Denice Bay, PhD

Dr. Denice Bay is an associate professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases at the University of Manitoba.

Her research program applies cutting edge tools in molecular microbiology, genomics, and biochemistry to study bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) mechanisms and develop new rapid AMR detection techniques.

She completed her PhD at the University of Manitoba (2007), and was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Calgary (2015), before joining the University of in 2015.

Dr. Bay’s research currently focuses on four topics:

1. Development of rapid fluorescent dye-based assays to detect antiseptic resistance/tolerant phenotypes
2. Characterization of bacterial membrane proteins (porins and efflux pumps) and lipids (lipopolysaccharides and phospholipids) in vitro using various biophysical (fluorescence and mass spectroscopy (MS) and biochemical (polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, liquid chromatography (LC) and thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and genetic techniques
3. Unraveling AMR mechanisms in Gram-negative species by combining phenotypic screening approaches with multi-omics techniques (genomic, proteomic, transcriptomic, lipidomic) analyses
4. Examining bacterial outer membrane vesicle (OMV) formation associated with cationic antimicrobials and OMV applications to reduce AMR infections

Education

• Research associate, University of Calgary (2012-2015)
• Post-doctoral fellowship, University of Calgary (2007-2012)
• PhD, microbiology, University of Manitoba (2007)
• Bachelor of Science, Microbiology, University of Manitoba (2000)

Awards

• Ed Kroeger Mentorship Award nomination, Health Sciences Graduate Student Association (HSGA), University of Manitoba, (2020)
• Merit Award for Service, RFHS, University of Manitoba, (2019)
• Educator of the Year Award, Department of Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, University of Manitoba, (2019)
• CIHR Travel award for International Course on Antibiotics and Resistance (ICARe) Sponsored by Institute Pasteur, Harvard Medical School, McMaster University, held in Les Pensières, Annecy, France, (November 11-19, 2017)
• Graduate Student’s Association Award for Graduate Student Mentorship, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta (2015)
• Edward R. McCauley Award for Postdoctoral Research Excellence in Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta (2011)