Featured Faculty, Richard Gardiner and Featured Staff, Elizabeth Myscich [photos: Alan Noon]

FEATURED FACULTY/STAFF

FEATURED FACULTY MEMBER

Dr. Richard Gardiner

When Biology Assistant Professor Dr. Richard Gardiner arrived at the University of Western Ontario to begin his graduate studies, he didn’t know what he was going to do, so he drifted into smut. Smuts are a group of fungi that parasitise plants, and plant pathology remains an interest. “I came to Western by chance – a poster on the wall when I was at the end of my undergraduate degree at Trent, and when I arrived, I was accepted into the programme, but didn’t have a supervisor. Given that one of my roles is as an advisor to undergraduates, and I tell them to think hard and make the right decision, I am a pretty bad example” laughs Dr. Gardiner.

Dr. Gardiner grew up on a farm near Oshawa, and after a spell as a postdoc working on fungus gnats, lived back on the farm for a few years before returning to London, first at Agriculture Canada, then in a teaching position. “When I returned to London, and since then, I’ve really been struck by how fast the campus is growing.” And the department has changed as well “when I was a graduate student, Zoology and Plant Sciences were different universes, yet now they are one integrated department, I really enjoy the range of interests and research that goes on here.”

More change was afoot recently, when the department’s electron microscope technician retired. “In my undergraduate years at Trent University I took a course in electron microscopy. From that point on I have used the instrument and related techniques to study a variety of organisms and structures.” When there was a need for someone to run the electron microscopes, Richard was an obvious choice, and now resides in the Biotron’s Integrated Microscopy facility. “It’s a fun job – I get all sorts of strange things, from carbon nanorods to chloroplasts to viruses” says Dr. Gardiner, “but I still find the biological specimens the most interesting and challenging.”

In addition to his role as the electron microscope go-to-guy, Dr. Gardiner maintains a diverse portfolio in Biology, teaching 1 st year Biology, as well as a second year ‘Plants as a Human resource’ course and fourth year plant pathology. When pressed, he admits to collecting box cameras and telephones – the latter because of a family connection to some of the earliest telephone networks in Ontario.

Questions for Dr. Gardiner:

When I was growing up, I … thought that I wanted to be a teacher. My mother, uncle, aunt and cousin were all teachers and this had a strong influence on me.

My favourite organismis… the anther smut Ustilago violacea. When I came to Western I had the opportunity to study in Dr. Alan Day’s lab in the then Department of Plant Sciences. Although I had no experience with fungi I quickly developed a keen interest in mycology which I have kept ever since. It is amusing to tell people that you study smut.

My first publication was … about fimbrial variation in the smuts and heterobasidiomycetous yeasts. I expanded on our labs knowledge of fimbriae in U. violacea and began examining other fungi to see if similar structures were also evident.

My favourite piece of research … is actually not on any specific organism or biological problem, but comes from my work in electron microscopy. Now that I am at the Biotron I advise may researchers form a variety of fields on how to prepare and examine very divergent specimens. I find it very interesting to be able to look at so many things; fungi, plants, animal cells, chloroplasts, carbon nanoparticles, virus, etc. Each day brings in a new challenge.

Biology at Western for me is home. I came here as a Graduate Student and although I went off to other endeavours never really left. When I came back to London in the late 1990’s and had the opportunity to return to the Department, first as a Research Associate then as an Instructor it was coming full circle in my academic life. Since many of the Professors and technicians I had known as a graduate student were still here it was a bit like I had never really left. Our department is a very dynamic place with diverse research interests and exemplary undergraduate and graduate programs, I enjoy each and every day that I am here.

FEATURED STAFF MEMBER

Elizabeth Myscich

For the past 15 years, one of the things on Biology Laboratory Technician Elizabeth Myscich’s mind has been the health of microbes. As part of her role supporting undergraduate courses in Mycology (the study of fungi), Microbiology and higher plants, Elizabeth is responsible for maintaining cultures of over 200 microorganisms, including a lot of fungi. This collection of cultures is used in teaching labs, and occasionally in research. Because the organisms are maintained alive, Elizabeth must check them regularly for contamination, but the stressful part comes in preparing them for teaching. “Fungi, especially, are very fastidious” she says. This makes for a significant challenge when preparing for a class. “Many fungi can only be identified properly by producing certain structures during their life cycle” says Elizabeth, “this means I have to get the timing right so the fungi are in the right stage for the course, and also make sure the cultures don’t get contaminated, or there will be 40 students without any material to work with.”

Elizabeth Myscich actually has the right training to be a ‘fungus gardener’: her degree in Poland was in agricultural microbiology. When she immigrated to Canada in the early 1980s, though, she faced several challenges. “In Poland at the time, we learned Russian and Latin. I had no English at all. After six months of English classes, I came to Western to work in the research lab with Dr. Norm Hüner and Dr. Don Hayden…This was a grant-paid short term contract. On the first day I was given a scientific paper and a dictionary and I think I only slept about 2 h that night since I was trying to translate and understand this paper. I remember it was a Plant Physiology paper.” This short contract lasted over 3 years and she says she has received a tremendous amount of support from people in this lab. In 1986, Elizabeth moved into a role as a technician in the department of Plant Sciences, now part of the Department of Biology. Her role now is a Laboratory supervisor overseeing teaching and sterilizing facilities in the Biological and Geological Sciences building.

“I really love the department” says Elizabeth. “There is an outstanding intellectual environment, and I learn something new every day.” For someone who has been in the department for a while, Elizabeth says that one of the things she enjoys most is the energy and enthusiasm from young faculty and students. “I interact with the TAs from the courses regularly, which is great, but the most satisfying thing I do, which is not really part of my job, is helping graduate students troubleshoot their problems, especially when they have contamination problems in their cultures – I’ve built up so much experience doing that with my culture collection, that it is a pleasure to use it to help other people with similar problems.”

Questions for Elizabeth:

When I was growing up, I wanted to … work in the laboratory. My older sister is a Microbiologist and she first introduced me to the world of microbes.

My favourite organisms are … bacteria (in the past I worked mostly with bacteria) and presently fungi .I also love working with higher plants especially on the molecular level. My work with undergraduate students involves mostly fungi.

The strangest thing I’ve seen in this job is … an etiolated plant that was completely bleached white recovering, photosynthesizing and going beautiful green again in only six hours of light exposure.

When I’m not at work …I’m at home with my family. My oldest daughter, Natalie, is 18 years old and will start Western this September studying English Literature; Camila, 14 years old, is finishing grade 7 at a french first language school. My husband Jerzy and I love traveling and whenever we can we get into a car or on the plane and go. I have been fortunate to visit many beautiful places in Europe and North America. I also sing in a choir and love classical music and opera. Verdi and Puccini are my favorite composers. Again, I have been fortunate to be able to see an opera at Met in New York at least twice a year.

The best thing about being in Biologyis … Biology people. I love working with graduate and undergraduate students and many of them come back to me years later with words of thanks (this is the most rewarding part of my job). I think I have been fortunate to be a part of this department.

LINKS TO PAST FEATURED FACULTY and STAFF

Check back to this page regularly as we will be highlighting news breaking research/awards by other members of our Biology Department. To find out about other research in our Department please follow the links to individual faculty web sites

This page was last updated on November 5, 2010
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