Author: amdelrio (Page 1 of 3)

Undergraduate Gabi Mukai graduated this spring with her BS in Animal Science. Gabi joined the lab during her first year at UCD and was an active undergrad researcher in our lab for the past 4 years. Gabi worked on many different research projects during her time in the lab and conducted a few studies on inducible stress tolerance in juvenile Chinook salmon herself. Her research experience culminated in her senior honor’s thesis on inducible hypoxia tolerance in salmon fry which was supported by the Provost’s Undergraduate Fellowship .  We will miss Gabi in the lab, but wish her the best as she begins her PhD at the University of Hawaii Manoa this fall!

Virtual Todgham lab congratulations for Gabi due to coronavirus.

Graduate student Michaiah Leal completed her PhD this spring and gave an excellent exit seminar via Zoom last week. In her five years in the lab Michaiah has led four studies on the physiological differences between triploid and diploid white sturgeon. During that time she developed new laboratory protocols for studying cellular stress, mentored undergraduates and fellow graduate students, collaborated on additional sturgeon projects, taught numerous classes as a teaching assistant, and developed an impressive publication record. Michaiah will be missed in the lab, but we wish the best of luck to the future Professor Leal. Congratulations Michaiah!

We are excited to have Dr. Christina Pasparakis join the lab as a post doctoral scholar. Christina will be working with delta and longfin smelt to understand how they are affected by turbidity and temperature. She has expertise in stress physiology, intertidal invertebrates,  and early life stage fishes. She completed her master’s degree with Anne at San Francisco State and we are excited to have her back!

Two undergraduates from the Todgham lab presented at the 2020 UC Davis Undergraduate Research Conference. This year the conference was held online in a virtual format due to the current coronavirus situation. Gabi Mukai presented her senior thesis research on juvenile Chinook salmon. She studied the effects of a preliminary mild heat or hypoxic stressor on hypoxia tolerance after fish recovered from the mild stressor for different amounts of time. John Amiel Flores presented his summer research project studying differences in thermal tolerance and heat hardening ability between male and female mosquitofish. Both students created excellent video recordings of their presentations!

Graduate student Mandy Frazier published her Master’s thesis studying differences in metabolic performance between cannibal and non-cannibal burbot. She conducted this collaborative study with the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho Twin Rivers Hatchery in Moyie Springs, Idaho. She found that cannibal burbot rely more on carbohydrate metabolism, while non-cannibal burbot rely on lipid metabolism more. These performance differences provide valuable insight to managers of conservation hatcheries since most hatcheries select against cannibalism in order to maximize fish production. Read more about this study in the journal Conservation Physiology here or check out our publications page. Congratulations Mandy!

Our own Dr. Anne Todgham was named a 2019-2020 Chancellor’s Fellow. She is one of 12 UC Davis faculty chosen this year from diverse fields of study across the university.  The Chancellor’s Fellows program identifies exceptional early career faculty members and Anne was recognized for her strong research accomplishments focusing on the physiology of marine and aquatic organisms from California to Antarctica. In addition to funds provided to support her research, she will hold this title for five years. Congratulations Anne!

PhD student Annelise Del Rio is currently  conducting a field study in the American River investigating how water quality above and within salmon redds affects salmon embryo survival and physiology. This video about the project was created for a scientific film making seminar taught by Eric Sanford. Study results coming soon!

Graduate students Annelise Del Rio and Fred Nelson and undergraduate Gabi Mukai attended the annual American Fisheries Society meeting in Reno, NV this week. Annelise and Gabi presented posters on their work studying warming and hypoxia stress in salmon and Annelise gave a talk on the carryover effects of developmental exposure to warming and hypoxia in salmon. It was a great conference full of fish science!

The Todgham lab Antarctic research team B-207 is settling in at McMurdo station for another field season. Over the next few months they will be studying the physiology and behavior of juvenile Antarctic fish in response to warming and ocean acidification.  Anne is again joined by graduate student Mandy Frazier and junior specialist Andrew Naslund for their second season on the ice and also by post doc Milica Mandic who is there for her first season. To follow their research progress and ice adventures you can check the websites from Mandy (https://amandajoycefrazier.weebly.com/blog) and Andrew (https://mcmurdoantarctica.weebly.com/blog) for updates.

Anne, Milica, Mandy, and Andrew in Antarctica

Fred (L) and John (R)

Undergraduate John Amiel Flores presented his summer research at the UC Davis Educational Enrichment and Outreach Programs’ 8th annual Poster Symposium. With guidance from graduate student mentor Fred Nelson, John worked hard this summer studying differences in thermal tolerance and heat hardening between male and female mosquitofish. He conducted this research in the Todgham Lab as a part of the Biology Undergraduate Scholars Program Honors Research  program.