Mélanie Couture was born in Sherbrooke. In 2004, she graduated from Sherbrooke’s College as a wildlife technician and she then landed several contracts. She has worked, among others, for the University of Quebec at Rimouski (UQAR) on projects concerning post-fire recolonization of ants in the boreal forest and the ecology of American marten in Quebec. She also got a job with Envirotel 3000, in Sherbrooke, where she conducted wildlife inventories in Labrador and participated in a project on salmons in Charlevoix.
She continued her studies at Laval University in Quebec City where she graduated in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in biology. During her university studies, she worked in an entomology laboratory at Laurentian Forestry Centre (LFC, NRCan) on projects concerning the impact of natural and human disturbances on insect biodiversity in boreal forest. She also participated in a project on biology and habitat use of the Connecticut warbler with the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi (UQAC). During her last summer as a student, Melanie worked in the diagnostic team in plant protection of the Quebec Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPAQ), Quebec City, in the entomology laboratory.
From January to July 2011, she worked as a lab technician in medical research at the Centre de Recherches du Centre Hospitalier de l‘Université Laval (CRCHUL) on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
In September 2011 she joined the team of Dr. Khanizadeh at the Horticulture Research and Development Centre (HRDC) in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, as a research assistant on various projects on the raspberries, strawberries and other horticultural products.
She performs tests to characterize fruits of many cultivars grown under different conditions. She mesures the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC), the soluble solids, the total acidity, the antioxidant capacity (FRAP), the total phenolics (Folin-Ciocalteu) and the concentration of anthocyanins (HPLC). She also participates in breeding of strawberries in greenhouse.