Graduate positions to study a variety of systems linked by common questions investigating the connection between genotype and phenotype are available in the Merritt Lab (http://www3.laurentian.ca/merritt). Both MSc and PhD positions are available to start May-September 2013. 

Microbial Diversity and Metabolomic Network Complexity
This research will use naturally occurring and lab cultured microbial communities with increasing species richness to quantify inter-species interactions with a focus on the distinct microbial communities of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) environments. Species and community metabolomes will be described and quantified using broad-based liquid chromatography / mass spectrometry (LC/MS). AMD, highly acidic water draining from mine waste, is a global environmental issue that largely results from microbial metabolism of mining contaminates. As such, the microbial communities are of great environmental and economic interest. These communities are also strikingly simple, facilitating their study and reconstruction, making them an exciting system for understanding the fundamental science of community interactions and metabolomics. This research combines the publicly available microbial genomic and metagenomic libraries with LC/MS-based metabolomic profiling to establish the connections between species and genome diversity and metabolic complexity. This work will be co-supervised with Drs. Nadia Mykytczuk and Leo Leduc in the Department of Biology at Laurentian University.

The Merritt Lab is funded by grants from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, including a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair. Research in the Merritt lab has traditionally focused on model systems but has recently expanded into microbes through collaborations with Drs Leduc and Mykytczuk. 

Applicants should be independently motivated, have a good academic record, and have demonstrated both an interest in and aptitude for research. Please send an application with unofficial transcripts, a brief CV including contact information for two references, to:

Thomas Merritt ,
Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Genomics and Bioinformatics
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Laurentian University
935 Ramsey Lake Road
Email: tmerritt@laurentian.ca

http://www3.laurentian.ca/merritt