Department of Biological Sciences Newsletter

Department of Biological Sciences Newsletter
“from biomolecules to the biosphere”
No. 15
April 14, 2015
Announcements
Congratulations to Jeremy Fox, Lisa Gieg, Dave Hansen, Michael
Hynes, Lee Jackson, Ken Ng, Marcus Samuel, Peter Tieleman, Ray
Turner and Hans Vogel for renewing their NSERC Discovery grants. In
addition, Dave Hansen received a Discovery Accelerator Grant Supplement.
The department was also successful with two RTI applications- Congratulations to Peter Facchini & Steve Zimmerly!
Pictures from this year’s Graduate Student Poster Display
Important Dates
May - August - the newsletter will be published every other week
May 10, Mother’s Day run/bike
June 11, 9:30 Convocation and Department lunch
“from biomolecules to the biosphere”
July 3, Department deadline for APR completion
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Edward R. McCauley Award
For Postdoctoral Research Excellence in the
Biological Sciences
Congratulations to Jean-Paul Motta for receiving the Edward
McCauley Award for Postdoctoral Research Excellence.
17 December 2009
Congratulations to the following undergradute students for their
award-winning independent project seminars.
Brandon Payliss (E. Prenner) BCEM
Christina Sandall (G. Moorhead, J. MacDonald) BCEM Honourable Mention
Kristi Ngo (M. Fraser) BCEM Honourable Mention
Sarah Erickson (C. Finney, S. Hirota) CMMB
Paul Bryan (D. Hansen) CMMB
Brock Chappell (D. Storey) CMMB Honourable Mention
Arielle Roberts (A.Buret, D. Proud) CMMB Honourable Mention
Bryce Watters (D. Muench, S. Rosales) CMMB Honourable Mention
Caitlin Tomaszewski (L. Harder) ECOL
Michelle Ly (J. Fox) ECOL Honourable Mention
Marcus Sommers (R. Barclay) ECOL Honourable Mention
Vikhashni (Winnie) Nagesh (M. Samuel) PLBI
Alyson Guy (C. Flynn, C. Teskey) ZOOL
Marina Matthies (H. Habibi) ZOOL Honourable Mention
The Graduate Student Association (GSA) held their Awards Gala Night for the Faculty of
Graduate Studies Excellence Awards on April 16th. Denice Bay won the award or Excellence in Mentorship. Additionally David Hansen, Greg Moorhead and Ray Turner were
nominated for the Supervisory Excellence Award.
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“from biomolecules to the biosphere”
Recent Publications
Khannoon E.R., Russell A.P., Tucker A.S. 2015 Developmental mechanisms underlying differential claw expression in the autopodia of geckos. Evodevo. 2015
Apr 10;6:8. doi: 10.1186/s13227-015-0003-9. eCollection 2015.
Seminars
Richard Villemur
INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier Research
April 29 - BI 587 - 11h00
Microbial characterization of a marine methylotrophic denitrifying biofilm
Host: G. Voordouw
Graduate Student Affairs
Research Proposals
The MSc Research Proposal for Jacquelyn Rich, was accepted by her Supervisory Committee on April 23, 2015.
The PhD Research Proposal for Iain George entitled “Pumilio as a Post-Transcriptional Regulator in Fission Yeast”, will be held on April 24, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. in Biological Sciences room 246.
The MSc Research Proposal for David Haley entitled “Biophysical characterization of the
interactions of lactoferrin, lysozyme, and tear lipocalin with polar lipid layer biomimetics
of the tear film””, will be held on April 29, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. in Biological Sciences room
312.
The M.Sc. Research Proposal for Biwen “Annie” An, entitled “Nitrate-mediated control
of souring in shale oil fields under saline conditions”, will be held on May 5, 2015 at 9:00
a.m. in Biological Sciences room 389.
The PhD Research Proposal for Gloria Okpala entitled “Nitrate-mediated control of sulfide production in high temperature oil fields”, will be held on May 5, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. in
Biological Sciences room 389.
The M.Sc. Research Proposal for Tijan Pinnock entitled “Control of microbially-influenced
corrosion under flow conditions using biocides, metabolic inhibitors and corrosion inhibitords”, will be held on May 7, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. in Biological Sciences room 389.
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The M.Sc. Research Proposal for Amy Noël entitled “Biodegradation of hydrocarbons by
microorganisms in Canadian Arctic marine sediments”, will be held on May 15, 2015 at
1:00 p.m. in Biological Sciences room 312.
Ph.D. Candidacy Oral Examination - Candidacy Exams are Closed Exams.
Marjan Tavassoli (Supervisor: V. Zaremberg), will be holding her Candidacy Examination
in the area of “Biochemistry” on May 15, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. in Biological Sciences room
312. (Neutral Chair: D.K. Ro).
Kady Lyons (Supervisor: M. Vijayan), will be holding her Candidacy Examination in the
area of “Physiology”, on June 1, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. in Biological Sciences room 389. (Neutral Chair: R. Cartar).
Kyle Wilson (Supervisor: J. Post), will be holding his Candidacy Examination, in the
area of “Ecology” on June 4, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. in Biological Sciences room 499. (Neutral
Chair: J. Cobb).
Thesis Oral Examinations - Exams are “Open” unless otherwise noted.
Crystal Bross (Supervisor: R. Turner), will be holding her M.Sc. Thesis Oral Examination,
in the area “Biochemistry”, on April 27, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. in Biological Sciences room
499. (Neutral Chair G. Voordouw).
EXIT SEMINAR @ 1:00 P.M. IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES ROOM 499
Mauricio Arias (Supervisor: H. Vogel), will be holding his Ph.D. Thesis Oral Examination,
in the area of “Biochemistry”, on May 1, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. in BI 499. (Neutral Chair: S.
Noskov). EXIT SEMINAR @ 1:00 P.M. IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES ROOM 499
Stefanie Anderson (Supervisor: D. Morck), will be holding her M.Sc. Thesis Oral Examination, in the area of “Host Pathogen Interactions”, on May 8, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. in Biological Sciences room 389. (Neutral Chair: L. Gedamu).
EXIT SEMINAR @ 9:00 A.M. IN SCIENCE THEATRE ROOM 147
Cassandra “Casey” Kinch (Supervisor: H. Habibi & D. Kurrasch), will be holding her Ph.D.
Thesis Oral Examination in the area of “Physiology”, on May 19, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. Room
MLT 215. (Neutral Chair: D.K. Ro).
EXIT SEMINAR @ 1:00 P.M. IN MACKIMMIE LIBRARY TOWER ROOM 215
Alexander Elliott (Supervisor: G. Voordouw), will be holding his M.Sc. Thesis Oral Examination, in the area of “Environmental Microbiology”, on May 20, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. in
Biological Sciences room 312. (Neutral Chair: S. Rogers).
EXIT SEMINAR @ 9:00 A.M. IN SCIENCE THEATRE ROOM 147.
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“from biomolecules to the biosphere”
Brian Rankin (Supervisor: J. Theodor), will be holding his Ph.D. Thesis Oral Examination,
in the area of “Evolutionary Biology”, on June 19, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. in Biological Sciences
room 312. (Neutral Chair: W. Wildering).
EXIT SEMINAR @ 1:00 P.M. IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 540
Anastassiia Moussatova (Supervisor: P. Tieleman), will be holding her Ph.D. Thesis Oral
Examination, in the area of “Biochemistry”, on August 17, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. in Biological
Sciences room 499. (Neutral Chair: M. Fraser).
EXIT SEMINAR @ 1:00 P.M. IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES ROOM 499
Congratulations to….
Courtney Toth, who passed her Candidacy Examination in the area of “Environmental
Microbiology”, on April 20, 2015!
“Piled Higher and Deeper” by Jorge Cham
www.phdcomics.com
“from biomolecules to the biosphere”
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Positions / Opportunities
Edina Szabo, a post-doc in our department is looking for someone to share
her two bedroom apartment in downtown/Eau Claire from the 1st of April.
If you are interested please contact her by email: edina.szabo@ucalgary.ca
Thanks
Sessional Teaching positions available
Fall 2015 - ECOL 417 - Sessional Lecturer, Ecology 417, Aquatic Communities and Ecosystems.
An instructor is required to teach this half course, which will be offered during the Fall 2015 session, and to coordinate the laboratory component. Minimum qualifications are an M.Sc. in Aquatic
Ecology and teaching experience, preferably in this course. Preferred qualifications would include a Ph.D. in one of the Biological Sciences, with expertise in Aquatic Ecology, and previous
teaching experience, ideally in this course. The base salary is $6059 for the lecture component,
with an additional $1000 for lab coordination. Interested persons should apply to Dr. Heather
Addy, Associate Head (undergraduate programs), Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4 (email: biosci@ucalgary.ca). The deadline
for submission of an application letter and résumé is May 4, 2015.
The Geomicrobiology Group was established in 2014 in the Department of Biological Sciences (www.ucalgary.ca/ebg). We are interested in hiring a summer student for the period May
through August 2015 to contribute to our microbial oceanography research on the diversity and
physiology of anaerobic bacteria in seabed hydrocarbon seeps. This position will include training in microcosm enrichment culturing, DNA extraction, touch down PCR, qPCR, and cloning and
sequencing. This is a good opportunity for a student wishing to gain experience in geomicrobiology and microbial ecology. The successful candidate must be dependable, conscientious, and
will need to safely conduct laboratory techniques in molecular microbiology. The work will be
performed in new labs on the 5th floor of EEEL which are equipped with modern research infrastructure. Our lab is a collaborative space shared with close collaborators in the Energy Bioengineering Group (Department of Geosciences). Interested students can submit their resumes to
Casey Hubert, EEEL-509 or via email: chubert@ucalgary.ca
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“from biomolecules to the biosphere”
WEASELHEAD PATHWAY AND SHORELINE CLEAN-UP
Sunday, May 3rd, 10 a.m.
Winter's gone, summer's ahead.
It's time to clean the Weaselhead!
Please join our wonderful crew of volunteers as we pick up bits of litter in one of
Canada's largest, most beautiful and diverse urban Protected Natural Parks. We meet
in the NW corner of the Weaselhead parking lot, 66th avenue and 37th street SW
Sunday, May 3rd at 10 a.m. You'll be provided with "litter-grabbers", bags, and a
variety of yummy refreshments. Appropriate foot gear and a hat is
recommended. Cyclists welcome as well!
It's basically a 90 minute walk in the park; an all-ages event, and groups are
welcomed. If you'd like to participate, please e-mail me back (just hit reply). Feel
free to pass this message on to anyone you think may be interested in helping out.
Thanking you on behalf of the Weaselhead/Glenmore Park Preservation Society,
Paul Finkleman, President
e: president@theweaselhead.com h: (403) 252 8967
Visit: www.theweaselhead.com
Like us on Facebook
P.S. If you're interested, at 1:00 p.m, there will be a 'Jane's Walk' of the Weaselhead
that you are welcome to join, led by the incredibly informative Jesse Salus.
“from biomolecules to the biosphere”
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Behind the Leaf
News from the BGSA
Grad Retreat
Thank you everyone who came to the graduate student
retreat last weekend and bonus talk on Monday. The
traditional yearly overnight in Kananaskis included an
industry speaker, our fireside chat, and other activities.
Award for Best Poster
We would like to congratulate Pratyush Gupta from the
Hansen lab and Miguel Torres from the Ng lab for their prize
winning posters in this year’s Biological Sciences
Symposium.
New BGSA Executive
As of May 1st, the new BGSA Executive team will be:
President - Jordan Roberts
VP Internal - Anne-Marie Labandera
VP Finance - Nicolas Sieben
VP Communications - Abhinandan Kumar
VP Events - Analisa Lazaro-Côté
VP Student Life - Ramya Singh
Thank you for representing us for the 2015-2016 term.
@biogsa
www.ucalgary.ca/bgsa
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BGSA – University
of Calgary
“from biomolecules to the biosphere”