Biological Sciences News Archive

November 13, 2024 — 
Dr. Olivia Wilkins, Associate Professor, Biological Sciences has been awarded $2.5 million through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Alliance Grant program, to fund the Canadian contribution to the new USD 16.3 million Global Center: Sustainable Plant Innovation and Resilience through International Teamwork (C-SPIRIT).

November 1, 2024 — 
“The story just seemed too perfect. It was just too ideal to go from the smallest mammals with the highest heart rates on the planet, to potential therapeutic applications to humans”, says Dr. Kevin Campbell, professor at the department of biological sciences at the University of Manitoba. Campbell has done research on the comparative physiology and evolution of mammals ranging from the smallest shrews to the largest whales over the past two decades and has published his recent findings in the multidisciplinary journal Science.

October 28, 2024 — 
Bowhead whales are the longest-lived mammals on Earth with some able to live hundreds of years. What’s more, Inuit hunters have observed these whales breaking ice over half a metre thick – ice strong enough to support a fully-loaded semi truck.

October 25, 2024 — 
Dr. Mark Belmonte, professor at the department of biological sciences, in collaboration with other researchers at the Faculty of Science, is using genetics to develop a species-specific molecular fungicide and win the battle against sclerotinia.

October 11, 2024 — 
Dr. Kenneth Jeffries, associate professor at the Department of Biological Sciences, recently received the Research, Scholarly Work and Creative Activities Merit Award 2023. He is among the three faculty members from Science who have received Merit Award 2023 in Life Sciences, Natural Sciences and Engineering (Dr. Sabine Kuss for Combination and Dr. Susan Cooper for Service).

October 4, 2024 — 
Faculty of Science Award of Excellence for Support Staff recognizes support staff who have served their units with distinction by helping deliver on the commitment of the Faculty of Science to provide outstanding higher education and research.

September 30, 2024 — 
Protein study reveals how the tiny shrew achieves a resting heart rate of 1,020 beats per minute

September 24, 2024 — 
The Arctic is warming up four times faster than the global average. This provides an opportunity for new predators such as killer whales to make their way into the Arctic, preying on narwhal, bowhead and beluga whales who have never experienced direct predation from them. This is one of the areas that Colin Garroway and his research team study at the University of Manitoba. Garroway is an associate professor at the department of biological sciences whose research revolves around biodiversity.

September 12, 2024 — 
Twelve contestants presented their groundbreaking ideas at the Falling Walls Lab Manitoba competition.

August 2, 2024 — 
In studying how adenovirus interacts with the host cell, Peter Pelka a professor at the department of microbiology and his team, explore how they can learn more about cancer development using the virus. Pelka is one of the prominent researchers who has participated in establishing the Prairie Pandemic Preparedness Hub, including the University of Manitoba, Alberta, Calgary and Saskatchewan. The hub has recently received $57 million for both research and infrastructure aspects from the Government of Canada to lead Canada toward independence in vaccine research and manufacturing.