Current team members
We are in the recruitment phase. Please see Open Positions for more information.
McGill CERC in Genomic Medicine Chairholder
Vincent Mooser, M.D.
CERC CHAIRHOLDER
Vincent Mooser has been passionate about genomic medicine for the past 25 years. He brings to McGill expertise in applied genomics, internal medicine, laboratory medicine, pharmaceutical sciences and precision medicine. Vincent co-founded the Lausanne Cohort and, before moving to MgGill, designed, created and implemented the foundation for genomic medicine at Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland. From March 2020 to August 2022, he was appointed director of the Biobanque Québécoise de la Covid-19 (BQC19). → LinkedIn profile
Academics
Claude Bhérer, Ph.D.
Assistant professor
Claude Bhérer studies human evolution using statistical and computational tools applied to large-scale genomic data paired with other information, notably genealogical and phenotypic data. She is interested in understanding the genetic and evolutionary processes shaping genetic differences among us, and how these contribute to adaptation and disease. Her overreaching aim is to transform massive genomic data into improved knowledge of human biology and health. → LinkedIn profile → Personal website
Raquel Cuella Martin, Ph.D.
Assistant professor
Raquel Cuella Martin obtained her PhD at the University of Oxford and completed her postdoctoral training as an EMBO fellow at Columbia University in New York. Her research contributions span the fields of genome editing, tumor suppression, and the response to DNA damage. Her research program incorporates advances in precision genome editing technologies to study gene (and protein) function, understand human genetic variation, and explore target druggability. → LinkedIn profile
Daniel Taliun, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Daniel Taliun obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy and did his post-doctoral research at the University of Michigan, USA. His work is focused on the development of computational algorithms and software tools for the analysis of genetic data combined with molecular, behavioural, imaging and environmental data. The scope of his research includes genetic and clinical data integration, web-based interactive visualizations, secure data sharing, and distributed computational algorithms for in-house and cloud computing computational platforms. → Personal website
Sirui Zhou, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Sirui Zhou was trained as a PhD in Neurogenetics from the University of Montreal and later worked as a CIHR postdoctoral fellow at the Lady Davis Institute. Her background includes population genetics, genetic epidemiology and complex trait genomics. Her research interest is to leverage large omics data, particularly genomics and proteomics, to identify drug targets for complex disorders in diverse populations. → LinkedIn profile → Personal website
Postdoctoral Fellows
Benoît Delabays, M.D.
Postoctoral fellow
Benoît Delabays MD is a post-doctoral fellow working under the direct supervision of Vincent Mooser. He trained as a physician-scientist at the Lausanne, Switzerland, University Hospital, and is board certified in Internal medicine. During his thesis, he explored the value of using Lp(a), an atherogenic lipoprotein, to predict the risk of cardiovascular diseases in the CoLaus|PsyCoLaus study and evaluated cardiovascular risk assessment in HIV patients from the SHCS study. He is committed to investigating how genomics can improve clinical care in internal medicine. His work focuses on the interplay between polygenic and monogenic predisposition to cardiometabolic diseases. → LinkedIn profile
Tanja Sack, Ph.D.
Postoctoral fellow
Tanja Sack is a Post-Doctoral research fellow under the supervision of Raquel Cuella Martin. She obtained her B.Sc. in Chemical Biology from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Toronto. Her thesis focused on using CRISPR/Cas9 screening technology to study mitochondrial DNA repair mechanisms. Her interests lie in continuing to explore the cellular response to DNA damage and how specific dysfunctions in these mechanisms can lead to cancer development. Her post-doctoral research project will mainly focus on the interplay between 53BP1-USP28 and p53. → LinkedIn profile
Bioinformatics
Vincent Chapdelaine
Bioinformatics specialist
Vincent Chapdelaine is a bioinformatic specialist at the McGill CERC genomic and medicine under the supervision of Daniel Taliun. He studied at the University of Montreal in the field of molecular biology using bioinformatics. His studies were related to the interaction of genomic components on the phenotype. Ultimately, his interests lies in the application of bioinformatics tools to resolve complex biological and health related questions. → LinkedIn profile
Justin Pelletier
Bioinformatics consultant
Justin Pelletier is a bioinformatic analyst at the McGill CERC genomic and medicine under the supervision of Dr. Claude Bherer. He obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degree in bioinformatics from the University of Montreal. His studies were related to genetic imputation ,cardio-fertility, pharmacogenomics, and population genetics with a specialization in French-Canadian founder population. His interests lie in the development of pipelines for genetic analysis and the development and application of bioinformatics tools to answer complex biological, evolutionary and health related questions. → LinkedIn profile
Management
Yuandi Gao, Ph.D.
Research assistant
Yuandi Gao is a research assistant under the supervision of Dr. Raquel Cuella Martin at Mcgill University in the Department of Human Genetics. She obtained her PhD at Université Laval in Québec City. Her research focused on using the CRISPR-Cas9 screen strategy to identify proteins in response to formaldehyde under the context of Fanconi Anemia and performing functional characterization of these proteins in the DNA damage repair pathways. She is interested in exploring the genome editing strategy further and using it to investigate the functions of different regions of the genes. → LinkedIn profile
Claire Le Moigne
Project Administrator
Claire Le Moigne is a project administrator at the McGill Genome Centre under the supervision of Vincent Mooser. She has worked in various research and higher education institutions in France and Thailand. She has been in charge of setting up, managing and following up various subsidized research projects, as well as drafting and negotiating research collaboration contracts with academic or industrial partners at a regional, national or international level. → LinkedIn profile
Students
PhD students
Olivia Cardinal
PhD student - Human Genetics PROGRAM
Olivia Cardinal is a doctoral student working under the supervision of Daniel Taliun in the department of Human Genetics. She has previous academic experience in cell and molecular biology and pure and applied mathematics. Her graduate project involves identifying structural variants and their role in complex diseases.
Peyton McClelland
PhD Student - Human Genetics PROGRAM
Peyton McClelland is a PhD Student under the supervision of Daniel Taliun at McGill University in the Department of Human Genetics. She obtained her B.Sc. in Forensic Science at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. She is interested in genomic sequencing and analytical methods and how they can be used to reveal insights into genetic variations between populations, gene-disease associations, and biomarkers of disease. → LinkedIn profile
Amisha Minju O P
PhD Student - Human Genetics PROGRAM
Amisha Minju O P is a doctoral student under the supervision of Dr. Raquel Cuella Martin at McGill University in the department of Human Genetics. She obtained her M.Sc. in Biotechnology from Cochin University, Kerala, India in 2021, and worked at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, India as a Junior Research Fellow. Her graduate project will incorporate the latest advances in precision genome editing technologies to study the contribution of the 53BP1-USP28 pair to p53-dependent tumour suppression. → LinkedIn profile
Susannah Selber-Hnatiw
PhD Student - Human Genetics PROGRAM
Susannah Selber-Hnatiw is a doctoral student under the supervision of Dr. Sirui Zhou at McGill University in the department of Human Genetics. She obtained her M.Sc. from Concordia University in 2022, studying the production and modification of secondary metabolites in Aspergillus niger. She is passionate about rational drug design and her doctoral research will focus on identifying disease biomarkers that can be used for the development of novel therapeutics. → LinkedIn profile
Shamika Shenoy
PhD Student - Human Genetics PROGRAM
Shamika Shenoy is a doctoral student under the supervision of Dr. Raquel Cuella Martin in the Department of Human Genetics at McGill University. She obtained her M.Sc. in Human Molecular Genetics from Imperial College London, working on DSB pathways employing CRISPR-Cas9 editing. She worked as an associate scientist in an advanced gene therapy-based company in Oxford, England, developing CRISPR-Cas9 whole genome screens. Her doctoral project mainly involves using cutting-edge precision genome editing technologies to dissect the functionalities integrated into multidomain DDR proteins. → LinkedIn profile
Chen-Yang Su
PhD student - Quantitative Life Sciences program
Chen-Yang Su is a student from the Ph.D. Program in Quantitative Life Sciences at McGill University under the supervision of Sirui Zhou. Previously, he completed his M.Sc. (Computer Science, 2022) and B.Sc. (joint majoring in Biology and Computer Science, 2020) both at McGill University. In the past, he has worked with proteomics and genomics in the context of COVID-19. His broader interests are in using multi-omics approaches for precision medicine and in guiding clinical decision-making. → LinkedIn profile → Personnal website
MSc students
Júlia Cabré Romans
MSc student - Human Genetics PROGRAM
Júlia Cabré Romans is an MSc student in the Department of Human Genetics at McGill University, co-supervised by Dr. Raquel Cuella Martin and Dr. Claude Bhérer. She graduated from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain with a BSc in Human Biology. Her research project will focus on the evaluation of a gene therapy-based approach for Leigh syndrome, French-Canadian type. → LinkedIn profile
Alyssa Green
MSc student - Human Genetics PROGRAM
Alyssa Green is a Master’s Student in the Department of Human Genetics at McGill University under the supervision of Claude Bhérer. Alyssa obtained her B.ScH with a specialization in Biology and Mathematics from Queen’s University, during which she completed a thesis using a candidate gene approach to study pace of life differences in kittiwakes. Alyssa’s current research focuses on the penetrance of Mendelian disease variants in population biobanks. → LinkedIn profile
Mike Kazemi
MSc student - Human Genetics PROGRAM
Mike Kazemi started his research journey with infectious disease modelling and vaccine hesitancy focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic. After obtaining his B.Sc. in Mathematical Biology from York University, he started his master’s degree in the department of Human Genetics at McGill under the supervision of Dr. Taliun. His project aims to perform systematic genome-wide association scans using all phenotype and genotype data available in The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). Outside of the lab, he is either hanging around the music department of CKUT or trying to persuade his brother to start a company with him. → LinkedIn profile
Juliano Malizia
MSc student - Human Genetics PROGRAM
Juliano Malizia is a Master’s student in the Department of Human Genetics at McGill University supervised by Dr. Sirui Zhou and Dr. Claude Bhérer. Previously, he completed a B.Sc. (Ag. & Env.) in Environmental Biology at McGill where he discovered his passion for computational biology. His current research will explore the genetic structure of the Nunavik Inuit and analyze deleterious variants associated with intracranial aneurysms within this population. → LinkedIn profile
Wardah Masud
MSc student - Human Genetics PROGRAM
Wardah is a graduate student under the supervision of Dr. Raquel Cuella Martin. She completed her BSc at University of Toronto in Human Genetics. Afterwards, she became a Research Associate at a CRISPR therapeutics company in the San Francisco Bay Area, working in drug discovery. Her project uses CRISPR base-editing screens to further understand the roles of 2 genes involved in DNA double-strand break repair. → LinkedIn profile
Irene Pender
MSc student - Human Genetics PROGRAM
Irene completed a B.A. in History & Anthropology at McMaster University. She later moved into research in population genetics, including stints at the labs of Dr. Ian Dworkin and Dr. Christian Schlötterer. Her research interesest include using genetic data to predict population trends, the genetic components of complex diseases, and science communication that makes genetics accessible to larger audiences. While not a practicing scientist Irene enjoys baking, working as a theatre technician, and being very bad at a large number of musical instruments.
Research Trainees
Sereena Bhanji
Undergraduate student trainee
Sereena is in her final year of undergrad at McGill, studying Computer Science and Biology. This summer, she is working under the supervision of Dr. Taliun to develop tools for genetic analyses. In her free time, Sereena enjoys reading, working out, and baking. → LinkedIn profile
Other collaborators
Dariel Ashton-Beaucage, M.D., Ph.D.
Medical Genetics Resident & current collaborator
Dariel Ashton-Beaucage completed his doctoral training in molecular biology at Université de Montréal where he worked on Ras oncogene signaling. His background includes functional genomics, model organism genetics and RNA biology. He is currently a medical genetics resident at McGill. Within the CERC, his research work focuses on leveraging genomics data to improve our understanding of mendelian conditions in the French-Canadian population.