2023-24 RRC Student Award Recipient

This year’s award 2023-24 Respiratory Research Center (RRC) student award recipient is Alejandra Castillo Toro. Alejandra is a microbiologist who comes to us from Colombia. In her second year of training as a microbiologist, she was involved in the laboratory of environmental microbiology and soil. While there, she worked as a student research assistant which transitioned into an undergrad thesis. From that experience, she has two publications, one of which she is the first author.

Alejandra acknowledges that getting involved in the laboratory was crucial for her professional growth. There, she felt inspired and moved by the passion and love her supervisors have for research. She coordinated a student research group focused on the biodegradation of plastic pollutants. That leadership experience helped her to win an ELAP scholarship in 2020 founded by Global Affairs Canada to intern at Laval University in Quebec, Canada. Since then, she has become interested in applied sciences and environmental health. 

Currently, Alejandra is a graduate student in Health Sciences under the supervision of Dr. Shelley Kirychuk. Furthermore, she is studying the distribution of bioaerosols with antibiotic-resistance genes emitted from livestock operations. This work will contribute to the RRC in helping to understand bioaerosols and antimicrobial-resistance genes present in animal confinement facilities as part of agricultural exposure that can impact the respiratory health of workers and the surrounding communities of these facilities.