Contact & People

Department of Biology
Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science
University of British Columbia Okanagan
1177 Research Road
Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7
Canada

Email: biology.okanagan@ubc.ca
Please direct all general inquires to the above email address.

Find a Program Advisor

Find Our People

Ayelign Adal | Postdoctoral Research Fellow | Biology, Faculty of Management | ayeadal@mail.ubc.ca

Research Interests: Study of terpenoid biosynthesis in lavender using functional genomic approaches, particularly targeting the functional characterization of genes that control the production of monoterpenes.

Research Interests: Examining the effects of biosolids application on grassland songbird nest density, nest success and food availability in central British Columbia.

Research Interests: TBD – gut mycobiome

Vivek Arulnathan | PhD Student | Biology | vivek.arulnathan@ubc.ca | FIP 226

Research Interests: Developing and implementing a life cycle Sustainability Assessment Platform (SAP) for the Canadian egg industry. The tool will serve as a decision support mechanism for Canadian egg farms by assessing their sustainability performance across various relevant indicators and in relation to different industry benchmarks.

Dave Ashish | Adjunct Professor | Biology | ashishdave21@hotmail.com | 250.899.2656

Susan J. Bach | Adjunct Professor | Biology | susan.bach@agr.gc.ca | 250.494.6398

Research Interests: The spatial ecology of mountain goats in Cathedral Provincial Park

Nicole Bamber | MSc Student | Biology | nbamber@mail.ubc.ca | EME 4133

Research Interests: Life cycle analysis of alternative uses of wood chips in orchards and vineyards.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Neurodegenerative disease, signal transduction, neurotrophin biology, cell biology, fly and mouse genetics.

Jacqueline Alexandra Barnett | PhD Student | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | jacqueline.barnett@ubc.ca | ASC 355

Research Interests: Examining the effects of the herbicide glyphosate on the gastrointestinal microbiome and gut inflammation.

William Bates | Associate Professor Emeritus | Biology | william.bates@ubc.ca

Research Interests: Host-microbiota interactions; Glycobiology

Courses & Teaching: Food and Industrial Microbiology (BIOL380)

Pankaj Bhowmik | Adjunct Professor | Biology | pankaj.bhowmik@ubc.ca | 306.203.2714

Research Interests: Plant Tissue culture, transformation, gene editing; Application of cell technologies - protoplasts and microspore-based genetic manipulation for crop improvement; Genetic enhancement of protein, off-flavour, anti-nutritional quality and processability in pulse crops.

Christine Bishop | Adjunct Professor | Biology | cab.bishop@ec.gc.ca

Joyce Boon | Associate Professor Emerita | Biology | joyce.boon@ubc.ca

Patricia Bowen | Adjunct Professor | Biology | pat.bowen@agr.gc.ca | 250.494.6424

Research Interests: Testing Design probiotics colonization and persistence using mice and human intestinal organoids.

Research Interests: Evaluating how the secondary metabolites of non-native mustards alter soil fungal communities.

Bruno Carturan | PhD Student | Biology | bruno.carturan@ubc.ca | SCI 148

Research Interests: Study of the relationship between functional diversity, connectivity and resilience of coral reef communities with the use of a model framed with a complex systems science approach

Simone Castellarin | Associate Member | Biology | simone.castellarin@ubc.ca

Research Interests: Molecular and hormonal signals in ripening grapes; cis-regulatory code for transcriptional regulation in grapevines; impact of deficit irrigation and crop size on fruit and wine aroma and quality; canopy management.

Courses & Teaching: Grapevine and berry crop biology; advances in food biotechnology.

Research Interests: Conservation Genetics, Population Genetics, Fisheries Science

Research Interests: Cell signaling; molecular mechanisms underlying development and progression of cancer.

Courses & Teaching: Biology for science majors; genetics; cell signaling; molecular biology.

Hansika Dadlani | MSc Student | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | hansika7@mail.ubc.ca | ASC 365

Research Interests: Investigating regulation and trafficking of cardiac antioxidant, glutathione (GHS) to determine the cellular factors responsible for GSH depletion in aging diabetic hearts to ultimately understand if and how aberr ant GSH levels induce exercise stress in aging diabetic hearts.

Research Interests: Cougar-prey dynamics in Southern Interior British Columbia.

Rosemarie De Clerck-Floate | Adjunct Professor | Biology | rosemarie.declerck-floate@agr.gc.ca | 403.317.2270

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Genetics and genomics of plants, especially in relation to pectin, cell walls, and fibers.

Courses & Teaching: Biochemistry, bioinformatic.

Gino DiLabio | Chemistry | gino.dilabio@ubc.ca | 250.807.8617 | ASC 406

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Computational studies of i) radical reactions involving organic, inorganic, biological and solid-state systems; ii) noncovalent interactions; iii) oxygen-centred radical induced damage of proteins.

Courses & Teaching: Physical and computational chemistry.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Fungi in forest and wine systems; determining the structure of fungal networks connecting trees and the strains of yeast responsible for fermentation.

Courses & Teaching: Microbiology; mycology; botany; ecology.

Research Interests: Investigating the effects of irrigation on soil organic carbon stocks in agricultural soils.

Research Interests: Using network theory to assess the connectivity between ecosystem services and the resilience of multifunctional landscapes.

Research Interests: Study of the cellular and molecular mechanism of neuronal remodeling in mammals and Drosophila Melanogaster.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Wildlife ecology and conservation; mammals; temperate forests, grasslands, and tropical savannas.

Courses & Teaching: Animal ecology

Thomas Forge | Adjunct Professor | Biology | tom.forge@agr.gc.ca | 250.494.2119

Mary Forrest | Associate Professor Emerita | Biology | mary.forrest@ubc.ca

Ellen Gates | MSc Student | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | ellen.gates@ubc.ca

Research Interests: Investigating the neuroinflammatory role of gut microbial metabolites in neurodegeneration

Danielle Gauthier | MSc Student | Biology | danielle.gauthier@ubc.ca | SCI 149

Research Interests: Enhancing wolf monitoring methods in the Kootenay region.

Tirhas Gebretsadikan | Research Assistant Technician | Biology | tirhas.gebretsadikan@ubc.ca

Research Interests: Investigating the productivity and fruit quality of sweet cherry using deficit irrigation and orchard floor amendments on newly and previously established orchards in the Okanagan Valley.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Biochemical aspects of dietary fats and exercise in preventing the development and complications of obesity and diabetes.

Courses & Teaching: Biochemical basis of nutrition.

Research Interests: Learning and memory; Working memory; The central nervous system; neurotrophins; neuronal activity; synaptic activity and plasticity. Mechanisms of persistent firing activity in the cortex.

Courses & Teaching: Neurobiology, Clinical Neurosciences

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Gut health; intestinal microbiome; gut immunity; dietary lipids; susceptibility to acute and chronic gut diseases like colitis.

Courses & Teaching: Medical microbiology, virology and immunology.

Purnima Govindarajulu | Adjunct Professor | Biology | purnima.govindarajulu@gov.bc.ca | 250.387.9755

Kirsten Hannam | Adjunct Professor | Biology | kirsten.hannam@canada.ca | 250.404.3351

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Microbial ecology of soil microbes; the role and the applications of microbes in sustainable agriculture, viticulture, and ecological restoration.

Courses & Teaching: Botany; ecology; microbial ecology; microbiology.

Research Interests: The effect of diet modification on clinical disease activity, the gut microbiome and immune response in inflammatory bowel disease.

Research Interests: Using a toxicogenomic approach to evaluate the detoxification of nicotine in agricultural insect pests.

Research Interests: Assessing the current level of our post secondary students in three core competencies and implement teaching strategies in order to increase these competencies.

Davoud Heidari | Postdoctoral Researcher | Biology | md.heidari@ubc.ca | FIP 225

Research Interests: Environmental sustainability assessment of crop-livestock production system.

Darcy Henderson | Adjunct Professor | Biology | darcy.henderson@canada.ca | 250.491.1507

Daniella Hirkala | Adjunct Professor | Biology | dhirkala@bctree.com | 250.766.2527

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Ecology; conservation biology; effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on behaviour and population dynamics; predator-prey dynamics; extinction risks; species-at-risk legislation; wildfires and wildlife; biosolids and wildlife.

Courses & Teaching: Conservation Biology; Science Writing; Spatial Ecology.

Research Interests: Aquatic ecology.

Courses & Teaching: Aquatic ecology; limnology; evolution and ecology; microbial ecology.

Research Interests: Identify the effect of microbial inocula on cannabis growth and biochemical properties.

Research Interests: Phylogeography and ecological impacts of the invasive death cap mushroom.

Vladimir Jiranek | Adjunct Professor | Biology | vladimir.jiranek@adelaide.edu.au | +618.8303.6651

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Physiology of ectomycorrhizas and roots of woody plants; effects of fire and silviculture on ectomycorrhizal fungal communities; carbon allocation within and between woody plants, orchard management under climate change.

Courses & Teaching: Soil ecology; plant physiology; general biology.

Research Interests: Grapevine virus epidemiology. Research affiliate at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Summerland Research and Development Center

Farah Kanani | PhD Student | Biology | farah.kanani@ubc.ca | FIP 226

Research Interests: Life cycle assessment of renewable energy and waste valorization options for Canadian egg supply chains and development of a regionally-resolved technology deployment decision support tool.

Angelina Kelly | MSc Student | Biology | akelly07@mail.ubc.ca | SCI 124

Research Interests: Population ecology of small mammals, snowshoe hares, and red squirrels in post-fire and clear-cut landscapes in BC.

Research Interests: Examine how soils with different moisture, texture, pH, and organic carbon content affect the release of CO2 and production of soil carbonates from irrigation water of different chemistries

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Neuroimmunology; pathogenesis of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases; Glial cell biology; cellular and molecular pharmacology; method development for protecting neurons from age-related deterioration; signaling between different cell types of the central nervous system; problem-solving skills of students and effectiveness of alternative instructional techniques.

Courses & Teaching: Pharmacology; neuroimmunology; inflammation and neurodegenerative diseases.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Community ecology; soil ecology; plant ecology; microbial ecology; restoration ecology; invasion biology; global change biology; determinants of plant and microbial community structure; biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

Courses & Teaching: Evolutionary ecology; general biology.

Research Interests: Effects of information use on population and community processes; evolutionary ecology and population ecology of parasitic insects; developing insights into the biology of parasitic insects and the dynamics of parasite-dominated communities; potential applications in the area of biological control of both insect pests and introduced weeds.

Courses & Teaching: Animal and insect ecology; evolutionary and population ecology.

Melissa Larrabee | Research Assistant Technician | Biology | melissa.larrabee@ubc.ca

Research Interests: Determining biological and epidemiological characteristics of pathogenic fungi isolated from sweet cherry in the Okanagan.

Karl Larsen | Adjunct Professor | Biology | klarsen@tru.ca | 250.828.5456

Research Interests: To investigate multi-species biofilms, and evaluate the biofilm formation, and the role of the viable but non culturable state in multi-species biofilms on leafy greens. Furthermore, the multi-species biofilms will be evaluated using confocal microscopy, ddPCR and qPCR.

Gunnar Leitner | MSc Student | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | gunnar.leitner@ubc.ca | ASC 355

Research Interests: Identifying the immune-modulatory effects of endogenous molecules such as ketones on neuroinflammation, a hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

D. Thomas Lowery | Adjunct Professor | Biology | tom.lowery@canada.ca | 250.404.3324

Research Interests: Grape pest management, biology and management of homopteran insects, epidemiology and management of insect-borne plant pathogens.

Research Interests: Studying vineyard microbiology and fermentation flavor compounds.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Molecular, cellular, biochemical and environmental factors that regulate the quality and quantity of aromas and essential oils produced by herbal and medicinal plants; identification, cloning and characterization of structural and regulatory genes that are involved in the biosynthesis, inter- and intra-cellular trafficking, secretion and storage of monoterpenes in plants cells specialized for secondary metabolite production.

Courses & Teaching: Plant molecular biology and biochemistry; metabolism of natural products; plant biotechnology.

Research Interests: Studying the interactive effects of mites and cougars on California bighorn sheep in the south Okanagan Valley; Developing a bighorn sheep connectivity and disease exposure-risk model with spatial ecology.

Research Interests: Examining migration ecology of core and peripheral populations for riparian species that breed in the south Okanagan.

Bruce Mathieson | Associate Professor Emeritus | Biology | bruce.mathieson@ubc.ca

Research Interests: Identifying a biocontrol and sustainable management strategies for Crown gall disease in grapevine

Vivien Measday | Associate Member | Biology | vivien.measday@ubc.ca | 604.827.5744

Research Interests: Isolate and characterize yeast populations associated with vineyards; retrotransposons.

Courses & Teaching: Food Microbiology; microbiology of food and beverage fermentation; advances of food biotechnology; advanced topics in molecular biology.

Research Interests: Ectomycorrhizal community assembly and exoenzyme production in response to an edaphic gradient of phosphorus abundance and form.

Research Interests: Examining soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics in irrigated agricultural systems of the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia.

Sydney Morgan | Postdoctoral Research Fellow | Biology | sydney.morgan@ubc.ca

Research Interests: Community ecology of grapes and wine, focusing on minimal intervention winemaking techniques.

Research Interests: Molecular genetics of hemp seed nutritional components

Research Interests: Improving regeneration method for Cannabis sativa L.

Denise Neilson | Adjunct Professor | Biology | neilsend@agr.gr.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Plant-microbe interactions; soil health; plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria; biological control; postharvest fungal pathogens; orchard replant disease; nitrogen cycling; nitrification; denitrification.

Courses & Teaching: Environmental microbiology; sustainability; plant-microbe interactions.

Research Interests: Behavioural ecology; arachnid diversity; life history.

Courses & Teaching: Invertebrate zoology; sustainability; biology II for science majors; cell biology.

Research Interests: Effects of climate change on the invasive non-native plant spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe) and the seed-feeding biological control insects Larinus spp. and Urophora spp.

Blythe Nilson | Associate Professor | Biology | blythe.nilson@ubc.ca

Research Interests: Skepticism and scientific literacy.

Courses & Teaching: Biology for non-science majors; anatomy and physiology for nursing students; biochemistry; molecular genetics labs.

Research Interests: Investigating the effects of biofumigant cover crops on soil microbial communities in vineyards

Research Interests: Understanding ecosystems and landscapes as complex systems in which human and biophysical processes are coupled across multiple scales of space and time; incorporating complexity into natural resource management approaches; regional-scale landscape modelling; social-ecological networks; agent and individual-based modelling approaches; landscape science and scenario building.

Courses & Teaching: Dynamic modelling of coupled human-environment systems.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Sustainability measurement and management; life cycle thinking; environmental and social life cycle assessment of food, feed and biomass supply chains; resource efficiency; social license and market access; trade-based externalization of environmental and social risk.

Courses & Teaching: Sustainable food systems; sustainability measurement and management; ecological economics.

Lori Ann Phillips | Adjunct Professor | Biology | lori.phillips@agr.gc.ca | 519.738.1264

Brian John Pickles | Adjunct Professor | Biology | b.j.pickles@reading.ac.uk | (+44) 118.378.7955

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Biogeography; landscape ecology; biodiversity conservation; community ecology; paleoecology; biodiversity patterns in space and time.

Courses & Teaching: Introduction to Biostatitistics; Biodiversity: patterns and processes.

Research Interests: Environmental microbiology, microbe/metal interactions (e.g. Cu, U, As) and the role of microbes in biogeochemical cycles.

Courses & Teaching: Microbiology and immunology; biochemistry; genetics.

Research Interests: Examine the effect of root system variability on the plant responsiveness to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Evaluate the reliability of root system as a predictor of the mycorrhizal response.

Jinxz Pollard-Flamand | MSc Student | Biology | jinxz.flamand@canada.ca

Research Interests: Screening and characterization of native fungal and bacterial biological control agents for use in the control of Grapevine Trunk Diseases.

Research Interests: Investigate how maternal diet intake drives offspring's disease susceptibility by examining the gut microbiome.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Comparative physiology, fish physiology, and metal metabolism in freshwater fish; how animals physiologically adjust to changes in the quality of their environment.

Courses & Teaching: Comparative animal physiology; membrane biophysics; general biology.

Research Interests: Urban bat population research in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Physiology of epithelial ion transport; insect toxicology; insect-plant interactions; metals toxicology; organic ion transport.

Courses & Teaching: Cellular physiology; vertebrate zoology; invertebrate zoology; insect physiology; biochemistry.

Research Interests: Effects of cover crops (non-crop vegetation) on grapevine trunk diseases (GTDs) in the Okanagan Valley.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Population genomics; conservation genetics; molecular ecology; life-history evolution.

Courses & Teaching: Evolution; population genetics; ecology; conservation biology.

Research Interests: Investigation of structural and regulatory genes responsible for terpene biosynthesis in Lavandula.

Ken Savage | Sessional Instructor | Biology | savage@zoology.ubc.ca | SCI 161

Melody Sayrany | MSc Student | Biology | m.sayrany@ubc.ca | ASC 365

Research Interests: Studying the population genetics of Western Rattlesnakes to help inform conservation management.

Robert Serrouya | Adjunct Professor | Biology | serrouya@ualberta.ca | 250.814.4632

Research Interests: Population Genomics of Kokanee (Oncorhynchus nerka) at their Northern Range Periphery.

Mehdi Sharifi | Adjunct Professor | Biology | mehdi.sharifi@canada.ca | 250.494.6415

Amritpal Singh | Adjunct Professor | Biology | amritpal.singh@canada.ca | 250.460.0672

Alyssa Smart | MSc Student | Biology | alyssa.smart@ubc.ca | FIP 226

Research Interests: Employing life cycle assessment to quantify GHG emissions and energy costs of irrigation in the Okanagan.

David Smith | Associate Professor Emeritus | Biology | dave.smith@ubc.ca

Research Interests: Developing a predictive model of human-large carnivore interactions and their outcomes by studying multi-use landscapes in western Canada.

Research Interests: Assess human-induced trophic cascades on farmlands; identify changes in predator diet and movement patterns in response to non-lethal predator control measures; identify key variables that predict caracal kill site selection on farmlands.

David Theilmann | Adjunct Professor | Biology | david.theilmann@agr.gc.ca | 250.494.6395

Howard Thistlewood | Adjunct Professor | Biology | howard.thistlewood@ubc.ca | 250.494.6419

Research Interests: Landscape ecology of mycorrhizal fungi and their interactions with tree ranges.

José Ramón Úrbez-Torres | Adjunct Professor | Biology | joseramon.urbeztorres@agr.gc.ca | 250.404.3359

Research Interests: The protective role of designer probiotics in ulcerative colitis models.

Research Interests: Effect of irrigation and fertilization management practices on abundance and activity of nitrifying and dentrifying microbial populations in woody perennial cropping systems and how changes in abundance and activity of nitrogen cycle microbial populations relate to the emission of greenhouse gas nitrous oxide.

Research Interests: Investigating the impacts of wildfire on martens (Martes americana) and fishers (M. pennanti) to improve management of fire-prone forests and promote recovery of these ecologically sensitive carnivores on burned landscapes; modeling marten and fisher selection of post-fire habitats using telemetry and snow tracking data; assessing female reproductive success and kit survival in burned areas using remote cameras.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Environmental change; chironomid palaeoecology; quaternary palaeoecology and paleoclimatology; dynamics of arctic and alpine tree-line ecosystems; aquatic insect ecology; and biomonitoring; use of aquatic insects (living and fossil) as indicators of environmental change.

Courses & Teaching: Quaternary palaeoecology; limnology; freshwater plants and animals; non-vascular plants.

Cecilia Wang | MSc Student | Biology | cecilia.wang@ubc.ca | FIP 226

Research Interests: Spatially resolved life-cycle (LCA) modelling of Canadian field crop production systems.

Hillary Ward | Adjunct Professor | Biology | hillary.ward@gov.bc.ca | 250.490.8267

Matt Waterhouse | Sessional Instructor | Biology | matthew.waterhouse@ubc.ca | FIP 236

Courses & Teaching: Molecular Methods in Ecology and Evolution

Research Interests: Investigating the spatial and foraging ecology of coastal wolves on Vancouver Island and how this affects human-wolf interactions

Research Interests: Investigation and functional characterization of genes involved in floral initiation and pattern development in lavenders.

Research Interests: Inhibitors that decrease neuroinflammation, a condition associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Research Interests: Mule deer responses to landscape change in southern British Columbia.

Nasser Yalpani | Adjunct Professor | Biology | nasser.yalpani@ubc.ca | 515.770.2599

Research Interests: Discovery of novel insecticidal and antifungal proteins for crop protection.

Research Interests: Following nitrogen relationships between ectomycorrhizal fungi and pine seedlings germinating after wildfire or clearcutting.

Jiayu Ye | Postdoctoral Fellow | Biology | jiayu.ye@ubc.ca

Research Interests: The inflammatory crosstalk between gut and heart under high-fat diet.

Research Interests: Plant Cell Biology, Organelle morphology, Plant Cell Wall Synthesis.

Courses & Teaching: Introductory Biology, Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, Biochemistry.

Shiva Zargar Ershadi | MSc Student | Biology | shiva.zargar@ubc.ca | FIP 226

Research Interests: Life cycle assessment of nitrogen efficiency strategies for the Canadian Egg Industry.

Jian Zhang | Adjunct Professor | Biology | jian.zhang@ubc.ca

About Us

Contact & People

Find Our People