Faculty of Science
Research project description
The Environmental Virology and Ecology Research Group (ENVERG) led by Dr. Nissimov, studies the ecological and evolutionary relationships between microbes that are relevant to the heath of our lakes and oceans. The group's focus is on laboratory experimentation with model aquatic microbial hosts and their viruses, studying microbial host-virus interactions and diversity in their natural setting, and performing sequencing studies and employing bioinformatics on samples collected in situ and on cultured isolates.
The overarching goal of current work is to learn more about the role of virus infection of ecologically important species of microalgae and cyanobacteria, in the context of climate change and the everchanging human-induced landscape of our environment. The microbial hosts we work with are marine diatoms, coccolithophores, and freshwater harmful algal bloom (HAB)-forming cyanobacteria. The viruses that infect these species contain either dsDNA, dsRNA or ssRNA genomes and have distinct infection strategies.
One of the ongoing research themes in the lab is to understand how viruses affect species responsible for HAB formation, and what is the role of viruses in shaping toxin dynamics during these blooms. The lab is looking for a reliable, curious and highly motivated person to expand this research.
Candidates are encouraged to propose/suggest novel or complementary research directions, as long as they align with the overall goals of the ENVERG.
Fields of research
- Microbial ecology
- Microbial evolution
- Microbial host-virus interactions
- Molecular microbiology
- Molecular microbiology
- Bioinformatics/Computational biology
Qualifications and ideal student profile
Prospective graduate student researchers must meet or exceed the minimum admission requirements for the programs connected to this opportunity. Visit the program pages using the links on this page to learn more about minimum admission requirements. In addition to minimum requirements, the research supervisor is looking for the following qualifications and student profile.
- Highly motivated and detail-oriented
- Curious
- Self-driven
- Eager to learn and ask questions
- Comfortable in a lab setting with wet lab skills related to microbiology and molecular biology (i.e., microbial culturing, aseptic work, PCR and qPCR, etc.)
- Ability to work with next generation sequencing data (desirable)
- Strong grades (desirable)
- Demonstrated experience in independent research (i.e., research-focused MSc degree)
- Due to funding restrictions, a limited number of international students can be considered for this opportunity.
Faculty researcher and supervisor
- Jozef Nissimov
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology
View faculty profile →
Graduate programs connected to this project
Important dates
Cyanobacteria-virus dynamics in a changing climate is accepting expressions of interest for intake inthe winter 2027*, spring 2027, and fall 2027 terms.
*Please note that this opportunity may be eligible for funding through the Canada Impact+ Research Training Awards (CIRTA) program for winter 2027. More details will be shared when available.