News Category: News
Slides from Maria Klawe’s presentation Changing the World 
Maria Klawe presented the talk Changing the World at UBC on May 29th. Find the PowerPoint presentation slides at Changing_the_World.pdf
Watch Volunteers Director Linda Lanyon on YouTube
Linda is featured on Volunteer Vancouver’s new YouTube channel.
Biographies of Canadian Women in Science
Canadian women have been active participants in a broad spectrum of scientific endeavour for several hundred years. The Library and Archives Canada has compiled biographies of 15 notable scientists. Medicine, architecture, engineering, aeronautical, biological and agricultural sciences are among the fields in which these women worked. Many of them faced enormous challenges in their personal and professional lives. Despite these challenges, they have made significant contributions to scientific research, achieved firsts in their fields and furthered the advancement of women in non-traditional areas of activity.
Read more about the following pioneering women here:
Maude Abbott Physician
Roberta Bondar Astronaut
Carrie Derick Botanist; (First Canadian Female University Professor)
Ursula Franklin Physicist
Monique Frize Electrical Engineer
Jean Goodwill Nurse
Esther Marjorie Hill Architect
Irma LeVasseur Physician
Elizabeth Muriel Gregory MacGill Engineer (first woman aircraft designer in the world)
Jeanne Mance Nurse
Margaret Newton Plant Pathologist
Julie Payette Astronaut
Marie-Henriette LeJeune Ross Midwife and Healer
Irene Ayako Uchida Geneticist
Alice Wilson Geologist
Back to School: Five Myths about Girls and Science
1. Myth: From the time they start school, most girls are less interested in science than boys are.
Reality: In elementary school about as many girls as boys have positive attitudes toward science. A recent study of fourth graders showed that 66 percent of girls and 68 percent of boys reported liking science. But something else starts happening in elementary school. By second grade, when students (both boys and girls) are asked to draw a scientist, most portray a white male in a lab coat. The drawings generally show an isolated person with a beaker or test tube. Any woman scientist they draw looks severe and not very happy. The persistence of the stereotypes start to turn girls off, and by eighth grade, boys are twice as interested in STEM careers as girls are. The female attrition continues throughout high school, college, and even the work force. Women with STEM higher education degrees are twice as likely to leave a scientific or engineering job as men with comparable STEM degrees.
2. Myth: Classroom interventions that work to increase girls’ interest in STEM run the risk of turning off the boys.
Reality: Actually, educators have found that interventions that work to increase girls’ interest in STEM also increase such interest among the boys in the classroom. When girls are shown images of women scientists and given a greater sense of possibility about the person they could become, the boys get the message too—”I can do this!”
There are more opportunities than ever for girls and boys to explore science together. One resource: the discoveries, games and hands-on experiments available at http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/.
3. Myth: Science and math teachers are no longer biased toward their male students.
Reality: In fact, biases are persistent, and teachers often interact more with boys than with girls in science and math. A teacher will often help a boy do an experiment by explaining how to do it, while when a girl asks for assistance the teacher will often simply do the experiment, leaving the girl to watch rather than do. Research shows that when teachers are deliberate about taking steps to involve the female students, everyone winds up benefiting. This may mean making sure everyone in the class is called on over the course of a particular lesson, or asking a question and waiting 10 seconds before calling on anyone. Good math and science teachers also recognize that when instruction is inquiry-based and hands-on, and students engage in problem solving as cooperative teams, both boys and girls are motivated to pursue STEM activities, education and careers.
Resisting stereotypes and furthering opportunities, Girls Creating Games was created as an after-school and summer program designed to support the interest of middle school girls in computers and information technology. Its goal is to increase the number of women and girls in the IT workforce. A sample of the girls’ creations is accessible at http://programservices.etr.org/gcgweb/.
4. Myth: When girls just aren’t interested in science, parents can’t do much to motivate them.
Reality: Parents’ support (as well as that of teachers) has been shown to be crucial to a girl’s interest in science, technology, engineering and math. Making girls aware of the range of science and engineering careers available and their relevance to society works to attract more women (as well as men) to STEM careers. Parents and teachers are also in a position to tell young people what they need to do (in terms of coursework and grades) to put themselves on a path to a STEM career.
Best known as the first American woman to travel in space, Sally Ride is also a physicist, educator, and author. She is the founder of Sally Ride Science, a science content company dedicated to supporting girls’ and boys’ interests in science, math and technology. She offers a guide for parents, “Science Can Take Her Places” at http://www.sallyridescience.com/.
5. Myth: At the college level, changing the STEM curriculum runs the risk of watering down important “sink or swim” coursework.
Reality: The mentality of needing to “weed out” weaker students in college majors – especially in the more quantitative disciplines – disproportionately weeds out women. This is not necessarily because women are failing. Rather, women often perceive “Bs” as inadequate grades and drop out, while men with “Cs” will persist with the class. Effective mentoring and “bridge programs” that prepare students for challenging coursework can counteract this. Changing the curriculum often leads to better recruitment and retention of both women and men in STEM classrooms and majors. For example, having students work in pairs on programming in entry-level computer science and engineering (CSE) courses leads to greater retention of both men and women in CSE majors. In addition, given that many students (including men) have difficulty with spatial visualization and learning, coursework in this area has helped retain both women and men in engineering schools.
*Compiled by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Research on Gender in Science and Engineering (GSE) program which seeks to broaden the participation of girls and women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education fields by supporting research, the diffusion of research-based innovations, and extension services in education that will lead to a larger and more diverse domestic science and engineering workforce.
Research team studies health, foraging behaviour of sea otters
Underwater vehicles used to capture the mammals on Vancouver Island
By Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun, June 24, 2010 – p. A4
A Canada-U. S. study into the health and foraging behaviour of sea otters between Alaska and California has employed small underwater vehicles to capture the marine mammals on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
An international team of 10 researchers has just returned from three weeks in the Clayoquot Sound and Esperanza Inlet area during which 46 sea otters were captured and their flippers tagged.
Researchers also measured and weighed the otters—the largest male tipping the scales at 40 kilograms—and took samples of blood, fur, skin, even whiskers before releasing them. Results of the continuing study will provide information not just on sea otter populations along the Pacific coast, but on the health of the coastal ecosystems upon which they depend.
Linda Nichol, a federal marine mammal research biologist, explained that specially trained researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey operated small, battery-operated, propeller-driven vehicles and wore rebreather units that allowed them to operate under water without generating bubbles that would scare away the otters.
Traps mounted on the vehicles scooped up the otters as they rested together on the surface. “They’re guided by shore spotters who radio to them,” she said in an interview from the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo. “They come up, pull the draw string, and hope they have an otter in the trap. It’s quite slick, actually.”
Modified gillnets were also used to trap otters for the research, which will continue next year.
Unlike other marine mammals, otters bring their prey to the surface to be consumed and identified by researchers, she continued. “It’s a matter of a very good spotting scope and being patient.”
Diet tends to be more varied where otters are well established; sea urchins, for example, may give way to mussels. Unlike river otters, sea otters in B.C. do not eat fish.
Researchers handling sea otters must be careful to avoid their powerful teeth. “It would be quite serious,” Nichol confirmed. “They’d go right through your hand if they bit you. They’re incredibly agile. They can almost literally turn around in their skin.”
Sea otters were wiped out in B.C. during the fur trade beginning in the mid-1700s. Between 1969 and 1972, 89 animals were reintroduced from Alaska to Checleset Bay on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Federally downlisted to special concern from threatened in 2007, sea otters numbered an estimated 4,700 in 2008, up from almost 3,200 in 2004. Those numbers are well below historic figures estimated at up to 70,000 or more.
Otters continue to expand their range in B.C. and are now established as far south as Clayoquot Sound, where they are frequently spotted during commercial whale-watch trips. Males explore new territory first, followed by the females.
The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council has indicated it would like to conduct a kill of sea otters for traditional ceremonial purposes, but no such hunt is imminent.
Is this water safe to drink?
by Jody Jacob
UBC researchers hope to patent a device to detect water-borne pathogens in real time – a technology that currently doesn’t exist, and one that could potentially help prevent human illness caused from dangerous organisms that can infiltrate treated water systems.
“Currently, plant operators can’t actually detect a pathogen in water on location at treatment facilities,” says Debbie Roberts, principal co-investigator and Associate Director of the School of Engineering at UBC’s Okanagan campus. “They send samples away to labs for testing, and quite often that doesn’t happen until after people have started to get sick.
“The fact is, if I wanted to find out what is in my water to determine at that very moment if it is safe to drink, I couldn’t do it. So I want to develop the technology that can.”
The device is a portable, box-like system called a capture cell that passes a stream of treated water over a series of plates that contain capture molecules, such as antibodies. The capture molecules have an ability to bind to pathogens present in the water.
Once the sample is collected, the plates are removed and dipped into a solution that contains signal molecules – known as micro retro-reflectors – that also contain an antibody. The result is an organism between two molecules, one of which has a reflector on it. This is then put into a detector and light is shone on it. If any light bounces back, the sample contains a pathogen. If no light bounces back, it is a clean sample.
The micro retro-reflector technology was developed by colleagues of Roberts at the University of Houston, although they didn’t have
a practical application for it at the time.
“The technology was really all there, it just needed to be brought together. The biggest challenge was developing the actual capture device or sample cell,” says Roberts.
Mina Hoorfar, Assistant Professor of Engineering at UBC’s Okanagan campus and co-investigator in the project, was able to use her knowledge in fluid mechanics to put the last piece in the puzzle.
“And now,” says Roberts, “we are confident we have a prototype that will help us show proof of concept, so we can secure funding and move the project forward.”
Roberts expects the capture cell will have important practical applications for developing countries, as well as developed countries. With this in mind, researchers are working to make the capture cell a fairly inexpensive portable device with reusable pieces. Potentially, it could function as a water-quality detection device after a natural disaster such as an earthquake or tsunami.
To make the detection system a practical tool for developing countries, some tweaking is necessary to address concerns related to temperature stability and potential lack of power sources. However, Roberts believes once the basic concept is proven, the device can be manipulated to serve
a number of objectives.
“For example, take the earthquake in Haiti,” says Roberts. “This device could determine fairly quickly, in real time, what water sources contain the least amount of pathogens, or hopefully be clean and thus suitable for drinking with the least amount of treatment.”
And although the prototype focuses specifically on detecting the microscopic water-borne parasite Cryptosporidium, the capture cell could eventually contain an array of plates and capture molecules that are able to detect any organism, or even chemical, for which a capture molecule exists.
“We are working to detect Cryptosporidium right now because it is a well-known pathogen that has a history of causing sickness in communities, and because there is a current technology using these antibodies, so we know they are commercially available and accepted by regulatory agencies,” says Roberts.
Trent Ph.D. Study Disrupts Long-held Beliefs about Historic Grey Wolf Distribution in East N America
Dr. Linda Rutledge’s study of 16th century skull fragments suggests eastern wolves, not grey wolves, inhabited forests of eastern North America prior to arrival of European colonists
A research study conducted by Dr. Linda Rutledge, during her time at Trent University as a Ph.D. student in the Environmental & Life Sciences Graduate Program, and published this week in the journal Conservation Genetics, has the potential to impact wolf restoration efforts in the northeastern United States.
“This study brings the whole historic distribution of grey wolves into question,” said Dr. Rutledge, who is currently a post-doctoral researcher with the Natural Resources DNA Profiling and Forensic Centre (NRDPFC) at Trent. “The results challenge the idea that only grey wolves occupied eastern North America prior to the arrival of European explorers.”
The study, done in collaboration with anthropologists from Trent University, the University of Western Ontario (UWO), and McMaster University, compared the size and DNA of an approximately 500-year old jaw bone excavated from a pre-historic Iroquois village site in London, Ontario, to that of current wolf and coyote populations.
“We didn’t find any evidence that grey wolves inhabited southern Ontario in the 16th century, so these results are in direct contrast to the idea that a grey wolf subspecies inhabited the temperate forests of eastern North America,” Dr. Rutledge said. “That our results demonstrate the presence in this area of a distinct eastern wolf species rather than a grey wolf is really quite important for conservation because it makes us question the original distribution of grey wolves in the east.”
Once ranging across most of the United States, wolves were extirpated from all but a few regions by the mid 20th century. In eastern North America, these wolves were typically considered to be a grey wolf subspecies, but the genetic and morphological evidence presented in this new study reveal a different image of the wolf that roamed this area prior to European settlement.
Commenting on her research project, Dr. Rutledge said: “As a biologist, being able to collaborate with the Anthropology departments at three universities was really exciting, and being able to utilize the extensive resources available at Trent was really essential to the success of this project. The work wouldn’t have been possible without the ancient DNA facility in the Anthropology department and the sophisticated technological tools and genetic database available through the Biology department and the Natural Resources DNA Profiling and Forensic Centre (NRDPFC). I think future collaborations between the departments of Anthropology, Biology, and Indigenous Studies hold real promise for helping us unravel the natural history of wildlife populations. Ancient DNA really is the key to clarifying questions about extirpated and extinct species.”
To view the complete research article, see:
Rutledge LY, Bos KI, Pearce RJ, White BN. 2010. Genetic and morphometric analysis of sixteenth century Canis skull fragments: implications for historic eastern and gray wolf distribution in North America. Conservation Genetics 11: 1273-1281.
Winners of NSERC André Hamer Postgraduate Prizes
Nadine Borduas
Organic Chemistry – University of Toronto
As countries around the world explore new ways to lower their impact on the environment, Nadine Borduas is doing her part to clean up chemistry and make science a little greener. Borduas, who is now a PhD student at the University of Toronto, is pursuing her interest in organic chemistry as an environmentally friendly branch of science research.
Borduas’ interest is in total synthesis, the creation of a complex organic product by executing chemical reactions from simpler pieces. Most organic chemistry is petroleum-based and as the world’s limited supply is depleted, the need for new base material, such as carbon dioxide and starch, will become necessary. Borduas intends to demonstrate the usefulness and efficiency of new, but under-utilized, forming reactions that will aid in the production of biological products.
To this day, pharmaceutical industries rely on wasteful procedures to synthesize their drugs as quickly as possible. They generate toxic metal wastes, harmful emissions and dangerous contaminated equipment. To address these problems, green chemistry has emerged as an environmentally friendly and energy efficient approach to science. Green chemistry includes using renewable starting material, developing environmentally friendly processes and reducing chemical wastes.
The developments that result from Borduas’ research will benefit all fields of science, but particularly those concerned with the environment. Her work will provide new reliable tools for chemists to use when conducting synthesis of molecules for a biological product and help to advance the entire field of green chemistry.
Delphine Bouilly
Physics – Université de Montréal
The scientists and engineers who spur on the continuous evolution of computers and other electronic devices are on the verge of creating new generations of products based on nanotechnology. Delphine Bouilly, a doctoral student in physics at the Université de Montréal, is adding her stamp to these developments by studying the electrical properties of double-walled carbon nanotubes. These cylindrical molecules are made from two coaxial layers of graphite one atom thick and are potential materials for the next wave of transistors.
As part of research conducted for her master’s studies, Bouilly discovered that the electrical responses of double-walled carbon nanotubes show specific signatures depending on their configuration, information she is building on during her doctoral research. Working in a group that includes chemists, physicists and engineers, and using state-of-the-art fabrication facilities, she will test the properties of numerous configurations of nanotubes. Understanding and controlling interaction between the two walls of the nanotube and between the nanotube and the outside environment, a little-studied area to date, can lead to a number of high-tech developments.
Electronics based on nanostructures and self-assembling molecules hold particular promise for so-called “intelligent” devices, with potential applications in biomedical devices, chemical sensors and solar collectors.
Congratulations to MSFHR Research Trainee Award Recipients
The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Trainee Program Awards support highly qualified Master’s, PhD and Post Doctoral trainees to prepare for careers as independent health researchers. While “training on the job,” these exceptional students significantly increase the productivity of the research programs with which they are affiliated. By funding their training, BC is better positioned to retain them as future leaders in health research. All awards consist of an annual stipend and a research and travel allowance.
2009 recipients include:
Biomedical
Junior Graduate Studentship
Cheung, Tsz Ying Sylvia
The mechanism by which SOCS3 mediates IL-10 inhibition of macrophage activation
University of British Columbia
Dranse, Helen
Elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying retinoid action in chondrogenesis
University of British Columbia
Falk, Letitia
The role of gap junction Proteins in cytoskeletal rearrangements in B-lymphocytes
University of British Columbia
Himmel, Megan
Functional characterization of T cells and T regulatory cells in Inflammatory Bowel Disease
University of British Columbia
Jointly funded with the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation
McFaul, Sarah
Automated malaria diagnostic test via microfluidic separation of infected red blood cells
University of British Columbia
Ogloff, Nadya
Borrelidin: a novel therapeutic agent for treatment of inflammatory diseases
University of British Columbia
Jointly funded with VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation
Russell, Shannon
Probing the gastrointestinal microbiota for microbial determinants of asthma
University of British Columbia
Simpson, Jessica
Evaluation of neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity in the YAC128 transgenic mouse model of Huntington’s disease
University of Victoria
Westwell-Roper, Clara
Role of beta-cell Toll-like receptor signalling in type 2 diabetes
University of British Columbia
Whiting, Amanda
Small molecules with affinity for S100A7 a tumorigenic protein in breast cancer
University of Victoria
Wlodarska, Marta
The role of microbiota in susceptibility to inflammatory bowel disease.
University of British Columbia
Jointly funded with the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation
Senior Graduate Studentship
Barha, Cindy
The effects of different forms of estrogen replacement on hippocampal neurogenesis and cognition in young and older female rats
University of British Columbia
Recipient of CIHR-Institute of Aging Recognition Prize on Aging
Crome, Sarah
Regulation and function of human T helper 17 cells
University of British Columbia
Lee, Cathy Yi-Shang
Targeting the Ras/MAPK pathway for treatment of high-grade pediatric brain tumors
University of British Columbia
Lin, Ann
Function of clathrin-based endocytic proteins during infections by extracellular bacterial pathogens
Simon Fraser University
Rogers, Lindsay
Mapping phosphorylation pathways to discover host signaling events induced by Salmonella
University of British Columbia
Svensson, Sarah
Molecular dissection of the Campylobacter jejuni regulatory system CprRS and its control of key aspects of pathogenesis and biofilm formation
University of British Columbia
Post Doctoral Fellowship
Frederic, Mélissa
Identification and analysis of proteins required for tubulin homeostasis: impact on nervous system disorders and cancer
Simon Fraser University
Gill, Navkiran
The relationship between the immune system and the normal gut microflora in Salmonella Typhimurium infection: A two-sided tale
University of British Columbia
Hackett, Tillie-Louise
The role of Apical Junction Complex in airway epithelial repair and differentiation in asthma
University of British Columbia
Heimovics, Sarah
Seasonal plasticity in brain estrogen signaling mechanisms regulating aggression
University of British Columbia
Tudurí, Eva
The role of leptin in the regulation of glucagon release from pancreatic alpha-cells.
University of British Columbia
Clinical
Junior Graduate Studentship
Ellamil, Melissa
Real-time fMRI training of functional connectivity and adaptive self-awareness
University of British Columbia
Jiang, Yuanyuan
The Positive Illusory Bias (PIB) in parents with and without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
University of British Columbia
Kam, Julia
Mind wandering in individuals with schizotypal personality traits
University of British Columbia
Kirkham, Amy
Exercise intensity prescription in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment
University of British Columbia
Jointly funded with Lotte & John Hecht Memorial Foundation
Lukie, Carmen
Neural mechanisms of reward learning and cognitive control in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
University of Victoria
Turner, Brianna
Assessing protective factors for self-harm: Development of the barriers to self-harm inventory
Simon Fraser University
Senior Graduate Studentship
Nagamatsu, Lindsay
Visual-spatial attention and falls risk in seniors: Do fallers show impairments in reflexive orienting?
University of British Columbia
Paterson, Theone
Predictors of medication adherence in renal transplant patients: Self-efficacy depressive symptomology and neuropsychological abilities
Simon Fraser University
Rombough, Adrienne
Social attention and visual exploration in children with autism spectrum disorders
Simon Fraser University
Post Doctoral Fellowship
Andreazza, Ana
Identifying biomarkers associated with the diagnosis and illness progression of mood disorders
University of British Columbia
Birmingham, Elina
Perceptual and attentional abnormalities in autism – understanding impaired discrimination of the eyes
Simon Fraser University
Feehan, Lynne
Imaging early micro-structural bone changes in the rheumatoid hand: A high resolution-peripheral computed tomography (HR-pQCT) study in people with newly diagnosed RA
University of British Columbia
Health Services
Junior Graduate Studentship
Courtot, Melanie
Knowledge representation in health research: the Canadian influenza research network model
University of British Columbia
Housden, Laura
An innovative approach to providing patient care: examining the role of the nurse practitioner in primary care group medical visits
University of British Columbia
Senior Graduate Studentship
Hanley, Gillian
Measuring equity in the use and financing of prescription medicines
University of British Columbia
Semaka, Alicia
Development of clinical standards of care for Huntington’s disease intermediate allele predictive test results
University of British Columbia
Post Doctoral Fellowship
Hutcheon, Jennifer
Optimal timing of delivery for pregnancies with pre-existing hypertension
University of British Columbia
Jointly funded with the Provincial Health Services Authority – Child & Family Research Institute
Richmond teen honoured for research, philanthropy
By Todd Coyne – Vancouver Sun – June 7, 2010, p. A2
While many teens her age are just starting their first summer jobs and learning to drive, Perri Tutelman is conducting pioneering work at the BC Cancer Research Centre, studying auto-immune disorders at a university biomedics lab and running a foundation to benefit the BC Children’s Hospital.
It would be enough to keep a whole team of experienced PhDs and professionals busy, but at 16, Tutelman is still a year away from graduating from high school.
But that hasn’t stopped the young Richmond resident from breaking new ground in cancer research and starting the Cures for Kids Foundation—work that has now landed her a coveted spot on Canada’s Top 20 Under 20, a list of successful teens compiled by Youth in Motion.
While the list includes 19 other young stars in the fields of science, technology, business, medicine and philanthropy, Tutelman is one of only three under the age of 17.
When reached on her phone Sunday, Tutelman had just walked off a stage at BC Children’s Hospital after handing over a cheque for $8,000 from Cures for Kids to help the hospital pay for a new oncology procedure room.
Tutelman was in Toronto last week to meet with Canada’s top banking executives and corporate CEOs as a part of a leadership seminar held in concert with the Top 20 Under 20 awards.
“We got to network and learn more about the corporate world and how we can use our passions to make a difference,” said Tutelman.
She said she hopes to use the connections she made with other teenagers at the awards to further her ambitions in medical research.
“I’m sure I’m going to definitely collaborate with them on projects in the future because we all have that drive and that passion to achieve more.”
Tutelman was just 14 when she began cancer research at the BC Cancer Centre—research that has since taken her and the field of cancer studies in interesting new directions.
“I used a natural herb called artemisinin currently being used in Third World countries for malaria treatment,” she said, explaining she chose it for cancer research because its mechanism is only activated in areas of high iron concentration. She noted the malaria parasite is very high in iron because it’s a blood parasite.
“And I thought that cancer too has a very high iron concentration because the cells are constantly uptaking blood because cancers are always growing.”
At UBC’s Biomedical Research Centre, Tutelman is studying the human immune system and its relation to cancer growth.
Wilfred Jefferies, a professor at UBC’s Biomedical Research Centre, called the budding researcher “truly exceptional for her age” and a “wonderful example for other young students.”
Trent University Masters Student Developing Process to Make Collection of DNA Samples More Effective
Through a study of the behaviour of DNA molecules and by using today’s state-of-the-art laboratory automation technology, Tasnova Khan, a Masters student in the Environmental & Life Sciences Graduate Program at Trent University, hopes to make DNA extraction protocols more effective and increase the accuracy of genetics profiling and DNA traceability for wildlife and for domestic farm animals.
In addition to her role as a Trent graduate student, Ms. Khan is also an intern for Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems (MITACS) Accelerate Ontario, working with DNA Ident Inc., to help develop a unique smart DNA sample collection container called a C-POD™ that stabilizes and preserves genetic material prior to laboratory testing. This kit simplifies the process of collecting DNA samples and reduces the number of steps between sample collection and the acquirement of DNA. The C-POD is being positioned as a universal DNA collection device that accommodates DNA capture from many sources such as blood stain, hair root, meat tissue, dried fluid spot or animal ear tag. The product was developed by Trent University and the Natural Resources DNA Profiling & Forensic Centre (NRDPFC).
“There is a high frequency of genotyping errors associated with DNA samples commonly used in wildlife genetics. With a protocol that provides higher yields, it will be easier to obtain DNA from samples that do not contain high amounts of template DNA, such as hair or scat, thus reducing downstream errors when conducting genetic analysis,” Ms. Khan explains, adding, “While current DNA extraction protocols are adequate, with the rise in the use of laboratory automation, I believe there is room for improvement and evolution in how we obtain our genetic information.”
Working with DNA Ident, Ms. Khan is customizing sampling procedures and devices to trace meat from “farm to folk” using DNA profiling. This research is being undertaken in collaboration with Rowe Farm Meats, a leader in providing meat products raised without the use of antibiotics, growth promoting hormones, or animal based feeds. Ms. Khan is working to determine the pedigree and develop a genetic database of the Tamworth pigs on the farm of local Rowe Farms Meats supplier, Roger Harley, in Keene, Ontario.
Since its inception in 1972, Rowe Farms Meats has grown to become a major retailer of antibiotic free chicken, pork, beef, lamb, turkey and eggs, all sourced from local Ontario farms. Rowe Farm Meats are also available at Fortinos, Fiesta Farms, Highland Farms and leading Natural Food stores in Ontario. Roger Harley spent much of his life developing animal-welfare driven farming practices in the United Kingdom. Today he farms just outside Peterborough as part of the Rowe Farms cooperative.
Ms. Khan began her Masters degree in the Environmental & Life Sciences Graduate Program at Trent University in January 2008, after completing her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Trent. Her research is being conducted under the supervision of Dr. Bradley White, chair of the Biology Department.
UBC researcher among this year’s winners of NSERC’s top science and engineering awards
On Tuesday the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada handed out 18 awards in five prize categories. Diane Srivastava, who works in the zoology department at UBC, won the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship and a grant worth $250,000 for her work exploring the impact species have on their ecosystem.
Her findings will shed significant light on the delicate balance between animals and their environments, and the far-reaching impacts of extinction.
Excerpted from article by Tiffany Crawford, Vancouver Sun – June 4, 2010, p. A7
