Alexander Mckinnon

M.Sc. student in the Sinclair Lab

Project
During my time at Western I will be investigating freeze tolerance in the spring field cricket  Gryllus veletis. Native to Ontario these individuals have shown to be freeze tolerant when reared in the field, but this strategy of cold tolerance has yet to be induced in the lab. Through the manipulation of light level, temperature and ice nucleator activity I will attempt to induce free tolerance with the end goal of identifying a strong model for insect freeze tolerance.

Specialized skills
PCRRNA extractionGel ElectrophoresisLearning: G/C, AAS, RNA seq