Canada Research Chair in Bioinformatics of Non-Coding RNA
Messenger RNAs (mRNAs), which serve as templates for protein synthesis, received a lot of attention during the COVID-19 pandemic because of their role in vaccines. Non-coding RNAs, in contrast, do not encode proteins. Instead, they help regulate gene expression, cellular processes, and other biological functions— and they are the focus of research by Professor Michelle Scott.
As Canada Research Chair in Bioinformatics of Non-Coding RNA, Michelle Scott is trying to understand the effects of their involvement in gene expression regulation, their evolution across eukaryotes (organisms whose cell nuclei contain DNA), and the consequences of their deregulation in diseases. She and her research team are using machine learning and a network biology approach to generate and integrate massive “omics” datasets to define non-coding RNAs and their functions and evolutions.
Chairholder
Michelle Scott
Profile
Professor Michelle Scott is the Director of the Department of Biochemistry and Functional Genomics of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the Université de Sherbrooke.
Fields of expertise and research
Computational biology, Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs), Transcriptomics, Gene expression regulation, RNA-RNA interactions, RNA-protein interactions, Integrative biology, RNA structure
Research Relevance
Professor Michelle Scott and her research team aim to shed light on the causes of certain diseases and learn more about how they progress, ultimately leading to better ways to detect and treat them in the long term.
Funding
- Canada Research Chairs Program
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
Additional Information
- Tier 1 Chair - 2023-07-01