Dr. Brent Dixon
Dr. Brent Dixon
Adjunct Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology
Senior Research Scientist (Parasitology), Bureau of Microbial Hazards, Food and Nutrition Directorate, Health Canada (Ottawa)
Chair, Food and Environmental Parasitology Network (Canada)




Recent publications 

  • Merks, H., Gomes, R., Zhu, S., Meymandy, M., Reiling, S.J., Bolduc, S., Mainguy, J., and Dixon, B.R. 2024. Toxoplasma gondii DNA in tissues of anadromous Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus, collected from Nunavik, Québec, Canada. Zoonoses and Public Health 1-9. 10.1111/zph.13175.
  • Dixon, B.R., 2024. Cryptosporidium spp. In Smithers, G.W. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Food Safety, v. 2. Elsevier, Academic Press, pp. 450–457.
  • Merks, Harriet, Ryan Boone, Nicol Janecko, Mythri Viswanathan, and Brent R. Dixon. 2023. Foodborne protozoan parasites in fresh mussels and oysters purchased at retail in Canada. International Journal of Food Microbiology 399, 110248, ISSN 0168-1605,
  • Dixon, B.R. 2021. Giardia duodenalis in humans and animals – transmission and disease. Special Issue “Foodborne and waterborne zoonotic parasites of veterinary and medical importance”. Res. Vet. Sci. 135: 283-289. ISSN 0034-5288.
  • Hassan, Eman M., Brent R. Dixon, Syed A. Sattar, Andrew Stalker, Banu Örmeci, Maria C. DeRosa. 2021. Highly sensitive magnetic-microparticle-based aptasensor for Cryptosporidium parvum oocyst detection in river water and wastewater: Effect of truncation on aptamer affinity. Talanta 222, 121618, ISSN 0039-9140, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2020.121618.
  • Reiling S.J. and Dixon B.R. 2019. Toxoplasma gondii: How an Amazonian parasite became an Inuit health issue. Can. Commun. Dis. Rep. 45(7/8):183–90.
  • Reiling, S.J., L. Measures, S. Feng, R. Boone, H. Merks and B.R. Dixon. 2019. Toxoplasma gondii, Sarcocystis sp., and Neospora caninum-like parasites in seals from northern and eastern Canada: potential risk to consumers. Food Waterborne Parasitol. 17 (2019) e00067.
  • Iqbal, Asma, Juewen Liu, Brent Dixon, Bahram Zargar and Syed Sattar. 2019. Development and application of DNA-aptamer-coupled magnetic beads and aptasensors for the detection of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts in drinking and recreational water resources. Can. J. Microbiol. 65: 851-857.
  • Iqbal, A., N. Janecko, F. Pollari, and B. Dixon. 2018. Prevalence and molecular characterization of Toxoplasma gondii DNA in retail fresh meats in Canada. Food Waterborne Parasitol. 13: 1-9. 

Research interests

  • Food and waterborne parasites
  • Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Toxoplasma, Cyclospora
  • Detection methods
  • Molecular characterization
  • Surveillance