Congratulations
As the representative of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution on the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC), Dr. Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde was recently elected as the Chair of the Guidelines Committee, and thus becomes a member of the Board of Directors of the CCAC. The CCAC is an autonomous and independent body, created in 1968 to oversee the ethical use of animals in science in Canada.
Eagle Awards 2011
Graduate (M.Sc.) students in BIOL 5056 and students in the Science Communication Graduate Diploma program teamed up in a joint project to produce video lectures as short TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Talk style films. On April 14, a gala event was held at the Vale Living with Lakes Centre to view these films and to present the Eagle Awards.
Nineteen short films under the leadership of Drs John Gunn and David Pearson were presented at the gala. This was the first official function at the centre before its official opening. The films were of a high quallity - entertaining, funny, informative, and thoughtful - and presented impressive skills in editing, directing and storytelling. As a result, the Science Communication students have gained experience as real-life producers, directors and film editors, while the BIOL 5056 students were the clients, young scientists striving to get their ideas produced as a film.
Awards were given in several categories. The winner of the Golden Eagle was "Oxygen; the other silent killer" by Alex Chan and ReelScience Productions.
John Gunn and David Pearson present the Golden Eagle to Alex Chan.
Alex Chan ad the ReelScience team celebrate the Golden Eagle. The ReelScience team from left to right: Vanessa Paolin, Jalyn Neysmith, Brittney Sandul, and Stephanie Morgan. Susie Taylor was not in the picture.
Biology student selected to participate in 2011 International Seminar
For a 2nd year in a row, a Laurentian University student has been selected as one of 20 Canadian students to participate in the 2011 International Seminar in Vietnam. The theme of this year's seminar is "Youth in the workforce and the socio-economic development of Vietnam."
Katrina Parent, a 4th year Biomedical Biology student, will be paired with 20 Vietnamese students for six-weeks in the Tra Vinh and Binh Thuan provinces of Vietnam to assess the job opportunities in the local communities.
Katrina will be heading to Vietnam from June 15 until July 30, 2011. During this time, her accommodation may range from staying with host families to staying in university residences. While in Vietnam, Katrina will be writing a blog about her adventures.
For more information, please visit www.uniterra.ca.
Theses defended
Congratulations to the following graduate students who successfully defended their theses:
Tamara Posadowski (M.Sc., May 2) - The feasibility of an organic residual cover o mine tailings for the growth of biofuel crops (co-supervised by Dr. Graeme Spiers and Dr. Peter Beckett)
Andreas Lük (Ph.D., May 2) - Littoral and pelagic energy sources in food webs of recovering lakes (supervised by Dr. Charles Ramcharan)
Bryce Mulligan (M.Sc., June 20) - Biological effects of actual and simulated geomagnetic fields (supervised by Dr. Michael Persinger)
Sheetal Pundir (M.Sc., August 24) - Characterization of a novel anticancer agent created by a hybrid pharmacophore approach (supervised by Dr. Hoyun Lee)
James Paterson (M.Sc., August 24) - Mitigation of human impacts through residence creation and designation of critical habitat for turtle species at risk (supervised by Dr. Jacqueline Litzgus)
Michelle Martin (M.Sc., August 25) - Spatial behaviour and habitat use by elk (Cervus elaphus) in response to highway construction and interprovincial relocation (co-supervised by Dr. Josef Hamr and Dr. Jacqueline Litzgus)
Yi (Lisa) Zhao (M.Sc., August 25) - The effects of adenine nucleotides and adenosine inhibitors on the production of interstitial adenosine in resting rat skeletal muscle (supervised by Dr. David MacLean)
Cindy Crocker (M.Sc., August 29) - Metabolic capacities of the African cichlid Pseudocrenilabrus multicolour victoriae: Do different populations display the same response under divergent dissolved oxygen regimes? (Supervised by Dr. Mery Martinez Garcia)
Seminars
Biology 4th-year Thesis Presentations
The Biology 4th-year thesis presentations were held on Friday, April 1, 2011 in the J.N. Desmarais Library Instruction Room.
An award of $100 was presented to Lynne Racette for the highest mark of all of the presentations. Congratulations!
The students and the titles of their research are listed below in the order of presentation:
Darby Campbell - Quantification of Lipid Content, Soluble Triglyceride Concentration, and Nicotinamide Co-Factors Through Periods of Starvation and Recovery in Drosophila melanogaster
Kristen Ethier - Characterization of a Matched Set of SOD1 P-element Excision Lines in
Drosophila melanogaster: SOD1 Activity, Longevity, and Paraquat Sensitivity
Maxine Myre - Isolation and Identification of Bacterial Species From an Acid Mine Drainage Site in Copper Cliff, Ontario, Using Culturing and Deep Sequencing Techniques
Rashmi Narendrula - Validating Gene Expression Changes Detected by Microarray Analysis in Drug Resistant Ovarian Cancer Cell Lines Using Q-PCR
Anna Li - The Virulence Properties of
Mycobacterium tuberculosis SapM
Julie Tessier and Natacha Montpellier - Potential Antimicrobial Properties of Select Natural Products Using a Resazurin Microtitre Plate Assay
Lynne Racette - Does the Introduction of Smallmouth Bass (
Micropterus dolomieu) Affect the Metabolic Capacities of Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens )?
Derek Chung - Rearing Effects of Hypoxia on the Male Reproductive Capacity of
Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor victoriae
Michael Shebeski - Monthly Differences in Crustacean Zooplankton Communities of Boreal Shield Lakes
Olivia Lobban - Eriophyid Mite Leaf Galls: Diversity and Distribution on Maple Trees in Two Southern Ontario Locations
Jacey-Anne Jackson - Assessment of the Biodiversity of Ground and Rove Beetles in one of Sudbury's Industrially-Damaged Ecosystems
Melanie Chown - Factors Influencing the Mortality Rate of Inhabitants Associated With the Gall of
Diplolepis rosaefolii (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) on Two Wild Roses
Hillary Heard and Darlene Skinner - Comparison Between Soil and Water Chemistry of Two Wetland Species,
Carex utriculata and Typha latifolia, in Northern Ontario Wetlands
BIOL 5056 Graduate (M.Sc.) student thesis seminars
On April 7 and 8, 2011, graduate students in BIOL 5056 presented their research work in a mini symposium.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Session 1 – Ecology and Physiology
Joel Leduc - Metal-Induced Fitness Response of Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens) larvae in Tailings Wetlands: A story of trace metals mingling with the Ranavirus
David Le Gros - Logging Roads, Road Effects and Mitigation Techniques for Amphibians in a central Ontario Forest
Ashley Stasko - The role of DOC in diet partitioning between walleye (Sander vitreus) and smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) in Boreal Shield lakes
Kyle Boland - The Sediment Budget of Daisy Lake: Mapping Organic Sediment Origin and Extent through Paleolimnological Analysis
Session 2 – Terrestrial and Wetland Ecology
Alexander Chan - An Investigation of the Effects of Season and Temperature on Root Senescence and Carbohydrate Metabolism of 4 Wetland Monocots
Jennifer Drouin - Unraveling the genetic stability and mechanisms of aluminum resistance of Eriophorum vaginatum regenerants and field plants from Sudbury
Fallon Kirkey - Influence of metal contamination on plant-water ecosystem relationships in three deciduous tree species (Acer rubrum, Betula papyrifera and Quercus rubra)
Brandy Smallwood - Comparison of the ontogeny of leaf galls induced by Diplolepis polita and D. nebulosa (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) and the impact of inquilines and parasitoids on gall anatomy
Janique Vandal - Antimicrobial Activity of Natural Products Recovered from the Flora of Northern Ontario
Julia Riley (previously presented on March 23, 2011) - Evaluation of a Common Turtle Conservation Technique, Nest-caging
Friday, April 8, 2011
Session 3 - Biomedical
Laura Douglas - The Feasibility of Biofuels in Canada: A Look at the Impact of Temperature on Microalgae Lipid Yields
Julie Grandbois - Characterization of Brainstem Phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase Gene in Hypertension
Nya Fraleigh - Inhalation Exposure to Transition Metals can Facilitate Sensitization to an Innocuous Protein Antigen
Mai Alhajlan - Preparation, Characterization and Antimicrobial Activity of the Liposome Macrolides against Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from Cystic fibrosis Patient
Clara Nomenjanahary - Tumor reversion: model of treatment in vitro of cervical cancer
Samoela Davids Rakotoarivelo - Expressing HPV 16 and HPV 18 E6 and E7 Epitopes in NIH 3T3 Mouse Fibroblast Cells as a Path to Therapeutic Vaccine Against Cervical Cancer
Anne-Marie Ratsimbazafy - Healing HPV-16 and HPV18 Cancerous Cells with MDG 1 and MDG 2
Abrar Samiea - Cloning and characterization of a functional Mycobacterium tuberculosis acid phosphatase
Lukasz Karbowski - A Quantitative Approach to Natural Ageing and the Influence of Lithium-Pilocarpine Induced Brain Damage in the Male and Female Wistar Rats
Biology Seminar Series
April 12 - Dr. John Bailey (Living with Lakes Center, Ontario Ministry of the Environment, and Laurentian University) - The development of stressor gradients for Yukon Placer Gold mining stream and Alberta wetland bioassessment programs
Publications
Echaubard P, Little K, Pauli B, Lesbarrères D. 2010. Context-Dependent Effects of Ranaviral Infection on Northern Leopard Frog Life History Traits. PLoS ONE 5(10): e13723. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013723
Gauthier, C. and D. Lesbarrères. 2010. Growth variation in captive species: the case of Leopard geckos, Eublepharis macularius. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 5(3):449-455.
D. Lesbarrères, M.S. Fowler, A. Pagano and T. Lodé. 2010. Recovery of anuran community diversity following habitat replacement. Journal of Applied Ecology 47(1): 148-156.
Martínez, M., E. Raynard, Rees, B.B. and Chapman, L.J. 2011. Oxygen limitation and tissue metabolic potential of the African fish Barbus neumayeri: roles of native habitat and acclimatization. BMC Ecology 11(1): 2.
Schulte-Hostedde, A.I., S. Kuula, C. Martin, C. Schank, and D. Lesbarrères. 2011. Allometry and sexually dimorphic traits in male anurans. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 24: 1154-1159.
Vandeligt, K., Nkongolo, K., Mehes, M. 2011. Genetic analysis of Pinus banksiana and P. resinosa populations from stressed sites in Ontario. Chemistry & Ecology. DOI: 10.1080/02757540.20.561790.
Mudibu, J., K.K. Nkongolo, M. Mehes-Smith, and A. Kalonji. 2011. Genetic Analysis of a Soybean Genetic Pool using ISSR marker: Effect of Gamma Radiation. Int. J. Plant Breed. Genet. DOI: 10.3923/ijpbg.2011.
Dobrzeniecka, S., Nkongolo, K.K., Michael, P., Mehes-Smith, M., and Beckett, P. 2011. Genetic Analysis of black spruce (Picea mariana) populations from dry and wet areas of metal-contaminated region in Ontario (Canada). Water, Air, and Soil Pollution 25: 117-125.
Mehes-Smith, M., Nkongolo, K.K., and Michael, P. 2011. A comparative cytogenetic analysis of five pines species from North America. Plant Syst. Evol. 292 (2-4): 153-164.
Mehes-Smith, M., Michael, P., and Nkongolo, K.K. 2010. Species-diagnostic and specific DNA sequences evenly distributed throughout pine and spruce chromosomes. Genome 53: 769-777.
Mbuya, K., K.K. Nkongolo, A. Kalonji-Mbuyi and R. Kizungu, 2010. Participatory selection and characterization of quality maize (QPM) varieties in DR-Congo. J. Plant Breed. Crop Sci., 2, 325-332.