Research Opportunities

Are you interested in aquatic organisms? The Wilson Tox Lab is recruiting now! 

We are a team-based research group located in the Department of Biology at McMaster University in Hamilton ON Canada.  We are recruiting for several positions in two of our three core areas of interdisciplinary research.  Strong collaborative and communication skills are essential.  The Wilson Tox Lab currently has  4 MSc students ; we typically train 8-10 undergraduates per year (including 2-4 senior thesis and experiential course students, 2-4 summer researcher students and some volunteer positions). For 2025-2026, we have 4 thesis students, 1 research course student  and may be recruiting additional undergraduates interested in research opportunities in the academic year.

2024-2026 Recruitment for Graduate positions

Priority Area is in the function of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes in aquatic organisms.

We use a variety of aquatic species to study the capacity for contaminant metabolism and better understand toxicokinetics.  Key species are zebrafish and the polychaete Capitella teleta. We are recruiting graduate students (PhD preferred) to work on projects related to the function of cytochrome P450 enzymes, supported by an NSERC Discovery grant.

We are recruiting students interested in the function of CYPs (CYP1, CYP2 and/or CYP3 family) in zebrafish and their role in toxicokinetics. CYPs in these families are thought to play a major role in xenobiotic metabolism and chemical defense. Students may be interested in working either in vitro (with expressed proteins) and/or in vivo (with embryos or adults) to assess the role of CYPs in xenobiotic metabolism.  We have data from high throughput screening of substrates for CYP1A, CYP3C1 and CYP3A65 to support this project. Studies in our lab have included bioinformatics (genome annotation, phylogenies, promoter identification), in vitro expression of proteins, high throughput screening for substrates and in vitro assessment of function.  Candidates with an interest in molecular docking studies, transcriptomics, and genetic manipulations (e.g. gene knock down or knock out) are particularly encouraged. We have a strong interest in focusing on the role of the redox partner, cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase, and its influence on metabolism. Candidates may have a background in biochemistry, molecular biology, physiology, or toxicology.

We are recruiting students to study CYP function and toxicology in the marine polychaete Capitella teleta; we have a culture established at McMaster University to support this project.  Our research focused on the estrogen receptor pathway in Capitella.  Candidates may be interested in further studies on estrogen and endocrine disruption or in studies related to xenobiotic tolerance as this species is well known for surviving in highly disturbed environments.  We have previously identified all the CYPs in the genome and have data to support which genes are likely under the regulation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor and may mediate metabolism of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Generating knock outs may be useful in this research and candidates with an interest in genetic manipulations are encouraged.  We have developed a locomotion behavioural assay that may benefit projects with contaminant screening and have performed our first chronic exposures of this species to human pharmaceuticals. Candidates may have a background in invertebrate biology, physiology, or toxicology.

Interested? please contact Joanna Wilson via email: joanna.wilson@mcmaster.ca with your CV, a statement of interest, and a copy of your transcripts.

Graduate students must apply to the Department of Biology prior to a formal offered in the lab. Application deadlines for domestic and international students are on the Biology Department website for McMaster University. Deadlines for international students are early and for September entry only. Graduate candidates are encouraged to discuss research interests in advance of the formal application process.

Information on the graduate program and admissions in Biology at McMaster is available online.

More general information about Research Opportunities in the Wilson lab for undergraduate and graduate students and post-doctoral investigators.

Undergraduate Research Experiences

We recruit for Fall and Summer semesters each year.  If you are interested in a volunteer position in our lab, for the academic year, please contact me with your resume and transcripts in late summer (mid to late August). Training is significant to get started in the lab, please understand these are ~8-10 hour a week positions for the full academic year at minimum.  I will be meeting to discuss opportunities with students in first week of term.

If you are interested in a research course (e.g. BIO3IR3, BIO4IR3, MOLBIO3IO3), please note that the vast majority of students undertaking these in my lab have a prior or established  position (volunteer, summer work student, work study) in my lab already or complete this over 2 terms if they are new to the lab. This is because the health and safety and animal care courses take so long to complete prior to starting any work in the lab. I only supervise 1-2 students in these courses per year. For the 2024-2026 years, this may be possible for students interested in looking at enrichment in aquatic systems; this will involve building enrichment for fish and filming animals to note their use of the enrichment.

If you are interested in a senior thesis (BIO4C12) or project (BIO4F06), please list me as a possible supervisor when you complete your information to the Biology Department in fall term.  I typically supervise 2-4 students per year in the thesis course. We prioritize students who have a thesis requirement in Biology programs. Recruitment for these positions starts in mid to late fall of each academic year.

Paid work placements are possible in summer and most are to support work study students; international summer internships are through MITACs Global links programs.  Some years we have additional funds to support summer researchers.  Students with competitive applications should consider applying for NSERC USRA awards for summer research.  The biology department provides information to all Biology students about USRA applications.

Note that I regularly attend the Biology Thesis and Research Opportunities Night and Biology level II Welcome events.  Please come chat with me about research opportunities, if you are at these events!  I am happy to talk about how undergraduates can join my lab.

M.Sc. and Ph.D. Opportunities

I am looking for students with a strong interest in research science and a solid background in biology or related fields.  Students in my lab have science backgrounds in physiology, zoology, biochemistry/chemistry, molecular biology, or environmental sciences.  Students that have completed undergraduate theses or have prior research experience are particularly encouraged to contact me.  If you are considering graduate school, you are strongly encouraged to apply for OGS, NSERC or other appropriate scholarships.

Potential graduate students are welcome to contact me directly regarding research opportunities.  Please include your resume (CV) and an electronic copy of your transcripts when you email.

Information on graduate applications is available through the Biology Department’s web pages for graduate students.  There is plenty of information available through the website for prospective graduate students.  Students typically start in summer (May) or fall (September) terms.

Post-doctoral Opportunities

Post-doctoral opportunities are available in my lab, although they typically require that you obtain fellowship support (e.g. NSERC PDF).  Please contact me directly to discuss your interests.  Specific post-doctoral opportunities may be placed here and commonly advertised through appropriate society job boards when I have a fully funded PDF position that includes stipend support.

Interested students should contact Dr. Joanna Wilson at: joanna.wilson@mcmaster.ca

 

Recent Posts

Summer 2025 Research

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We have well started summer term and so many new things going on in the lab. Mellissa just came back from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where she spent 2 months learning some molecular docking. Mellissa is an NSERC CGS-M holder and was awarded a Michael Smith foreign study supplement, which made this exciting training opportunity a reality. We are excited to dig into this data, where she is comparing the molecular docking results to our in vitro high throughput screening data to see if the in silico approaches predict the in vitro data.

Both Hunter and Max, our newer graduate students, have been awarded scholarships. Hunter won an NSERC CGS-M and Max and OGS and we are super happy for both of them. Hunter is currently off in France taking advantage of a research opportunity with Sigal Balshine and Grant McClelland that is unrelated to his thesis. Max is here training our Mitacs Global links interns Sydnee and Julia and McMaster undergraduate Clarice. Clarice was a research course student last year working on some enrichment for fish and is doing her thesis in the lab next academic year. This group will begin to test some of our top hits from prior high throughput screening of CYP3A65 and CYP3C1 to assess embryo toxicity. Max’s research is focused on the extrapolation of our in vitro expressed proteins in vivo, using embryo exposures in zebrafish with and without his genes of interest. The CYP3A65 knock out line is from our collaborator, Jed Goldstone ( WHOI) and we hope to first identify if any of the substrates for these enzymes induce embryo toxicity and then will assess whether the KO line has a change in the toxicity or compound metabolism. We hope to screen several compounds this summer in our wild type fish, while the KO lines grow up.

Jack and Mellissa are both in their second year and are working up data and finishing experiments over the summer. They are looking closer and closer to finalizing experiments and data analyses for their thesis.

Lastly, I am looking forward to being on research leave soon. I have a few things on the list for the summer, including getting a renovated fish room fully on line and some grant writing. I will probably also be testing some protein expression parameters, which have proved rather finicky in the last 2 years. Hope everyone else is having a great summer of research.

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