Joining the lab
Grad student positions
Applications to join the lab at the master's or Ph.D. level are always welcome. We study plant disease resistance mechanisms with an emphasis on anti-viral defense responses and plant-bacteria interactions. Projects focus on the receptor-like proteins that recognize pathogens and their interplay with RNAi-related mechanisms in anti-viral defenses, as well as studying the underlying mechanisms of gene regulation. Students will employ a variety of genetic, NGS, biochemical and cell biology techniques.
Specific potential projects include: analysis of R gene-mediated and RNAi-mediated anti-viral resistance; mechanistic studies of the targeting of viral RNAs by AGO proteins; interactions between viral suppressors of silencing and host factors; investigation of natural variation in plant-virus and plant-viroid interactions; method development in plant virome characterization; effector-mediated susceptibility in plant-bacteria interactions; investigation of how bacteria induce microenvironments to their benefit in infected plants.
Undergraduate researchers
Applications to join the lab are always welcome either for research credits or for summer or co-op internships. Undergrads are usually given their own project within the framework of a larger project paired with either a graduate student or postdoc. See below for links to funding agencies for Canadian and International students.
Postdoctoral Positions
Postdoc projects (as outlined above) are available at most times. However, although funds are available to cover research costs, for salary support postdoc candidates should have fellowships (or a strong chance of obtaining one). See below for links to funding agencies.
To apply:
Please send the following:
-A cover letter outlining your career and research goals
-Your CV
-An unofficial transcript
-The contact information for two individual s willing to act as references
To: Dr Peter Moffett
e-mail : [email protected]
Information on Joining the lab
Do I need to speak French?
Strictly speaking, no. You can present your seminars and write your thesis in English. Everyone in the lab (and most everyone in the department) speaks English and we hold our lab meetings in English.
At the same time, UdeS is a francophone institute and university business is done in French. Most non-francophone students and postdocs are able to get by fine both working at the university and living in Sherbrooke with a bit of help from me, labmates and Google translate. However, you should be open to picking up at least some basic conversational French. At the same time, it is an opportunity to perfect an important job skill. There are even free French courses available from the university for non-francophone graduate students.
What about tuition and other costs?
All research costs are covered by operating grant funds. Various funds are also available for students to travel to conferences and sometimes to spend significant amounts of time training in labs in other countries. If you are taken on as a student, you are guaranteed a stipend, although students are highly encouraged to apply for fellowships (see below).
Tuition fees: Quebec has the lowest tuition in Canada and UdeS has among the lowest non-tuition fees in Quebec. French citizens pay the same low fees as Quebec students at the graduate level. If you are from another province in Canada, you are charged a higher rate at the master's level, but not at the PhD level. However, there is a program in place to supplement the stipends of excellent out-of-province students to make up for this. International student tuition: as of January 2021, the University of Sherbrooke will no longer charge international student fees to foreign PhD students.
In considering finances during grad school, it is also notable that Sherbrooke has a much lower cost of living than many large Canadian cities.
What kind of project will I have?
This is determined by a combination of your interests and background and the projects available when you join (see above for current subjects). I will provide projects, materials and goals but I expect students, and especially postdocs, to be independent thinkers and to pursue their own ideas to a broad degree. At the same time, projects are not limited to the above subjects - if you have a good and convincing idea that fits within our general area of interest, I will encourage you to pursue your own initiatives.
Links to funding agencies for fellowships:
Graduate students
NSERC (Canadian)
FRQNT (Canadian and International)
China Scholarship Council (China)
AUF (Francophonie)
MITACS Campus France (French M2 and Ph.D.)
Postdocs
NSERC (Canadian)
Banting fellowships (Canadian and International)
FRQNT (Canadian and International)
CONACYT (Mexico)
Human Frontiers (International)
NSF (USA)
JSPS (Japan)
Undergrads
NSERC (Canadian)
MITACS Globalink (International)
MITACS Campus France (French M2 and Ph.D.)
DAAD RISE (Germany)
Grad student positions
Applications to join the lab at the master's or Ph.D. level are always welcome. We study plant disease resistance mechanisms with an emphasis on anti-viral defense responses and plant-bacteria interactions. Projects focus on the receptor-like proteins that recognize pathogens and their interplay with RNAi-related mechanisms in anti-viral defenses, as well as studying the underlying mechanisms of gene regulation. Students will employ a variety of genetic, NGS, biochemical and cell biology techniques.
Specific potential projects include: analysis of R gene-mediated and RNAi-mediated anti-viral resistance; mechanistic studies of the targeting of viral RNAs by AGO proteins; interactions between viral suppressors of silencing and host factors; investigation of natural variation in plant-virus and plant-viroid interactions; method development in plant virome characterization; effector-mediated susceptibility in plant-bacteria interactions; investigation of how bacteria induce microenvironments to their benefit in infected plants.
Undergraduate researchers
Applications to join the lab are always welcome either for research credits or for summer or co-op internships. Undergrads are usually given their own project within the framework of a larger project paired with either a graduate student or postdoc. See below for links to funding agencies for Canadian and International students.
Postdoctoral Positions
Postdoc projects (as outlined above) are available at most times. However, although funds are available to cover research costs, for salary support postdoc candidates should have fellowships (or a strong chance of obtaining one). See below for links to funding agencies.
To apply:
Please send the following:
-A cover letter outlining your career and research goals
-Your CV
-An unofficial transcript
-The contact information for two individual s willing to act as references
To: Dr Peter Moffett
e-mail : [email protected]
Information on Joining the lab
Do I need to speak French?
Strictly speaking, no. You can present your seminars and write your thesis in English. Everyone in the lab (and most everyone in the department) speaks English and we hold our lab meetings in English.
At the same time, UdeS is a francophone institute and university business is done in French. Most non-francophone students and postdocs are able to get by fine both working at the university and living in Sherbrooke with a bit of help from me, labmates and Google translate. However, you should be open to picking up at least some basic conversational French. At the same time, it is an opportunity to perfect an important job skill. There are even free French courses available from the university for non-francophone graduate students.
What about tuition and other costs?
All research costs are covered by operating grant funds. Various funds are also available for students to travel to conferences and sometimes to spend significant amounts of time training in labs in other countries. If you are taken on as a student, you are guaranteed a stipend, although students are highly encouraged to apply for fellowships (see below).
Tuition fees: Quebec has the lowest tuition in Canada and UdeS has among the lowest non-tuition fees in Quebec. French citizens pay the same low fees as Quebec students at the graduate level. If you are from another province in Canada, you are charged a higher rate at the master's level, but not at the PhD level. However, there is a program in place to supplement the stipends of excellent out-of-province students to make up for this. International student tuition: as of January 2021, the University of Sherbrooke will no longer charge international student fees to foreign PhD students.
In considering finances during grad school, it is also notable that Sherbrooke has a much lower cost of living than many large Canadian cities.
What kind of project will I have?
This is determined by a combination of your interests and background and the projects available when you join (see above for current subjects). I will provide projects, materials and goals but I expect students, and especially postdocs, to be independent thinkers and to pursue their own ideas to a broad degree. At the same time, projects are not limited to the above subjects - if you have a good and convincing idea that fits within our general area of interest, I will encourage you to pursue your own initiatives.
Links to funding agencies for fellowships:
Graduate students
NSERC (Canadian)
FRQNT (Canadian and International)
China Scholarship Council (China)
AUF (Francophonie)
MITACS Campus France (French M2 and Ph.D.)
Postdocs
NSERC (Canadian)
Banting fellowships (Canadian and International)
FRQNT (Canadian and International)
CONACYT (Mexico)
Human Frontiers (International)
NSF (USA)
JSPS (Japan)
Undergrads
NSERC (Canadian)
MITACS Globalink (International)
MITACS Campus France (French M2 and Ph.D.)
DAAD RISE (Germany)
