Heather Veilleux

Background

About Heather Veilleux

I am looking to move back to Ontario to apply my knowledge in the field of molecular biology. In particular, I'm interested in studying the impacts of environmental stress on animals. In addition to my expertise in assessing changes to gene expression (qPCR, transcriptomics), biochemistry, and physiology, I have developed a passion for Environmental DNA (eDNA) and eRNA research- I am a molecular biologist with skills to investigate ecological level questions using biochemical, molecular and physiological analyses. During my graduate studies and first postdoctoral fellowship at James Cook University (JCU) in Australia, I assessed the physiological effects and molecular mechanisms of short-term, developmental, and transgenerational exposure to predicted ocean warming in a warm-adapted coral reef fish. My current postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Alberta has continued to evaluate the acclimation capacity of iconic fishes to the predicted effects of climate change, but now in a cold-adapted stenothermal species. In addition, I applied for and successfully received grant funding from the Alberta Conservation Association to design and optimise an environmental DNA (eDNA) assay to detect a threatened salmonid, the Arctic grayling. I have been a researcher for over 15 years, I have worked in academia and government, in small research groups and large collaborations, and in different provinces and countries. My research has involved molecular, biochemical, physiological, bioinformatic, transcriptomic and epigenetic analyses; this integrative scientific toolbox allows me to research a wide array of questions across multiple disciplines and organisms. I hold a PhD in Marine Biology (JCU; March 2015), an MSc in Marine Biology (JCU; August 2011), and a BSc Honours in Biochemistry (University of Ottawa; April 2006).