Research Unit
The RNA Biology Research Unit team studies the biological functions of RNA subcellular localization and how these processes are altered in disease settings.
The laboratory is affiliated with two of Canada’s top research universities: Université de Montréal (Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine) and McGill University (Division of Experimental Medicine), offering a diverse and multidisciplinary training environment.

- Director, RNA Biology Research Unit
- Full IRCM Research Professor
- Associate Research Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Université de Montréal
- Adjunct Professor, Department of Medicine (Division of Experimental Medicine), McGill University
- Research Scholar, Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé
Other affiliations
- Member, Genetics Society of America
- Member, The RNA Society
Degrees and relevant experience
- B.Sc. in biological sciences, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) (1994-1997)
- Doctoral studies, molecular biology program, IRCM, Université de Montréal (1997-2004)
- Postdoctoral fellowship, Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto (2004-2009)
- The Louisa Gale Scholar of the Canadian Cancer Society
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Visit the external websiteProjects and major discoveries
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Studying mRNA targeting to the mitotic apparatus. Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
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Epithelial cell polarity regulation by localized mRNAs. Funded by the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute
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Defining the mechanism of RNA targeting to extracellular vesicles. Funded by the Cancer Research Society (team project with Janusz Rak and Nada Jabado)
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The roles of MBNL proteins in the pathogenesis of myotonic dystrophy. Jointly funded by Muscular Dystrophy Canada-The Rachel Fund and CIHR (team project with Pascal Chartrand and Marlene Oeffinger)
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Analyse complète des éléments de fonctionnement des ARN codés dans le génome humain. Comprehensive analysis of function RNA elements encoded in the human genome
This project is part of ongoing efforts within the ENCODE consortium (team project with Brenton Graveley, Gene Yeo, Xiang-Dong Fu and Chris Burge). Our labs main contribution involves the systematic characterization of the subcellular distribution properties of human RNA Binding Proteins.
Van Nostrand EL, Freese P, Pratt GA, Wang X, Wei X, Xiao R, Blue SM, Dominguez D, Cody NAL, Olson S, Sundararaman B, Zhan L, Bazile C, Benoit Bouvrette LP, Bergalet J, Chen J, Duff MO, Garci KE, Gelboin-Burkhart C, Hochman A, Lambert NJ, Li H, Nguyen TB, Palden T, Rabano I, Sathe S, Stanton R, Zhou B, Su A, Wang R, Yee BA, Louie AL, Aigner S, Fu X-D, Lécuyer E, Burge CB, Graveley BR, Yeo GW. A large-scale binding and functional map of human RNA binding proteins. bioRXiv. (doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/179648)
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Contact information
Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM)
110, des Pins Avenue West
Montréal, Québec H2W 1R7