Fellowship Program
Congratulations to the first recipients of the Microbiome Centre Student Fellowship!
The Microbiome Centre proudly launched its student fellowship program in the Fall to support bright, young minds doing microbiome research in Montreal. We are thrilled to introduce the recipients of this very first round of awards!
Zoe Cros, M.Sc. Student, Supervisor: Jennifer Ronholm, Ph.D.
“My project focuses on identifying and characterizing chicken commensal E. coli strains that antagonize Avian Pathogenic E. coli (APEC) through antimicrobial substances production. I will screen candidate strains for inhibitory activity and select promising ones for genomic characterization. This project supports global efforts to reduce antibiotic use in poultry by developing probiotic alternatives that can help reduce the spread of antimicrobial resistance.”
David Slilaty, Degree level: M.Sc. Student, Supervisor: Bastien Castagner, Ph.D.
“Castalagin, a dietary Ellagitannin, is known to aid in cancer immunotherapy response by altering the gut microbiome. During my master’s degree in the Castagner lab, I will focus on designing and synthesizing analogs of polyphenols such as Castalagin to better study its interactions within the gut microbiome.”
Khoi Nguyen, Degree level: Ph.D. Student, Supervisor: Jianguo (Jeff) Xia, Ph.D.
“Chemotherapy often causes chronic nerve pain, and medicinal cannabis (cannabidiol) can relieve symptoms, yet patients respond very differently. My project will integrate gut microbiome sequencing, blood metabolite profiling and microbial metabolic modeling to identify predictors of treatment response to support more precise, personalized use of medicinal cannabis.”
Institutional partners
The research activities of the Centre for Microbiome Research wouldn’t be achievable without the financial support of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, MI4, MUHC-RI, and the MUHC Foundation.
