Shellfish aquaculture production has been growing steadily for the past several decades, and is expected to continue to do so. Three groups of the most commonly cultivated shellfish are mussels, oysters, and scallops. This research is focused on how these three families of shellfish capture different sizes of particles (e.g. phytoplankton) for ingestion. It has […]

Undertaking this project through Mitacs Globalink will provide me with a rare opportunity for extended time with the expert scholars, specialized research institutions and archival material in England that will allow me to greatly enhance the research component of my dissertation while also forming important links to a community of international researchers. I will be […]

Bivalves (e.g. mussels, oysters, and scallops) are valued for both their economic and ecological importance. As filter-feeders, bivalves remove suspended matter (e.g. phytoplankton) from their environment to ingest. There is potential that filter-feeders change their feeding activity based on their digestive processes. This feedback between feeding and digestion would be an important link to help […]

The challenges faced by mammals in adapting to their environment must be tightly controlled in order to ensure optimal body function. Hormones can travel in the bloodstream to reach various parts of the body and execute their biological actions on various organs. However, to reach their target the hormones must leave the bloodstream. That means […]

Synthetic polymers will be explored as a vehicle to deliver DNA to cells for potential gene therapy applications. Charge-shifting polycations with varying rates of degradation will be studied to test the effectiveness of DNA release, as well as eventual uptake and conversion of the DNA to produce a targeted protein (i.e. transfection). The varying rates […]

Dans le but de limiter la croissance impressionnante qu’a connu la population de la grande oie des neiges à la fin du XXe siècle, les autorités concernées ont libéralisé les règlements de chasse pour cette espèce au Canada et aux É.-U. en 1999 et 2009, respectivement. La chasse serait un outil efficace pour limiter la […]

Arctic temperatures are increasing twice as fast than the global average. In fjordic ecosystems of Svalbard, the Atlantification, the process leading to warmer conditions in the area impose new challenges to Arctic living community. Those changes alter cryosphere regime (i.e., ice component covering the surface) and associated species habitats. The black-legged kittiwake is a predator […]

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) hold promise as cell-therapy candidates for numerous diseases such as Graft v. Host disease due to their ability to influence the immune system. MSCs have been shown to be capable of a broad range of immunomodulatory effects, including the production of factors that allow them to serve as Medicinal Signaling Cells […]

La majorité des essais nutritionnels sont réalisés chez des porcs nourris deux fois par jour avec une quantité restreinte de nourriture. Ces conditions ne sont pas représentatives de la régie alimentaire des élevages commerciaux où les porcs mangent plus de deux repas par jour sans limitation de la quantité ingérée. Or, la féquence et la […]

Recent scientific breakthroughs have led to the development of methods to differentiate human PSCs (hPSCs) into skeletal muscle cells. This has allowed, for the first time, the development of cellular models to study muscle diseases such as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and the possibility to utilize these cells for cell therapy applications. However, the reliability, efficiency […]

It remains unclear which factors drives variation in the gut microbiome across humans. Past work has taken an evolutionary perspective and compared the gut microbiome of humans on Western diets to wild primates and humans on non-Western diets and identified particular microbes which are at different abundances. However, the focus of these studies has mainly […]

The intention of this project is inquiry into the role of force signaling in skeletal muscle repair. Before muscle damage, muscle stems cells that are yet to be incorporated in the muscle fibers are relatively inactive, but when injury occurs they can multiply and are recruited to the site of damage. Many aspects of the […]