Katerina Basque

 

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I’m a second year student in the Bachelor of Business Administration Program, and I’m from We’koqma’q First Nation. I had not aimed towards going into science until I heard of this research project that was involving my own community. I’m honoured to take this position doing research for the summer involving anti-fouling. It’s amazing to be able to experience a different environment and also to be a part of this project because it’s beneficial to my community. I’m very glad that I got the opportunity to open a whole new world to me in the biology and chemistry departments. I’m really looking forward to spending the summer doing research, and will be testing anti-fouling materials in We’koqma’q with Michelle Hodgson.

Michelle Hodgson

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I am a fourth-year student and recently completed my Honours thesis. My research was interested in investigating behavioral innovation in the American Lobster, Homarus americanus, with the use of problem-solving tasks. I will be returning to St.FX for my final semester in the fall to complete my Biology degree. Until then, I am returning to the Wyeth lab for my fourth year as a research assistant. I will continue to work with Rachel Webber, who is investigating lobsters’ behavioral responses to various bait options near Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

I entered St.FX as a mature student and since then, I have gained experience from various research opportunities. The research projects that I have been involved in include work in Brier Island, studying Canada’s rarest plant, Geum peckii, antifouling methods for aquaculture netting and lobster behavior. I am enthusiastic to start this year’s project, and plan to do a Master’s degree in the Ecology or conservation field.

Sophie LeBlanc

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I am a fourth year student pursuing my BSc in Honours Chemistry. I am originally from Ottawa, and for the past two summers I have worked at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute researching rare genetic disease including developing a zebrafish animal model for Pyridoxine-Dependent Epilepsy. This year I am working on developing environmentally-friendly antifouling surfaces for marine aquaculture, specifically against mussel fouling in the Bras D’Or lakes in Cape Breton as part of my thesis work. After my undergraduate degree, I am interested in pursuing a career in medicine, and I hope to someday have the opportunity to join Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders). I would like to always be involved in research in some capacity throughout my career. My other interests and hobbies include drawing and painting, singing and playing guitar, running, playing soccer, skiing, being a coxswain on the StFX Rowing Team and a member of the StFX Tennis Team, hiking and traveling. 

Presenting at CSZ in St. John’s

We’ve just wrapped up a great week at the annual meeting of the Canadian Society of Zoologists. Alex Young and Areej Alansari presented their snail research – on neural gene expression and navigation behaviour, respectively. Ella Maltby presented her work from the last couple years on ultraviolet light as an antifoulant. And Russell went in a new direction, sharing research on crow behaviour conducted by the 2015 and 2016 students in his 4th year Animal Behaviour course.

milestones, news, and more

Lots of congratulations to share…

Carmen Landry submitted the final version of her Honours thesis.

Amelia MacKenzie was awarded Holly E. Bartlett Memorial Bursary (in the StFX News)

Ella Maltby and Areej Alansari presented their MSc work in a split seminar to the Biology Department to widespread acclaim!

And RCW and Mar Wonham’s article on teaching the scientific method also was shared by StFX News (along with some nice comments from Carmen and others!)

Ella Maltby

Areej Alansari

Wyethlab at Student Research Day

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Ella and Carmen

Unfortunately, I had to miss Student Research Day this year while travelling in Europe.  But the WyethLab was well represented!  Carmen Landry won the top award for oral presentations sharing her work on reference genes for qPCR in snails.  Although they didn’t compete for awards, I’m reliably informed that both Ella Maltby (poster) and Amelia MacKenzie (talk) did a great job with their presentations on antifouling research.

JEB Symposium & Dropping in on Dr. Daniel Jackson

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Lymnaea juveniles used for in situs

I have just returned from a quick trip to Europe.  The first half was participating in Journal of Experimental Biology Symposium 2018: Linking brain and behaviour in animal navigation.  Spring time in the shadow of Mt Olympus in northern Greece was a great place to meet and discuss the forefront of navigation neuroethology.  And then the second half was quick visit to meet up with Alex (Wyethlab MSc student) and Dr. Daniel Jackson at University of Göttingen.  Alex is visiting Dan’s lab to learn in situ hybridization methods in the pond snail, Lymnaea.  Some good conversations with Dan – hopefully leading to further interesting collaborations in the future!

 

Carmen Landry presents at Science Atlantic

This weekend, Carmen Landry (and two other honours students from StFX Biology) travelled to St John’s Newfoundland to present her research at this year’s Science Atlantic Aquaculture & Fisheries and Biology Conference. She, along with Alex Young, has been working primarily on establishing good reference genes to use with quantitative PCR so we can explore gene expression in the peripheral nervous system of gastropods. Congratulations Carmen for a successful first conference!

Publication! Teaching the Scientific Method

 

This has been a long time coming!  Almost 11 years since a fateful conversation at a picnic table at Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, Mar Wonham and I have just published our system to help students with their (scientific) logic.  The conversation topic was how to truly teach good scientific logic – something biologists do all the time, but rarely teach directly.  We ended up narrowing it down to two basic concepts: pattern and mechanism.  Starting from there, we have found that we can really help students generate good questions and hypotheses, and then design studies (surveys or experiments) to test those hypotheses and answer questions.  Along the way, we help stamp out fuzzy logic.  So, at the most basic level,  we are really just teaching critical thinking – which actually goes beyond teaching anything specific to science.

Wyeth, R.C., and Wonham, M.J. 2018. Patterns vs. Causes and Surveys vs. Experiments: Teaching Scientific Thinking. The American Biology Teacher 80(3): 203–213. doi:10.1525/abt.2018.80.3.203Link to PDF