Cyrus (Ahmad) E. Taheri Ph.D.
Cyrus completed his Ph.D. in Applied Microbiology from the University of Saskatchewan, where he investigated microbial community dynamics using pyrosequencing and plate culture. In 2014, he received a postdoctoral research fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to conduct microbial community research at Lethbridge Research and Development Centre. During his postdoctoral research, he performed ITS and 16S metagenomics sequencing on the Illumina MiSeq platform and conducted bioinformatics analysis to characterize various microbial communities. He also developed new PCR primers and PCR protocols for molecular identification of bacteria, fungi, and oomycetes communities. Dr. Taheri’s primary research interests are applied microbiology and microbial molecular ecology using different next generation sequencing technologies, qPCR, and Sanger sequencing. As a visiting scholar, Dr. Taheri had the opportunity to visit research groups in Finland and Germany, where he conducted research on applied microbiology and microbial ecology. Dr. Taheri has led a few research projects as principal investigator, co-authored several peer-reviewed articles and one book chapter, and acted as a peer reviewer for several scientific journals. Since 2016, Cyrus is a faculty member in the Donald School Business, Science and Computing at RDP and teaches Microbiology, Introductory Cell Biology, and Molecular Cell Biology. He also has supervised undergraduate research projects in applied and environmental microbiology.
Ph.D. (Applied Microbiology), University of Saskatchewan
M.Sc. (Biology), University of Tehran
B.Sc. (Biology), University of Isfahan
Microbiology
Cell and Molecular Biology
Selected Publications:
- Esmaeili Taheri, A., Chatterton, S., Gossen B. D., and Mclaren, D. L. 2020. Overwinter survival and alternative crop hosts of fungi and oomycetes present in field pea residue on the Canadian prairies, Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology, DOI: 10.1080/07060661.2020.1827294
- Esmaeili Taheri, A., Chatterton, S., Gossen B. D., and Mclaren, D. L. 2017. Degenerate ITS7 primer enhances oomycete community coverage and PCR sensitivity to Aphanomyces species, economically important plant pathogens. Canadian Journal of Microbiology, 63(9), 769-779.
- Esmaeili Taheri, A., Chatterton, S., Gossen B. D., and Mclaren, D. L. 2017. Metagenomic analysis of oomycete communities from the rhizosphere of field pea on the Canadian prairies. Canadian Journal of Microbiology, 63(9), 758-768.
- Esmaeili Taheri, A., Chatterton, S., Foroud, N. A., Gossen B. D., and Mclaren, D. L. 2017. Identification and community dynamics of fungi associated with root, crown, and foot rot of field pea in western Canada. European Journal of Plant Pathology, 147 (3) 489-500.
- Esmaeili Taheri, A., Hamel, C., Gan, Y. 2016. Cropping practices impact fungal endophytes and pathogens in durum wheat roots. Applied Soil Ecology, 100, 104-111.
- Esmaeili Taheri, A., Hamel, C., Gan, Y. 2015. Pyrosequencing reveals the impact of foliar fungicide application to chickpea on root fungal communities of durum wheat in subsequent year. Fungal Ecology, 15, 73-81.
- Yang, C., Ellouze, W., Navarro-Borrell, A., Esmaeili Taheri, A., Klabi, R., Dai, M., Kabir, Z., Hamel, C. 2014. Management of the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis in sustainable crop production, in: Z. M. Solaiman, L. K. Abbott and Ajit Varma (Eds.), Mycorrhizal Fungi: Use in sustainable agriculture and forestry, pp. 89-118, Springer, Berlin Heidelberg.
- Ellouze, W., Esmaeili Taheri, A., Bainard, L.D., Yang, C., Bazghaleh, N., Navarro-Borrell, A., Hanson, H., and Hamel, C. Soil fungal resources in annual cropping systems and their potential for management. BioMed Research International, Vol. 2014, Article ID 531824.
- Esmaeili Taheri, A., Hamel, C., Gan, Y., and Vujanovic, V. 2011. First report of Fusarium redolens from Saskatchewan and its comparative pathogenicity. Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology, 33, 559-564.
Conference Presentations
- Esmaeili Taheri, A., Chatterton, S., Gossen, B. D., McLaren, D. L. 2017. Degenerate ITS7 primer enhances oomycete community coverage and PCR sensitivity to Aphanomyces species, economically important plant pathogens (67th annual conference of the Canadian Microbiology Society in Waterloo, Canada).
- Esmaeili Taheri, A., Chatterton, S., Foroud, N. A., Gossen B. D., and Mclaren, D. L. 2016. Metagenomic analysis of oomycetes communities of pea fields on the Canadian prairies using Illumina Miseq (2016 American Phytopathological Society annual meeting).
- Esmaeili Taheri, A., Chatterton, S., Foroud, N. A., Gossen, B. D., and Mclaren, D. L. 2015. Identity and host specificity of root rot pathogens colonizing standing pea stubbles from the Canadian prairies (36th Annual Meeting of the Plant Pathology Society of Alberta, Lethbridge, Canada).
- Esmaeili Taheri, A., Safarieskandari, S., Chatterton, S., Foroud, N. A., Gossen, B. D., and Mclaren, D. L. 2014. Pathogenic fungi associated with root rot of field pea on the Canadian prairies (Canadian Phytopathology Society Meeting, Saskatoon, Canada).
- Esmaeili Taheri, A., Chatterton, S., Foroud, N. A., Gossen, B. D., and Mclaren, D. L. 2014. Pathogenic fungi from roots, crowns, and stems of field pea on the Canadian prairies (35th Annual Meeting of the Plant Pathology Society of Alberta, Canmore, Canada).
- Esmaeili Taheri, A., Riginejad, N., Frazmand, R. 2009. AM symbiosis enhances the salinity tolerance of Pictacia vera (6th International Conference on Mycorrhiza, BeloHorizonte, Brazil).
- Esmaeili Taheri, A., Fahimi, H., and Balali, G., 2006. Survey of vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizas in central sand dune desert of Iran (5th International Conference on Mycorrhiza, Granada, Spain).
- Zanganeh, S., Mahmoodi, M., and Esmaeili Taheri, A. 2002. Introduction of two VA Mycorrhizal fungi from cold-arid zones of Iran (15th Iranian Plant Protection Congress, Kermanshah, Iran).
Community Involvement
- PCR workshops for high school students
- Microscopy workshops for first nation high school students
Current Research
- I am currently analyzing and publishing research data resulted from my previous research and supervising undergraduate research projects in applied and environmental microbiology
Professional and/or RDP Leadership
- Red Deer Polytechnic Biosafety Committee
- Donald School of Business, Science, and Technology Student Science Conference
- Donald School of Business, Science, and Technology Program Development Committee
- Red Deer Polytechnic Science Outreach Committee
Professional Memberships
- Canadian Microbiology Society
- Alberta Introductory Biology Association
Awards and Honours
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Postdoctoral Fellowship (2014–2016)
- Department of Food and Bioproducts Sciences, University of Saskatchewan Scholarship (2011–2012)
- Iranian Ministry of Research, Science and Technology Scholarship (2007–2009)