Dr. Claudèle Lemay-St-Denis

Dr. Claudèle Lemay-St-Denis
Dr. Claudèle Lemay-St-Denis
Postdoctoral Scholar
2024-2025 Cohort
University of Haifa
Department of Bio-chemistry
  • Rachel Kolodny

Proteins are complex macromolecules that are essential to all living cells. They perform a variety of functions that are encoded in their sequence. Throughout evolution, changes in these sequences have led to essential adaptations of organisms to their environment. Our understanding of the properties that drive this complex evolution is drastically limited and is therefore one of the great challenges of our time. In her postdoctoral research at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Haifa, Claudèle Lemay-St-Denis focuses on the evolution of viruses by studying the relationship between viral proteins.

Dr. Lemay-St-Denis is developing novel AI methods to study the evolution of viral proteins. By exploiting the simplified nature of viruses, she studies how viral proteins relate to each other to uncover fundamental biological processes. In addition to providing insights into the mechanisms that allow viruses to recognize and infect cells, she hopes to reveal cross-reactivities in our immunological response to viruses, which could better inform clinical trials.

Dr. Lemay-St-Denis received her PhD from the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, where she studied the evolution of a protein that confers antibiotic resistance. She worked with an international group of researchers from six universities in Canada and other countries to learn more about mass spectrometry, biophysics, and computer science. This allowed her to understand how this small protein acquired a catalytic activity that is essential for life. As a result, her research provided insights into how bacteria acquire antibiotic resistance. Consulting with Israeli experts about this discovery led to a several-month internship in Israel.
Dr. Lemay-St-Denis’ research has been supported by prestigious, frequent and generous grants from several Canadian government agencies.