Biology

Along with collaborators from the University of Guelph, Dr. Dale Martin, biology professor, was awarded $150,000 from the Navigator Research funding program from the Huntington Society of Canada (HSC) for their research project DLK as a novel therapeutic target to treat Huntington Disease.  

Dr. Abiola Olaitan, who joined the Faculty of Science as a biology professor in 2023, has received $150,000 from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund (CFI-JELF). This funding will aid in Olaitan’s work to develop a high-throughput genome-wide screening system to study stress defence mechanisms in Clostridioides difficile, also known as C. difficile.

The Biology department is pleased to introduce two new faculty members, Michael Bording-Jorgensen and Travis Craddock. With their expertise in health and diagnostics, both Bording-Jorgensen and Craddock are helping to build on our leadership and expertise as we work toward the future of healthcare. Take a moment to say hello if you see them on campus this fall.

Dr. Dale Martin is a recipient of Brain Canada’s 2023 Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research program, which supports emerging brain researchers working to develop cures for anything from depression to Alzheimer’s disease to brain injury.

Haavia Rajakumar and Jessica Lin are gaining essential lab skills while researching RNA-binding proteins. 

Congratulations to Natoya Peart on her first anniversary as a Biology Faculty member in the Faculty of Science! Peart is an RNA and molecular biologist conducting research in the Department of Biology. Join us as she reflects on her first year at university and looks ahead to what’s to come.

It’s 3,300 kilometres from the University of Waterloo to the Caribbean’s Saba University School of Medicine but this year’s Faculty of Science Valedictorian, Justen Wilmot, BSc, Biomedical Science (medical physiology minor) is looking forward to the long trek to fulfil his dream of pursuing a career in medicine.

The Faculty of Science is saddened to share that Anne Innis Dagg, a groundbreaking Canadian zoologist, feminist and environmentalist, passed away on April 1, 2024. She studied and worked at the University of Waterloo from the 1960s through 2013, pursuing a wide range of research interests.