PEOPLE

Pat Forgione
Professor
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Tiantian Chen
Postdoctoral Fellowship student

Brandon Cigana
MSc student

Brandon received his BSc from Concordia University in 2020. Currently he is a MSc student in the Forgione Research Group. His research focuses on the development of synthetic methodologies to access structurally complex oligofurans from biomass-derived starting materials. In his free time, Brandon enjoys pleasant walks with his dog Luna and rewatching Ryan Reynolds movies. 

Keegan McKibbon
PhD student

Venelin Petkov
MSc student

Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, Venelin came to Canada at nine years old. He later got his BSc in Biochemistry at Concordia University. His graduate research is on the optoelectronic properties of doped fixed-length oligothiophenes. Personal hobbies include building and working with computers and learning about other types of science such as physics and engineering.

Sevag Pilavdjian
MSc student

Upon completing his BSc in Honours Chemistry at Concordia University, Sevag pursued his graduate studies in the Forgione Research Group. His research entails the design and synthesis of thiazole-based inhibitors for liver cancer treatment via C-H Activation strategies. In his free time, Sevag enjoys tutoring, playing video games (trying to be the best Pokémon player in Canada) as well as cooking and baking.

Phil Prevost
MSc student

Phil received his BSc from Simon Fraser University in Chemistry. His primary research focus is in medicinal chemistry for the development of potential broad-spectrum antibiotic compounds, with an emphasis on the synthesis of aliphatic amines and various heterocyclic amine groups. Ironically, he cannot properly read pH strips due to colour blindness.

Emma Shaver
MSc student

Emma completed her BSc at the University of Victoria. Currently, her primary research focus is in medicinal chemistry where she is working on developing potential chemotherapeutics. Nobody is more of a 2000s girl pop fan than her.