The research project will investigate the impacts of the US-Canada border on conservation of at-risk species around the region of the Okanagan watershed, in the context of culture, politics and land governance. Species distribution modelling will be used to compare distributions of selected species either side of the border, and environmental, social and geographical variables […]

The innate immune system is the first line of defense of our body against pathogenic bacteria. It uses a sophisticated arsenal of proteins that recognize and fight infection. Certain bacteria, like the food-borne pathogen Salmonella, can enter cells in your body to hide. We recently identified novel immune sensors that allow the recognition of these […]

Insects, being dominant in almost all ecosystems, are vitally important for regulating ecosystem health. There are growing concerns that insect abundance is declining globally, causing serious consequences for ecosystem services. To understand insect abundance trends, and their drivers, we need long-term monitoring schemes that are sensitive enough to detect change over time whilst balancing against […]

Xanthomonas phaseo i pv. manihotis (Xpm) is an important bacteria pathogen causing Cassava Bacteria Bight (CBB). Cassava is an important staple food source for millions of people worldwide. However, CBB constrains crop productivity and threatens food security for people in tropical regions. Xpm uses a set of effector proteins to manipulate Cassava defenses. Our research […]

Ce projet de recherche propose d’étudier l’origine de la latéralité humaine. En effet, la vaste majorité des humains préfère systématiquement l’utilisation d’une main relativement à l’autre tandis que nos plus proches cousins, les grands singes, n’ont pas une telle préférence. Cette préférence pour une main plutôt que l’autre est détectable dans nos os puisque ceux […]

Plants face various challenges when they grow. They are attacked by numerous diseases and this can negatively affect their growth and productivity. Plants have complex means of defending against diseases. In order to create disease resistant crops it is important to first understand how plants are able to defend against these diseases and understand how […]

Chez les vertébrés, le mode de reproduction le plus fréquent est la reproduction sexuée, ce qui implique la fusion de gamètes, soient l’ovule et le spermatozoïde, provenant de deux parents de sexes opposés. Dans certains cas rares, le mode de reproduction d’une espèce peut devenir asexuée c’est-à-dire, une reproduction par soi-même. Chez les vertébrés, ces […]

My research focuses on understanding the mechanism of action of a new class of tumor suppressor genes using the well established round worm (nematode) model system. Previously published data from Gupta and Chamberlin lab have shown that deleting the function of these genes causes excessive proliferation of cells (similar to cancerous growth). To further understand […]

A human protein “interleukin-2” plays a key role in immunity. The target of this project is to modify this protein, triggering more immune cells in body, and hence enhancing body defense. At first, the intern will produce normal interleukin-2 in bacteria. The protein will then be mixed with the immune cells. Increase in cell amount […]

There are Atlantic sturgeon in the Restigouche River estuary. This species is millions of years old and it is still found in our waters today. Fishers have reported their sightings every year in the last decade. Unfortunately, this species is now considered to be a species at risk of extinction. Because their numbers are so […]

Many species on earth are experiencing changes in their geographic distributions as climate change progresses. Ecologists don’t fully understand what limits or promotes a species ability to move in response to global change- factors such as temperature, interactions with other species, and population genetics can all play a role. I am interested in exploring how […]

Natural history collections and the specimens stored within are vital to our understanding of biodiversity, ecology, and evolution. To both preserve and increase their accessibility, efforts are being made to digitize the world’s natural history collections. In herbariums (natural history collections for plants), machine learning is being used to assist the digitization process by classifying […]