Michelle Scott

Michelle Scott is a Full Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Functional Genomics at the University of Sherbrooke's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, with a concurrent appointment in the Computer Science Department. Her academic trajectory shows progressive advancement from Assistant Professor (2011) to Associate Professor (2016), culminating in her current Professorship (2021). She directs an active research program focused on non-coding RNA biology, particularly small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs), with emphasis on their roles in ovarian cancer and transcriptomic regulation.

Her research interests center on bioinformatic characterization of RNA networks, development of computational tools for RNA-seq analysis (including CoCo and snoDB), and molecular mechanisms of snoRNAs in cancer. Recent work employs low-structure-bias sequencing (TGIRT-seq) to overcome technical limitations in transcriptome analysis, revealing previously undetected non-coding RNAs and non-canonical snoRNA functions. Her group investigates snoRNA roles in alternative splicing regulation, cancer progression (particularly high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma), and nucleolar biology.

The 15 most recent publications demonstrate strong focus on methodological innovation in transcriptomics (6 articles), snoRNA functional characterization (5 articles), and cancer genomics applications (4 articles). Key trends include addressing RNA-seq reproducibility issues, developing computational frameworks for multi-mapped read resolution, and expanding the functional landscape of snoRNAs beyond canonical roles.

• FRQS Senior Researcher Fellowship (2025)
• RECMUS Award for Supervision Excellence (2021)
• Tremplin Award for Early-Career Research (2021)
• Multiple FRQS Junior Fellowships (2017, 2021)
• Dean's List for Exceptional Performance (2015-2021)

Scott has successfully mentored numerous graduate students (including 15 first-author publications by trainees) and secured substantial competitive funding, including a $$1\text{,}525\text{,}000$$ CIHR Project Grant (2021-2026) on proteogenomics approaches to define the human proteome. Her laboratory maintains strong affiliations with the CHUS Research Center and actively participates in the RiboClub network, which she has organized since 2014. Current work focuses on characterizing nucleolar snoRNAs in ovarian cancer and improving transcriptomic annotation frameworks.