Undergraduates

						 
			Brady O'Connor 
			Honours Student 
			Email | CV		 		Research Focus: Today, much is known about how nitrogen and phosphorus affect lake productivity. However the majority of this research has focused on phytoplankton while ignoring a large portion of the microbial community. Furthermore, DNA based methods for performing these studies has yet to be fully realized.  The goal of my honours project is to determine the response of the microbial nitrogen cycling community as a whole to historical changes in the ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus by sampling paleo DNA from lake sediments using  qPCR and next-gen sequencing to perform the analysis.  This research will help determine if the nitrogen cycling microbial community as a whole responds to changes in the N:P ratio much the same way as phytoplankton or if the community behaves altogether differently than previously assumed, my project will also help establish and develop DNA based methods for this area of research that could prove to complement conventional methods.		    	
			 	 	
		 	 	
						 
			Marty Scriver 
			Honours Student 
			Email 		 		Research Focus: Marty Scriver is an enthusiastic honours biology undergraduate student in the Yost Lab. Summer research opportunities have led her to working on antibiotic resistance and waste water treatment plant projects. She has fallen in the Wascana Creek only once. After convocation at the University of Regina, Marty hopes to attend graduate school in a different part of Canada and expand her horizons. Despite enjoying the study of microbial life, Marty prefers filling her home with macroscopic pets, including 2 gorgeous snakes and a leopard gecko.

Brady O'Connor Honours Student Email \| CV	Research Focus: Today, much is known about how nitrogen and phosphorus affect lake productivity. However the majority of this research has focused on phytoplankton while ignoring a large portion of the microbial community. Furthermore, DNA based methods for performing these studies has yet to be fully realized. The goal of my honours project is to determine the response of the microbial nitrogen cycling community as a whole to historical changes in the ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus by sampling paleo DNA from lake sediments using qPCR and next-gen sequencing to perform the analysis. This research will help determine if the nitrogen cycling microbial community as a whole responds to changes in the N:P ratio much the same way as phytoplankton or if the community behaves altogether differently than previously assumed, my project will also help establish and develop DNA based methods for this area of research that could prove to complement conventional methods.


Marty Scriver Honours Student Email	Research Focus: Marty Scriver is an enthusiastic honours biology undergraduate student in the Yost Lab. Summer research opportunities have led her to working on antibiotic resistance and waste water treatment plant projects. She has fallen in the Wascana Creek only once. After convocation at the University of Regina, Marty hopes to attend graduate school in a different part of Canada and expand her horizons. Despite enjoying the study of microbial life, Marty prefers filling her home with macroscopic pets, including 2 gorgeous snakes and a leopard gecko.