Insect Low Temperature Biology
The Sinclair Lab at UWO

Lauren Strachan
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I completed my undergraduate studies in 2004 at the University of Victoria in Victoria, B.C., where I received a BSc in general biology and ecology. After working in research in entomology and agriculture for several years, I began a Masters in Summer 2007 in the Sinclair Lab. My focus is the impact of low temperatures on the physiology of insects, and how species adapt to variable environmental conditions. Most insects utilize mechanisms to avoid freezing during exposure to subzero temperatures, but some insects are freeze tolerant and can survive the formation of ice in their bodies. I will be screening a number of Drosophila species larvae, including genome sequenced species and flies collected from temperate regions worldwide, to identify species that are better able to survive low temperatures (and how they do so!). I will then compare the phylogenetic relationships between drosophilids in an effort to determine how different cold tolerance strategies evolved in the Drosophila genus.

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