A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us in celebrating our
Biology Undergraduate Research Day 2024!

杏吧原创 University鈥檚 Department of Biology hosted its annual Undergraduate Research Day on April 12, a vibrant event dedicated to acknowledging and appreciating the hard work and innovative research conducted by students in BIOL 4908, BIOL 4907, and BIOL 4905.

At 杏吧原创 we recognize that research done by our undergraduates is vitally important to 杏吧原创鈥檚 success as a research intensive institution. The many of the projects you will see today will contribute data and ideas to scientific publications and/or presentations at conferences in Canada and around the world.

Congratulations to all the Winners!

Traditional Poster

1st place – Julia Desbiens

2nd place – Sara Saidani

#Better Poster

1st place – Jason Liebig

2nd place – Sarah Dilmaghani

5MT

Mackenzie Huckvale 

Thank you all for making this event memorable!

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Thank you for joining us and showing your support for the undergraduate student research held at 4th level Galleria of Nideyin脿n (formerly known as the University Centre).

This event is organized to recognize and showcase the excellent thesis work of our undergraduates. At 杏吧原创 we recognize that research done by our undergraduates is vitally important to 杏吧原创鈥檚 success as a research intensive institution.

Congratulations to all the winners!

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You’re invited! Join 杏吧原创’s Faculty of Science at the 2023 Discovery Lecture this March 2 – on zoom! Details below:

Unprecedented: Reporting on a New Era of Pandemics

A presentation by Apoorva Mandavilli, Science and Global Health Reporter, The New York Times

Thursday, March 2, 2023

7-8 p.m.

Zoom webinar

  (You will be provided a link to the webinar after registering)

Apoorva Mandavilli is a reporter for The New York Times, focusing on science and global health. She currently covers the coronavirus pandemic, the monkeypox outbreak, vaccinations, the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

She was a part of the team that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the pandemic, and was also a member of the team that was a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. She is the 2019 winner of the Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting, and has won numerous other awards for her writing.

She is the founding editor in chief of Spectrum, an award-winning news site on autism science that grew an audience of millions. She led the team there for 13 years. She joined The Times in May 2020, after two years as a regular contributor.

Her work has been published in The Atlantic, Slate and The New Yorker online, and in the anthology 鈥淏est American Science and Nature Writing.鈥�

She co-founded Culture Dish, an organization dedicated to enhancing diversity in science journalism, and was the founding chair of the Diversity Committee for the National Association of Science Writers. Ms. Mandavilli has a Master of Arts degree in journalism from New York University and a Master of Science degree in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is fluent in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.

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The lobby of the Nesbitt Building is about to get totally squashed. 杏吧原创 University鈥檚 greenest thumbs have been busy all summer watering, feeding and nurturing a mammoth pumpkin, partly as a botany experiment but also as a departmental fundraiser.

From now until noon on Thursday鈥擧alloween鈥攜ou can view the giant squash at Nesbitt and try to guess its weight for a small fee. The participant who guesses the closest weight gets half of the proceeds and the other half goes to the Laura Thomas Fund which helps biology students pay for summer research internships. 杏吧原创 community members may submit their guesses to room 206 Nesbitt Building by noon on Oct. 31. Tickets are $2 for one guess, and $5 for 3 guesses. [Click 鈥楻ead More鈥� for full story and photos]

Growing a giant pumpkin is no small feat.  The Department of Biology鈥檚 greenhouse manager, Ed Bruggink, ordered the seeds from The Dill Farm in Nova Scotia, home of 鈥淒ill鈥檚 Atlantic Giant,鈥� an award-winning variety of jumbo pumpkins. He says he bought two seeds鈥攐ne from from a 1,058-pound pumpkin (480 kg) and one from a 1,036.5-pounder (470 kg)鈥攁nd crossed them once they started producing flowers.

In the month of August, the pumpkin was gaining up to 40 lbs (18 kg) each day, Bruggink said. When a pumpkin grows that fast, the skin can dry out and split under the sun鈥檚 glare so Bruggink covered it in landscaping fabric to keep the orange titan intact.

He offered a sneak peek of the oversized vegetable several weeks ago in a garden outside of Nesbitt where staff, faculty and students grow plants for research. Connected to a thick, leafy green vine, it looked like a misplaced beach ball.

On Monday, Oct. 28, five people鈥攕tudents, staff and faculty鈥攆inally moved it from the garden to the lobby after weighing it on an granary scale. The official weight will remain a secret until 1 p.m. on Oct. 31 when the winner is announced.

The Laura Thomas Summer Research Internship in Biology was created to honour the department鈥檚 senior administrator who passed away in May 2019. You can read more about Laura Thomas and the fund here: .

Story by Lisa Gregoire/Photos by Fangliang Xu:

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Thursday, Nov 7, 2019 7:00 P.M.
378 University Center

Join us and listen to Andrea Reid talk about her work on Indigenizing Fisheries Research.

Andrea Reid is a Nisga’a Ph.D. Candidate in Biology at 杏吧原创 University. For her interdisciplinary and inclusive approach to fish and fisheries research in East Africa, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Northwest, she has been named a National Geographic Explorer, Fellow of the explorers Club, and NSERC Indigenous Student Ambassador. In 2021, Andrea will join the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries as an Assistant Professor and Chair their new Indigenous Fisheries Research

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is a new monthly series at 杏吧原创 University devoted to bringing together faculty, staff and graduate students from the life sciences disciplines to share their research and cultivate existing or future collaborations. Participating units include Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Health Sciences, Environmental and Interdisciplinary Science, and Neuroscience.

The series will be geared towards engaging, inspiring and informing a general sciences audience. Each session will include a 45-minute talk by a faculty member from a participating unit, followed by a lively discussion.

All are welcome to join us on Friday, Sept. 20 for the first talk in this series, , presented by Prof. Tom Sherratt (Biology). The presentation will begin at 10 a.m. in Room 608, Robertson Hall. All are welcome 鈥� free coffee and treats will be provided!

Browse the to see the full list of upcoming talks.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019 in , ,
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杏吧原创 Biology Talks: Dr. Julian Evans

Dr. Julian Evans

Group Behaviours and social information use in birds

University of Ottawa

Friday 5 May at 3:30PM CTTC 4440Q

Coffee and tea will be available at 3:00pm

Keywords: “social information”, “collective behaviour”, “social network analysis”, “group behaviour”

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杏吧原创 Biology Talks: Dr. Tom Glover

Dr. Tom Glover

Experimentally Defining Mechanisms and Risk Factors for Mammalian CNVs

University of Michigan

Monday April 24th at 3:30PM CTTC 4440Q

Coffee and tea will be available at 3:00pm

Keywords: mammalian genome instability, replication error, copy number variation

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杏吧原创 Biology Talks: Dr. Greg Mitchell

Determinants and consequences of migratory departure decisions for songbirds with respect to wind conditions aloft

Dr. Greg Mitchell

Environment and Climate Change Canada

Note: This seminar is an adjunct seminar

Friday April 21st at 3:30PM CTTC 4440Q

Coffee and tea will be available at 3:00pm

Keywords: aeroecology, migration, songbirds, wind, automated radio telemetry

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Eco-evolutionary dynamics

Dr. Troy McMullin

Adjunct Application Seminar

Wednesday April 12th, at 3:30PM CTTC 4440Q

 Coffee and tea will be available at 3:00pm

Keywords: Lichenology, taxonomy, systematics, conservation, woodland caribou, DNA barcoding, sustainable forest management, restoration, biomonitoring, ethnobotany.

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