BIO-BULL

May 2007

RESEARCH NEWS

We all know that great science is going on within the department, but often don’t know much about work that is only distantly related to our own. This column will highlight high-profile publications that have come out this past semester. The focus is on primary research papers rather than reviews (such as Suzanne Gray and Jeffrey McKinnon’s recent review in Trends in Ecology and Evolution) and perspectives (such as Arne Mooers’ recent News and Views in Nature or Bernie Crespi’s recent Letter in Trends in Ecology and Evolution).

In January, a paper by Inigo Novales Flamarique and others (including his graduate student Christiana Cheng) came out in Proceedings of the Royal Society B and was featured in Science News. The study examined flashes of light that razorback suckers produce by rolling their eyes to reflect daylight off the back of their eyes. These flashes are particularly apparent in the UV range, and the fish have cones to detect UV light that are found only in the upper half of the retina, i.e., localized to detect UV flashes coming from below. Only males have been observed to produce these flashes, which appear to be used to signal territorial presence.

A recent paper in The Plant Journal describes work by Wenzel and others from Jim Mattsson’s lab, which investigated how patterns of veins are generated in leaves. Wenzel et al. examined when and where two candidate genes were expressed, and developed a model of how the products of these two genes interact with auxin to generate leaf veins.

Other notable publications that have come out recently include 3 papers in American Naturalist by Suzanne Gray et al., Brent Gurd, and Patrick Nosil, as well as a paper in Current Biology co-authored by Isabelle Côté.  Tune in next semester to read about the summer blockbusters. >J. Christian

To view our department's publications, go to the bottom of our Research Web Page or click on http://events.biol.sfu.ca/publications/ to view 2007 publications and search for others.

AMELIA SIU

Most of you will be familiar with Amelia’s skills at navigating SFU’s financial system that come as a result of a career in the accounting departments of employers such as Mohawk Oil and Aerospace North America (a major trade show organiser). She became familiar with the idiosyncrasies of SFU’s system during a temporary appointment in research accounting before joining us in May of 2006.

Originally from China, Amelia’s father moved to Trujillo on the Pacific Coast of Peru where Amelia and her brother and sisters were born. Her family decided to make Vancouver their home in 1978. As a result, Amelia speaks three languages (Cantonese, Spanish and English).

Amelia lives with her husband, daughter and son in Vancouver where her large extended family keeps her busy. When she has time, she enjoys badminton, hiking and traveling. She visited the UK and Qatar last year and has just returned from a trip to Boston and New York. >B. Sherman

JOHN REYNOLDS

John joined SFU in September 2005 to take up the Tom Buell BC Leadership Chair in Salmon Conservation. He was born and raised in southern Ontario, and obtained his university degrees in Canada. He ventured over to England for an NSERC post-doc at Oxford University and spent the next 12 years as a professor at the University of East Anglia. The SFU Chair was created in honour of Tom Buell, an avid environmentalist, who passed away in 2003. When John was offered this position, the family, which includes Isabelle Côté and their two daughters, Geneviève (11) and Catherine (6) moved back to Canada. Rumour has it that it was a unanimous family decision to buy two kayaks and a canoe before a dining room table, clearly indicating everyone’s enthusiasm for their new home. So, besides a lifelong passion for natural history, birding, diving and photography, John has added kayaking to his list of hobbies.

Not that John has a lot of spare time, given his diversity of research interests. Since his recent move to SFU, John has been busy setting up an extensive field research project studying salmon and biodiversity in 100 watersheds in the central coastal region of BC and the Fraser Basin. “Pacific salmon are like conveyor belts that bring nutrients from the ocean to inland ecosystems. We’re studying impacts of these nutrients on various aspects of biodiversity, including the potential for feedback loops to subsequent generations of salmon, though enhanced productivity of freshwater and estuary habitats.” John is also continuing with some of his research from England, which includes analyses of large-scale databases to determine links between fish life histories and extinction risk. He also has two nomadic PhD students moving between England and Canada, one of whom studies conservation ecology of snakes in Cambodia.

Isabelle and John share lab space in the room once occupied by the Borden & Winston Labs. The decision to share space was based on the philosophy they brought from the University of East Anglia, where researchers from different labs mix graduate students together to enhance creative exchange of ideas. With 16 grad students and post-docs between them, that’s a lot of potential exchanging! >L. Dodd

THE WILLIAMS LAB

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