As well, Ms. Karen Watt has defended her thesis on HPLC analysis of photosynthetic pigments in heavy metal stressed seedlings. N. Huner and M. Krol of U. of Western Ontario has resulted in a few papers on cold adaptation and dormancy onset in black spruce and jack pine seedlings. We are collaborating with a couple of industrial partners on the development of biologically-based filters. MSc student Victor Oriecuia is performing some of this research. Above a Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cell loaded with model blue fluorescent xenobiotic molecule bimane monochloride.
Red fluorescence is from the chloroplast which occupies most of the cell.
Below left, a scanning electron micrograph of freeze-dried Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cells used for heavy metal binding studies. Average cell size without flagellum is less than 30 micrometers.