Peter Moffett holds a PhD in biochemistry from McGill University and undertook postdoctoral research at the Sainsbury Laboratory (2000-2003) with David C. Baulcombe. Dr. Moffett then accepted a position as assistant scientist at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, located at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY (2003-2009). In 2009 he moved his research group to the Biology Department at the University of Sherbrooke, Canada, and has been a tenured full professor since 2012. Professor Moffett’s research focuses on various aspects of the molecular interactions between plants and pathogens, with a focus on viruses and bacteria. The Moffett lab has published on mechanisms by which plants recognize pathogens via NLR proteins, RNA silencing as an anti-viral defense, and how bacteria modify the plant microenvironment for their benefit. Current research projects are supported by grants from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Canadian National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Genome Canada, the Quebec Ministry of agriculture (MAPAQ) and the Quebec Funds for Nature and Technology Research (FRQNT). Dr. Moffett is the scientific director of the FRQNT-funded Strategic Research Network, the Centre SÈVE, a group of 76 plant laboratories across the province of Québec. As he is director of the plant growth and phenotyping platform at the University of Sherbrooke and a co-director of the Eastern Canada Plant Phenotyping Platform.