Silvana is now a research adminstrator at Humber College

Education

M.Sc. Candidate, Integrative Biology, University of Guelph 

B.Sc., Wildlife Biology, University of Guelph

Research

Limitation in availability of oxygen (hypoxia) in aquatic environments causes significant metabolic changes that enable fish to adapt to this environmental stressor. During embryonic development, it is essential that fish adopt physiological changes to maintain sufficient gas exchange required for growth and survival. We have recently shown that rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) embryos quickly decrease their metabolic rate when exposed to mild hypoxia. This metabolic re-organization in hypoxia is attributed to changes in gene expression. Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1a) is the oxygen dependent transcriptional activator that controls the expression of a variety of genes that promote erythropoiesis, hemoglobin, angiogenesis, anaerobic metabolism and depress growth and metabolism. The role of HIF-1a in fish embryos exposed to hypoxia has been little studied. Therefore, the objective of my project is to reveal the full hypoxia response of rainbow trout embryos in relation to development, including changes in the mRNA levels of hypoxia-responsive genes.

Publication

Miller, S.C., Reeb, S.E., Wright, P.A., Gillis, T.E. 2008. Oxygen concentration in the water boundary layer next to rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) embryos is influenced by hypoxia exposure time, metabolic rate, and water flow. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 65:2170-2177

Contact Information

Dept. of Integrative Biology

488 Gordon St.

University of Guelph

Guelph, Ontario

N1G 2W1

Canada

silvana@uoguelph.ca

(519) 824-4120 Office x. 56963 Lab x. 58385