If interested in joining the lab, please send Dr. Wenzel an e-mail using the contact form here.
Questions We Ask
Can replacing disease microglia with healthy microglia cure disease?
Can patient-derived models provide insight on mechanisms driving the onset of diseases?
How can we modify care systems to improve the lives of Canadians?
Current Lab Members
Our laboratory opened in May 2025, and we have already had four personnel working this summer. We are actively recruiting graduate students at the Master's and Doctoral level, as well as postdoctoral fellows. We will have at least two undergraduate students and one Master's student in September 2025. Their profiles will be uploaded soon.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Wenzel (Ph.D., B.Ed.) is an Assistant Professor, licensed Canadian schoolteacher, and healthcare advocate.
Before research, Dr. Wenzel was head of a special education department in British Columbia. In this role, Dr. Wenzel taught high school students with a diverse array of learning barriers, and created accessible lesson plans that encouraged school attendance and engagement. After school, Dr. Wenzel was a concert sound technician, mixing and recording concerts for musicians, including Juno-award winning artists. Life events led Dr. Wenzel to move 400 km away from their hometown for a doctoral program at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Wenzel was awarded their doctoral degree in 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Before lock downs were in place, Dr. Wenzel was offered a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Saskatchewan to start the first stem cell laboratory at the institution, and this laboratory is currently where Dr. Wenzel and team conduct their research. When asked what made Dr. Wenzel chose this career, they often respond “serendipity” because they ended their undergraduate studies claiming they would never write a thesis because “writing over a hundred pages seemed boring”.
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Hobbies: Downhill skiing, yoga, cooking, cat dad-ing,
Disclaimer: For long downhill skiing runs, you have to visit BC or Alberta
In the news
Highlights
This Year’s News
- September 8, 2025: Miku Tibule joins the lab and takes on a Fall research project on X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy and gene editing!
- July 1, 2025: Dr. Wenzel publishes an article on new neurochemistry tools in the Journal of Neurochemistry with 30 other researchers from around the world!
- June 19, 2025: Big congratulations to the lab! All our hardwork paid off, and we were ranked the #1 new biomedical research program in Saskatchewan! We thank Dr. Michael Kelly and Dr. Jane Alcorn for the support; we could not have done it without you!
- May 6, 2025: Kasra Khunjush joins the lab. Welcome aboard Kasra!
- May 5, 2025: The laboratory welcomes Rich Santiago-Cabural, a SaskPoly Technic practicum student, to train in the lab! Rich will be working alongside Dr. Wenzel to finish establishing our histology standard operating procedures with our “new” instruments.
- May 4, 2025: Ethan Adams is awarded a Stem Cell Network summer studentship, and starts working in the lab! Welcome Ethan!
- May 1, 2025: Wenzel lab officially opens with over $600,000 in external funding! Exciting to start working towards improving the health of children and adolescents!
- April 1, 2025: Fernanda Mascarenhas was awarded the 2025 Misiweskamik International Postdoctoral Fellowship, and will be flying from Brazil to begin working with Dr. Ana Paula Mendes-Silva and Dr. Wenzel in November 2025! Can’t wait to have you in the department, Fernanda!
- March 14, 2025: Dr. Wenzel was invited to speak about scientific writing to young scientists at the International Society of Neurochemistry Meeting in August 2025!
- March 13, 2025: Dr. Wenzel was invited to be apart of the Stem Cell Network’s Early Career Researcher Committee, and looks forward to continuing to create cool learning opportunities to bolster the Canadian regenerative medicine community.
Our Research
* = supervised trainee, ^ = corresponding author
a. Articles published or accepted in peer-reviewed journals
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- Abbondanza A, Kim N, Lima-Filho RAS, Amin A, Anversa RG, Almeida FB, Cardozo PL, Carello-Collar G, Carsana EV, Folarin R, Guerreiro S, Ijomone OK, Lawal SK, Matias I, Mbagwu SI, Niño SA, Olabiyi BF, Olatunji SY, Olasehinde TA, Ruankham W, Sanchez WN, Soares-Cunha C, Soto PA, Soto-Verdugo J, Strogulski NR, Tomaszewska W, Vieira C, Chaves-Filho A, Cousin MA, Rinken A, Wenzel TJ^. (2025). Dissection of neurochemical pathways across complexity and scale. J Neurochem.169, e70160. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.70160
- Wenzel TJ^, Desjarlais JD*, Mousseau DD. (2024). Human brain organoids containing microglia that have arisen innately adapt to a β-amyloid challenge better than those in which microglia are integrated by co-culture. Stem Cell Res. 15, 258. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13287-024-03876-0
- Wenzel TJ^, Mousseau DD. (2024). Brain organoids engineered to give rise to glia and neural networks after 90 days in culture exhibit human-specific proteoforms. Front. Mol. Neurosci. 18, 1383688. https://www.doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2024.1383688
- Wenzel TJ^, Le J*, He J, Alcorn J, Mousseau DD. (2023). Incorporating a greater diversity of cell types, including microglia, in brain organoid cultures improves clinical translation. J. Neurochem. 164, 560–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.15741
b. Chapters in books
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- Wenzel TJ^, Mousseau DD. (2025). Chapter 19: Maximizing the utility of brain organoid models and overcoming their perceived limitations. Handbook of Neural Engineering: A Modern Approach. Elsevier. ISBN: . Invited by editor Dr. Stephanie Willerth (University of Victoria).
c. Conference publications
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- Wenzel TJ^, Desjarlais JD*, Mousseau DD. (2023). Microglia in brain organoids exhibit different immune responses if developed innately versus microglia integrated by co-culture. J Neurochem, 166: 21-27. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.15895
- Wenzel TJ^, Le J*, Heistad R, Alcorn J, Mousseau DD. (2022). Microglia derived from stem cells exhibit a more homeostatic and adult-like phenotype in brain organoids than in a monoculture. J. Neurochem. 162: 111-65 (international conference proceedings). https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.15675
Values
We believe that people from diverse backgrounds (race, ethnicity, nationality, gender identity, different physical abilities) with diverse perspectives and insights are integral to making breakthroughs in science.
We understand that not everyone works the same way, so we are flexible with location and time of research.
All students will have equitable opportunity for professional development activities. As part of this value, we will consider personnel without prior relevant experience.
All personnel should be able to work in supportive and inclusive environment that is free from harassment and discrimination, and we pledge to uphold our work environment to this standard.
Training is core to our laboratory, and thus all personnel will have 1-on-1 support and clear learning objectives.
We understand improving equity, diversity, inclusion and teaching practices require constant review, so we always seek feedback to improve our environment.
Funding
