph.D.
Senior Microbiologist
EPCOR Water Services
25th Floor, EPCOR Tower
# 2000 - 10423 101 Street
Edmonton, AB T5H 0E8
Email: rmaalbar@epcor.com
Research interests:
Using ecosystem approaches to public health, my research investigates the impacts of environmental changes on the distribution, persistence and transmission of microbial pathogens in various environmental matrices. More specifically, my research focuses on the environmental microbiology of food and water, as well as on a variety of zoonoses common in rural and agricultural environments and in aboriginal communities in Canada. I have a particular interest in symbioses between bacterial and parasitic pathogens and the occurrence of protozoan pathogens in biofilms. Synthesis and communication of results in a manner that aids informed decision making by both policy makers and the public are an integral component of my work.
Keywords: foodborne, environment, waterborne, zoonoses, agriculture, water and wastewater treatment, indigenous health.
Recent Publications:
Maal-Bared R., Bartlett K.H., Bowie W.R., Hall E.R. Phenotypic antibiotic resistance of Escherichia coli and E. coli O157 isolated from water, sediment and biofilms in an agricultural watershed in British Columbia. 2013. Science of the Total Environment Jan 15 443: 315-323.
Imbeault P, Findlay CS, Robidoux MA, Haman F, Blais JM, Tremblay A, Springthorpe SV, Pal S, Seabert T, Krümmel EM, Maal-Bared R, Tetro J, Pandey S, Sattar SA, Filion L. 2012. Dysregulation of Cytokine Response in Canadian First Nations Communities: Is There an Association with Persistent Organic Pollutant Levels? PLoS ONE 7(7): e39931.
Maal-Bared R, Bartlett KH, Bowie WR, Hall ER. 2012. Campylobacter spp. distribution in biofilms on different surfaces in an agricultural watershed (Elk Creek, British Columbia): Using biofilms to monitor for Campylobacter. Int J Hyg Environ Health 215(3): 270-278.
Maal-Bared, R., Bartlett, K., Bowie, W.R. 2008. Dealing with waterborne disease in Canada: challenges in the delivery of safe drinking water. Reviews in Environmental Health 23(2): 119-33.
Maal-Bared R., Axelsson-Olsson D., Carrillo C.D., Dixon, B. Inability to culture internalized Campylobacter jejuni in Acanthamoeba polyphaga following transformation from trophozoite to cyst stage. Submitted to Journal of Applied Microbiology.
Lamhoujeb S., Banerjee S., Bin Kingombe C., Blais B., Dixon B., Gill A., Carrillo C., Pagotto F., Maal-Bared R., Reid A., Simard M., Mattison K. Testing for foodborne pathogens in Eastern Canadian Arctic Food Animals. In preparation.