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NIKITA SERGEENKO (MSc 2021)| [email protected]
My MSc project examined how the structural complexity of a glass sponge reef influences the megafaunal community inhabiting that reef. To determine complexity I used recent advances in 3D photogrammetry that allowed me to capture imagery of a reef and generate virtual 3D models of it. Nikita successfully defended his MSc in January 2021 and is currently working on two papers from that work. Nikita and Ania also successfully added to their family in November 2020! when their beautiful son Nicholas joined the world. Congratulations!!!! |
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NATHAN GRANT (MSc 2018):
Current Position: Conservation Field Technician. I work for the S.T.A.R.T. project (Saving Turtles At Risk Today) and Scales Nature Park. My job covers doing remote field research, education events, outreach, data processing/analysis and maintenance. My MSc Project was about the impact that industrial activities, like bottom trawling, can have on Canada’s deep-water sponge reefs. I focused on how sediments suspended by trawling induce behavioural changes in reef-building glass sponges. I asked what sediment concentrations caused the arrests to occur, how long the arrests lasted and evaluated what sediments and the arrests of filtration themselves might do to the sponges’ long-term 'health'. This work is now helping policy makers evaluate what boundaries should be placed around Sponge Reef Marine Protected Areas. |
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CURTIS DINN (MSc 2018)
Current Position: I'm currently working as a biologist at the Gulf Fisheries Centre in Moncton, NB. I'm continuing sponge taxonomy work, identifying the sponge species in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. I take part in the September research vessel survey in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence every year. We also created an Atlantic Sponge Group comprised of researchers from the Gulf, Quebec, Newfoundland, and Maritimes DFO regions and had a workshop last year so that we can share information and pool resources to better understand the sponge fauna of Atlantic Canada. My MSc Project was on the taxonomy, distribution, and ecological role of sponges in the Arctic, and was funded by ArcticNet. |
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AMANDA KAHN (PhD 2017)
Current Position: Assistant Professor at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories. PhD project: Amanda defended her PhD May 2017! Since then she has done postdoctoral work on Geodia barretti with Sally Leys and Raymond Bannister. She is then worked a postdoc at the University of Alberta working on cruise data from May 2017 with the Leys Lab. She held a postdoc with Paul Myers (Univ. Alberta) studying North Atlantic circulation, and a third postdoc at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, working on deep sea sponges with Ken Smith. My PhD was on 'Glass sponge reefs and the benthic-pelagic loop'. I asked 'Do glass sponge reefs affect local and even global water properties? Did they before — when ancient reefs rimmed the Tethys Sea? Do sponges produce solid foods that other communities can make use of? How important is this? How much energy is put into sponge reefs?' (hey! Amanda won the Governor General's Award for her PhD thesis!) |
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JASMINE MAH (MSc 2017)
Current Position: PhD student with Dr. Casey Dunn at Yale University My MSc Project aimed to test whether genes involved in neural systems in bilaterian animals underlie the development of primary cilia in sponges. Understanding the degree to which such genes are functionally conserved may yield some hints about the evolution of the nervous system. I got two very cool papers out of this study. Check them out here. |
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PAMELA WINDSOR-REID
(PhD 2014, Post Doc 2015-2016) Current Position: I am currently a lab technician at MacEwan University for Molecular Biology and Genetics undergraduate labs and very much enjoying it here. My PhD Project involved the identification of genes in sponges that are known in other metazoans to be involved in this early patterning. By understanding gene expression and function in sponges, we hope to be able to relate unconventional sponge development and body plan to those of other metazoans. |
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CIARA VERSTRAETE 499 Student
For my BIOL 499 project I studied developmental regulatory genes involved in sensory systems in the model calcareous sponge Sycon coactum. The project involved gene expression analyses, phylogenetics, and histology. The hope is to make some cool discoveries about the origin of animal sensory systems! Working in the Leys lab is a great experience that has provided me with field experience at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, opportunities to meet with other scientists interested in invertebrates, and invaluable laboratory experience (both in the wet and dry lab). [note of update - Ciara began working remotely in March like everyone, and has in the meantime been re-working a manuscript on calcareous sponge development - Stay tuned!] |
