Meet the Team

Dr. Mehrbod Estaki, a postdoctoral fellow at the Knight Lab, University of California San Diego. With a background in Kinesiology and a personal journey overcoming Ulcerative Colitis, Dr. Estaki's work focuses on unraveling the mysteries of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and the microbiome. With expertise in faecal transplant methods, community ecology, and bioinformatics, his contributions have led to groundbreaking insights. With over 35 published articles and a passion for pushing the boundaries of scientific knowledge, Dr. Estaki is shaping the future of gut health research.

Dr. Jacek Usakiewicz has over 20 years of industrial experience in pharmaceutical and biotechnology R&D. He is an accomplished leader and research manager in drug design, assay development, protein chemistry. The last few years of his career have been spent developing numerous mass spectrometry-based methods and applications. Dr. Usakiewicz holds a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from University of Wroclaw, Poland. His Ph.D. thesis “Immunomodulatory activity of tuftsin-like sequences of viral coat proteins” takes a multidisciplinary (protein chemistry, organic synthesis, immunology and virology) approach to determining viral defense mechanisms employed against a host. He also worked in developing diagnostics for prion related diseases. He conducted postdoctoral research at the Biotechnology Research Institute at the National Research Council of Canada, Montreal. Prior to joining IPI, Dr. Usakiewicz worked for several Canadian and US companies including MDS Protana, Perkin Elmer and Neurocrine Bioscience. He is an author of over 40 peer-review publications and 14 international patent applications.

Dr. Lukman Sarker is a molecular biologist with expertise in analytical chemistry. He started his career as a microbiologist in ICDDRB on the Bill and Melinda Gates vaccine development project prior to pursuing his doctorate. He also studied hepatitis B virus immunizations among university students and the association of viral agents in diarrheal diseases. At UBC Okanagan, Dr. Sarker’s Ph.D. focused on plant secondary metabolites, and more specifically, how they regulate essential oil quality. He has been an integral part of UBC Okanagan’s research department, running multiple investigational studies. With his extensive experience generating genomic data, Dr. Sarker can provide insight into numerous applications surrounding plant and life sciences.

Carolyn Jardine is a transformational leader who values the employees and the customers we serve. She started her interest in the business side of health care in the early 2000’s as a critical care travel nurse in the United States. Upon her return to Canada in 2006 Carolyn took on progressive leadership roles in the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and the private healthcare service sector. Due to her motivation to lead teams to success she has multiple certificates in ethics, coaching and various aspects of systems transformation. After leading multidisciplinary healthcare teams through the pandemic and developing the new post-pandemic state, Carolyn completed her Masters of Business Administration with a specialty in Innovation Leadership. She brings expertise in entrepreneurship and systems integration to the Melius team. She is passionate about bringing value and sustainability to this organization. Carolyn is so proud to be a member of this world-class team. She is committed to making Melius successful in their goal of creating Gemm technology that will improve the lives of people and animals.