Notes
Research notes & career updates.
Occasional notes on my work, career milestones and research papers worth thinking about—plus life beyond the lab.
All notes · 17 posts
2026
Wildlife Health and Ecology Research Group retreatTwo days of shared ideas, inspiring lectures and research connections at Barrier Lake Field Research Station—and the honour of helping organize our September retreat.Fall at Frank LakeSeptember sunshine, autumn migration and eleven new species on my life list at one of Alberta’s birdwatching gems.When Isolation Does Not Lead to Genetic PurgingMy commentary on a beluga whale study showing how long-term isolation and genetic drift can raise mutation load without leaving a clear signature of genetic purging.Elected Vice-President Operations of PDACStarting my 2026–27 term with a focus on practical systems, continuity and stronger support for the PDAC Executive.Havemeyer Horse Genome Workshop in KentuckyPresenting my research on inbreeding depression, catching up on advances in horse genomics and fulfilling a long-held dream of visiting Lexington.Company, Kinship and the Sable Island Horse MicrobiomeAn exciting new preprint from our lab examining how host genetics and social relationships jointly shape gut microbiome traits associated with survival and reproduction in Sable Island horses.Congratulations to Natalia Pietrzyk on her successful defense!Natalia Pietrzyk successfully defended her Master’s thesis on July 8, 2026.Sable Island Fieldwork 2026Another productive field season brought almost twice as many samples as last year, five new bird species and memorable days in the dunes.Badlands by BikeFour bikepacking rides, one gran fondo and an encounter with deep time in Drumheller.Shoppers Run for WomenA 10K in support of women’s mental health, an official 53:54 finish and two Strava segment PRs along the way.Sable Island Horse Project Summit 2026Welcoming our University of Saskatchewan colleagues to Calgary for two days of research updates and discussions, with the project’s twentieth anniversary coming in 2027.Joining PDAC as a Member-at-LargeBeginning a new service role with the organization representing postdoctoral scholars at the University of Calgary.New Paper Alert: Exploring Racing Pigeon GeneticsMy first non-equine paper explores whether variation in the PPARD gene may be linked to racing performance in pigeons.Postdoc Research Slam 2026A three-minute challenge to turn horse genomics and inbreeding into a clear story for a broad audience.Nour and Mariia successfully defended their theses!Celebrating BSc students Nour Al Kindi and Mariia Fomina-Ageeva after they successfully defended theses using DeepLabCut to study mouse behaviour and horse kinematics.
2025
refineDLC Published in Biology Methods and ProtocolsOur open-source pipeline for turning noisy DeepLabCut coordinates into robust, analysis-ready movement data is now published in Biology Methods and Protocols.Starting as a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of CalgaryContinuing my work in the Poissant lab as a Postdoctoral Associate, with support from the University of Calgary’s VPR Postdoctoral Excellence Award to study inbreeding depression in Sable Island horses.