I am engaged in questions of applied landscape ecology in rural and agricultural landscapes, including changes in landscape patterns and the consequences of those changes on biodiversity, water quality, and culture.
Studying the behavioural biology of cattle sheds light on how they see and experience the world, and ultimately offers us insight into their feelings. What drives their behaviour? How do the ways that we interact with them, house them, and manage them, impact their well-being? In our lab, answering these questions are fundamental to ensuring that the animals we farm, in this case cattle, live a good life.
Graduate students joining my team at Guelph get unrivalled opportunities to work in the lab and field answering research questions at the cutting edge of science with direct environmental and societal relevance. This important research is exciting, challenging and rewarding for the student, for me as the supervisor and for everyone else in the team.
Our research is mainly focused on studying ultrafine biopolymeric and synthetic fibres produced by electrostatic spinning techniques. These versatile materials are being exploited in our laboratory for the encapsulation and triggered release of bioactive compounds.
We a research-intensive laboratory focussed on improving human health, circadian biology, new treatments for heart disease, and our results are published in high impact journals.