Natalie Knox, PhD, B.Sc.

Cross appointments

Does not hold any cross appointments.

Research achievements

Research summary

Dr. Natalie Knox’s research expertise is centered on the application of microbial genomics and bioinformatics for infectious disease surveillance and detection.

Her current research focus is on the use of genomics for COVID-19 surveillance and outbreak detection.

She also studies the gut microbiome’s influence on health and disease particularly in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.

Research themes

  • Public health genomic epidemiology
  • Computational biology
  • Microbial genomics and bioinformatics
  • Metagenomics

Research interests

  • Public health metagenomics for pathogen detection in food and clinical microbiology
  • Genomic epidemiology of pathogens
  • COVID-19 genomic epidemiology
  • Gut microbiome in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (e.g. IBD and MS)
  • Development of a pan-Canadian framework for implementing new genomics technologies into public health.
  • Advancement of infectious disease identification and diagnostics using omics technologies through international initiatives and collaborations
  • Addressing the disproportionate health burden (e.g., stomach cancer) from Helicobacter pylori infections in arctic Indigenous communities using genomic epidemiology

Keywords

  • Genomics
  • Public health
  • Infectious diseases

Research affiliations

Research scientist, Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory 

Faculty member, Visual and Automated Disease Analytics (VADA) Graduate Training Program

Biography

Dr. Knox is an adjunct professor in the department of medical microbiology and infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba. She is also head of the computational biology unit within the bioinformatics section at the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory.

Dr. Knox is actively involved in the deployment of new genomics technologies and methods for public health epidemiology within Canadian Public Health laboratories.

Education

PhD, animal sciences, University of Manitoba

B.Sc., human nutritional sciences, University of Manitoba

Awards

Nakano Citation Award for one of the best papers of 2013 in NCEZID, CDC (National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases) (2014)

Shepard Award nomination for best paper at the CDC under the laboratory science category  (2014)

PHAC Research Merit Award, Team Award (Bioinformatics Section) (2012)

Contact us

Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
Max Rady College of Medicine
Room 543 - 745 Bannatyne Avenue
University of Manitoba (Bannatyne campus)
Winnipeg, MB R3E 0J9 Canada

MMID1@umanitoba.ca
204-789-3299
204-789-3926