I am very happy to report that I was awarded the Entomological Society of Canada’s Gordon C. Hewitt Award; awarded to researchers who have made an outstanding contribution to entomology in Canada within 12 years of their PhD [read the full citation in the September 2016 bulletin of the Society]. Charles Gordon Hewitt was an amazing Canadian entomologist and conservation biologist. His short and illustrious career included serving as Canada’s Dominion Entomologist, drafting Canada’s destructive insect and pest act in 1910, and aiding in the protection of Canada’s wildlife. More info on his career can be found on his wiki page.
I received the award during the recent International Congress of Entomology, held at Orlando Florida. It was a very special experience. Thank you ESC!
Amro
Amro receives the ESC’s Hewitt Award, ICE, Orlando 2016
The Entomological Society of Canada’s Gordon C. Hewitt Award
Very happy that Erica Shenfeld, who carried out her honours thesis research on Bee Genetics, won the Department of Biology’s C.W. Fowle and B. Rozario prize, as well as the Mainguy Genetics Award.
The Fowel and Rozario prize is awarded to the most outstanding graduating student in Honours Biology as determined by the department. The award is based on grades, research potential and leadership activities within the department.
The Mainguy Genetics award is given to a 3rd or 4th year biology students who show extreme proficiency in Genetics, both in the laboratory and in the classroom.
Congrats Erica … you made us very proud!
Erica presenting her research on bee genetics at the Toronto Entomological Society, 2015
May is a very fun time of the year. Spring is in full swing and the bees are happy. It is also a time when a fresh cohort of YorkU undergrads join the lab. This year we have two new summer NSERC USRA scholarship winners joining the lab, Danny and Pratik. We also have zayedlab veterans Harshil (research assistant, summer 2014, and Honors thesis 2014/15) and Research at York student Sani (bioinformatics research assistant) who will continue to work with us this summer.
Welcome and hoping for a very productive summer.
Pratik, Harshil and Danny
Thursday November 13th 2014 was a very memorable day for me
It started on a great note with Nadia successfully defending her MSc thesis and graduating with ‘distinction’. We had a fun little celebration with some honey-inspired treats (including my new favourite… honey goat cheese!). The lab then took-off to sing the night away at a nearby Karaoke bar (….and yes the rumours are true… i sang Madonna, Toni Braxton and Tracey Chapmen … we all have an #InnerDiva).
I then left the karaoke session early to attend the Faculty of Science‘s 2014 Award Ceremony. The night honours profs, graduate and undergraduate students in the faculty.
I received the Faculty of Science’s Early Career Research Award – a great honour considering the number of super-talented researchers the Faculty boasts. More touching however was the large number of awards that Zayedlab members received – 10
Here they are (in order of announcement)
Brock Harpur (PhD candidate) – Elia Scholarship (Jan – Aug 2014)
Brock Harpur (PhD candidate) – NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship (Sept 2014)
Lior Krimus (Undergraduate) – York U President Honour roll
Lior Krimus (Undergraduate) – NSERC Undergrad summer research scholarship
Vijay Sandhu (Undergraduate) – NSERC Undergrad summer research scholarship
Harshil Patel (Undergraduate) – Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship
Lior Krimus (Undergraduate) – Dean of Science’s Honour Roll
Harshil Patel (Undergraduate) – Dean of Science’s Honour Roll
Vijay Sandhu (Undergraduate) – Dean of Science’s Honour Roll
Keshna Sood (Undergraduate) – Dean of Science’s Honour Roll
Lior has been working with us since last year on the Great Canadian Honey Bee Genome Survey. He and Vijay teamed up with Brock and Samir (visiting PhD fellow from Brazil) to study the genetics of several honey bee traits this year. Harshil and Keshna are part of a massive study on the affects of agrochemicals on bee health this summer, a study led by now PhD candidate Nadia Tsvetkov.
I was truly honoured. It is one thing to write papers and get grants – but to see the team get some much accolades was both fantastic and humbling… It is truly a pleasure to get to interact with so many talented and enthusiastic students every day.
To members and almuni of the Zayedlab – thank you!
Amro
![The summer 2014 field team: Phil, Harshil, Keshna, Vijay, Lior [L->R]](http://zayedlab.apps01.yorku.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/summer-crew-300x215.jpg)
The summer 2014 field team: Phil, Harshil, Keshna, Vijay, Lior [L->R]
Congratulation to Nadia Tsvetkov for successfully defending her MSc thesis on learning and memory in honey bees. Nadia’s wrote a very nice review on the genetic of learning and memory in honey bees and conducted a very neat study on how social interaction influence learning and memory. She also led the development of a very neat assay to measure spatial memory in honey bees.
Her MSc degree was awarded with distinction (Top 5%).
Nadia has decided to stick around and do her PhD in the Zayedlab… She is currently leading a large scale study on how agrochemicals affect brain gene expression and behaviour of honey bees in Canada.
Congrats Nadia!
Nadia Tsvetkov, MSc
Congrats to Brock for winning the 3rd place award for best student talk at the Canadian Society of Ecology and Evolution’s meeting in Montreal last May. Brock presented some of his PhD research on population genomics of the honey bee.
Check out CSEE’s summer bulletin for the official announcement.
Happy to report that the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture is funding our research on “The effects of sublethal neonicotinoid exposure on brain state and behaviour of honey bee workers”. We will study how exposure to some common neonicotinoid pesticides affect the brain state of honey bees, and how it affects aspects of their spatial memory and immunity.
Our research was one of five projects funded by Ontario to help investigate the province’s alarming bee declines.
Amro
Bahar with Dr. Sam Benchimol, Chair of the Department of Biology
Congrats to Bahar Madani, currently an honour thesis student in the lab. She won the Biology Department’s William and Marguerite Davey Award for a biology student that shows that greatest promise as a researcher. Way to go Bahar!
Amro
Very happy to announce that Brock Harpur was awarded the entomological society of Canada’s president award for the best student talk in insect physiology and molecular biology. Nadia Tsvetkov received the runner-up award for best talk in insect behavior and biological control. Rounding off the awards was another York U’s grad Mariya Cheryomina (supervised by Laurence Packer and Bridget Stutchbury) who received the runner up award for best poster. Congrats all!
Amro
Laurence Packer (top) with Mariya, Brock, and Nadia
Hello.
We are looking for beekeepers to participate in a research project on the genetics of Canadian honey bee stocks funded by the Canadian Honey Council’s Bee Research Fund. If you are interested, sign up at the following website www.yorku.ca/honeybee Participation is easy! We will send you a labeled prepaid envelop with collection tubes, and you send it back to us with a few dead bees from your yard. We are hoping to sample honey bees from coast to coast; commercial beekeepers, bee breeders, and scientists / hobbyists are welcome.
Please see www.yorku.ca/honeybee for more information and to sign up.
Thanks for helping us with our project,
Amro Zayed
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![The summer 2014 field team: Phil, Harshil, Keshna, Vijay, Lior [L->R]](http://zayedlab.apps01.yorku.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/summer-crew.jpg)
