Natalie C. Knox

Head of Computational Biology Unit

Research scientist and head of the Computational Biology Unit Bioinformatics Section

Current research and/or projects

Dr. Natalie Knox is a Research Scientist focusing on the application of microbial genomics and bioinformatics methods for infectious disease surveillance and detection for public health and clinical microbiology. She also studies the gut microbiome’s influence on health and disease, particularly in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.

Research and/or project statements

Public health metagenomics for pathogen detection in food and clinical microbiology
Genomic epidemiology of pathogens
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

Education and awards

Education:

Ph.D. Animal Sciences, University of Manitoba

B.Sc. Human Nutritional Sciences, University of Manitoba

Awards:

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

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

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

Additional links

NBCI:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Knox+NC%5Bauth%5D

University of Manitoba:

https://umanitoba.ca/faculties/health_sciences/medicine/units/medical_microbiology/faculty/12967.html

VADA:

http://vada.cs.umanitoba.ca/about-us/faculty/

Key publications

Knox, N.C., Forbes, J.D., Peterson, C.-L., Van Domselaar, G., Bernstein, C.N. The Gut Microbiome in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Lessons Learned From Other Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases 2019 The American journal of gastroenterology. 114(7), pp. 1051-1070.

https://doi.org/10.14309/ajg.0000000000000305

Forbes, J.D., Bernstein, C.N., Tremlett, H., Van Domselaar, G., Knox, N.C. A Fungal World: Could the Gut Mycobiome be Involved in Neurological Disease? 2019 Frontiers in Microbiology. 10(JAN), 3249.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.03249

Natalie C. Knox, Jessica Forbes, Gary Van Domselaar, Charles N. Bernstein. The Gut Microbiome as a Target for IBD Treatment: Are We There Yet? 2019 Current Treatment Options in Gastroenterology, 17(1).

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11938-019-00221-w

Forbes, J.D., Chen, C.-Y., Knox, N.C., (...), Bernstein, C.N., Van Domselaar, G. A Comparative Study of the Gut Microbiota in Immune-mediated Inflammatory Diseases - Does a Common Dysbiosis Exist? 2018 Microbiome. 6(1), 221.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.03249

Forbes, J.D., Knox, N.C., Peterson, C.-L., Reimer, A.R. Highlighting Clinical Metagenomics for Enhanced Diagnostic Decision-making: A Step Towards Wider Implementation. 2018 Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal 16, pp. 108-120.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2018.02.006

Forbes, J.D., Knox, N.C., Ronholm, J., Pagotto, F., Reimer, A. Metagenomics: The Next Culture-Independent Game Changer. 2017 Frontiers in Microbiology, 8(JUL), 1069.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01069

Knox, N.C., Weedmark, K.A., Conly, J., (...), Hosein, F.S., Drews, S.J. Unusual Legionnaires' outbreak in cool, dry Western Canada: An investigation using genomic epidemiology. 2017 Epidemiology and Infection. 145(2), pp. 254-265.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268816001965

Peterson, S.W., Knox, N.C., Golding, G.R., (...), Mulvey, M.R., Graham, M.R. A study of the infant nasal microbiome development over the first year of life and in relation to their primary adult caregivers using cpn60 universal target (UT) as a phylogenetic marker. 2016 PLoS ONE, 11(3), e0152493.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0152493

Lynch, T., Petkau, A., Knox, N., Graham, M., Van Domselaar, G. Primer on infectious disease bacterial genomics. 2016 Clinical Microbiology Reviews, 29(4), pp. 881-913.

https://doi.org/10.1128/CMR.00001-16

Khan, M.A., Knox, N., Prashar, A., (...), Ensminger, A.W., Guyard, C. Comparative Genomics Reveal That Host-Innate Immune Responses Influence the Clinical Prevalence of Legionella pneumophila Serogroups. 2013 PLoS ONE, 8(6),e67298.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0067298