People

Joseph P. Bielawski

Professor, Department of Biology, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, Dalhousie University
Institute for Comparative Genomics (ICG)
e-mail: j.bielawski@dal.ca

The relationship between phenotype and genotype is a central objective of evolutionary biology, and it serves as the unifying theme of my research. The individual research activities of his group are organized into two broad research programs, which reflect different levels of biological complexity and function. The first is focused on functional diversity at the gene and genome level, and the goal here is to study molecular evolutionary processes in the context of explicit changes in organism phenotype. The group is developing innovative modeling frameworks for gene and genome data. The second focuses on the diversity of complex assemblages of species genomes ("metagenomes"), and the goal here is to model the structure and function of complex microbial communities (“microbiomes”). We carry out empirical analysis of several real-world systems: healthy and disease human phenotypes; marine microbial systems in the Northwest Atlantic and the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea; toxic algal blooms in freshwater systems. Both programs are integrated within our work on theoretical questions about the evolutionary dynamics of multilevel selection and multi-species phenotypic adaptations.

See also this site for more information about this research is contributing to "The Evolutionary Gaia Project": https://www.evolutionarygaia.org/

Katherine A. Dunn

Research Scientist, Division of Hematology/Oncology IWK Health Centre; Department of Biology, Dalhousie Univiersity
Institute for Comparative Genomics (ICG)
e-mail: kathy.dunn@dal.ca

Dr. Dunn's current research focuses on understanding how the human microbiome and its metabolites impact health and disease. This research uses metagenomics and metabolomics from stool samples to answer questions in paediatric health. She has several ongoing projects with researchers at IWK Health and Dalhousie University. She is examining the impact of the microbiome and their metabolites on treatment and side effects in oncology patients with specific interests in patients with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia undergoing asparaginase therapy. In another project she is investigating the use of the microbiome to predict remission status in Crohn’s disease patients and the impact of different diet therapies on the microbiome and metabolome. She is also examining bacterial heat shock protein genes in Crohn’s disease patients and how they change over the course of different treatments, and how they may relate to remission. Lastly, she contributes to an ongoing investigation of how the development of the preterm microbiome is impacted by early diet and the NICU environment.

Postdoctoral Research Fellows

Dr. Christopher Jones, Department of Biology
Project: Modelling evolutionary dynamics of multi-species systems: microbiomes to Gaia
e-mail: cjones2@dal.ca

Graduate Students

Paul Bjorndahl, PhD candidate, Department of Mathematics & Statistics
Project: Modelling and analysis of complex microbial community dynamics and metabolic potential during the spring blooms in freshwater and marine ecosystems.
e-mail: bjorndahl@dal.ca

Leticia Magpali, PhD candidate, Department of Biology
Project: Phylogenomic analysis of phenotype-genotype relationships in cetaceans
e-mail: lt604115@dal.ca

Sarah Organ PhD candidate, Department of Mathematics & Statistics
Project: Modelling and analysis of microbial community function and dynamics in municipal water treatment systems.
e-mail: Sarah.Organ@dal.ca

Yuri Kulish, PhD candidate, Department of Biology
Project: Joint (multi-level) modelling of molecular-level and organism-level trait dynamics and inference of functional divergence of genes and genomes over macro-evolutionary timescales.
e-mail: Yuri.Kulish@Dal.Ca

Undergraduate Student (Biology Honours Program)

Ashley Chaisson, Department of Biology

Honours Project: "Improved inference and analysis of the fungal DNA component within the microbial meta-genome of pediatric oncology patients.'
Project: Applying the psychological "Science of Wellbeing” to diversifying who succeeds in undergraduate science education.
e-mail: AChiasson@dal.ca