Alex Pelletier

Post-Doctoral Researcher

Alex is a post-doctoral researcher studying quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), which are common ingredients in household and industrial disinfectant sprays and wipes, personal care products, and anti-microbial agents. QACs enter the natural aquatic environment via municipal wastewater, from which treatment plants are not always equipped to remove QACs. Alex is helping to investigate the effects of QACs on freshwater communities, focusing primarily on aquatic insects.

 

Alex completed his B.Sc. in Freshwater Fisheries Science at Virginia Tech before working as a Natural Resources Specialist with the US Forest Service. He then completed his M.Sc. in Aquatic Sciences at the University of Georgia, where he studied the occurrence and toxic effects of a cyanobacterial toxin in fish. Alex then moved to the University of Saskatchewan, where he earned his Ph.D. in Toxicology in April 2026. There, he used stable isotopes to measure differences in food web structure and trace element bioaccumulation in lakes and streams in Canada and in the Amazon Rainforest. In addition to the Winnipeg campus, Alex now works primarily at the Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario.