Congratulations
to our NSERC USRA winners!
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY
UNDERGRADUATE AWARD
WINNERS
2011-2012
NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award Winners
Annually, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) awards Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) to outstanding students. The recipients of these awards are funded to carry out research in collaboration with an NSERC funded faculty member during the summer months. For more information about this award, visit the NSERC web site (http://www.nserc.gc.ca/index.htm).
The following are the recipients for the summer of 2011 with a brief description of their summer research projects.
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Adrienne Berchtold (supervisor: Dr. B. Neff) Analyzing the chemical composition of the airborne dust in the Lake Naivasha catchment to examine the potential impact of dust inhalation on human health |
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Sara Bober (supervisor: Dr. G. Kelly) Investigating the role of hedgehog signaling in extraembryonic endoderm differentiation in F9 embryonal carcinoma cells |
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Alexander Chang (supervisor: Dr. L. Zanette) Population ecology: fledgling survival and dispersal in song sparrows |
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Jenny Ge (supervisor: Dr. M-A. Lachance) Identifying polymorphic loci in Metschnikowia santaceciliae yeast strains and designing primers for their amplification |
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Noren Khamis (supervisor: Dr. R. Cumming) Examining the role of the disulphide linkage status of the glycolytic enzyme GAPDH in Alzheimer’s disease |
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Malcolm Lau (supervisor: Dr. B. Neff) Speciation in Bluegill sunfish |
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Jimin Lee (supervisor: Dr. N. Huner) Effect of non-optimal temperature on the growth and palmelloid formation of Chlamydomonas raudensis (SAG 49.72) |
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Anson Li (supervisor: Dr. K. Hill) Discovered the mechanisms underlying retinal degeneration in three different mouse models of human diseases and is currently identifying changes in the mouse genome arising in individual tissues with development |
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Jacob Pelling (supervisor: Dr. A. Percival-Smith) Using PCR mutagenesis to introduce a point mutation into the extradenticle gene in Drosophila in order to examine its interaction with Hox proteins. |
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Christopher Quick (supervisor: Dr. I. Creed) Studying the relationship between large-scale climatic patterns (like El Nino) and stream flow and water quality in Ontario and across North America |
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Tim Rujimethabhas (supervisor: Dr. R. Cumming) Investigating how changes in energy metabolism can confer protection against Alzheimer’s Disease |
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Joseph Stinziano (supervisor: Dr. N. Huner) The effects of climate change on Norway Spruce and phytohormone rescue of the Arabidopsis thaliana pgp1 phenotype |
