Archived News
- 27-Oct-2015
It's a wrap!
Almost the end of the October, and field sampling finally ended for this year...
Special congratulations to Kieran Murphy for collecting the last of the data for his MSc. Two seasons spent travelling Nova Scotia, surveying invasive tunicate populations and corresponding environmental factors. He is now knee-deep into the herculean task of analyzing his spectacular dataset.
Meanwhile, Veronica Ells also collected the last of the data from her plates testing potential antifouling coatings against barnacles (after some considerable perserverence!).
And not to be forgotten, Theora Holden continues her research on nudibranch navigation as part of a directed studies course!
- 29-Jun-2015
Publication!
This time, a collaborative effort on some modelling of animal navigation with Gabrielle Vasey and Ryan Lukeman from Math, Stats & Comp Sci at StFX. We tackle the problem of how animals using odour plumes to navigate might contend with variable flow directions. Published in Integrative and Comparative Biology alongside the rest of the symposium RCW co-organized with Jim Murray at this year's SICB meeting. 
- 29-Jun-2015
A slightly belated congratulations to Kieran Murphy, who was recently awarded a renewal of his Nova Scotia Research and Innovation Scholarship. Another recognition of his great work so far in his MSc.
- 13-May-2015
Publication!
Congratulations! Ian Carrigan just published his work the nervous system of Aplysia in the Journal of Comparative Neurology. With the help of our collaborator, Roger Croll, Ian used laser-scanning confocal microscopy to explore and document the structure of the peripheral nervous system of this sea slug's siphon. Why? Because simple responses in the siphon are used as a model system for understanding the mechanisms underlying learning and memory, and previous work had substantially underestimated the complexity of the peripheral nervous system. 
- 11-Apr-2015
After some delays due to the (very inconvenient) weather this winter, Veronica Ells deployed her new antifouling coating experiment this week. It was still rather chilly out there. Target species this time: barnacles! Thanks to Kieran Murphy for help with deployment and Natalia Filip in design and setup. 
- 27-Mar-2015
More great work! Veronica Ells presented her research on antifouling coatings at the 2015 StFX Student Research Day (with help from Natalia Filip). 
- 13-Mar-2015
Congratulations now to Kieran Murphy, who was recently the top graduate student presentation award at the Science Atlantic Aquaculture and Fisheries conference. Kieran's talk, on his MSc research studying the environmental factors affecting infestations by the invasive tunicate Ciona, was among 3 winners at the conference from Biology at StFX! 
- 02-Feb-2015
- 08-Jan-2015
Symposium Done!
Chemicals that Organize Ecology: Towards a Greater Integration of Chemoreception, Neuroscience, Organismal Biology, and Chemical Ecology
Our symposium at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting in Palm Beach Florida was (in our opinion) a great success. As was the rest of the meeting. Thanks to all our speakers discussing diverse view points on how chemicals affect or are used by organisms. 
- 4-Dec-2014
Congratulations to Natalia Filip, who, today, defended her MSc thesis. An excellent culmination of two years of dedicated work (with a little more to come still), studying silicone antifouling coatings. Thanks are due to her committee: Dr. Edwin DeMont, Dr. Cory Bishop, and Ms. Dawn Sephton, as well as her external examiner, Dr. Jeff Davidson from UPEI. 
- 28-Nov-2014
RCW is heading down under for the second half of his sabbatical! He has received an Endeavour Research Fellowship from the Australian Government, and will be working with Dr. Scott Cummins at the University of the Sunshine Coast. The project: manipulating gene expression in Biomphalaria, the alternate host for the blood fluke that causes schistosomiasis. 
- 5-Nov-2014
A little publicity! The Centre for Biofouling Research has a brief write-up in the Atlantic Business Monthly. 
- 3-Nov-2014
Congratulations to both Kieran Murphy and Natalia Filip who both did a great job presenting their MSc research on invasive tunicates at the the appropriately topical International Invasive Sea Squirt Conference V at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. While they were there, they also got a taste (literally) of what everyone was talking about! Halocynthia must be an acquired taste.
- 21-Oct-2014
WyethLab 2014 photo time! RCW, Kieran Murphy, Theora Holden, Natalia Filip. Veronica Ells, and Rebecca Kennedy. Only some of us were brave enough to get the Official Tunic of the StFX Centre for Biofouling Research!
- 9-Oct-2014
Publication!
Greg McCullagh's thesis work with Trtitonia navigation has been accepted at Journal of Experimental Biology! The short version: the slugs only need one rhinophore to navigate, which means that one rhinophore detects both odours and flow...
doi: 10.1242/jeb.111153
- 19-Sep-2014
Congrats to Rebecca Kennedy, Theora Holdenand Veronica Ells - all winners at this year's Biology deptartment barbecue! 
- 14-Sep-2014
Time to acknowledge all the fantastic effort students put in theis past summer: Rebecca Kennedy and Kieran Murphy drove vast distances to survey invasive tunicates, Veronica Ells counted almost-but-not-quite innumerable tunicates on coloured substrates (as a control for antifouling coating tests), Natalia Filip plucked forests of bryozoans from her antifouling coating plates, Theora Holden tracked hundreds of hours of nudibranch navigation, and Sara Livingstone sorted out the nudibranch species found at Grand Narrows, Cape Breton (no mean feat!).
- 9-Aug-2014
Publication!
Shauna Ryan, J.P. Barry, and Sara Livingstone's work with RCW and Jim Williams on using green crab as lobster bait has been published! The short version: in the lab, lobster are as happy to eat green crab as other traditional finfish baits. Conclusion: field trials of green crab as bait in lobster traps are worth a try. 10.1080/10236244.2014.938504 
- 8-Aug-2014
Congratulations! Sara Livingstone has just been accepted into the Aquaculture MSc program at Memorial University. She'll be working with Dr. Iain McGaw at the Ocean Sciences Centre. More lobster research, so perhaps there will be collaboration in the future...
- 22-Jul-2014
Symposium Announcement
Chemicals that Organize Ecology: Towards a Greater Integration of Chemoreception, Neuroscience, Organismal Biology, and Chemical Ecology
RCW and James Murray are organizing this symposium at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting in Palm Beach Florida, Jan 3-7, 2015. We have a fantasticly diverse set of speakers, and our goal is to integrate organismal and ecological chemically-mediated mechanisms. We feel there is an important gap worth bridging between 1) how olfactory and defensive chemicals organize the movement of adult organisms and 2) how chemicals help organize food webs. Check out the full symposium description, and come to Florida to join in the discussion!
- 7-Jul-2014
Another Publication! (also a slightly delayed announcement...)
Scott Cummins and I recently did our best to summarize the current state of gastropod olfaction research. It accompanies a range of other interesting chapters tackling aspects of ethology, neuroscience, evolution and chemical ecology in Neuroecology and Neuroethology in Molluscs: The Interface between Behaviour and Environment, edited by Anna Di Cosmo and William Winlow.
A link to the full book is here and the chapter here.
- 7-Jul-2014
Publications! ( a slightly delayed announcement...)
First, the Centre for Biofouling Research, led by our post-doc Amanda Pustam, recently published an article exploring protamine effects on marine bacteria. 10.1111/lam.12177
Second, the very much delayed chapter co-written with Andreas Heyland, his students, and Roger Croll on Trichoplax has finally seen the light. RCW's contribution was the video analysis of movement patterns. 10.1007/978-1-62703-974-1_4
- 17-Jun-2014
Huge congratulations to Kieran Murphy, awarded one of the inaugural Nova Scotia Research and Innovation Graduation Scholarships!
- 14-May-2014
It's time to welcome the new (and returning) students who are conducting research this summer: Rebecca Kennedy is helping Kieran Murphy survey invasive tunicates, Veronica Ells is doing her own project on tunicate fouling and also helping Natalia Filip study antifouling coatings, Theora Holden is tracking nudibranch navigation, and Sara Livingstone is exploring local nudibranch defensive colouration. Meanwhile, writing manuscripts on their projects are Ian Carrigan (sea slug neuroanatomy) and Jono Schwarz (nudibranch sensory systems).
- 6-May-2014
It's time to say a big thank you to two StFX Aquatic Resources students. Shauna Ryan worked last summer on the lobster bait project, and Jamie Tibbo has been helping with analyses of nudibranch navigation. 
- 5-May-2014
Congratulations to graduating Wyeth Lab students: Ian Carrigan, Jono Schwarz, Sara Livingstone, Katy Grosicki (with yet more hardware: the Chiasson prize for top graduating student in Biology!), Shauna Ryan, and Jamie Tibbo. All that hard work paid off!!!
- 15-Apr-2014
A little bit of fun from a few weeks ago, all in the name of a good cause. The Biology Society organized a polar plunge fundraiser for Relay for Life. RCW decided if he was going foolish enough to go swimming in ZERO degree seawater, he might as well take the foolishness to extremes...
- 28-Mar-2014
Dedication! Despite possibly treacherous conditions, Natalia (with Kieran's help) checked on her antifouling treatment frames at Port Hawkesbury. Although the dock seemed a little worse for the wear after the recent storm (100+km/h winds!), all her knots held. 
- 28-Mar-2014
Student research day yesterday! Ian Carrigan won a SafetyNet-RX Gold Award for his poster on the nervous system of Aplysia, and Sara Livingstone and Shauna Ryan also again presented their poster on research into alternative lobster baits.
- 17-Mar-2014
A massive congratulations to Katy G who this past weekend won 1ST PRIZE for an oral presentation on her honours work on a potential new method to control tunicate fouling (part of the Centre for Biofouling Research) at the Science Atlantic Fisheries and Aqauculture conference in Halifax! In addition, Sara Livingstone and Shauna Ryan presented a poster on their research into alternative lobster baits.
- 28-Jan-2014
Both Kieran Murphy and Natalia Filip (and Stephanie Sorowka, also part of the StFX Centre for Biofouling Research) are presenting their work on invasive tunicates at this year's Aquaculture of Association of Nova Scotia's workshop on Aquatic Invasive Species & Disease. Natalia and Stephanie are also finalists for the Cathy Enright Scholarship.
- 24-Jan-2014
Wanted: applicants for an summer student research assistant position, working primary in the field on invasive tunicates.
- 10-Jan-2014
Two directed studies students have just started work on data analysis and manuscript preparation: Ian Carrigan, working on the nervous system of Aplysia, and Jono Schwarz, studying Tritonia movements inside the traces left behind by odour plumes.
- 26-Oct-2013
Two recent conferences: Ian Carrigan and Russell were invited to participate in the U4 League Undergraduate Research Showcase, Oct 19-21 at Acadia University, and Russell also just participatued in the AAU Award Winners Plenary at the 2013 AAU Teaching Showcase at Mount Alison University.
- 14-Sept-2013
A warm welcome to Kieran Murphy, who is just starting his MSc. Co-supervised by Dr. Cory Bishop (and also part of the StFX Centre for Biofouling Research), Keiran will be exploring the environmental factors that may affect the spread of invasive tunicates in Nova Scotia.
- 6-Sept-2013
The official announcement is out: Russell has been awarded the Association of Atlantic Universities 2013 Distinguished Teaching Award.
- 5-Sept-2013
Massive congratulations: Natalia Filip has just been awarded an NSERC Industrial Postgraduate Scholarship to continue her work on fouling-release coatings, in collaboration with the Aquaculture Association of Nova Scotia and the Prince Edward Island Aquaculture Alliance. Check out her StFX News article. 
- 4-Sept-2013
First day of classes, which means its time to acknowledge all the hard work by students over the summer... Natalia Filip and Katy Grosicki made great progress their work as part of the StFX Centre for Biofouling Research. Ian Carrigan has all but wrapped up the data collection needed for his work at Dalhousie U. on the nervous system of Aplysia, and Jono Schwarz has persevered with video analysis of Tritonia movements inside the traces left behind by odour plumes. Finally, a big thanks for (mostly volunteer) efforts of Sara Livingstone, Shauna Ryan and Allyson Heustis on alternative lobster baits.
- 28-Jun-2013
Two former Wyeth Lab members have teamed up to publish an article in Canadian Geographic. Jimmy Thomson wrote the piece about Ascophyllym (one of Dr. Garbary's primary research interests here at StFX) and Marissa Webber illustrated it.
While in the Wyeth Lab, Jimmy and Marissa worked on Hermissenda neuroanatomy.
- 20-Jun-2013
The lobster bait project that Sara Livingstone, Shauna Ryan and Allyson Heustis have been working is wrapping up... now Sara and Shauna will be writing reports that we anticipate will contribute to a published article.
- 17-May-2013
A new experiment: Dr. Wyeth will be using twitter from the field: @DrRCWyeth
- 29-Apr-2013
In the StFX News... more about the two recent grants for Tritonia fieldwork and tunicate population surveys.
- 12-Apr-2013
Last day of classes, which means we are very close to the start of new research projects...
Dr. Wyeth will be diving in Clayoquot Sound in BC, studying the role of magnetoreception inTritonianavigation with Dr. Jim Murray from Cal State, Easy Bay. Natalia Filip (who started her MSc in January) and Katy Grosicki (new Honours student, co-supervised by Dr. Cory Bishop) will be conducting field and lab tests respectively of fouling-release coatings (part of the StFX Centre for Biofouling Research). Ian Carrigan will continue is work with gastropod neuroanatomy, co-supervised by Dr. Roger Croll at Dalhousie University.
- 2-Apr-2013
More new funding! The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Aquaculture Collaborative Research and Development Program will be supporting a two year survey of coastal environmental conditions at sites around Nova Scotia in an attempt to better understand variations in invasive tunicate infestations. The project will support an MSc student, and is a collaboration with Dr. Cory Bishop, the Aquaculture Association of Nova Scotia, and DFO. The collaboration originated from interactions with the StFX Centre for Biofouling Research. 
- 26-Mar-2013
The Biology Dept open house... on youtube!
- 21-Mar-2013
Congrats to Grace Phillips, winner of the Bronze Bookstore Award at the 11th annual StFX Student Research Day, where she presented her Honours research on local biofouling communities!
- 28-Feb-2013
With the help of Michael Gerhartz from Atlantic Canada Wreck Diving, we continued our annual sampling of the Flabellina spp. bloom that occurs at Grand Narrows in Bras d'Or lakes at this time of year. The goal of this collaboration with Dr. Darren Derksen is to identify the colour compounds sequestered by Flabellina from their hydroid prey (e.g. Eudendrium in the top image). The project has become more complicated (and interesting) since the Flabellina species in the bottom image does not match the species previously described for this region. Thanks to Khardra, Natalia and Katelyn for their help! 
- 12-Feb-2013
New funding! The National Geographic Society will be supporting field work this summer testing our ideas about how Tritonia uses its magnetoreceptive capabilities. The project is a collaboration with Jim Murray at Cal State East Bay.
- 5-Nov-2012
Thanks to Bailey, JP, Ian, and Jono who all were enthusiastic about their research at this year's Biology Open House.
- 27-Oct-2012
Grace brought her biofouling plates in for a final survey. And then we had the fun job of cleaning up...
A special thanks to Lucas Daut who volunteered his whole Saturday for the job, and also Amanda, Corbin and Christina for helping with the final cleaning stage.
- 10-Sept-2012
Wow! A whole summer has gone by without properly welcoming all the new lab members: JP Barry working on lobsters at Arisaig, Bailey Andrea on snail neurons in Antigonish, Jonathon Schwarz on slug behaviours in Bamfield, Ian Carrigan on slug neurons in Halifax, and Grace Phillips on biofouling at local marinas (along with Katy Grosicki who worked over in Chemistry).
- 26-June-2012
Greg McCullagh MSc!
Congratulations to Greg who successfully defended his Masters thesis on navigational strategies and sensory systems in Tritonia.
Yes, he's feeling as relaxed as he looks now.
- 14-May-2012
Emily Kehoe presented a poster at this year's CSZ annual meeting. Russell also presented the results from a Tritonia navigation project he and Greg McCullagh have been working on.
- 6-May-2012
Convocation 2012!Congratulations to Emily Kehoe, who won the University Silver Medal for academic performance in the Human Kinetics program.
In addition, Russell received an Outstanding Teaching Award at the ceremony.
- 20-Apr-2012
Congratulations to Marissa Webber, who has been accepted into the University of Toronto's Masters of Biomedical Communications program! Also to Emily Kehoe who will be continuing here at StFX in the B.Ed. program. 
- 9-Apr-2012
Emily Kehoe was this year's recipient of the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) Undergraduate Student Award, presented to the top graduating student in the Human Kinetics (Bachelor of Science) program at StFX.
- 22-Mar-2012
Emily Kehoe just presented a poster outlining her summer's research at the 10th annual StFX Student Research Day. 
- 22-Feb-2012
Spring Break! We completed our second year of collecting Flabellina from Grand Narrows, Cape Breton. The water was warm compared to last year: +1 C. We are just exploring a new chemical ecology study in collaboration with Darren Derksen. 
- 23-Dec-2011
Greg McCullagh has made great progress on his MSc, and will be presenting his (fantastic) data set at this year's SICB meeting in Charleston SC. 
- 15-Oct-2011
Now available : webpage for the Neuroethology course at Friday Harbor Labs
Course poster ad: Neuroethology at FHL 2012
This grad-level course (also suitable for senior undergraduates) will be a total-immersion experience in the research methods we use to link brains (neuro) to behaviour (ethology). Team taught biannually by Drs. Russell Wyeth, Jim Murray, and Shaun Cain.
Course dates: June 18 - July 20, 2012
APPLICATION DEADLINE: Feb 1, 2012
- 1-July-2011
MSc student Greg McCullagh made his Bamfield performance debut as part of Chum Bucket at the traditional Canada Day party. They had the place rockin... 
- 30-June-2011
Honours graduate Marissa Webber has been accepted into the Natural Science Illustration program at the University of Washington. Congratulations Marissa!!!
- 17-June-2011
Greg McCullagh has been awarded a research grant from the Malacological Society of London to cover some of the research expenses of his MSc. Congratulations Greg!!!
- 24-May-2011
New article on Lymnaea peripheral sensory cells with Roger Croll has been published at the Journal of Comparative Neurology. DOI: 10.1002/cne.22607 
- 23-May-2011
Two new students have joined the lab for the summer. Emily Kehoe is working on the sensory neuroanatomy of Tritonia, , and Tim Govare is exploring behavioural responses to light and turbulence in Hermissenda. Meanwhile, the summer research season has started, and Greg McCullagh, Marissa Webber, and Stephanie Clarke are all continuing their projects. 
- 22-May-2011
Last week, Marissa Webber presented her honours research as a poster at CSZ 2011. Meanwhile, Russell presented a talk in the Andy Spencer Memorial Symposium. Both the poster and talk dealt with our Hermissenda neuroanatomy project.
- 1-May-2011
Congratulations to Marissa Webber and Stephanie Clarke who graduated with Honours Biology degrees! Both are continuing their research this summer. 
- 6-Apr-2011
New article on Lymnaea peripheral sensory cells, part of a collaboration with Roger Croll, has been accepted at the Journal of Comparative Neurology.
DOI: 10.1002/cne.22607
- 24-Mar-2011
Marissa Webber is presenting her honours research on Hermissenda neuroanatomy at the StFX Student Research Day. Check out her poster.
- 8-Jan-2011
A new article considering whether Tritonia might use its magnetic sense to find odour sources in variable flow...
Wyeth,R.C. 2010. Should animals navigating over short distances switch to a magnetic compass sense? Front. Behav. Neurosci. 4: 42. | 10.3389/fnbeh.2010.00042 | PDF
- 8-Jan-2011
Two new book chapters on quantitative video analysis and using it to study olfactory learning in zebrafish, both n collaboration with Roger Croll's lab. In Zebrafish Behavioral Methods edited by Kalueff and Chachat:
1. 10.1007/978-1-60761-953-6_2 | PDF 2. 10.1007/978-1-60761-953-6_7 | PDF
- 14-Sep-2010
Dr. Wyeth and 4 colleagues awarded $150,000 over 3 years to work on combining biomimetic surfaces and antimicrobial coating to combat biofouling in marine systems.
- 1-Sep-2010
Greg McCullagh has started as MSc student, co-supervised by Dr. Cory Bishop.
- 30-May-2010
Marissa Webber and Stephanie Clarke have started their honours projects. Marissa is working with Hermissenda at Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre. Steph is working with Lymnaea in Halifax in Roger Croll's lab.
- 19-May-2010
Greg McCullagh presented our poster at the Canadian Society for Zoology meeting. Greg is continuing his Tritonia project at BMSC this summer.
- 2-May-2010
Jimmy Thomson and Bridget Doan graduated with Advanced Major and Honours degrees respectively. Congratulations!