Kayla King, PrePARE Cluster Co-Director and Professor,
Departments of Zoology and Microbiology & Immunology
Dr. Kayla C. King, PhD. is a Professor and Canada Excellence Research Chair in the Departments of Zoology and Microbiology & Immunology at the University of British Columbia, as well as Professorial Fellow at the University of Oxford. Her group studies the evolution, ecology, and genomics of animal-pathogen interactions, thinking about the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, the microbiome, and host species jumps for infection outcomes. She has received numerous awards for her research, including the NSERC Arthur B. McDonald Prize, Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution Mid-Career Excellence Award, Zoological Society of London Scientific Medal, and the Linnean Society Bicentenary Medal.
Selena Sagan, PrePARE Cluster Co-Director and Professor,
Department of Microbiology & Immunology
Dr. Selena M. Sagan, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at the University of British Columbia. After 10 years at McGill University (2013 – 2023), the Sagan Lab relocated to the University of British Columbia in summer 2023. The Sagan Lab studies positive-sense RNA viruses of the Flaviviridae family (including hepatitis C virus, dengue and Zika viruses) as well as respiratory viruses (including respiratory syncytial virus and human coronaviruses). With diverse interests spanning molecular virology and RNA biology, Dr. Sagan’s research program focuses on RNA-RNA and protein-RNA interactions at the host-virus interface. Dr. Sagan has received multiple early career research awards including the CIHR New Investigator Award and a Canada Research Chair in RNA Biology & Viral Infections. Dr. Sagan is currently the Vice President (President Elect) of the Canadian Society for Virology (CSV).
Jim Sun, PrePARE Primary Cluster Member and Assistant Professor,
Department of Microbiology & Immunology
Dr. Jim Sun is an alumnus of the University of British Columbia (BSc, 2006 & PhD, 2012). He relocated his lab to the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at UBC in January 2024, following six productive years at the University of Ottawa (2017-2023). The Sun Lab studies how Mycobacterium tuberculosis, one of the most successful human pathogens, evades and reprograms our immune system. His research program integrates drug discovery pipelines to develop host-directed therapies to combat pandemic-level threats that includes tuberculosis, emerging pathogens, and antimicrobial resistance. Dr. Sun has received multiple early career research awards, including from Pfizer Canada, Canadian Society for Immunology, American Society for Microbiology, and the Lung Health Foundation.
Phillip Domeier, PrePARE Primary Cluster Member and Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology
Dr. Phillip Domeier, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of British Columbia. Following from his postdoctoral research at Benaroya Research Institute is Seattle, WA. Dr. Domeier’s research specializes in identifying and characterizing factors that regulate the maturation of antibody-producing B cells in the germinal center. Optimal germinal center activity improves the duration and potency of vaccines, but poor regulation of germinal centers can initiate autoimmune disease. Therefore, research in the Domeier lab studies germinal center-modulating pathways and how they impact protective (anti-pathogen) and pathogenic (autoimmune) antibody responses.
Chadi Saad-Roy, PrePARE Primary Cluster Member and Assistant Professor, Departments of Mathematics and Microbiology & Immunology
Chadi Saad-Roy, PhD received his PhD in Quantitative and Computational Biology from Princeton University. Following his PhD, Dr. Saad-Roy has been a Miller Research Fellow at the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science at UC Berkeley. He will relocate to the University of British Columbia in September 2025 as an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Mathematics, and Microbiology and Immunology. His research focuses on mathematical modeling for immuno-epidemiology, behavioral-epidemiological dynamics and pathogen eco-evolutionary dynamics. Overall, he aims to understand cross-scale dynamics of infectious diseases using theoretical and computational approaches.