Current openings

My philosophy

My goal as a mentor is to support motivated and hardworking students and postdocs to become innovative, independent researchers. I hope to build long lasting, respectful relationships with all of the researchers who train in my lab. I expect all trainees, from project students to postdocs, to take ownership of their projects, to engage in the life of lab, and to bring enthusiasm and integrity to their research. I encourage and expected all lab members to participate in research seminars and journal clubs in the Department and in other relevant units at the University. Your success in the lab will depend on your commitment to immersing yourself in the literature of our fields and teaching yourself the skills and techniques required to advance your research. I will always be available to discuss your project, but I expect that you will quickly become the expert on it.

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The lab is a diverse and collaborative environment that is committed to building an environment of integrity, respect, and trust where science and scientists can flourish.

Joining my group

Undergraduates: If you are interested in  doing an honours project or special topics course in the lab, please contact me by email. Be sure to describe your research interests and relevant experience and to include a copy of your CV and transcripts. I am particularly interested in mentoring students with an interest in molecular biology or computer science.

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Graduate students and postdocs: 

I will be hiring graduate students and postdocs to join my lab in 2023. We study the evolution and diversification of gene regulatory networks in agricultural crops and forest trees. Our goal is to characterize the modes of resilience that will allow plants to grow well in future climate conditions. Achieving these goals will require interdisciplinary work that combines wet and dry lab analyses, and large unbiased and small targeted experiments.  Our work is principally in rice, canola and hybrid poplar. In the lab we use functional genomic assays to discover, validate, and manipulate regulatory interactions in plants.

There are multiple projects available in the lab related to the discovery of molecular and physiological mechanisms of drought response in controlled and field conditions and related to high temperature stress response and the circadian clock. There are also several large data sets that we have recently generated which are available for immediate analysis.

I am looking for students and postdocs who are eager to work across disciplines (molecular stress physiology, evolutionary and computational biology) and who are interested in the fundamental biology of gene regulation and in applying discovery to application to agriculture and forestry. I am seeking students who are eager to work in productive and respectful environment, and who look forward to actively participating in lab life (journal clubs, mentoring, troubleshooting, fun, etc.).

I am a co-principal investigator on the Genome Editing for Food Security and Environmental Sustainability NSERC CREATE grant (gefses.com) and all lab members would be eligible to participate in this program.

To apply, please email me (olivia.wilkins@umanitoba.ca) a CV, unofficial transcripts, cover letter, and contact info for two references. Applications will be read until the positions are filled. In your cover letter please include a statement that describes your interests in our lab and research project, as well as your general career goals. I am accepting students for  September 2023, January, May, and September 2024.

About applying to graduate school at U of M: http://umanitoba.ca/faculties/graduate_studies/index.html

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