With the recent publication in the Journal of Experimental Biology, MSc student Mellissa Easwaramoorthy was featured in an ECR spotlight! Mellissa’s paper was entitled Elevated temperature during rearing diminishes swimming and disturbs the metabolism of yellow perch larvae. This research was from her undergraduate research in the lab, where she was involved in studies where we reared yellow perch embryos at different temperatures. Mellissa started as a 3rd year student in the lab, worked as a summer researcher for 2 years and completed her undergraduate thesis on this project. She looked at the effects of rearing environment on cardiac development, metabolism and behaviour in an important fish species. Yellow perch are a critical culture, ecological, and economic species for both recreational and https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/228/20/jeb251676/369589/ECR-Spotlight-Mellissa-Easwaramoorthy

Joanna was off to Florinopolis Brazil last week and had an amazing time at the Federal University of Santa Caterina in Brazil. The trip thee was very long but worth the travel for such a great experience.

Beyond meeting new students and researchers, Joanna gave a talk on cytochrome P450 enzymes and our work to determine the function of these enzymes in zebrafish.

The weather was slightly warmer than Hamilton but the best part was that Florianopolis is full of beaches and ocean views and lots of seafood. My Brazilian hosts were amazing and I thank all the organizers for such a lovely meeting. I am hoping some collaborations are in our future!

Jack, Mellissa, Max, Hunter and Joanna were off to Victoria BC to attend CEW! The group presented 2 posters and 4 talks during the conference and enjoyed the beauty of the west coast.

As always, CEW was a great meeting full of great science and conversation, along with some dancing at the banquet!

With each fall, we welcome new undergraduates that are completing their senior thesis. This year, we are welcoming four students – Clarice, Ally, Lucas, and Madison.

Clarice and Ally are working with zebrafish, using some new CYP knockout lines to assess the role of the enzyme in contaminant metabolism and toxicity.

Lucas is working with our polychaete, Capitella teleta, and will be determining pharmaceutical toxicity in this species.

Madison will be working with the rainbow trout cell line, RTgill-W1, to develop new reference toxicants for future effluent testing.

MSc student Jack Salole successfully defended his MSc on September 12! His research has focused on using the RTgill-W1 assay to determine toxicity of pulp and paper mill effluents. His first publication focused on optimizing the assay for commercial labs and is published in ET&C! Look for future publications from his MSc. https://academic.oup.com/etc/article/44/11/3101/8238156

Jack will be working at Nautilus Environmental this fall and we look forward to welcoming him back to start his PhD in January 2026!