Research Interests
Leslie completed her BSc in Environmental Science (Chemistry) at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, Memorial University of Newfoundland, followed by an MSc at the University of Waterloo under the supervision of Dr. Janusz Pawliszyn, where she developed expertise in environmental analytical chemistry and trace organic contaminant analysis.
Following her MSc, she joined the Servos Lab in 2007 after being recruited from the Pawliszyn group, where she has since developed into a central member of the research team. She now serves as research manager of the Servos Lab, supporting the coordination and delivery of a broad range of environmental research programs.
In this role, she is responsible for overall laboratory management, including financial planning, budgeting, procurement of supplies and analytical equipment, coordination of research infrastructure, and the hiring, training, and supervision of technicians and undergraduate work-study and co-op students. She plays a key role in ensuring smooth day-to-day laboratory operations and supporting multiple concurrent research projects.
Beyond administrative leadership, she contributes to field coordination, project planning, and the organization of large-scale sampling campaigns across the Grand River watershed and other study systems.
Global Water Futures Observatories Technician - Ecotoxicology
Leslie serves as the GWFO technician for ecotoxicology, where she manages shared field and laboratory equipment used across multiple research programs. This includes overseeing maintenance, organization, and allocation of instruments, ensuring equipment readiness for both field and laboratory applications. She coordinates equipment usage across research teams, provides training on proper operation and safety, and supports standardized procedures for consistent data collection.
Data management is also a core component of this role, where she ensures that ecotoxicological datasets are properly organized, stored, and maintained to support long-term accessibility, quality assurance, and reproducible research.
Project Experience
Leslie has worked in the Grand River watershed for over two decades, contributing to long-term research examining the impacts of municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) on river health and aquatic biota. Her work has focused on understanding how WWTP effluents influence fish communities and ecosystem function, with particular emphasis on contaminant exposure and biological responses in receiving waters. She has been extensively involved in monitoring pharmaceuticals, hormones, nutrients, and other emerging contaminants in wastewater and surface water, including measurements of total estrogenicity using bioassays such as the Yeast Estrogen Screen (YES) assay. These studies have supported ongoing assessments of spatial and temporal trends in water quality across the watershed.
She also has extensive experience in fish sampling and identification, including backpack electrofishing, boat electrofishing, boating operations, fish community surveys, and fish dissections, along with associated field data collection and sample processing. Her work has included eDNA-based projects assessing fish communities in McKenzie Creek in collaboration with Six Nations, supporting molecular approaches alongside traditional survey methods, as well as electrofishing studies targeting walleye in the southern Grand River to investigate fish movement and spatial ecology within the system.
On the analytical chemistry side, Leslie has been heavily involved in setting up and maintaining multiple generations of LC-MS/MS instrumentation (now on the third system in the lab), along with other analytical platforms. Her work includes method development and optimization for emerging contaminants, particularly pharmaceuticals, as well as pesticides, personal care products, and other compounds in wastewater, surface water, and drinking water. She has also supported engineering-related projects evaluating the removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) using different wastewater and drinking water treatment technologies. Her work spans the full analytical workflow, from sample preparation and extraction through to instrumental analysis and data interpretation.
She also contributes to the broader research program through manuscript preparation for peer-reviewed publication and by helping compile, interpret, and communicate results for research collaborators and project teams.
Publications
Visit Leslie's Google Scholar profile to view her publications.
