Faculty Members and their Areas of Research

FACULTY	RESEARCH AREAS	DESCRIPTION
Michael T. Arts Adjunct Professor	Ecology, Limnology, Physiology, Photobiology
Gerald Audette Assistant Professor	Protein Biochemistry, Structural Biology, Bionanotechnology	Understanding the structural and functional basis of lateral gene transfer, bacterial pathogenesis and the development and characterization of protein-based nanosystems.
Dawn R. Bazely Associate Professor	Ecology, Plant Population Biology, Restoration Ecology	Impact of herbivory on plants. Fungal endophytes of grasses. Landscape ecology.
Mark Bayfield Assistant Professor	Microbiology, RNA Biology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Genetics	Research focuses on how conserved mechanisms in RNA metabolism function in both general cellular processes and adaptations to stress.
Samuel Benchimol Canada Research Chair and Professor	Molecular and Cellular Biology,Tumor Suppressor Genes, Apoptosis and Cancer	Research is directed at understanding how the p53 tumour suppressor protein regulates cell cycle progression and apoptosis in mammalian cells; and understanding the signalling pathways that lead to cell survival.
Peter Cheung Assistant Professor	Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Chromatin and Epigenetics	Our research focuses on histone phophorylation, methylation and ubiquitylation, processes that act as molecular switches to both regulate and fine-tune gene transcription.
Imogen Coe Professor	Molecular biology and biochemistry, cell biology	Membrane transport of nucleosides and anti-cancer drugs: hormonal regulation of transport mechanisms.
Brian Colman Professor Emeritus Not accepting graduate students.	Plant physiology and cell biology.	Photosynthesis in algae, processes of active inorganic carbon uptake and photosynthetic carbon metabolism; physiology of photorespiration.
Dorota A. Crawford Assistant Professor	Genetics, Molecular Neuroscience, Neurodevelopment	Cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying brain function in neurodevelopmental disorders
J. Douglas Crawford Canada Research Chair and Professor	Neurophysiology, animal biology and physiology.	Motor control, computational neuroscience. Neural mechanisms and computational principles used by the brain to generate accurate movements in 3-dimensional space.
Michael M. Crerar Associate Professor	Molecular biology and biochemistry, cell biology, genetics.	Protein allostery; glycogen phosphorylase regulation at both enzymatic and genetic levels; gene control in muscle; mammalian isozymes.
Kenneth G. Davey Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus Not accepting graduate students.	Animal biology and physiology.	Control of development and physiology of various invertebrates namely insects and nematodes.
Joseph Francis Desouza Assistant Professor	Neurophysiology, Animal Biology and Physiology	A system neuroscience approach to examine eye movement, motion processing and attentional networks using electrophysiology and functional MRI.
Logan W.F. Donaldson Professor	Cell Biology, Protein Biochemistry, Structural Biology.
Andrew Donini Assistant Professor	Ion-regulatory Physiology of Aquatic Dipteran Larvae	Mosquito and midge larvae adapt well to changes in habitat salinity. Our research studies the ion transport mechanisms, and their regulation, in organs of these insects.
Mazyar Fallah Assistant Professor	Neurophysiology of attention and perception	Single unit and local field potential electrophysiology, microstimulation, and behavioral studies in animals and humans investigating the neural mechanisms of visual attention and perception.
Arthur Forer Professor Emeritus	Cell Biology	Chromosome movement during cell division.
Gail S. Fraser Associate Professor	Avian Ecology, Wildlife Management, Behavioral Ecology	Population ecology of colonial waterbirds and the application of behavioral ecology to conservation
Dasantila Golemi-Kotra Associate Professor	Molecular, Cellular and Chemical Biology of microbial infections	Antimicrobial resistance in bacteria and viral fusion to host cells
Joerg Grigull Assistant Professor	Bioinformatics, computational biology, gene regulation, biostatistics & epidemiology	Post-transcriptional gene regulation and mRNA transcript stability in eukaryotes, microarrays, computational techniques for inferring and predicting factors in gene expression
Tara L. Haas Associate Professor	Animal Biology/Physiology, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry	Animal Physiology, molecular biology and biochemistry. Regulation of the growth of new blood vessels, angiogenesis, in skeletal muscle.
Laurence R. Harris Professor	Neurophysiology and perception of visual, vestibular and oculomotor.	Neuroscience, oculomotor, vestibular and sensory physiology and psychophysics. "How can we see and move at the same time?"
Arthur J. Hilliker Professor	Behavioural genetics, molecular biology and biochemistry.	Studies on relationships between chromosome structure and genetic organization in higher eukaryotes; gene expression and its regulation; meiotic recombination; developmental genetics and the organization of the functional interphase nucleus.
Kari L. Hoffman Assistant Professor	Neurophysiology, Animal behavior	Systems and Behavioural Neuroscience, including: Perception of faces and social signals, memory formation and consolidation, plasticity in cortical circuits, sleep rhythms, computational neuroscience.
David A. Hood Canada Research Chair and Professor	Animal biology and physiology, molecular biology and biochemistry.	Molecular aspects of mitochondrial biogenesis in mammalian skeletal and cardiac muscles.
Ian P. Howard Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus	Animal biology and physiology.	Sensory mechanisms responsible for humans to orient themselves in 3-dimensional surroundings; human performance in space. Mechanisms of stereoscopic vision.
Katalin A. Hudak Associate Professor	Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Plant Biology, Biotechnology
Philip Johnson Associate Professor	Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Structural Biology	Understanding the structural basis of protein-RNA interactions.
Scott P. Kelly Associate Professor	Animal Physiology, Endocrinology, Environmental Biology	Comparative and integrative physiology with a focus on the endocrine control of hydromineral balance and the endocrine control of energy balance/appetite in teleost fish.
Marie Killeen Adjunct Professor	Genetics, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry and Developmental Biology
Sergey Krylov Canada Research Chair and Professor	Cell Biology, Cytometry, Bioanalytical Chemistry.
Terrance Kubiseski Associate Professor	Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Genetics, Biochemistry	Signaling pathways from guidance receptors to the cytoskeleton during development.
Patricia Lakin-Thomas Associate Professor	Cell Biology, Chronobiology.	Molecular mechanisms of circadian rhythmicity in the fungus Neurospora crassa.
Roger R. Lew Professor	Cell biology, plant fungal and algal physiology	Regulation of transport across cellular membranes; electrophysiology; plasma membrane ion pumps and ion channels.
Christopher Lortie Associate Professor	Community ecology	Understanding system theory, structure, and dynamics of communities including plants, animals, and people.
Barry G. Loughton Professor Emeritus Not accepting graduate students.	Animal biology and physiology.	Neurosecretory phenomena in insects. African migratory locust.
Suzanne E. MacDonald Associate Professor	Ecology and population biology, animal behaviour, comparative cognition.	Cognitive mechanisms involved in foraging behaviour; spatial memory; primates and pigeons.
Jocelyn Martel Associate Professor	Ecology and evolution.	Ecology and evolution of plant-herbivore interactions. Effects of environmental stress on plant-insect interactions.
John C. McDermott Professor and Director of the Graduate Program	Animal biology/physiology, molecular biology and biochemistry.	Molecular regulation of muscle specific gene regulation; development and regeneration.
Lewis A. Molot Associate Professor	Aquatic biogeochemistry, Carbon and nutrient dynamics in boreal lakes; iron regulation of cyanobacterial blooms	Fate of dissolved organic carbon as it moves from forested catchments through streams and lakes.
Eugene S. Morton Adjunct Professor	Animal Communication, Behavioural Ecology, Tropical Avian Biology
Laurence D. Packer Professor	Behaviour, ecology, evolutionary biology.	Evolution of social behaviour in bees, phylogenetic systematics of bees and wasps, speciation and population structure, biodiversity.
Ronald E. Pearlman University Professor Emeritus	Molecular biology and biochemistry, cell biology, genetics.	Structure, organization and expression of genetic information using Tetrahymena thermophila and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Chemotherapeutic agents.
Chun Peng Professor	Molecular and Cellular Biology, Reproductive Endocrinology	Transforming growth factor-beta signalling in ovarian cancer, pregnancy and oocyte maturation
Roberto Quinlan Associate Professor	Aquatic Ecology, Limnology and Paleoecology.	Limnology and paleolimnology, aquatic community and ecosystem ecology, stressors on lake and pond systems including human activities and recent climate change.
D. Martin Regan Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus Not accepting graduate students.	Animal biology and physiology.	Visual and auditory function in the human brain, neurological and ophthalmological disorders; psychophysics; multiple sclerosis.
A. Saber M. Saleuddin University Professor Emeritus	Animal biology and physiology, cell biology.	Hormonal control of reproduction, growth and osmoregulation using molluscan models. Freshwater snail and terrestrial snail.
Jan Sapp Professor	History of the Biological Sciences	History of: genetics, molecular and cell biology, developmental and evolutionary biology, microbial phylogeny and molecular evolution, symbiosis, and ecology.
Vivian Saridakis Associate Professor	Molecular Biology, Cell Biology
Michael Scheid Associate Professor	Cancer biology, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology	Signal transduction pathways regulating growth, survival and metabolism of mammalian cells.
Keith Schneider Associate Professor	Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychophysics	Attention and perception, architecture of the human visual system, brain imaging acquisition and analysis techniques, phenomonology, consciousness
Anthony Scimè Assistant Professor	Stem cells, Muscle and Adipose Biology, Obesity, Cell and Molecular Biology, Diabetes, Metabolism	Understanding muscle and adipose stem cell differentiation
Sapna Sharma Assistant Professor	Aquatic Ecology, Limnology, Community Ecology, Qantitative Ecology, Multivariate Statistics, Climate Change	Predicting the effects of environmental stressors, such as climate change, invasive species and habitat alteration on ecosystems and improving the use of quatitative approaches used to generate these predictions.
Yi Sheng Assistant Professor	Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Structural Biology	Biochemical and structural characterization of proteins involved in ubiquitylation pathway
Joel S. Shore Professor	Evolutionary biology, ecology and population biology, genetics, plant biology.	Genetics and evolution of plant breeding systems.
K.W. Michael Siu Professor and NSERC/MDS SCIEX Chair	Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry.	Identifying proteins and their functions using proteomics tools; developing novel proteomics techniques and methodologies.
Keith M. Somers Adjunct Professor	Aquatic Ecology, Limnology, Community and Population Ecology, Multivariate Biometry, Bioassessment, Crayfish, Benthos, Fish	Aquatic community ecology, specifically understanding, modelling, and predicting the response of aquatic communities to natural and anthropogenic environmental gradients.
Colin G.H. Steel Professor	Animal biology and physiology.	Endocrinology of growth and development using insects and crustaceans as model systems; physiology of circadian rhythms.
Jennifer Steeves Assistant Professor	Physiology and Cognitive Neuroscience	Motion perception and oculomotor control in patients with a turned-eye (strabismus). Face and scene processing in neurologically-compromised and one-eyed individuals. Techniques include psychophysics, eye movement measurements and fMRI
Martin J. Steinbach Distinguished Research Professor Not accepting graduate students.	Animal biology and physiology.	Visual processing and oculomotor control in visually-disabled humans.
Bridget J. Stutchbury Canada Research Chair and Professor	Ecology and population biology, evolutionary biology, animal biology and physiology.	Behaviour ecology, and conservation biology. Evolution of behaviour in birds.
Gary Sweeney Associate Professor	Medical Pharmacology, Cell Biology, Biotechnology.
Gregory W. Thiemann Assistant Professor	Foraging Ecology, behavioural ecology, wildlife conservation	Ecology of polar bears and other Arctic carnivores. Effects of climate change on food web dynamics.
Robert Tsushima Associate Professor	Animal Physiology, Cell Biology, Ion Channels, Heart Disease, Diabetes	Examine the basis of heart disease and diabetes.
Suraj Unniappan Adjunct Professor Not accepting graduate students.	Neuroendocrinology, Physiology, Comparative Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Obesity, Diabetes, Translational Physiology, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology	Molecular and physiological characterization of neuroendocrine factors regulating metabolism in fish and mammals, development of potential endocrine based therapies for metabolic disorders, including obesity and diabetes
Susan B. Watson Adjunct Professor
Rodney A. Webb Professor	Animal biology and physiology.	Neurobiology of helminths. Host-parasite relationship.
K. Andrew White Canada Research Chair and Professor	Molecular biology, biochemistry and virology.	Molecular mechanisms of replication, transcription and translation of a plus-sense RNA plant virus.
Laurie Wilcox Associate Professor	Animal biology and physiology.	Cortical mechanisms of stereoscopic vision in humans.
Derek Wilson Assistant Professor	Protein dynamics, function, aggregation (amyloidosis); Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry, NMR	We study biological macromolecules at the molecular and atomic levels, linking structural and dynamic features to misfunction and diseases such as Alzheimer's and Senile Systemic Amyloidosis. We also develop Mass Spectrometry and NMR-based analytical tools to study protein folding and dynamics on a rapid timescale.
Hugh R. Wilson Ontario Research Development Challenge Fund Professor of Biological & Computational Vision	Visual psychophysics of form and motion perception, neural theory and modeling of visual system function.	Our current work is focused on understanding the neural basis of higher level cortical form vision.
Dr. Thilo Womelsdorf Assistant Professor	Cognitive Neuroscience, Attention, Decision Making, Learning, Animal Physiology	Neuronal mechanisms of attentional control, Neuronal communication between brain cells and brain areas, Computational Neuroscience of higher cognitive functions and decision making, Reinforcement learning.
Stephen I. Wright Adjunct Professor	Population genetics, Genome evolution, Plant genetics and Bioinformatics	Plant evolutionary genomics, evolution of transposable elements, molecular population genetics.
Gillian Wu Professor	Molecular Mechanisms of B cell and T cell Receptor Generation
Norman D. Yan Professor	Aquatic Ecology, Limnology, Biological Invasions, Restoration Ecology	Current work in our lab is focused on the impacts of climatic change and invading species on Ontario lakes, and on the regulation of recovery of aquatic communities from historical damage.
Muhammad N. Yousaf Associate Professor	Surface Chemistry, Biomaterials Nanoscience, Biological Chemistry, Organic Synthesis	Research program is Interdisciplinary in nature and currently focuses on 4 separate research programs based in chemistry that interface organic, bioanalytical, chemical biology and biomaterials research.
Amro Zayed Assistant Professor	Population genetics, Genomics, Behavioural Genetics	Our work examines how genetic variation affects complex phenotypes such as behaviour, and how phenotypes evolve.
Georg Zoidl Professor and Canada Research Chair for Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience	Neuroscience, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology	Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, Visual System, Synaptic Plasticity, Learning and Memory, Imaging, Transgenic Animals, Electrophysiology, Functional Genomics, Neurological Disorderts, Function(s) of electrical synapses in health and disease.

Graduate Program in Biology

Faculty Members and their Areas of Research