We caught up with him during this busy time before he takes up his Banting Fellowship in fall 2021, to learn more about him and his research. He will be working with Dr. Margaret Docker and Dr. Colin Garroway in the Department of Biological Sciences.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your area of research.

I was born in Winnipeg and grew up just outside the city, attending school in St. Andrews, Lockport, and Selkirk, before completing my undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Winnipeg. During my MSc, I attended a seminar at UM with Dr. Hopi Hoekstra from Harvard University as the invited speaker. I was inspired by her group’s work on the evolution of coat colour in beach mice, which illustrated the interconnectedness of the genes, physical traits and their selective advantage within differing environments. Through her, I was connected to Dr. Scott Edwards, the Curator of Ornithology at the Harvard Museum of Natural History and a world leader in the field of avian genomics. I applied to his laboratory and an NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship and was successful with both applications. I completed my PhD in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University in 2019, during which time I studied the development and genomics of large flightless birds like the emu, ostrich, and kiwi. 

As an evolutionary biologist, my research combines developmental and computational biology with genetics and genomics to investigate the origin of complex phenotypes. In my spare time, I enjoy fishing, drumming, and attending concerts and music festivals. I currently live in Boston, where I work as a research associate (biologist & bioinformatician) at the Harvard Medical School. I will begin my Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship in September 2021.

What attracted you to the UM as a Banting Fellow?

Following my PhD, I began a postdoctoral fellowship with Drs. Margaret Docker and Colin Garroway at UM. During this fellowship, I carried out population genomics on invasive sea lamprey in search for a genomic basis of sex. Drs. Docker and Garroway have had great success in recent years with funding through the Great Lakes Fishery Commission for work on sea lamprey, and so, I had the pleasure of mentoring and collaborating with many new students and postdocs during my time in their labs. Together, we uncovered a compelling signal in the genomic data from nearly 300 sea lamprey which laid the foundation for my Banting Fellow application. 

I was incredibly lucky to have already had the opportunity to work alongside Drs. Docker and Galloway during my first fellowship at UM and was very hopeful that I would receive the Banting Fellowship in order to continue that collaboration. In academia, you often have to compromise between a number of things, including where you live, who you work with and what you work on. My experience in the Department of Biological Sciences went against the grain in that I had excellent mentors and collaborators, alongside an opportunity to work on an exciting system in a place that I call home. 

What do you hope to achieve with your research program?

Drs. Docker and Garroway have created a sea lamprey genomics hub at UM. The funding, expertise, and datasets available here mean that my proposed work could not be completed elsewhere in Canada, or the world, at this time. The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship will provide me an incredible opportunity to build my independent research program primarily focused on two native lamprey species, the northern brook and silver lamprey, alongside the sea lamprey. My aim is to build a research program that will allow me to secure my own laboratory, where I can continue to mentor students and carry out the research that I love, which incorporates genomics and developmental biology to study complex traits. 

The funding, expertise, and datasets available here mean that my proposed work could not be completed elsewhere in Canada, or the world, at this time.

What (or who) inspires you?

Broadly, I am inspired by the beauty and complexity of the natural world. I find that I am most at peace while hiking or fishing next to a body of water with all the sights, sounds and smells that that experience provides.

I have also been inspired by many brilliant mentors, lab mates and colleagues throughout my career, many of whom are not only pushing science forward but are also tackling many of the difficult issues of social inequality in academia. If I had to choose just one (whom I haven’t mentioned already), it would be Dr. Shane Campbell-Staton, who is about to move his young lab from UCLA to Princeton. 

We caught up with her during this busy time before she takes up her Banting Fellowship in fall 2021, to learn more about her and her research. She will be working with Dr. Annette Desmarais, Canada Research Chair in Human Rights, Social Justice and Food Sovereignty. 

Tell us a bit about yourself and your area of research.

Originally from small-town Ontario, I’m a community-based researcher who currently lives in small-town Exshaw, Alberta. My postdoctoral research examines food sovereignty in the mountain communities where I live, with a focus on the Bow Valley. I use food as a lens to understand how people and places relate to one another, including the ways that different communities build alliances across difference, challenge structures of oppression and work to create transformative food system change.

What attracted you to the UM as a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow?

I’ve been inspired by Dr. Desmarais’ work since I was a graduate student. Over the years our research paths kept intersecting and the Banting Fellowship felt like a fabulous opportunity to work together. In addition to accomplished faculty members, I was attracted to UM because of the many amazing graduate students doing social justice and food sovereignty-related work.

What do you hope to achieve with your research program?

My aim is to develop relevant research alongside my community partner, the Bow Valley Food Alliance, that will support communities in the Bow Valley to become more socially and ecologically just. Through this research, I want to provide a better understanding of what food sovereignty looks like (and might look like) in places like the Valley and beyond – both in theory and in practice. In doing so, I place equal importance on sharing these understandings and learnings with my community partner, the broader Bow Valley community, interested grassroots activists and academia.

Through this research, I want to provide a better understanding of what food sovereignty looks like (and might look like) in places like the Valley and beyond – both in theory and in practice.

What (or who) inspires you?

I’m continually inspired by grassroots activists and organizers on the front lines of decolonization and anti-oppression work – groups like Justicia for Migrant Workers, Black Lives Matter and the Unist’ot’en. I’m also greatly inspired by the many local groups and individuals doing food work in the Bow Valley such as the Filipino Organization of the Rocky Mountains, the Canmore Filipino Canadian Society and EthioCare.

Banting postdoctoral fellows are the best postdocs in the world. The recipients are top-tier postdoctoral talent, nationally and internationally. This award positions Banting Fellows to succeed as research leaders. Only seventy fellowships are awarded across Canada annually, valued at $140,000 over two years.

“We are excited and proud to welcome two Banting Fellows to the research community at UM,” says Dr. Digvir Jayas, Vice-President (Research and International) and Distinguished Professor. “The ability to attract Banting Fellows is very much due to the stellar calibre of our faculty members, who will be developing them for the next stage of their careers.”

The two Banting Fellows are:

Dr. Phil Grayson will undertake research titled “The functional and evolutionary consequences of within-species variability in DNA composition of an ancient jawless fish.” He completed his PhD in Biology (Organismic and Evolutionary Biology) at Harvard University, graduating in 2019. He will be working with Dr. Margaret Docker in the Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science. Graysons’ Banting Fellowship is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Dr. Lauren Kepkiewicz will undertake research titled “Building relations across difference through food sovereignty in the Canadian Rockies.” She completed her PhD in Human Geography at the University of Toronto, graduating in 2018. She will be working with Dr. Annette Desmarais, Canada Research Chair in Human Rights, Social Justice and Food Sovereignty; in the Department of Sociology and Criminology, Faculty of Arts. Kepkiewicz’s Banting Fellowship is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Vanier Scholarships are awarded to Canada’s top doctoral students, each receiving $150,000 over three years towards their research.

“I was delighted to hear about the success of these four doctoral students in being awarded the Vanier scholarship. They competed at a national level against their peers and were recognized for their amazing achievements. I send my congratulations to them, as they continue to demonstrate their research excellence at UM.” says Dr. Kelley Main, Acting Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies. “I would also like to thank the faculty members who are part of the doctoral programs of these students for their support of the UM Vanier scholars.” 

The four Vanier Scholars are:

Daniel Schwade Arujo, Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management, will undertake a PhD in Applied Health Sciences. His research examines the metabolomics of frailty and cardiovascular health in older females, supervised by Dr. Todd Duhamel, with funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Anne Manson, Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, will study how dietary fat influences sex differences in the formation of bioactive molecules in the heart, supervised by Dr. Harold Aukema, with funding from NSERC.

Felicia Masenu, Anthropology, Faculty of Arts, will study gender (in)equality and women’s movements in Ghana, supervised by Distinguished Professor Ellen Judd, with funding from SSHRC.

Karli Rapinda, Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Arts, will examine how language and type of substance impact substance use stigma and blame, supervised by Drs. Matthew Keough and Harold Wallbridge, with funding from SSHRC.

These four new Vanier Scholars join 37 others who have been awarded to UM doctoral students over the past 13 years, bringing the total to 41 UM Vanier Scholars. The scholarships are administered by Canada’s three federal granting agencies: CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC.

The Vanier program honours distinguished Canadian soldier and diplomat Major-General the Right Honourable Georges Philias Vanier (1888-1967), who served as Governor General of Canada from 1959 to 1967.

The Banting Fellowship honours Nobel Laureate Sir Frederick Banting, who discovered insulin, enabling people with diabetes to live long and healthy lives.