As a Sinclair lab member “for life”, I have been around for a while! I started out my journey in biology as an undergrad cricket wrangler in the Sinclair lab, where I quickly decided I was tired of cleaning cricket frass, and wanted to do some research of my own. After a brief stint working on insect ion and water balance at low temperatures for my Honour’s thesis, I started my MSc on cold tolerance of the Colorado potato beetle. In summer 2016 I transferred to the PhD program, and am now stuck here indefinitely! **2020 UPDATE**…. Still here.

I am interested in all things comparative physiology, but spend most of my time poking around the insides of the Colorado potato beetle, investigating the physiological mechanisms that drive their diapause and cold tolerance.

Some questions I am trying to answer with my PhD are..

What are the physiological mechanisms underlying stress tolerance and metabolic suppression during diapause in CPB?

How do fluctuating thermal regimes help diapausing CPB become more cold-tolerant?

Do heat shock proteins and other chaperone molecules help mitigate cellular damage after cold exposure in diapausing CPB?

To answer those questions, I use a hearty mix of whole animal (respirometry), molecular (RNA-seq, RNA interference, qPCR), biochemical (high resolution respirometry, enzyme assays) and microscopic (EM and fluorescence) tools.

Outside of the lab, you will find me cooking and baking my way through the New York Times recipe app, planning our lab’s social events (**2020 update** socially distanced or virtual of course), and drinking local beer. If you want to get in touch with me about my research, feel free to email me, connect with me on twitter (@JackieLebz).