Postgraduate and Postdoctoral Opportunities in Microbial Ecology and Biogeochemistry

The Ecosystems and Global Change Group (www.ecosystemchange.com) at Trent University jointly led by Prof Andrew Tanentzap (Canada Research Chair in Climate Change and Northern Ecosystems) and Dr Erik Emilson (Research Scientist, Canadian Forest Service sector of Natural Resources Canada, https://glfc-wet.github.io) is recruiting up to 5 funded positions for Autumn 2023 at the intersect of ecosystem ecology, microbiology, and geochemistry in northern waters and soils.

Trent postgrad postdoc opportunities

Thank you so much

Andrew

Andrew J Tanentzap

Canada Research Chair in Climate Change and Northern Ecosystems Head of Ecosystems and Global Change Group School of the Environment Trent University

** Learn about our work at www.ecosystemchange.com **

** @ecochangegroup on Twitter and Instagram **

Register Now! Prebiotics, Probiotics, Synbiotics, Postbiotics: distinctive features and role in human health Thursday, December 1, 2022 | 12:00 – 13:00 ET CNS invites you to join us for our upcoming webinar “Prebiotics, Probiotics, Synbiotics, Postbiotics: distinctive features and role in human health” taking place Thursday, December 1st, with guest speaker, Dr. Elena M Comelli from the University of Toronto. The gut microbiome has emerged as a dietary target to sustain health. Administration of prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics and postbiotics is among the available strategies. This webinar will discuss shared and distinctive mechanisms of action of these -biotics, host responses and substantiated benefits. Featured Speaker: Elena M Comelli, PhD – University of Toronto

Learning Objectives: Understand the qualifications of prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics and postbiotics Understand how prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics and postbiotics interact with the intestinal Understand the use of prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics and postbiotics in clinical practice. ecosystem and affect host health

Click Here to Register

Click to download the flyer and spread the word!

Hi everyone,

The next IRES Seminar is in the Michael Smith Labs Theatre (Room 102 on the main floor by the elevator, 2185 East Mall).

Reminder: No food or drinks allowed in the Theatre.

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Zoom Rule: If we encounter technical difficulties during the first 5 to 10 mins of the seminar, Zoom will be terminated.

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November 24, 2022: IRES Student Seminar with Susanna Klassen and Taya Triffo

1. Just in principle? Assessing the contributions of organic to fairness in Canadian agriculture

2. Green Infrastructure Planning in Vancouver: Addressing Environmental Justice and Hearing Resident Perspectives

Time: 12:30pm to 1:20pm

Location: Michael Smith Labs Theatre (Room 102, 2185 East Mall)

Click here to register in advance to receive a Zoom link.

Talk summaries:

Agriculture is at the centre of society’s most pressing challenges, including food insecurity, climate change, and labour inequity. Organic agriculture, when practiced according to an ethic grounded in ecology, health, fairness, and care, has been proposed as a remedy to these challenges. However, there remain significant gaps in knowledge about how organic agriculture is practiced relative to the principles on which it was founded, especially the principle of fairness. Drawing from interviews, census data, surveys, and organic policy documents, I investigate how organic agriculture is shaped and enacted by organic community members at multiple scales to assess its contributions to fairness with a focus on labour. I found little evidence that organic certification translates to improved conditions for farmworkers in practice. At the same time, governance and social movement efforts show potential to advance a more just and sustainable agriculture.

Susanna Klassen, RES PhD Candidate

Bios:

Susanna is a PhD candidate at IRES and is co-supervised by Hannah Wittman and Navin Ramankutty. She is an interdisciplinary social scientist, and her doctoral dissertation looks at the contributions of organic agriculture to socio-ecological sustainability and fairness, with a focus on food policy, agroecological diversification, labour and justice. Susanna holds a BSc from McGill University and a MSc from UBC’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems. She lives on the traditional territory of the Tla’amin Nation on the lower Sunshine Coast of BC.

In city planning documents, the City of Vancouver’s eastern neighbourhoods are often mapped as “equity zones” and as “areas in need of resources.” With higher climate hazard risk (e.g., sea level rise) and higher socioeconomic vulnerability (e.g., low-income), these equity zones have become high-priority areas for improvements, such as green infrastructure (GI) solutions like street trees and rain gardens. In this research, I turn to Vancouver’s equity zones and ask: what are residents’ self-identified GI priorities, challenges, and aspirations? Two participatory workshops were hosted with residents who live in equity zones. Participants shared how GI projects can be adapted to meet their needs as renters, immigrants, low-income individuals, and families. Second, participants stressed that improved liveability (namely through public transit and affordable housing) can improve their experience with GI.

Taya Triffo, RES MA Student

Taya Triffo is a Master of Arts student with IRES (supervised by Dr. Leila Harris). She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the University of Regina, convocating with great distinction and the President’s Medal. Taya is interested in how communities work together to articulate and envision resource transformations. She has participated in advocacy for the 100% Renewable Regina project — both as a community facilitator and as a policy researcher. She has also worked with the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region, University of Regina’s Community Engagement and Research Centre, and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture.

See you on Nov 24 in the Michael Smith Labs Theatre!

___________________________________________________________________

Bonnie Leung
RES Program Support (she/her/hers)
Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES)
University of British Columbia | Vancouver Campus | Musqueam Traditional Territory
Aquatic Ecosystems Research Laboratory (AERL Building)
Room 429 – 2202 Main Mall | Vancouver, BC | V6T 1Z4 | Canada
Email: bonnie.leung@ubc.ca
Tel: 604-822-9249

Hello everyone, 

Please note that the submission deadline of abstracts for oral presentation for the International Trainee Symposium in Agri-Food, Nutrition and Health – CCARM’s Rapid Fire Research Symposium is extended until December 7, 2022.

The Symposium organized by Canadian Centre for Agri-Food Research in Health and Medicine (CCARM) will occur January 19-20, 2023. 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM CST. This symposium comes at a time when there is a tremendous public interest in utilizing food to achieve health benefits, beyond just providing basic nutritional requirements.  The need for new information in this area is high, and it is, therefore, our pleasure to provide scientific sessions that will highlight the progress in this field.

Another major component of this meeting is education.  The promotion of trainees is critical to developing the next generation of investigators, and there is a strong need to develop greater capacity in this area.  Furthermore, this symposium is an opportunity for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to showcase their research and achievements and provide them with the opportunity to network and engage in discussions with other researchers and trainees in their field.

Abstracts for oral presentation to be submitted here before December 7, 2022. 

Register here before December 15, 2022, IT’S A FREE EVENT AND EVERYONE IS WELCOME!

For more information, please contact Julie Schoffner at jschoffner2@sbrc.ca.

Thank you for your support,

Dr. Thomas Netticadan

Team Leader, Canadian Centre for Agri-Food Research in Health and Medicine

Team Leader, Agri-Food and Food Security, Morden Research and Development Centre

 

 

 

Land and Food System Scholar Series

 

Invited scholar: Dr. J. Bruce German

 

Hosted by:  Siyun Wang, Food Science

 

Title: Lactation: An evolutionary model for diet and health research.

 

Abstract: The world is facing unprecedented challenges to produce a food supply that is both nourishing, safe and sustainable. Scientists are struggling to understand how to guide the future of agriculture and food in response to these 21st century challenges.  Lactation provides an inspiring model of what research and its applications could be. Lactation emerged through evolution under the relentless selective pressure to be a sustainable bioreactor secreting biopolymers with diverse functions acting from the mammary gland through the digestive system of the infant. Scientific understanding of milk yields targets of efficacy: what are the mechanisms by which diet can improve the protection, performance and success of infants; with an impeccable safety dosser: milk is all that babies eat! As just one example, milk contains free oligosaccharides. These glycans reach the lower intestine where bacteria compete. One specific strain of bacteria, Bifidobacterium longum subspecies infantis, is capable of taking up, hydrolyzing and metabolizing the complex glycans of human milk. Such a symbiotic relationships provides value to both the microbe and the infant: the microbe gains a food supply and the infant gains protection from pathogens.

 

Biography: Dr. J. Bruce German is a Distinguished Professor in Food Science and Technology, Director, Foods for Health Institute, University of California Davis (http://ffhi.ucdavis.edu/). Bruce German received his BSc and MSc from University of Western Ontario, his PhD from Cornell University, joined the faculty at the University of California, Davis in 1988, in 1997 was named the first John E. Kinsella Endowed Chair in Food, Nutrition and Health is currently Director of the Foods for Health Institute and professor, at University of California, Davis. The goal of his research, teaching and outreach is to build the knowledge necessary to improve human health through personal health measurements and diet. The model being used of how to proceed is lactation, the product of millennia of constant Darwinian selective pressure to produce a food to nourish, sustain and promote healthy infant mammals to be healthier http://www.imgconsortium.org/ . This evolutionary logic is the basis of the research program to discover molecular, physical, functional and nutritional properties of milk components and to apply these properties as principles to foods. Bruce and colleagues have published more than 500 papers that have been cited over 50,000 times.  Together with colleagues and the University of California the research program has launched 4 companies providing products and services to the commercial marketplace.

 

 

Join in-person or via Zoom:

Date: December 8, 2022

Time: 10:00-11:30 AM PST

Location: In-person at SPPH B151, or via Zoom

This presentation will be followed by a meet and greet from 11:30-12:00.

Please register here by Dec 6.