Project: Quantifying Steller sea lion diet using real-time PCR

Supervisor(s): Dr Andrew Trites and Dr. Trish Schulte

I am interested in aquatic conservation genetics, in particular in areas where human impact may be an issue. This interest began with molecular research on a childhood eye cancer called retinoblastoma. I was profiling development of retinoblastoma tumors subsequent to loss of the rb1 gene (summer studentships, directed studies and employment at the University of Toronto). There, my understanding of the importance of molecular tools in addressing fundamental questions in biology developed, as did an increasing desire to understand what is happening in our environment. Later, while taking a field course in Bamfield, I read Dr. Pauly’s paper, “Fishing down marine food webs”. This convinced me that more work is needed on aquatic ecosystems. While undertaking a Salmon research Internship at the Alaska SeaLife center (Seward, Alaska), I discovered a combination of molecular and field studies in the Steller sea lion projects, which lead me to my Master’s thesis.

My current focus is in developing a real-time PCR assay to enable quantification of prey species in Steller sea lion scat. If I am successful, this assay can theoretically be used to test prey quantity in any animal. We are developing this technique for Steller sea lions in particular because in Western Alaska the number of Steller sea lions has declined steadily for the past thirty years, and diet is the mechanism underlying many of the hypotheses for the decline. In any ecological study where diet is a factor it is important to be able to reconstruct the diet and at this point there are problems accurately quantifying Steller diet. This technique will likely be used in addition to many of the traditional scat analysis techniques to provide a more complete picture of diet.

PUBLICATIONS

Peer-reviewed

Mellone N. Marchong, Danian Chen, Timothy W. Corson, Cheong Lee, Maria Harmandayan, Ella Bowles, Ning Chen, and Brenda L. Gallie. Minimal 16q Genomic Loss Implicates Cadherin-11 in Retinoblastoma. Mol Cancer Res 2004 2: 495-503.

Ella Bowles, Timothy W. Corson, Jane Bayani, Jeremy A. Squire, Nathalie Wong, Paul B.-S. Lai and Brenda L. Gallie. Profiling Genomic Copy Number Changes in Retinoblastoma Beyond Loss of RB1 Genes Chromosomes and Cancer 2007 46:118-129.

Abstracts

Marchong MN, Chen D, Corson TW, Lee C, Harmandayan M, Bowles E, Chen N & Gallie BL. 2004. Minimal 16q genomic loss implicates cadherin 11 in retinoblastoma. Proceedings of the American Society for Human Genetics 54:505. Poster presentation at the American Society for Human Genetics 54th Annual Meeting, Toronto, ON, November 2004.

Other

Ella Bowles. Anything is possible. keynote speaker, second National Retinoblastoma Symposium, Toronto, ON. Spoke about the attitudes and boundaries affecting people with retinoblastoma, in particular those who are visually impaired. Talk subsequently made part of the Society’s educational DVD. 2003

Ella Bowles and Nicolette Watson. Light levels, mirror images and lateralization in shiner surfperch: Cymatogaster aggregata. Bound Journals, Fish, Bamfield Marine Science Center. 2005. also presented orally

Ella Bowles, Tim Corson, Brenda Gallie. Profiling Hot Spot Gain and Loss in Retinoblastoma Tumors. Poster presentation at annual summer student poster day, Medical Biophysics, Ontario Cancer Institute/Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto ON, 2004. Second place

Ella Bowles, Tim Corson, Brenda Gallie. Profiling Hot Spot Gain and Loss in Retinoblastoma Tumors. Poster presentation at British Columbia Cancer Association annual meeting, Vancouver BC, 2004

Ella Bowles, Timothy W. Corson, Brenda L. Gallie. QM-PCR identifies associations between common genomic changes and a novel amplification in retinoblastoma. Poster presentation at annual summer student poster day, Medical Biophysics, Ontario Cancer Institute/Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto ON, 2005. First place

Ella Bowles, Timothy W. Corson, Brenda L. Gallie. QM-PCR identifies patterns of association of common genomic changes in retinoblastoma. Oral presentation at the International Society of Genetic Eye Diseases/International Retinoblastoma Symposium, Whistler BC, 2005

Ella Bowles, Timothy W. Corson, Brenda L. Gallie. Genomic copy number profiles suggest order of genomic changes in retinoblastoma and identify amplification. Applied Molecular Oncology Divisional Seminar, Toronto ON, 2005

E. Bowles, A. Bowles. Challenging the norm: systemic barriers to education for people with visual impairments. Oral presentation. International Society for Genetic Eye Diseases/International Retinoblastoma Symposium, Whistler BC 2005