September 2017

Front row (from left to right): Meredith Fraser, Michaela Kember, Arunika Gunawardena, Georgia Denbigh

Back row (from left to right): Samuel MaCaughey, Chad Simmons, Nathan Rowarth, Adrian Dauphinee

May 2017

From left to right: Michaela Kember, Meredith Fraser, Adrian dauphinee, Arunika Gunawardena, Georgia Denbigh

Jacob Fletcher

Jacob's Research

Jacob received his BSc in Biology from Dalhousie University in May 2014. He has always enjoyed learning about all forms of life, but has taken a particular interest in botany since completing classes that include Diversity of Life II, Economic Botany, and Developmental Biology. He has gained so much inspiration from the professors in the Biology Department over the years of his study. In the summer of 2012, Jacob partook in a volunteer conservation project in the Limpopo province of South Africa, which involved conducting biodiversity surveys of native plant life within the Masebe nature reserve. He has been a teaching assistant at Dalhousie for a number of biology labs including:​ Diversity of Life II, Developmental Biology, Economic Botany, and Introduction to Biology for Engineers. Jacob began to volunteer in the Gunawardena lab in December 2013, and has since been developing his knowledge in advanced compound and laser confocal microscopy techniques, while becoming an expert in aseptic tissue culturing. He was very grateful to have been a recipient of the Sarah Lawson research scholarship for the summer of 2014, where he first explored his interest in phenolic compounds and their involvement in lace plant programmed cell death.

Now Jacob is continuing his research in the Gunawardena lab as an MSc student, where he will be investigating the role of specific anthocyanin species in cell death. Jacob  has recently been honoured with the Biology Department Teaching Assistant Award for the 2014-2015 academic year, and has also accepted a position as an Executive Member for BOGS (Biology Organization of Graduate Students) for the 2015-2016 term. Jacob is very excited to continue his academic journey at Dalhousie, and to represent the Dalhousie Biology Department in the scientific community.

Golara Sharafi

Golara's research

Golara Sharafi is in her third year of her BSc in Biology at Dalhousie. She was introduced to the lace plant and the work done in the Gunwardena lab during a guest lecture in her Economic Botany class. Following the presentation she became motivated to work with Dr. Gunawardena and her team. Golara is now a Special Topics student in the Gunawardena lab where she is working on optimizing the lace plant transformation and regeneration protocol. She plans on continuing her research in the lab this summer leading to her honours.

Stephen Chew

Stephen's Research

Stephen Chew is in his final year of his BSc in Biology. Stephen initially became interested in cell biology after taking the introductory course. He came to appreciate the lab work done previously by reading journals for his Advanced Cell Biology course. He was introduced to Dr. Gunawardena while taking her Plant Cell Biology course and then completed an experiential learning project in her lab. Stephen was the recipient of the Sarah Lawson Research Scholarship, allowing him to continue his research during the summer of 2016. He is currently researching the role of autophagy in PCD and plans to complete his honours in Winter 2017.

Stephen is a volunteer medical responder with the Dalhousie Medical Campus Response Team and also a volunteer radio host with CKDU, the local community radio. He started as a teaching assistant in the 2 nd-year Cell Biology labs in Fall 2015.