Current Graduate Students
Matthew Gilbert
PhD candidate
Email: gilbert1@zoology.ubc.ca
Website: arcticphysiology.com
Matt is in his 4th year of his PhD in the Farrell lab working on research investigating Arctic char physiology involving local adaptation and temperature tolerance, as well as the possible effects of climate change on this species.
Olivia Adams
MSc Student
Email: adams@zoology.ubc.ca
Olivia is a MSc student in the Department of Zoology at UBC. She studies the thermal acclimation capacity in rainbow trout with the Farrell lab group, with a focus on how fish will be able to adapt to climate change and rising temperatures.
James Marchant
PhD candidate
Email: marchant.james.fr@gmail.com
Website: Machester Lab – James Marchant
James holds a bachelors in general biology obtained from the université de Bretagne occidentale, Brest, France, and a Masters in Marine Biology obtained from L’institut universitaire Européen de le mer, Brest France. His research interests lays in physiological responses of the cardiovascular system in ectotherms to global change, more specifically the electrophysiological remodelling of the fish heart in temperature adaptation.
Yangfan Zhang
PhD candidate
Email: yangfan@zoology.ubc.ca
Website: irapyangfanzhang.wixsite.com/physiology
Yangfan’s research interests address the fundamental question of how the cardiorespiratory system of animals has evolved to meet metabolic demands. He aims to decipher the impacts of environmental factors on fish such as water temperature, low oxygen, viral infections and others, using a comparative approach to advance the understanding of how the cardiorespiratory system of animals has evolved to meet their metabolic demands.
Former Lab Members
Georgina Cox
M.Sc student, July 2007 – February 2010 | Ph.D student, February 2010 – 2015
Email: cox@zoology.ubc.ca
RESEARCH TOPIC: Coronary circulation in fishes.
Chen Zhongqi
Ph.D student, September 2010 –
Email: czq2010@zoology.ubc.ca
RESEARCH TOPIC: Genetic basis of temperature tolerance in salmonids.
Chris Wilson
Ph.D student, September 2007 –
Email: chris7_77@hotmail.com
RESEARCH TOPIC: Excitation-contraction-coupling in cardiac myocytes and cardiac pacemaking in hagfish.
Helen Drost
Ph.D student, September 2010 –
Email: hed@interchange.ubc.ca
RESEARCH TOPIC: Food web resilience with changing oceanographic conditions in the Canadian Arctic Ocean.
Sabine Lague
PhD student, September 2011 –
Email: lague@zoology.ubc.ca
RESEARCH TOPIC: Cardiovascular adaptations to high-altitude hypoxia in bar-headed geese and environmental hypoxia in tilapia.
Hamid Safi
M.Sc student, September 2013 –
Email: hamidsafi@alumni.ubc.ca
RESEARCH TOPIC: Thermal tolerance of killifish hearts.
Rachel Sutcliffe
M.Sc student, September 2013
RESEARCH TOPIC: Pacemaker channel expression in salmon hearts.
Katja Anttila
Post-Doctoral Fellow, May 2010 – August 2012
anttila@zoology.ubc.ca
RESEARCH TOPIC: The effect of climate change on the molecular physiology of fish.
Matt Casselman
M.Sc student, September 2009 – February 2012
mattcass@zoology.ubc.ca
RESEARCH TOPIC: Thermal optimums and critical limits of juvenile salmon.
Zoe Gallagher
M.Sc student, May 2008 – October 2011
zgallag@interchange.ubc.ca
RESEARCH TOPIC: Ontogeny of salinity tolerance in larval and juvenile salmon.
Erika Eliason
Ph.D student, August 2006 – August 2011
eeliason@interchange.ubc.ca
RESEARCH TOPIC: Effect of temperature on the swim performance of Fraser River sockeye during spawning migration.
Gina Galli
Post-Doctoral Fellow, July 2008 – October 2010
ggalli@interchange.ubc.ca
RESEARCH TOPIC: Cellular mechanisms that underlie the turtle heart’s remarkable resistance to anoxia and acidosis.
Sebastian Pieperhoff
Post-Doctoral Fellow, May 2008 – June 2010
sebastian4121976@yahoo.com
RESEARCH TOPIC: Ultrastructural changes in heart muscle architecture during spawning migration of semelparous salmonid species – cell contacts of salmonid and other fish heart muscle cells
Mike Sackville
M.Sc student, April 2007 – January 2010
mikesack@zoology.ubc.ca
RESEARCH TOPIC: Sub-lethal effects of salmon lice (L. salmonis) on ionoregulation in juvenile pink salmon (O. gorbuscha)
Honours and Awards in the lab
NSERC Post Graduate Scholarship, Ph.D. (2015-2019) M. Gilbert
NSERC Post Graduate Scholarship, Ph.D. (2010-2014), G. Cox
GES Star Fellowship, Ph.D. (2010-2014), G. Cox
NSERC Post Graduate Scholarship, Ph.D. (2010-2014), M. Sackville
Research Abroad Grant, Academy of Finland (2010-2012), K. Anttila
Coho Society Partnership (2010-2012), M. Casselman
DFG Fellowship, German Science Foundation (2009-2011), S. Pieperhoff
NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship, M.Sc. (2009), A. Azzam
Community Stewardship Bursary, Pacific Salmon Foundation (2009), M. Casselman
Four Year Doctoral Fellowship (2009-2010), E. Eliason
NSERC Industrial Post-graduate Scholarship (2007-2009), C. Verhille
McLean Fraser Summer Research Fellowship (2009), E. Eliason
Killam Post-doctoral Fellowship (2008-2010), G. Galli
Gov. of Canada Post-Doctoral Fellowship, DFAIT (2008-2009), S. Pieperhoff
Cameron Award for Best Ph.D. Thesis in Canada (2008), J. A. W. Stecyk
1st Place, Land and Food Systems Poster Competition (2008), M. Nomura
NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship (2007-2010), E. Eliason
Killam Post-doctoral Fellowship (2007-2009), T. D. Clark
Pacific Salmon Forum Grant (2006-2007), E. Eliason
UBC Faculty of Science Achievement Award for Service (2006), E. Eliason
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