Giant cathedral termites, Australia
Dr. Thompson's Links:
The Social Biology Group @ Western. L-R Front Catherine Gao, Emma Mullen, Gordana Rasic, Alison Camiletti L-R Back Tosh Mizzau, David Awde, Graham Thompson Missing David Scaduto, Matt Clarke, Jake BlancoDr. Graham Thompson
Behavioural Genetics and Sociobiology
People
Graduate Students
Catherine Qi Gao, MSc Liaoning Normal University, entered PhD program in September 2008 and is studying the molecular evolution of immune genes in social insects.
Alison Camiletti, MSc McMaster University, entered PhD program in January 2011 and is using comparative genomics and microarrays to study the evolutionary basis of conserved behaviours between social (bees) and asocial (flies) taxa.
Emma Mullen, BSc University of Western Ontario, entered MSc program in September 2011 and is using bioinformatic tools to reconstruct the gene regulatory pathway that regulates egg-laying and reproductive division of labour in honey bee societies.
Undergraduate Students
David Scaduto is a research assistant who helps everybody in the lab and manages his own research project on the invasive biology of subterranean termites in southern Ontario. He is currently completing his BSc here at the University of Western Ontario, while also completing an internship at Parmalat Canada, Research and Development.
Visitors
Dr Syaukani bin Syarifuddin from Syiah Kuala University in Indonesia visited the lab in the summer of 2010 to initiate DNA barcoding of termites from South East Asia. Dr Syaukani shared his time between the Social Biology Group here at UWO and the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding at the nearby Univesity of Guelph.
Dr Aya Yanagawa from Kyoto University in Japan visited in the summer of 2011 to initiate collaborative work in the immunity of social insects… termites!
Dr Sandra Rehan from Brock University, and now University of Pennsylvania, visited the lab in 2011 to initiate collaborative work on molecular phylogenetics and trait mapping of termites.
Former members
Dr Gordana Rasic , MSc University of Belgrade, was a postdoctoral fellow in the lab. Having completed her PhD here at Western, she deployed her expertise in population genetics to study invasive social insects in Ontario. Gordana is now a postdoctoral fellow the University of Melbourne. Way to go Gordana!
David Awde was an Honours research student in the lab. He was working with PhD student Alison Camiletti to measure the response that ‘rover’ and ‘sitter’ fruit flies have to novel reproductive cues, like honey bee pheromones. For his efforts, David won a coveted Student Choice Award for Best Presentation of his Honours work! David will (probably) be starting his MSc at Brock University in the fall of 2012.
Matt Clarke was an Honours research student working jointly between two labs within the Department. He investigated the cold tolerance of subterranean termites from southern Ontario, and how this might relate to their invasiveness… now and under future climate change scenarios. Matt is now an MSc student at the University of Guelph.
Tosh Mizzau was an Honours research student working between two labs. Tosh is a fish guy who used sex-linked molecular markers to study life history constraints in developing salmonids. Tosh is off to teachers college. Way to go Tosh!
Jake Blanco was an Undergraduate Volunteer in the lab for 2011-2012. Jake was invaluable; he contributed to several graduate projects, took charge of lab Health and Safety, and kept the termites alive for a year. Thanks Jake, and good luck at med school.
Dr Shawn Garner, PhD University of Western Ontario, was a post doc in our lab (and also in another lab). He is a fish guy, took to bees and other social insects admirably. He used RT-qPCR to test the idea that certain genes are involved in regulating reproductive division of labour within honey bee colonies. Shawn is currently a postdoctoral fellow with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources at Trent University.
Alanna Backx, BSc University of Western Ontario, graduated from the MSc program in 2011. She used whole genome microarrays to study how gene expression underpins worker sterility in honey bees.
Sarah Tancredi, BSc University of Western Ontario, was an Honours research student with us in 2010-2011. She discovered how gene expression at immune loci varies as a function of social context and disease. She is currently a student at the Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences.
Emma Leach, BSc University of Western Ontario. was an Honours research student in 2010-2011. She used microsatellite DNA markers to study how genes influence the expression of highly social traits, and how this influence varies with environmental context. Emma is now an MSc student at Simon Fraser University.
Stephanie Prezioso, BSc University of Western Ontario, was as Honours research student in 2009-2010. She used micriosatellite DNA to study the molecular basis of kin recognition in social insects. She is currently an MSc student at the University of Toronto.
Melissa Rafoul, MSc University of Western Ontario, was a summer research student in 2009. She studied the colonization of invasive termites in Canada’s Point Pelee National Park. Melissa is now an MSc graduate student in the Ecology & Evolution steam here at Western.
Imran Tayyab, MSc University of Western Ontario, was a research assistant in the summer of 2008. He then worked as a research technician in the Neurogenetics group here at Western, and currently works at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg
