IO-BULLIO-BULLMESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
Now that Fall is officially here, I'd like to welcome everyone to the new academic year. We continue to grow – though interestingly only back to early 1990 size - with the arrival of Julian Guttman (cellular microbiology) and Wendy Palen (aquatic ecology). Nick Dulvy (aquatic conservation) will join in January, and Jenny Cory has accepted the Research Chair in Biological Control and will be arriving next year. That should be it for new hirings for a while (phew!). We also have 15 new graduate students, starting this fall, bringing our graduate numbers up to more than 150. With the Province’s (and SFU's) targets for increasing grad enrollment, this number can only increase - and we are working on ways to increase quality and quantity of graduate desk space. >T.D. Williams
THE SURREY CONNECTION
Many of us know there is a Surrey campus but don’t know much about the campus or what goes on there. Small class sizes, new facilities and convenient location are making this location a very popular choice for those starting university. Check out the website at http://www.surrey.sfu.ca/. The campus was established in the spring of 2002, and the Biology Department offered BISC101 and BISC102, taught by Dr. Ivona Mladenovic, in fall 2005 accommodating 52 students. In fall 2006, the Department started offering second year courses taught by Dr. Scott Briscoe and doubled the first year courses’ seats with waitlists. Although the lectures and tutorials are offered at the Surrey campus, students travel to SFU’s main campus for the 101 and 102 labs, so Ivona’s face should be a familiar one.
Dr. SCOTT BRISCOE: The newest member of our Surrey Campus teaching faculty joined us just a year ago. Jointly appointed with MBB, he is currently responsible for teaching their cell and molecular courses (MBB221 and 222) as well as our genetics course (BISC202) at Surrey and has also taught our introductory course (BISC100) here at Burnaby.
Scott grew up on a farm in Eastern Ontario where they grew pretty much everything - from livestock to vegetables. After obtaining his BSc at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, he went on to pursue his PhD at McGill in molecular and microbial genetics. His work used molecular techniques to address environmental problems, specifically looking at cellular changes in gene expression upon exposure to toxic environmental agents. An E. coli luciferase gene-fusion library was used to find genes whose expressions changed when cells were exposed to environmental toxicants. Such changes in gene expression were detected by changing amounts of light being emitted by the cells.
A headline from the Vancouver Sun ("Penises found on female snails off the coast of Vancouver") drew Scott’s attention to one pesticide in particular. Tributyltin - widely used at the time as an antifouling agent in paints applied to the hulls of ships to prevent barnacles and other little marine organisms from hitching a ride – was the prime suspect, and thus became the focus of his research activities.
Scott also enjoys photography, which he not only applies to his research, but with which he partially supported his years in grad school as a professional photographer. >B. Sherman
Dr. IVONA MLADENOVIC: 
Dr. Ivona Mladenovic first appeared in SFU’s halls in 2003 as a sessional Lab Instructor for BISC102. She taught for two semesters and when the position of Senior Lecturer at the brand new Surrey location was created, she was a natural choice. She has nothing but good things to say about the Surrey campus and is its biggest advocate. Ivona loves teaching and finds it very similar to her other love: music. She finds that like performing, teaching is challenging, creative, interactive and allows her to show her talents.
She completed her B.Sc. at the University of Belgrade specializing in Molecular Biology and Physiology. Her M.Sc. and Ph.D. were both done at U. of B. in cooperation with the University of London, England. For these degrees she specialized in Endocrinology (M.Sc.) and in Andrology (Ph.D.), which is the study of male hormones and reproductive behaviours.
In 1994, she and her family immigrated to Vancouver, where they pursued their interests in education and the arts. Ivona has completed a Provincial Instructor Diploma at VCC and a Diploma in Education at UBC and has worked at several post secondary educational institutions. She also has played piano with an orchestra and sings in the choir. >L. Dodd
SUMMER
DEFENCES - Congratulations
to the following graduate students who successfully defended this
summer!!
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Masters |
PhDs |
New
Neuro-Power of BISC
Click on images to enlarge
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I try to understand how the brain develops, specifically how neuronal circuits form during embryogenesis. Since the vertebrate brain is rather complex we try to understand one of the simplest brains, the C. elegans brain, first. We use a genetic approach to identify genes essential for neuronal circuit formation. We do this in the hope that the mechanisms and genes we discover are evolutionary conserved and will tell us general aspects of brain development. If you want a label, you could call me a developmental neurobiologist. |
Born and raised in Toronto, after obtaining a PhD from UBC, I headed south for a postdoc, to Pittsburgh, which I found to be surprisingly habitable. Even so, I was happy to return to Canada in Jan 2006 for an assistant professor position at SFU, although I confess I still watch the occasional Steelers game. Our lab studies mammalian neuronal mitochondria, particularly the role they play in neurodegeneration. Mitochondria are surprisingly sprightly little beasts; they undergo fission, fusion and are rapidly transported along the axons and dendrites of neurons. I am interested in the mechanisms of these processes and how they change during the course of neuronal injury. To monitor mitochondrial dynamics in live neurons, we employ fluorescence microscopy and recombinant fluorescent proteins targeted to the mitochondrial matrix. |
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I'm a PhD student from Germany stranded in 'Beautiful BC'. My research focuses on the characterization of two genes that are involved in axon guidance in the ventral nerve cord of the nematode C. elegans. Besides lab work I swim in the SFU pool and try to be outdoors every sunny weekend.
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JUSTIN LARDIZABAL I |
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T I am an international PhD student from Germany. I am interested in how outgrowing axons find their target cells during development of the nervous system. The primary focus of my thesis is to identify and subsequently characterize two novel genes involved in this process. |
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DR. MICHAEL SILVERMAN’S LAB: TEAM NERVE-ANA Our lab is interested in how proteins that are processed in the biosynthetic pathway are transported to sites of release in the axon and dendrites of neurons. To this end, we combine the primary culture of neuronal cells, immunocytochemistry, and live-cell imaging to investigate questions of membrane trafficking. Really we are just in the business of producing lots of pretty pictures, and if we are lucky we get data from them!? For a sample of our aesthetic sensibilities, please visit http://www.silvermanlab.org/. Yes, I (the boss) am looking for graduate students. |
RESEARCH NEWS
The hallways and labs may have seemed empty over the summer months, but a steady stream of publications from department members has continued over the past semester. Of particular note are two back-to-back publications in Evolution from the Crespi lab. In the first paper, Stevan Springer and Bernie Crespi examine forces that keep different species different. For most of us, it is not difficult to avoid having sex with a member of another species. However, for organisms that release their gametes into the external environment, such as mussels, this is a potentially serious problem. Stevan and Bernie studied a gamete-recognition protein that is key for fertilization, looking for variation in the protein sequence within species. They found that the presence of multiple species of mussels in a given area (and therefore an increased potential for having sex with the wrong species) may have contributed to the diversification of this protein.
The second paper, by Jeff Joy and Bernie, also addressed adaptive divergence, but in this case how new species of gall-inducing flies may arise. While the prevailing view is that new species of plant-feeding insects arise through specialization on different species of plant, Jeff and Bernie found that speciation in this group of flies could occur on a single host plant, with different species specializing on different parts of the same plant.
Our department also had two consecutive publications in the Journal of Applied Ecology, although the papers were from two different labs. Stuart Wynne and Isabelle Côté examined the effects of fishing on lobster populations in the Caribbean, while Jonathan Whiteley and Leah Bendell-Young examined the effects of shellfish aquaculture on non-target bivalve molluscs in BC. In both papers, the authors use their results to make recommendations for maintaining the health of natural populations.
The more molecular-oriented folks in the department have also been productive, with a recent paper in Biochemical Journal by Lianglu Wan and others from Alison Kermode’s lab being one of the more prominent examples. >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.
HOMAS
UNSOELD