Vivien Measday

Vivien Measday is an Associate Professor at the Wine Research Centre, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia. She holds associate memberships in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Michael Smith Laboratories.

Dr. Measday earned her BSc in Biochemistry from UBC (1991), PhD in Medical Genetics and Microbiology from the University of Toronto (1998), and conducted postdoctoral research in Medical Genetics at UBC (2003). Her lab investigates two primary programs: (1) the mechanism of Ty1 retrotransposon integration in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and (2) characterization of wine yeast populations in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley.

• Education: BSc (UBC), PhD (Toronto), Postdoc (UBC)
• Research Programs: Ty1 retrotransposon integration, Wine yeast terroir analysis
• Collaborations: Dr. Hung-Ta Chen (Academic Sinica), Dr. Simone Castellarin (UBC Wine Research Centre)

Her research has produced 15+ publications since 2007, focusing on yeast genome maintenance, retroviral integrase interactions, and wine microbiome dynamics. Key findings include the role of RNA Polymerase III subunits in Ty1 targeting and the impact of commercial yeast strains on Okanagan vineyard populations.

Scientific Recognition

• Canada Research Chair
• MSFH Education Award

Dr. Measday supervises graduate students in the Food Science, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Genome Sciences and Technology programs. Her team has identified novel yeast strains contributing to Okanagan wine terroir and elucidated conserved mechanisms of retroviral DNA integration.