| NEW SUBMISSION DEADLINE: May 31st, 2017 -- The Derome Laboratory has an exceptional opportunity available for two PhD students to join our research team, in the context of the Sentinel North program (https://www.ulaval.ca/en/sentinel-north.html). Sentinel North aims to help us monitor and prepare for changes in northern environments using state-of-the-art technologies and intervention strategies in the pursuit of sustainable health and development. To apply, please forward a current CV, a cover letter and two support letters via e-mail to Nicolas DEROME (nicolas.derome@bio.ulaval.ca) by May 31, 2017. |
-- Learn more about the Sentinel North Research Strategy below --
Northern ecosystems are facing unprecedented assaults resulting from direct (e.g. industrial activities, such as mining and hydroelectricity) and indirect (global warming) anthropogenic activities, thus amplifying the risk of disturbing essential ecosystem services mediated by microbial communities (nitrogen cycle, primary production) and contaminate the whole food web. Because gut microbiota is critically implicated in modulating the host response to contaminants and toxins, such bio-accumulated contaminants (e.g. iron, mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium, arsenic and manganese) are expected to have serious consequences on major host functions such as immune response, energetic performance and development. Furthermore, there are enough results suggesting that climate change could alter stages and rates of development of endemic pathogens, modify host resistance, and result in changes in the physiology of host-pathogen interactions. Because microbiota constitutes the first immune barrier by both producing specific antimicrobial compounds and outcompete invasive microbes for host resources, it is crucial to develop a sentinel model for studying skin and gut microbiota resilience when facing allochthonous pathogens in controlled conditions.
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