Microbial Ecology

Olivier obtained his bachelor's degree in biology in problem-based learning (APP) at UQÀM, specializing in molecular and cellular biology. After an internship in the summer of 2024 in the Lazar laboratory focusing on the culturable microbial community of an abandoned, flooded and polluted mine, he decided to continue his path in this same laboratory for his master's degree in order to satisfy his curiosity in the fields of interest that attract him: microbiology and molecular biology, particularly genomics.

 

His project focuses on the study of phage replication strategies in stressful environments, such as abandoned mines. His project will be divided into two axes. The first will be a bioinformatics work that aims to find traces of phages in the large amounts of genomic data collected over time at the Blackburn mine, the mine where he works. This will provide a global portrait of phage infection strategies in this environment, which will help to further guide the second axis, which consists of exploring the potential conditions that would encourage the adoption of a lytic strategy in favor of a lysogenic strategy, and vice versa. The goal of the project is to better understand the interactions and ecological importance of the virome for microbial communities in stressful environments.

 

Olivier is co-supervised by Prof. Benoît Barbeau (UQAM).