Today, Gaeun Shin was announced as the winner of the Gaeun Shin wins the Rustom H. Dastur Graduate Scholarship in Cell and Systems Biology. Congratulations, Gaeun!
Category: Congrats
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Rowan Completes his PhD Proposal Exam
Rowan marked an important degree milestone today as he defended his PhD proposal. Congratulations, Rowan!
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McFarLab at Plant Biology 2026
This week, Heather Jordan, Eduardo, Gaeun, Fabrizio, Stella, and Fayeza are attending the Plant Biology 2026 Meeting in Ottawa. Heather will speak in the opening plenary session, the APSB Presidential Plenary on Cell Membranes: Processes at the Perimeter. Jordan will speak in the Monday afternoon concurrent session “Imaging 3D Structure from Plant Macromolecular Assemblies to Cells”, and everyone else will present posters.
Update: Heather won the C.D. Nelson Award from the Canadian Society of Plant Biologists, Fabrizio was appointed to the CSPB Education Committee, and Sidd (who will join the McFarLab for his PhD in September) was a finalist at the 3-Minute Thesis competition and elected CSPB Student Rep.
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Heather Awarded Tenure
Heather has been granted tenure at UofT promoted to Associate Professor today.
Happy Canada Day, everyone!
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Welcome Summer Undergrads
5 BSc students start their summer in the lab today:
Nick Amenta, Lou Freidel, and Connor Hakayawa have started work-study positions.
Fayeza Azad won a prestigious University of Toronto Excellence Award (UTEA) to continue her work on protein phosphorylation during cell wall signaling.
Stella Chen won a highly competitive NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (NSERC-USRA) to continue her work cell wall secretion.
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CSB Undergraduate Research Day
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Jordan wins a Marie Curie Postdoc Fellowship
McFarLab postdoc, Jordan Ferria, has secured a prestigious and highly competitive Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Postdoctoral Fellowship from the European Commission. This will support his work in the McFarLab and in Charlotte Kirchhelle’s lab at ENS Lyon. Congratulations, Jordan!
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Gaeun transfers to the PhD program
Today, Gaeun Shin successfully completed her PhD transfer exam. Congratulations, Gaeun, and welcome to your PhD!
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Yu defends his PhD
Today, Yu Zhu successfully defended his PhD thesis “Ubiquitin-mediated control of cell wall signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana” Yu’s thesis investigated the how protein ubiquitination plays a role in cell wall signaling. He discovered ubiquitin-mediated control of two different components of cell wall signaling, linking protein ubiquitination to cell wall synthesis and hormone transport. Special thanks to his external examiner, Prof. Chris Staiger Purdue University. Watch this space for Yu’s upcoming publications. Congratulations, Dr. Zhu!
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Natalie wins CSPB Ragai Ibrahim Award
McFarLab PhD graduate, Dr. Natalie Hoffmann, has been awarded the Ragai Ibrahim Award from the Canadian Society of Plant Biologists for the best student paper for her work in the McFarLab that was also featured on the cover of Developmental Cell:
Hoffmann, N., and McFarlane, H.E.# (2024) Xyloglucan side chains enable polysaccharide secretion to the plant cell wall. Developmental Cell, 59: 2609-2625.