Newsletter / Bulletin

Newsletter /Bulletin

June-August 2006 / Juin-août 2006

Awards and Achievements

	Congratulations to Dr. Joe Shorthouse who received a grant for $40,000 in May from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources to study the ecology of parasites of the bronze birch borer in the Sudbury area. The funds will be used to support new M. Sc. student Connie Chan, a recent graduate of the University of Western Ontario. Connie will be co-supervised by Dr. Barry Lyons, a new Adjunct Professor in the Department, who is a forest entomologist with the Great Lakes Forestry Centre in Sault Ste. Marie.
	Congratulations to Dr. Jackie Litzgus on her recent appointment as Section Editor in the area of herpetological ecology for Copeia, a journal published by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists.
	Sarah Elsasser is one of 3 Canadian graduate students involved in mink research to be awarded a renewable $2,000 Arlen Kerr Memorial scholarship from the Canada Mink Breeders Association. Sarah is a graduate student in the Ph.D. program in Boreal Ecology under the supervision of Dr. G. Parker. Well done, Sarah!

Thesis Defences

Congratulations to the following graduate students who successfully defended their theses:

Kelly Lippert (July 20, 2006) - Yellow perch (Perca flavescens) phenotypic plasticity: rapid changes follwoing the arrival of a predator

Carly Buckner (August 28, 2006) - Microarray identification of diagnostic biomarkers in leukocytes isolated from peripheral blood of mice injected with B16-BL6 melanoma cells

Announcements

Inco Ltd. and FedNor contribute $600,000 to Laurentian’s Living with Lakes Research Centre

(photo: Dr. J. Shorthouse)

The Department of Biology is proud to be associated with the Cooperative Freshwater Ecology Unit (CFEU) (a partnership of government ( OMOE, OMNR), industry and universities that formed in 1989) which will soon be housed in a new $12-million energy-efficient research facility, the Living With Lakes Centre (LWLC). The LWLC will be builit on the current Robertson Cottage site on Ramsey Lake on land contributed by Laurentian University.

Living with Lakes Centre and dignitaries

Pictured from left to right are Dr. John Gunn (Biology/CFEU), Laurentian President Dr. Judith Woodsworth, Sudbury Mayor David Courtemanche, Inco President Mark Cutifani, and FedNor development officer Terry Fortin.
(photo: Dr. J. Shorthouse)

On Friday, June 9, 2006, it was announced that INCO Ltd. and FedNor donated a total of $600,000 that will be allocated to the hiring of an architechtural firm to design the leading-edge research facility. Additional funds are being committed by Laurentian through the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and Ontario Innovation Trust (OIT) to facilitate the completion of the detailed design phase.

Dr. John Gunn, Department of Biology Professor and Canada Research Chair I in Stressed Aquatic Systems, said that the new Centre will allow the growing CFEU to develop as a centre of excellence in freshwater restoration. The facility will harbour state-of-the-art aquatic laboratories, research equipment and teaching facilities to enhance Laurentian’s environmental science programs, including the new Biology Ph.D. program in Boreal Ecology.

Living with Lakes Centre

Dignitaries from the Co-op Unit partnership, OMNR, FedNor, City of Greater Sudbury, OMOE, Inco, and Laurentian University pour fish fingerlings into Ramsey Lake at the future LWLC site.
(photo: Dr. J. Shorthouse)

For more detailed information on the new facility, please click here.

Publications

Litzgus, J.D. 2006. Sex differences in longevity in the spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata). Copeia 2006: 281-288.

Litzgus, J.D. and T.A. Mousseau. 2006. Geographic variation in reproduction in a freshwater turtle (Clemmys guttata). Herpetologica 62: 132-140.

Mugabe, C., M. Halwani, A.O. Azghani, R.M. Lafrenie, and A. Omri. 2006. Mechanism of enhanced activity of liposome-entrapped aminoglycosides against resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 50: 2016-2022 [Pubmed]

Mugabe, C., A.O. Azghani, and A. Omri. 2006. Preparation and characterization of dehydration-rehydration vesicles loaded with aminoglycoside and macrolide antibiotics. International Journal of Pharmaceutics 307: 244-250.[Pubmed]

Rukholm, G., C. Mugabe, A.O. Azghani, and A. Omri. 2006. Antibacterial activity of liposome gentamicin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A time kill study. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents 27: 247-252. [Pubmed]

Saleh, M.T., S.C. Mojumdar, and M. Lamoureux. 2006. Colorimetric determination of iron with 1,8 - naphthalenediol. Res. J. Chem. Environ. 10: 14-17.

Kaufman, S.D., J.M. Gunn, G.E. Morgan and P.Couture. 2006. Muscle enzymes reveal walleye (Sander vitreus) are less active when larger prey (cisco, Coregonus artedi) are present. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 63: 970-979.

Shaverdo, H. and Y. Alarie. 2006. Description of larvae of Canthyporus kenyensis Bilardo & Sanfilippo (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Hydroporinae) with implication for the phylogeny of the tribe Hydroporini. Aquatic Insects 28: 113-130. pdf

Schulte-Hostedde, A. and Y. Alarie. 2006. Morphological patterns of sexual selection in the diving beetle Graphoderus liberus. Evolutionary Ecology Research 8: 891-901.

Alarie, Y. and S. Hughes. 2006. Larval morphology of Hoperius Fall and Meladema Laporte (Coleoptera: Adephaga: Dytiscidae) and phylogenetic implications for the the tribe Colymbetini. Bollettino della Societa Entomologica Italiana, Genova. 85: 305-332.

Alarie, Y. and Y. S. Megna. 2006. Larval morphology of Cuban specimens of Pachydrus obniger (Chevrolat) (Coleoptera: Adephaga: Dytiscidae). Koleopterologische Rundschau 76: 43-49.

Schulte-Hostedde, A. and Y. Alarie. 2006. Morphological patterns of sexual selection in the diving beetle Graphoderus liberus. Evolutionary Ecology Research 8: 891-901.