People in the St.F.X. Biomechanics
Laboratory
Present Personnel
Edwin DeMont, Ph.D.
Edwin
is an Associate Professor of Biology, and runs the lab.
Sean Mitchell, B.Sc.
Sean is a M.Sc. student who did
his first degree in biology at the University of Victoria, in British Columbia.
He started his graduate degree in May 1999. He is working on the mechanics
of locomotion in adult lobsters and snow crabs.
Hayden Courtland, A.B.
Hayden is a
M.Sc. student who did his first degree in biochemistry at Vassar College
in New York, USA. He is registered in the Department of Anatomy and Physiology
at the Atlantic Veterinary College, but conducting his research in this
laboratory. He started his degree in September 1999. He is working on the
mechanical properties of non-collagenous cartilages found in lamprey.
Monica Scheugraf
Monica is an
Honours student in biology. She is working on the mechanics of swimming
in larval lobsters and snow crabs. This is her second summer in the laboratory,
and she was awarded NSERC Summer Research Scholarships both summers.
Matthew Ford, B.Sc. (Honours)
Matthew is a research
technician in the laboratory. He has a degree in physics from St. Francis
Xavier University. He is working on several projects associated with the
mechanics of swimming in the squid and helps to run the lab.
Visitors
Andrew Barofsky, B.Sc.
Andrew visited the lab from October 15 -17 1997, to examine the equipment
used to measure the dynamic physical properties of arteries. He works at
the Oregon Medical Laser Institute,
in Portland, Oregon.
Julian Tang, Ph.D.
Julian visited the lab during the month of August 1995, to initiate a project
on measuring the flexural rigidity of whole fish. His travel expenses were
covered by the Mary MacNeil Fund at St. Francis Xavier University.
Professor R. McNeill Alexander, F.R.S.
Professor
Alexander visited the laboratory for three months during the summer
of 1990, as a James
Chair Professor.
Past Personnel
Andrew Leger, B.Sc. (Honours)
Andrew is a graduate student, who did his first degree in Physics at St.F.X.,
and started his graduate degree in September 1995. He worked
on the role of microfibrils in determining the physical properties of arteries
in primitive animals (abstract
of thesis). He was supported by an NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship.
He graduated in September 1998.
Patrick was an Honours student in Biology. He is working for the first
two months of the summer as a research assistant with the ongoing projects
in the laboratory. This is his fourth summer in the lab. Last year, he
spent his first month in the lab in Woods Hole (MA), working on the mechanics
of squid mantle, which is the basis of his Honours work. In the summer
of 1996 he analyzed data on the mechanical properties of primitive cartilages,
helped Erik to determine the function of riblets on scallop shells, and
made quantitative measurements of the optical properties of lamprin and
myxinin. In the summer of 1995, he stretched cow arteries, and helped Dr.
Tang bend fish. He was supported by NSERC Summer Research Scholarships
in 1996 and 1997. He won one of the Biology Department Achievement
Awards in 1995 and 1996.
Joesph Muise
Joe did an Honours degree in biophysics. He worked
on lobster artery dynamics. Last year Joe worked in the Physics Department
at St.F.X., with B. Wallbank, designing parallel plate ion detectors.
Gwynneth Wong
Gwynneth is doing her final year of an Honours degree in biochemistry (in
the Chemistry Department with J. Cormier). This summer, she is continuing
the work initiated by Derek Knoechel
to isolate and characterize the main structural protein found in the microfobrils
of lobster arteries.
Lisa MacNeil-Covin
Lisa just finished her second year in biology. She is working
on scallop muscle, developing histological techniques to measure seasonal
changes in the catachability of scallops. She is supported by an NSERC
Summer Research Scholarship.
Justin MacKenzie
Justin just finished his second year in biology. He is working
on swimming in fish, in particular evaluating fast-start performance using
high-speed video motion analysis.
Stephan MacLellan, Dip. Eng.
Stephan completed an engineering diploma at St.F.X., and is the lab LabVIEW
programmer. (This makes him part of everything in the lab!) He will also
be involved in one of the projects on scallops.
He will complete and test the small low-turbulence wind tunnel we started
last year.
Erik Anderson, B.Sc., M.Sc.
Erik was a graduate student, who did his first degree in Biophysics at
Gordon College, MA, USA, and started his graduate degree in September 1995.
He worked on the mechanics of swimming
in squid (abstract of thesis). He
was supported during his first year by a Fulbright Fellowship. He graduated
in May 1998, and is now doing a Ph.D. at M.I.T./W.H.O.I. in Ocean Engineering.
Rachel Bland, B.Sc. (Honours)
Rachel did an Honours in computational mathematics. She worked in the lab
during the summer of 1997 as our LabVIEW
programmer, and wrote programs for just about everyone in the lab (and
for some in the Oland Center too.). During the academic year 1997/98, she
worked as a student intern
helping Edwin add technology to his courses. She is now living in Ottawa,
and working with Statistics Canada.
Marko Zecevic, B.Sc.
Marko was doing a physical education degree, and worked in the lab in the
summer of 1997. He helped Andrew Leger with his project, and started to
build a small low-turbulence wind tunnel. He graduated in May 1998, and
will start a graduate program in the fall.
Derek Knoechel, B.Sc. (Honours)
Derek was an Honours student and did a combined degree in Biology and Chemistry.
He attempted to isolate and characterize
the proteins forming microfibrils found in the arterial wall of lobsters,
lamprey and hagfish. He was supported by an NSERC Summer Research Scholarship.
He won one of the 1996 Biology Department Achievement
Awards. He continued to work on his project in May and June of 1997
before leaving the laboratory. He is now doing a Ph.D. at U.B.C. His mailing
address is:
Biotechnology Laboratory,
Rm 3443, Biological Science Bulding,
6270 University Boulevard,
U.B.C. Vancouver, B.C.
V6T 1Z4
Email: dknoechel@hotmail.com
Colin McConnell, B.Sc., M.Sc.
Colin was a graduate student, who did his first degree in Biophysics at
St. Mary's University. He worked on the mechanics of microfibrils found
in lobster arteries. He graduated in the Fall of 1996.
Christopher Leger, B.I.S.
Christopher was a student in Information Systems at St.F.X.. He helped
us a lot in the lab, since he is our resident LabVIEW expert, which we
use for almost everything. He graduated from St.F.X. in May 1996.
Justin Flynn, B.Sc. (Honours)
Justin was an Honours student in Biology. He worked on hagfish cartilage,
and was supported by an NSERC Summer Research Scholarship. He left the
lab in May 1996, but not before he presented his
work at the Canadian Society of Zoologists conference in St. John's
Newfoundland. Justin won the University Gold Medal for the highest
average in the final three years of an honours program in the Faculty of
Science. He also won the Dr. G.H. Murphy Prize for proficency in premedical
studies. He is now doing medicine at Dalhousie University. His home address
is:
5231 Smith St.
Halifax, N.S. B3H 1M3
Email: dflynn@is2.dal.ca
JianYu Cheng, Ph.D.
JianYu was an NSERC International Fellow. He is an engineer with a background
in computational fluid dynamics. He was working on the mechanics of locomotion
in the scallop. He left the lab in January 1996. His present address is:
Dept. Of Mechanical Engineering
University of Delaware
126 Spencer
Newark, DE 19716, U.S.A.
Email: cheng@me.udel.edu
Ian Davison, B.Sc. (Honours)
Ian was a research associate, who did his Honours degree in Biophysics
in this lab. During his Honours work he was supported by an NSERC Summer
Research Scholarship. His Honours work initiated our work on microfibrillar-based
elastic biomaterials. He also worked on the mechanics of scallop hinges,
and designed and built two force platforms for the Department of Physical
Education. He is now at Simon Fraser University, doing a graduate degree
in neurophysiology. He won an NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship for this work.
He left the lab in August, 1995. His present mailing address is:
Department of Biological Sciences
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C.
V5X 1S6, Canada
Email: idavison@sfu.ca
Brian Mahoney, B.Sc. (Honours)
Brian was an Honours student in Biophysics. He was working on elastic cartilage,
and was supported by an NSERC Summer Research Scholarship. He left in May,
1995. He is now doing medicine at Dalhousie University.
Jonathan Carmichael, B.Sc. (Honours)
Jon was an Honours student in Biology. He worked on the physical properties
of lamprey cartilage, and graduated in 1993.
Kenny was a physical education student who worked part time on several
different projects.
Oliver was an exchange student from the University of Lille, France. He
was looking for industrial or medical applications of the rubber-like protein
abductin. He left in May, 1995.
Jyrki Hokkanen, Ph.D.
Jyrki was an NSERC International
Fellow. He was in the laboratory in 1990, and studied complex dynamics
in the heart of the lobster. His education is in theoretical physics, which
he applies to biological problems. He is presently in the Institute of
Biomedicine, at the University
of Helsinki, Finland.
Email: jyrki.hokkanen@helsinki.fi
There is still more information to post here.....
Edwin DeMont, Associate Professor
Biology Department, St. Francis Xavier University
P.O. Box 5000, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, B2G 2W5 Canada
Voice 902-867-5116 FAX 902-867-2389 edemont@stfx.ca
edemont@juliet.stfx.ca - May 20,
1998