UTMBiology

📸 New Date: Biology Undergraduate Headshots!

Our rescheduled undergraduate headshot session will now take place on Thursday, August 20 from 9:30 AM–12:00 PM!

Stop by for a free professional headshot—perfect for LinkedIn, applications, and other professional profiles.

📅 Thursday, August 20
⏰ 9:30 AM–12:00 PM
📍 CCT building entrance closest to the Student Centre
📸 Approximately 5–10 minutes per student, depending on turnout

Headshots will be taken outdoors and remain weather dependent. We hope to see you there! ☀️

📊 Biology Summer Research Day continues tomorrow afternoon with our poster presentations!

Come explore the exciting research conducted by our undergraduate students this summer and connect with our student researchers during the poster session and reception. 🔬🌱

📌 12:00–12:30 PM | Poster Set-Up
🔬 12:30–2:30 PM | Poster Session & Reception
🏆 2:45–3:00 PM | Award Announcements

We hope you’ll join us in celebrating another fantastic summer of research in UTM Biology! 🎉

🎤 Biology Summer Research Day is tomorrow!

Join us tomorrow morning for the oral presentation session, where our undergraduate researchers will share the work they’ve been conducting throughout the summer! 🔬🌿🧬

☕ 8:45–9:10 AM | Set-Up & Light Refreshments
🎙️ 9:10–9:15 AM | Opening Remarks by Prof. Derek Ng
🔬 9:15–11:45 AM | Oral Presentations

We look forward to celebrating the hard work and accomplishments of our student researchers! 🎉

Please join us in wishing Ilia Ferzoco the very best as she defends her PhD this Friday! 🌟

Ilia’s research, supervised by Prof. Shannon McCauley, explores the role of urban stormwater ponds in supporting freshwater biodiversity. By studying aquatic insect communities across the Greater Toronto Area, her work examines how environmental conditions, dispersal, and urban stressors such as road salt shape biodiversity in these novel ecosystems—and highlights the potential conservation value of stormwater ponds as urban blue spaces.

📅 Friday, August 14
⏰ 10:00 AM
📍 IB280

Thesis: Freshwater Biodiversity in Urban Stormwater Ponds: Community Assembly, Dispersal, and Environmental Filtering of Aquatic Insects in these Novel Ecosystems

💻 DM for Zoom Details

Best of luck on your defense, Ilia! 🎉👏

📢 We’re hiring!

The Department of Biology at the University of Toronto Mississauga is inviting applications for a full-time, tenure-stream position in Cell Biology at the rank of Assistant Professor, with an anticipated start date of July 1, 2027.

We welcome applications from researchers working across contemporary cell biology, including organelle biology, cellular structure and dynamics, membrane biology, intracellular trafficking, cell signaling, stem cell biology, host-pathogen interactions, and cellular mechanisms of disease.

The successful candidate will establish an innovative, independent research program in Cell Biology and contribute to undergraduate and graduate teaching, mentorship, and training.

📅 Application deadline: September 30, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. ET
🔎 Req ID: 48801

Interested candidates are encouraged to learn more and apply through the University of Toronto Careers website.

Learn more: https://tinyurl.com/ykvwrw8u

🌧️ Professional Headshot Day has been postponed.

Due to the forecast of rain and thunderstorms tomorrow, we've made the decision to postpone our Professional Headshot Day.

We'll announce a new date on Monday once we have a better idea of next week's weather forecast.

Thank you for your understanding—we're looking forward to seeing you soon and capturing some great headshots in better conditions! 📸

Stay tuned for the new date.

🌿 BIO339: Plant Identification and Systematics is back this fall!

Discover the fascinating world of plants through the study of their diversity, evolution, and classification. Learn the principles of plant taxonomy, explore modern methods of phylogenetic reconstruction, develop practical plant identification skills using keys and Floras, and become familiar with the major plant families and species of Eastern Canada. Along the way, you'll gain a deeper appreciation for the natural world around you.

Prerequisites: BIO203 or BIO204, plus 0.5 credit from BIO205, BIO206, or BIO207.

🌿 Curious about how evolution shapes the natural world?

Discover the connections between genes, species, and ecosystems in BIO445H5: Evolutionary Ecology. Explore how ecological and evolutionary processes interact across different environments, time scales, and organisms to shape biodiversity.

📚 Prerequisite: BIO205
✅ BIO342 is not required.

Learn more about this exciting course and see where evolutionary ecology can take you!

🎓 Join us for a PhD Defense Seminar!

This Thursday, Bridget Murphy of the Ensminger Lab presents her PhD thesis: "Molecular and Physiological Regulation of Photosynthesis, Growth and Energy Metabolism in White Spruce under Warming, Drought, and Cold Stress."

Through field experiments and transcriptomic analyses, Bridget Murphy's PhD research explored how white spruce responds to warming and drought under projected climatic conditions. Her work revealed that warmer autumns can extend photosynthetic activity without increasing growth, and that differences in latitudinal origin among families strongly influence responses to warming as trees transition into winter. She also found that fast- and slow-growing white spruce families showed similar resilience to summer warming and drying, challenging assumptions that rapid growth comes at the cost of stress tolerance. Together, these findings can help inform strategies for selecting and managing resilient tree populations in a changing climate.

📅 Thursday, July 30, 2026
🕙 10:00 a.m.
📍 DV3130CC (DM for Zoom details)

We wish Bridget the very best as she defends her dissertation! 🌲👏

🌿 Discover the fascinating world of plants with BIO330H5: Plant Ecology!

Plants may be rooted in place, but they're anything but passive. Learn how they find nutrients, defend themselves, reproduce, colonize new environments, and solve the same ecological challenges faced by all living organisms.

🌱 Good news! The previous BIO203 prerequisite has been waived. Students who have completed BIO205 are now eligible to enroll.

Whether you're interested in ecology, evolution, conservation, or the hidden strategies of plant life, BIO330 offers a fresh perspective on the natural world.

📚 Enroll now!