Department of Biology Honours In Info Sessio ion 4 Nov, 2019 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Department of Biology

Honours In Info Sessio ion 4 Nov, 2019

Important Notes on the Honours Programme:

• Honours is a privilege, not a right
• Significant time commitment (summer and/or during semester)

Calendar Requirements:

BSc requirements

• 72 credits in Science, at least 30 at 3000 or 4000 level

Science Core

• 6 credits MATH/COMP (note: MATH 1111 or 1151 is a prerequisite for BIOL

2701)

• 3 credits physical science
• 3 credits life science

Marks

• min 3.0 CGPA in prescribed Honours work
• min 3.0 CGPA in all coursework after first year
• Thesis grade min “B”

Biology Department Honours (75 credits)

• 60 credits as in the Major, including 3 credits from Biol 2701
• r 4711
• 9 credits from BIOL 4990, 4903
• 6 additional credits from Biology at the 3/4000 level

To apply for admission to honours:

• Complete our departmental form found on the Biology

website

• Once accepted by a supervisor, complete the declaration

to pursue honours on the Regsitrar’s office website.

Honours in Biology: FAQs

• Q. What is it?

A. Students work independently on an original research question/problem in collaboration with a faculty member.

• Q. Do I need to choose my own project?

A. No, but you can certainly have input into your project. You need to commit to a supervisor (and vice versa) and together you will come up with your project.

• Q. Can I work on anything that interests me?
• A. Your project usually needs to fall within the realm of your

supervisor’s research program.

• Q. What is the first step?
• A. Students should make an appointment to visit potential supervisors and ask

about their research. Be prepared to tell faculty members about yourself.

• Q. What are the important considerations in deciding on a project/supervisor?
• A. You should keep an open mind. Once you take ownership of a project, you may

be surprised about how much interests you. You should think about:

• how much direct supervision you would like/require.
• the working relationship you will have with your supervisor.
• your goals. Are you interested in potentially publishing your work? Attending

conferences?

• the type of research you like to do (e.g. field, lab, behaviour, ecology, physiology,

biochemistry, molecular biology, a combination)

• Q. What is the Time commitment?
• A. You may have the opportunity to begin research in May and work throughout

the summer. Alternatively, some projects can start in September. You should expect to spend approximately 10 hrs/week on thesis-related work.

• Q. How are supervisor-student decisions made?

A. Once you have spoken to several potential advisors, you should let faculty know if you would like to work with them. You should also let faculty know when you have made a commitment. Faculty talk to each other to try and place students appropriately. You must fill out a form by the final day of classes in December indicating your top three choices.

• Q. What is BIOL 4903

A. As an Honours student, you register in BIOL 4990 (Thesis = 6 credits) and BIOL 4903 (3 credits). Both are year-long courses. BIOL 4903 (Current Advances) usually meets weekly for either class or a department seminar. You engage in thesis-related work (e.g. seminars, discussions).

• Q. How am I graded?

A. You receive a grade for 4903 from the 4903 instructor based on the work you do in this course. Your 4990 grade comes from your written thesis (60% supervisor, 20% committee member) and a presentation you give on Honours Day in April (20%).

The following faculty members are taking honours students in 2020-21

ISRG – Independent Student Research Grant Applications due ~ 31 January 2020 Biology Faculty Associate Members

• Dr. Campbell
• Dr. MacCormack (Chem/Biochem)
• Dr. Crosby
• Dr. Popp (Geog & Env)
• Dr. Hamilton
• Dr. Waller (Chem/Biochem)
• Dr. Kaczmarska
• Dr. Liefer
• Dr. Litvak
• Dr. Lloyd
• Dr. Morash

Brief summaries of faculty research interests:

107 Gairdner dcampbell@mta.ca 2-4 honours possibilities 2020/2021 Many research visitors & exchanges Students gain transferable skills in

• Quantitative thinking
• Data management & Analyses (R)
• Project management
• Writing

Students usually publish Recent students have progressed to:

• graduate school
• MBA
• Public Health
• instrumentation companies
• health professions
• environmental policy...

Grit valued over Grades nomar@mta.ca mktanton@mta.ca aamaccormack@mta.ca Remote Sensing of Mudflat Productivity Photoperiods in the Arctic Ocean Oceanic Low Oxygen Zones Coastal Eutrophication (mberthold@mta.ca) Reactive Oxygen Stress

• Dr. Karen Crosby

Paxinos & Watson (2009)

Dorsomedial nucleus of the hypothalamus

Neural Regulation of Appetite in Rats

Possible Research Questions

• How does stress affect synaptic function in the

dorsomedial hypothalamus?

• Patch clamp electrophysiology using live rat brain

slices

• How does the satiety hormone cholecystokinin

suppress appetite?

• Recovery surgery in rats, injections of drugs into the

brain

Honours Students

• I plan to take on 2-3 Honours students
• Highly motivated, hard-working, collaborative
• Funding opportunities:
• New Brunswick Health Research Foundation Summer

Studentship

• Independent Student Research Grant

Research in in the ACE (Aquatic Chemical Ecology) Lab

Cellular processes in microbes Global Biogeochemistry Aquatic Ecology

• The biochemistry and physiology of aquatic microbes
• The effect of microbial communities on aquatic consumers and global

processes

• Microbial biotechnology to clean polluted waters and produce

sustainable products

DNA RNA Phospholipids Polyphosphate D i a t

• m

c e l l Surface P

N u c l e u s

Honours opportunit ities in in the ACE Lab

Project 1: Phosphorus dynamics in marine phytoplankton

• Using new methods to study polyphosphate, a globally

important and poorly understood molecule

• Exploring how a variety of phytoplankton species use

phosphorus, the ocean’s ultimate limiting nutrient

• New biotechnology for wastewater remediation

Project 2: Community ecology of mudflat microbial food sources (w/ Dr. Hamilton &Dr. Campbell)

• Using chemotaxonomy to examine intertidal mudflat

biofilms that support migratory birds

• Field sampling and manipulative experiments in Fundy

mud!

Project 3: Origins of harmful algal blooms in New Brunswick lakes (w/ Dr. Kurek)

• Paleoecology of NB lakes to understand why toxic

blooms are increasing

• Field work in remote NB lakes to sample

phytoplankton, zooplankton, and water quality and to develop new monitoring tools

Project 4: Ecosystem impacts of glyphosate herbicides (w/ Dr. Jesse Popp)

• Exploring impacts of glyphosate spraying after logging
• n terrestrial and aquatic communities
• Collaborating with indigenous communities in Ontario

and applying traditional knowledge to field studies

• Rugged fieldwork in Ontario forests

Honours opportunit ities in in the ACE Lab

1. Cryobiology of sturgeon germplasm 5. Effect of yolk and lipid quality on visual development, larval growth and survival-- Zebrafish 2. Xenotransplantation. 3. Development of sperm and eggs in surrogates. 4. Opens up ability to do more work on sperm/egg interactions, sperm-to- egg ratios, tests of sperm quality and modeling 7. Spatial ecology of juvenile and Atlantic sturgeon 6. Stable isotopes—ecology and as a forensic tool to catch poachers and stop illegal trade in caviar 8. Sexual dimorphism in sturgeons

Litvak Lab

Comparative Physio iology

Evolution of hypoxia/thermal tolerance Mitochondrial physiology Cardiac vs. skeletal muscle physiology

• Dr. Andrea Morash

amorash@mta.ca

Shorebird and coastal ecology

• Dr. Diana Hamilton

(dhamilto@mta.ca)

Possible projects

• Shorebird movement, duration of stay and habitat use in

coastal NB

• Capture, tag, radiotrack a variety of species, behaviour and diet work
• Primary productivity on mudflats
• Quantify primary production and standing crop of diatoms, examine

aspects of ecology of biofilms (in conjunction with Drs. Campbell and Liefer)

• Intertidal community ecology
• Examine top down and bottom up factors, including primary

production, influencing intertidal systems.

Helpful traits in honours students in my lab

• Interest in field ecology, lab

analytical techniques, quantitative analyses, and publishing results.

• Comfort with strange hours,

hard work, unpredictability.

• Happy working in groups.
• Good birding skills or

interest in learning, fondness for mud and things that live in it.

If interested in working in my lab, please contact me. I will put you in touch with current and former lab members.

Vett Lloyd Tick-vectored diseases/Lyme disease Zoonoses Molecular genetics

T101 O+ F+ T112 O+ F+ 100bp ladder

Potential honours projects:

• 2 honours positions
• Summer funding likely available but either May or Sept.

start is acceptable

• Projects all involve and molecular genetics (PCR and

friends). Some interaction with Lyme patients and/or the public may be required for some projects

• Independent studies students are also welcome

What pathogens are in our ticks? Molecular testing of tick bank specimens to find pathogens Molecular ecology – molecular diet analysis of coyote, fox scat and cat (who’s lunch project) Profiling of oncogenes in human and canine tissues Colorectal cancer – molecular histology (requires summer internship in the Upper River Valley Hospital in

• Woodstock. Suitable for someone serious about a

medical career). Molecular histology and sequence analysis of human tissue Projects

MacCormack Lab – Barclay 101

tmaccormack@mta.ca, maccormacklab.com

• Fish (mostly) physiology and

metabolism

• Natural environmental stressors:
• xygen, temperature, pH
• Anthropogenic stressors:

contaminants (nanoparticles)

• Whole animals, isolated organs,

isolated cells, and protein level studies

• Fall 2020 projects:
• Role of taurine in supporting cardiac function
• Accelerated growth in salmon reared under hyperoxia (with Morash)
• Cardiotoxicity of nanoparticles
• Students Publish!
• Williams KJ, Cassidy AA, Verhille CE, Lamarre SG, MacCormack TJ. 2019. Diel cycling hypoxia enhances

hypoxia-tolerance in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss): Evidence of physiological and metabolic

• plasticity. J Exp Biol 222: jeb 206045.
• Campbell LA, Gormley PT, Bennett JC, Murimboh JD, MacCormack TJ. 2019. Functionalized silver

nanoparticles depress aerobic metabolism in the absence of overt toxicity in brackish water killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus. Aquat Toxicol 213: 105221.

• Callaghan NI, Williams KJ, Bennett JC, MacCormack TJ. 2018. Nanoparticulate-specific effects of silver on

teleost cardiac contractility. Environ Pollut 237: 721-730.

• Henry EF, MacCormack TJ. 2018. Taurine protects cardiac contractility in Fundulus heteroclitus by

enhancing sarcoplasmic reticular Ca2+ cycling. J Comp Physiol B 188, 89-99.

MacCormack Lab – Barclay 101

tmaccormack@mta.ca, maccormacklab.com