Rebecca Wolfe - Manning Innovation Award winner

Congratulations to Rebecca Wolfe of Summerside, PEI for receiving a Young Canadian innovation award for her identification of Ciona Intestinalis.

Rebecca Wolfe’s science fair project to detect invasive species in waterways has earned her a $4000 Manning Young Canadian Award and $500 Manning Innovation Achievement Award. Wolfe was among over 450 finalists at the 2008 Canada-Wide Science Fair, held in Ottawa, May 10th to 18th. The 17-year-old student from Summerside, Prince Edward Island, developed a genetic tool to detect the troublesome sea squirt, Ciona intestinalis.

Also known as the vase tunicate, C. intestinalis is a small, tube-like invertebrate that affixes itself to buoys, harvesting gear, ships’ hulls and docks. In Nova Scotia and P.E.I, far from its natural habitat, the tenacious tunicate disrupts aquatic ecosystems and wreaks havoc with aquaculture equipment. The mussel growing industry in P.E.I. has been particularly affected by vase tunicate infestations.

Current methods to detect the vase tunicate include suspending plates in the water and waiting-up to four months-for tunicate larvae to attach and grow, or directly inspecting water samples for vase tunicate larvae. Distinguishing C. intestinalis from other tunicate species at the larval stage is very difficult, however. Wolfe developed a genetic test that would allow the invasive species to be quickly detected. Specifically, she designed and tested a DNA primer that matches a gene sequence unique to C. intestinalis. The primer can be used with the polymerase chain reaction technique to amplify and therefore identify even minute amounts of the vase tunicate’s DNA in water samples.

Wolfe, who has long been interested in marine biology, plans to build on her environmental innovation.

The Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation introduced the Young Canadian Program in 1992 to recognize Canada’s innovative youth. Each year a judging team selects eight winning projects at the Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF) for a $500 Manning Innovation Achievement Award. These are presented at the CWSF ceremony; four of these are selected for a $4000 Manning Young Canadian Innovation Award.