Cougars, cod and bass: Genomics lab digs into species research

One of the province's mostadvanced laboratoriesis well on its wayto solving some of New Brunswick's biological mysteries about species ranging from cod and bass to cougars.

Within a year of opening, theCanadianRiversInstituteGenomics Laboratory at theUniversityof New Brunswick in Saint John, has started working on discovering the answer toprovincialissues.

"It's the first lab to have thiscomplimentof equipment and people that is geared for the most cutting-edge genomics that's coming out right now," said Scott Pavey, the director of the genomics lab.

"It allows New Brunswick to reallyattract these great scientists."

The majority of its research focuses onfish, withongoing projects surrounding several species, including cod andthe possibility ofpopulationrebound.

GregPuncher, apostdoctoral scholar working on several projects in the lab, said this is important research for Canada.

"We didn't do so well in the '90s and the Atlantic cod suffered a verydisturbingcollapse," Puncher said.

"But now is a great time for research and for fisheries management because it appears they arerecoveringin some areas."

By comparing the genome of these fish to otherpopulations, Puncher is able toextrapolate the origin of the rebounding fish.

"We arereallyfocused on looking at where the cod are coming from, whichpopulationsare doing well and whichpopulations arerecovering," said Puncher.

"We look for tiny little indicators in the geneticsorthe DNAofcod.That will give us insights into the relatedness of different groups of cod."

Studying striped bass

The stripedbass is another species being examinedin the new lab.

Faith Penny, a PhD student andtechnicianwith thelab, is examining the "gene expression changes" in the fish and how that affects them.

"This can tell us a lot for the animal when it comes to recreation, but also industry as well," Penny said.

Penny has worked with Pavey for a yearand jokes that while she's always trying to get away from thefacility itsadvances keep her rooted in Saint John.

"With the equipment, the technologyand the expertise in this lab it allows us to look at the genome and process a lot of different samples," said Penny.

"That really sets us apart."

Analyzing cougar samples

Researchers are also working onexaminingthegenetics of animals on land.

For more than a decade, hairand scat samples have been collected by those who believe tohave encounteredcougars within the province.

Those samples had to be sent to a lab in Montreal, as there weren't any facilities able to examine them in New Brunswick.

Sincethe opening of the UNB lab, those samples have been returned to the province and processed by Pavey's team.

"Genomics is the main emphasis, but we also take otheropportunitiesas they come up," said Pavey.

"This is something we've been delighted to get to work on."

Keeping up with advanced labs

With itslatesttechnology, the UNB laboratory is able to keep up with more advancedlaboratories across the country.

"We are set up to take advantage of some of the very recent technological advances ingenomics, which produces exponentially large amounts of data," saidPavey.

"But it becomes quite difficult to manage the data. So about half of myequipmentgrant actually went towards anextremelylargecomputer, which we use forbioinformatics."