Welcome!
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Research Goals:
The goal of our research is to better understand the biology of microbial organisms of significant ecological, veterinary and medical importance. To achieve this goal, our team combines the power of next generation DNA sequencing and bioinformatics with molecular biology and experimental procedures. Main research topics: - Comparative and Population Genomics of Plant Symbionts - Parasite Genome Evolution - Experimental Evolution of Microbial Symbionts and Parasites - Phylogenomics of Early Branching Fungi Relevant Links: Department of Biology Faculty of Science CIFAR - IMB program Funding : The following institutions have been supporting our research NSERC-Discovery NSERC - Engage CIFAR MITACS accelerate FQRNT uOttawa Government of Ontario National Science Foundation (NSF) French-Embassy in Canada |
News:
10/10/2025 Jordana was awarded the very prestigious Marie-Curie Fellowship. Congratulation for this amazing achievement! 11/11/2024 The preprints keep on coming! New work shows significant changes in nutrient and carbon capture by cover crops is genotype/nuclear organization dependent. Update: Published! 06/11/2024 New Preprint out! An extensive analysis of Transposable elements across all known AMF orders reveals remarkable insights on the functional and evolutionary role of these elements in these important symbionts. Update : Accepted! 18/06/2024 It is with sadness (and some happiness) that we see our beloved team member Gokalp (Goko) Yildirir leave our lab! Goko produced a stellar PhD thesis and will now move to industry to make BIG BUCKS as a "Bioinformatics Engineer". We'll all miss you Goko!!! 16/04/2024 Congratulations to Essam Sorwar for successfully defending his MSc. Bravo! Update - MSc paper officially accepted with minor revisions in Env. Microbiology. 11/12/2023 In a New PrePrint, we describe significant differences in the regulation of transposable elements in a model AMF under multiple conditions; an indication that these "selfish elements" play a significant role during the mycorrhizal symbiosis. UPDATE: Preprint officially accepted for publication. Congratulations Jordana! 18/01/2023 Our New Preprint is out! We resolve the parental genomes of all AMF heterokaryons at the chromosome-level, and demonstrate how each play distinct regulatory roles in the mycorrhizal symbiosis. UPDATE: 11/08/23. Preprint officially accepted for publication (following review by five referees - phew!) 23/06/2022 The lab welcomes Jordana Olivera as a new Postdoc in our lab. Jordana just graduated with a PhD from Sao Paulo State University (Brazil). 01/01/2022 The lab welcomes a Essam Sorwar as a new Master student 12/11/21 Congrats to our former COOP student Calvin Cornell for the acceptance of his first authored work showing regulation of AMF nuclear dynamics in the presence of different abiotic factors. 01/11/21 Our latest preprint that finally builds a solid understanding of AMF genome biology has been accepted for publication in New Phytologist! 18/08/21 Big congratulations to Stephanie Mathieu for successfully defending her PhD thesis! 01/07/21 Happy Canada Day! New paper demonstrating significant differences in life history traits between AMF dikaryons and homokaryons has been accepted for publication. 21/01/2021 Our critique of recent findings on the regulation of mating genes in AMF was accepted for publication in ISME. Update: We are still waiting for a response that actually shows data/figures/tables supporting the regulation of orthologs of mating genes. At this point, we would even be happy to see evidence of plasmogamy between AMF isolates proposed to trigger gene regulation - i.e. the base on which such study should have been built. 18/01/2021 Our paper describing the genome annotation and analysis of the only known fungus that produce endosymbioses with cyanobacteria (Geosiphon pyriformis) was accepted in Current Biology. 09/01/2021 Our paper reporting the first convincing evidence of host - AMF genetic interactions is out in Current Biology. 27/10/2020 Congrats Matthew for passing your MSc thesis defense! 01/07/2020 Our first preprint supporting evidence of inter-nucleus recombination in AMF has been accepted for publication in Frontiers in Plant Science 01/06/2020 One Trends in Microbiology Perspective and one Trends in Plant Science Review accepted (back to back). Congratulations to Goko, Madhu and Vasilis for this achievement! 23/04/2020 Our NSERC-Discovery funding was renewed for 5 years and granted a Discovery Accelerator! We will continue to use funds diligently to transform our understanding of unique genetic systems, and translate our discoveries to industry and public needs. Thanks to past and current lab members for this achievement! 15/04/2020 Edward Serghi receives a NSERC-USRA Scholarship. This scholarship will support his research on AMF genetics this summer. Congratulations Edward! 11/03/2020 We keep translating our AMF genetics/genomics research for green industry needs. As such, the lab was awarded a 3 years Industrial Mitacs PDF fellowship and additional operating funds to tackle problems faced by one of our industry partners. 01/11/19: Congratulations Umberto Serghi for being awared a UROP Scholarship! 01/09/19: We welcome Vasilis Kokkoris to our lab. Vasilis graduated with a PhD from the lab of Dr. Miranda Hart at UBC Kelowna. In collaboration with Agriculture Canada scientists, Vasilis will aim to sequence the genomes of many representatives of each AMF family using single nucleus based approaches. No pressure Vasilis! :) 03/08/2019: PhD student Gokalp Yildirir was invited to discuss his PhD research and grad studies opportunities in Canada for a Turkish students (in Turkish) - To see the interview click here. 30/3/2019: Our research has been highlighted by the non-profit outreach organization "5 Minutes of Science". The video highlighting our work can be found here . 25/2/2019: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio is asking questions about our work on AMF! Click here to access the interview (in French!). 25/1/2019: Congralutations to Liz Bauer for winning an NSERC PDF Fellowship. Liz will be joining our lab by the end of the year. Her project will aim to understand what drives compatibility/plasmogamy in AMF |
