Team


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Michelle Scott

Department of Biochemistry and Functional Genomics, Université de Sherbrooke
Professor

Description


Michelle completed an undergraduate degree at the Université de Montréal in Biochemistry and a Masters degree at the University of Calgary in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology followed by several semesters in computer engineering before discovering Bioinformatics. Following this revelation, she undertook a PhD in Bioinformatics at McGill University in Montreal under the co-supervision of Mike Hallett and David Thomas, studying the prediction and characterization of protein localization in the cell. She then moved to Geoff Barton's group at the University of Dundee in Scotland for her postdoc. Amongst her research interests during this time, she investigated the prediction of protein-protein interactions in human and the localization of proteins in the nucleolus. She also got intiated into the marvelous world of RNA (and particularly snoRNAs) by members of the Lamond group, working on snoRNAs regulating splicing and an evolutionary relationship between snoRNAs and miRNAs.

 

Michelle started her group at the Université de Sherbrooke in 2011 where she is currently a full professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Functional Genomics and a member of the RiboClub. The characterization of the snoRNome has been the main focus of her group since its beginning, including elaborating diverse tools for the study of snoRNAs and the analysis their regulation, evolution, interactions and functions. Her group is also interested in studying different aspects of the transcriptome and its deregulation in health and disease. Her group is involved in collaborations with many groups including most prominently with the Abou Elela group at the Université de Sherbrooke. She is funded by CIHR, NSERC, FRQNT and holds a senior professorship from the FRQS.

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Hoang Dong Nguyen

Department of Biochemistry and Functional Genomics, Université de Sherbrooke
PhD candidate

Description


Hoang Dong completed a bachelor in biology at the Paul Sabatier University of Toulouse. In order to finalize his master degree in bioinformatics, he obtained a intership for the winter session at the bioinformatic lab of Michelle Scott, co-supervised by Maxime Richer and Andréa Allaire with the aim of discovering new molecular and genetic biomarkers that would allow for a reliable classification of humain brain cancer malignancy.

 

Hoang Dong, with his common contraction Hoang, discovered that he loved bioinformatic as much as Quebec beers.

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Laurence Faucher-Giguère

Department of Microbiology, Université de Sherbrooke
PhD candidate

Description


Laurence graduated from Bishop's University in Biochemistry. She began her master's degree in the summer of 2018 in the laboratory of Sherif Abou Elela codirected with Michelle Scott. Her project is about understanding the role and mechanism of overexpressed snoRNAs in high-grade ovarian cancer to discover biomarkers as earlier diagnostic tools for this very aggressive cancer.​

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Étienne Fafard-Couture

Department of Biochemistry and Functional Genomics, Université de Sherbrooke
PhD candidate

Description


Étienne obtained a bachelor's degree in molecular and cellular biology from Université de Sherbrooke in December 2019. During that time, he completed his T2 internship in Michelle Scott's lab in fall 2018 and returned during the subsequent winter and fall semesters to do research credits. He has now started his PhD degree in the lab, with an addition of Pierre-Étienne Jacques as his co-supervisor. His project centers around the characterization of the human snoRNome.

 

As indicated by his profile picture, Étienne loves climbing up and skiing down mountains!

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Kristina Song

Department of Biochemistry and Functional Genomics, Université de Sherbrooke
MSc student

Description


Kristina graduated from McGill University in May 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and biology. During her last year of undergrad, she completed a 6-months internship at the Scott lab studying the yeast transcriptome. Kristina returned to the lab in September 2021 and started her Master’s degree. Her project is on the investigation of the diversity of functions guided by human snoRNAs. Outside of the lab, Kristina is busy learning French!

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Sérine Benachenhou

Department of Biochemistry and Functional Genomics, Université de Sherbrooke
PhD student

Description


Serine received her undergraduate degree in health biochemistry. During her internship, she was interested in the metabolic disorder of lipids and biochemical alterations in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Fragile X Syndrome (FXS). Having a growing interest in clinical biochemistry, mathematics and programming, this led her to begin her Masters in Biochemistry in the fall of 2020 in the laboratory of Dre. Artuela Çaku, co-supervised by professor Michelle Scott. Her project focuses on the discovery of differentially expressed genes in ASD and FXS involved in the cholesterol metabolic pathway in order to predict autism in subgroups of individuals using bioinformatics tools.

 

Outside of work, Sérine has several varied passions, such as gaming, piano, guitar and classical music.

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Jean Vencic

Department of Biochemistry and Functional Genomics, Université de Sherbrooke
PhD candidate

Description


Jean obtained a bachelor's degree in biology and is completing his master's degree in Bioinformatics from Paris-Saclay University with a 6 months internship in Michelle Scott's group since mid-March. Based on the recent advances in G-quadruplex (G4) prediction and study in the human transcriptome, the aim of the interniship is to explore more precisely if there are specificities regarding the nervous system transcriptom.

Apart from his subject, Jean is enthousiastic about reproductibility and loves to find better ways to program.

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Michel Renaud

Department of Microbiology, Université de Sherbrooke
MSc student

Description


Michel graduated from the University of Sherbrooke in Biology. He started his master's degree in the winter of 2023 in the laboratory of Pr. Sherif Abou Elela in co-direction with Pre. Michelle Scott. His last internship was in the laboratory of Pr. Sherif Abou Elela and he was involved in the creation of a strain without intron in yeast. His project focuses on the discovery of the role and involvement of snoRNAs in the regulation of alternative splicing.

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Alphonse Birane Thiaw

Department of Biochemistry and Functional Genomics, Université de Sherbrooke
PhD student

Description


Alphonse Birane Thiaw completed a master's degree in bioinformatics with analysis and modeling data specialization at the University of Clermont Auvergne. He also graduated from Cheikh anta Diop University in Dakar with a bachelor's degree in biology and a master's degree in parasitology. His research project aims to predict H/ACA snoRNAs using machine learning.

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Morgane Govone

Department of Biochemistry and Functional Genomics, Université de Sherbrooke
PhD student

Description


Morgane obtained a double degree in Computer Science (Master at the University of Nice and at the University of Milano-Bicocca). In her second year of the master's degree, during her internship, she discovered bioinformatics and fell in love with this field. She is currently doing her PhD in the laboratory of Prof. Michelle Scott. Her project concerns a predictor of C/D snoRNA interactions in eukaryotes, the objectives being to extend it to other species and to host this predictor in a web server developed for it.