OUR RESEARCH

CLSA

People aged 65 and older make up nearly 17% of Canada's population and experience progressive decline in functional integrity and homeostasis that can lead to a multitude of diseases. The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) is made up of >50,000 individuals and aims to understand why some people age in a healthy fashion and some do not.

EPOCRATES

Avoiding COVID-19 outbreaks in essential services such as schools can be difficult. The Evaluation of real-life use of Point-Of-Care Rapid Antigen TEsting for SARS-CoV-2 in schools for outbreak control (EPOCRATES) project aims to sequence gargle samples from school-aged children and teachers using LamPORE technology in order to screen large numbers of samples for COVID-19 and particular mutations.

NOVEL HANDS-OFF LIBRARY PREPARATION

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has evolved into a fundamental tool for the monitoring of virus outbreaks across the world. The design and production of a novel hands-off library preparation platform will allow rapid and low-cost sequencing for SARS-CoV-2 testing and variant identification.

CANADA 150 SEQUENCING INITIATIVE

To commemorate Canada's 150th birthday, Canada's Genomics Enterprise (CGEn) and partners are committing to sequence 150 new genomes of competitively reviewed, publicly nominated Canadian species (CanSeq150). We, AGT, will be generating data for over 130 species.

TACKLING CHILDHOOD BRAIN CANCER

Applying long-read and pseudo-long-read sequencing technologies for the genomic and transcriptomic analysis of pediatric brain tumours.

DOVEEGENE

Detecting Ovarian and Endometrial Cancer Early Using Genomics (DOvEEgene) is a genomic uterine pap test developed to screen for ovarian and endometrial cancers which are among the top causes of cancer deaths of women in Canada. Our lab uses ultrasensitive DNA extraction, capture and sequencing techniques to generate high quality sequencing data for a targeted panel of genes.

CANPREVENT

Transplantation is the optimal treatment for patients with kidney failure, but rejection still causes premature graft loss in as many as 30 per cent of recipients. This project aims to cut the rejection rate by in half by using genomic technologies to improve the matching of donors and recipients, to monitor the immune response for rejection, and to develop personalized drug treatment regimes for each recipient.

SINGLE CELL GENOMICS

Single Cell Genomics is a large part of the Ragoussis lab and is involved both in novel technical developments and implementation of the newest methods in single-cell analysis, as well as provides single-cell genomics services to the broader community of researchers in the Montreal area. The platform mainly uses 10X Genomics technology for single-cell RNA, DNA, immune profiling, ATAC, multiome assays, but also other methods, such as Smart-Seq.

COVARR-NET

Coronavirus Variants Rapid Response Network is a group of interdisciplinary researchers across Canada collaborating to coordinate, facilitate and accelerate rapid response research of COVID-19 variants. Recently our lab has been testing watewater detection of SARS-CoV-2 variant lineages.

COVSEQ

The laboratory is part of the Canadian COVID-19 Genomics Network (CanCOGeN). The Network includes two projects, the Host Genome Sequencing Project and the Virus Genome Sequencing Project, to provide essential information for tracking and managing SARS-CoV-2 as well as inform our understanding of the variable clinical response of patients to COVID-19. In the Quebec, the virus genome sequencing effort called Coronavirus Sequencing in Québec (CovSeQ), aims to sequence the viral genomes of Québec patients with COVID-19 disease.

Research: Publications