Michael Shamash

Michael Shamash

PhD Candidate

McGill University

Biography

I am a PhD candidate at McGill University studying the active role of bacteriophages in the infant gut microbiome.

As a side project I developed OnePetri, a mobile application which accelerates plaque-counting assays!

Interests

  • Computational biology
  • Metagenomics

Education

  • PhD in Microbiology & Immunology, 2026

    McGill University

  • BSc in Microbiology & Immunology (Honours), 2020

    McGill University

Skills

Anaerobic
Microbiology

Flow cytometry & bacterial culturing

Metagenomics

Bacterial & viral metagenomics

Bioinformatics

Development & deployment of scalable pipelines on HPC infrastructure

Experience

 
 
 
 
 

Bioinformatics Workshop Instructor/Coordinator

McGill University

2022 – 2023
Developed and instructed hands-on Illumina & Oxford Nanopore sequencing workshops; guided 60+ undergraduate students through DNA extraction, library prep, assembly and analysis; recognized by departmental and faculty teaching awards for innovative teaching contributions.
 
 
 
 
 

Teaching Assistant

McGill University

2020 – 2024
Instructed 100+ undergraduate students across 1 bioinformatics & 4 bacteriophage discovery lab courses, clearly explaining technical concepts to students with a range of backgrounds, recognized by departmental teaching assistant award.

Recent Publications

Michael Shamash, Maurice CF (2026). The infant gut virome assembles rapidly and predictably over the first three years of life. bioRxiv.

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Michael Shamash, Sinha A, Maurice CF (2025). Improving gut virome comparisons using predicted phage host information. mSystems.

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Pidgeon R, Mitchell S, Michael Shamash, Suleiman L, Dridi L, Maurice CF, Castagner B (2025). Diet-derived urolithin A is produced by a dehydroxylase encoded by human gut Enterocloster species. Nature Communications.

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Michael Shamash, Kapoor S, Maurice CF (2025). Benchmarking of a time-saving and scalable protocol for the extraction of DNA from diverse viromes. PeerJ.

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Sinha A, Li Y, Khan Mirzaei M, Michael Shamash, Samadfam R, King IL, Maurice CF (2022). Transplantation of bacteriophages from ulcerative colitis patients shifts the gut bacteriome and exacerbates severity of DSS-colitis. Microbiome.

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See all publications

Awards

FEMS microLife Poster Presentation Award

Federation of European Microbiological Societies 2025

Oral Presentation Award - 1st Place (PhD)

McGill University, Department of Microbiology & Immunology 2025

Learner Award for Teaching Innovation

McGill University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences 2023
Issued by the office of the Vice-Dean Education, the goal of these awards is to recognize innovative teaching strategies that are learning- and learner-focused

Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarship to Honor Nelson Mandela (CGS-D)

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) 2023 – 2026

DIALOGUE Grant

Fonds de Recherche du Québec (FRQS/FRQNT/FRQSC) 2023
Science-communication/outreach grant funding the development of hands-on sequencing and bioinformatics workshops for undergraduate students.

Gairdner Quebec Science Programs Grant

Gairdner Foundation & FRQS - Fonds de Recherche du Québec: Santé 2023
Science-communication/outreach grant funding the development of hands-on sequencing and bioinformatics workshops for undergraduate students.

Doctoral Research Scholarship

FRQNT - Fonds de recherche du Québec: Nature et technologies 2022 – 2026

Doctoral Training Scholarship

FRQS - Fonds de Recherche du Québec: Santé 2022 – 2026

Poster Presentation Award - 1st Place

McGill University, Department of Microbiology & Immunology 2022

Publication Award - Prix Relève étoile Louis-Berlinguet

FRQNT - Fonds de recherche du Québec: Nature et technologies 2021
Publication award for article entitled ‘Phages in the infant gut: a framework for virome development during early life’

IBD Scholarship

AbbVie & Crohn’s and Colitis Canada 2021
Recognizing post-secondary students living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) who demonstrate academic aspiration, community involvement, and strive to sustain an optimal level of wellness.

Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship-Master’s (CGS-M)

NSERC - Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada 2020 – 2021

Master’s Research Scholarship

FRQNT - Fonds de recherche du Québec: Nature et technologies 2020 – 2022

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