Avena Ross

Dr. Avena Ross is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry (Faculty of Arts & Science) and cross-appointed in the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences (Faculty of Health Sciences) at Queen’s University. She leads the Ross Group, specializing in marine natural products biosynthesis with a focus on discovering novel molecules and understanding biosynthetic mechanisms in marine bacteria.

Education: PhD 2012 (University of Alberta), BSc (Hons) 2006 (University of Auckland). Postdoctoral training at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Recognized as a Queen’s National Scholar in Chemical Biology/Medicinal Chemistry.

Research interests span marine microbiology, biosynthetic pathway engineering, and natural product discovery. Key areas include microbial metabolites in marine environments, antimicrobial peptides, and applications of mass spectrometry imaging. Recent work emphasizes optimizing culturing conditions and analytical workflows for natural product profiling.

Publications highlight advancements in LMJ-SSP mass spectrometry, tambjamine biosynthesis, and microbial metabolism’s role in the carbon cycle. Advised PhD student Yagya Paudel (first graduate) and collaborator Marshall on review articles.

Labs/Teams: Ross Group at Queen’s University focuses on interdisciplinary approaches combining chemistry, biochemistry, and marine biology.