Paula Littlejohn
Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Medical Genetics, Department of Pediatrics
Faculty of Medicine
Dr. Littlejohn is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow co-supervised by Dr. Michael Kobor and Dr. Bruce Vallance at the BC Children’s Research Institute. She received her Ph.D. in microbiology & immunology from the University of British Columbia in the lab of Dr. Brett Finlay, where she developed the first animal model to examine the impact of postnatal exposure to multiple micronutrient deficiencies on the gut microbiome and gut resistome (collection of antibiotic resistance genes and their mechanisms). She holds a masters in Social and Behavioral Science & Health Education, a graduate certificate in Maternal & Child Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a bachelor’s in science degree in Biobehavioral Health from Pennsylvania State University.
Her current research further explores the molecular mechanism behind disease development. Presently her work focuses on understanding the role of nutrition in modulating epigenetic changes in early life that have long-lasting effects in children. Additionally, she is focused on discovering epigenetic signatures that contribute to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in children and adults and how these might be used as clinical biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic response.