Biology

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Facilities are available in the Department of Biology for students proceeding to the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees.

Enquiries: 905 525-9140 Ext. 23546
E-mail: biolgrad@mcmaster.ca
Website: http://www.biology.mcmaster.ca/

Faculty/Fall 2026

CHAIR

Marie Elliot

ASSOCIATE CHAIRS

Krupa Patel (Undergraduate)
Ben Evans (Graduate)
Graham Scott (Research)

PROFESSORS
Ben Bolker/(Mathematics and Statistics) B.S. (Yale), Ph.D. (Cambridge)
Robin K. Cameron/B.Sc. (Waterloo), Ph.D. (McGill)
Patricia Chow-Fraser/B.Sc., M.Sc. (Waterloo), Ph.D. (Toronto)
Juliet M. Daniel/B.Sc. (Queen’s), Ph.D. (British Columbia)
Susan A. Dudley/B.Sc., M.Sc. (McGill), Ph.D. (Chicago)
Jonathan Dushoff/B.Sc. (Pennsylvania), Ph.D. (Princeton)
Ian Dworkin/B.Sc. (Trent), Ph.D. (Toronto)
Marie Elliot/B.Sc., Ph.D. (Alberta)
Ben Evans/B.S. (Tufts), M.S., M.Phil., Ph.D. (Columbia)
G. Brian Golding/B.Sc. (Dalhousie), Ph.D. (Alberta)
Bhagwati Gupta/B.Sc. (Banaras Hindu), M.Sc. (Jawaharlal Nehru), Ph.D. (TATA Institute)
Suleiman A. Igdoura/B.Sc. (Victoria), M.Sc. (Western Ontario), Ph.D. (McGill)
Karen Kidd/B.Sc. (Guelph), Ph.D. (Alberta)
Jurek Kolasa/M.Sc., Ph.D. (Poznan)
Grant B. McClelland/B.Sc. (Ottawa), Ph.D. (British Columbia)
Carmel E. Mothersill/B.Sc., Ph.D. (University College Dublin)/Senior Canada Research Chair
Herbert E. Schellhorn/B.Sc., M.Sc. (Guelph), Ph.D. (North Carolina)
Graham Scott/B.Sc. (McMaster), M.Sc., Ph.D. (British Columbia)
Elizabeth A. Weretilnyk/B.Sc., Ph.D. (Alberta)
Joanna Wilson/B.Sc. (McMaster), M.Sc. (Victoria), Ph.D. (MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Jianping Xu/B.Sc. (Jiangxi), M.Sc. (Nanjing and Toronto), Ph.D. (Toronto)
Xu-Dong Zhu/B.Sc. (Nanjing), M.Sc. (Regina), Ph.D. (Toronto)

ADJUNCT PROFESSORS

Tao Dong/B.Sc. (Shandon University), Ph.D. (McMaster)
Thomas A. Edge/B.Sc. (Guelph), M.Sc. (Ottawa), Ph.D. (Carleton)
Kim Fernie/B.A., M.Sc. (Toronto), Ph.D. (McGill)
Kelly Munkittrick/B.Sc., M.Sc. (Guelph), Ph.D. (Waterloo)
Michael Paterson/B.Sc. (Winnipeg), M.Sc. (Indiana), Ph.D. (Halifax)
James S. Pringle/A.B. (Dartmouth), M.S. (New Hampshire), Ph.D. (Tennessee)
Lisa Taylor/B.Sc. (Guelph), Ph.D. (McMaster)
Glen Van Der Kraak/B.Sc., M.Sc. (Manitoba), Ph.D. (British Columbia)
Ze-Chun Yuan/B.Sc. (Henan), M.Sc., Ph.D. (McMaster)

ASSOCIATE PROFESSORS

Rosa da Silva/B.Sc., Ph.D. (Toronto)
Lovaye Kajiura/B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D. (McMaster)
Jonathon Stone/B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D. (Toronto)

Cristina Abbatangelo/B.Sc. (McMaster), M.Sc , Ph.D. (Toronto)

ADJUNCT ASSOCIATE PROFESSORS

Patricia Gillis/B.Sc., M.Sc. (Guelph), Ph.D. (Waterloo)
Elizabeth A. Gow/B.Sc. (Toronto), M.Sc. (Toronto), Ph.D. (Saskatoon)
Ethan Paschos/Ph.D. (Munich) Ryan Prosser/B.Sc., Ph.D. (Guelph)
Arthur Zastepa/B.Sc. (Toronto), Ph.D. (Ottawa)

ASSISTANT PROFESSORS

Rebecca Doyle/B.Sc., M.Sc. (Memorial), Ph.D. (Toronto)
Emily Choy/B.Sc., M.Ed. (Queen’s), M.Sc. (Ottawa), Ph.D. (Manitoba)
Alexander Little/B.Sc., M.Sc. (Queen’s), Ph.D. (Sydney) Krupa Patel/B.Sc. (Mississauga), B.Ed., Ph.D. (Toronto)
Muhammed Simsek/B.Sc. (Middle East Technical, Turkey), M.Sc. (Rutgers), Ph.D. (SUNY)

ADJUNCT ASSISTANT PROFESSORS

Oana Birceanu/B.Sc., M.Sc. (Wilfrid Laurier), Ph.D. (Waterloo)
Erik J.S. Emilson/B.Sc. (Guelph), M.Sc., Ph.D. (Laurentian)
David A. Galbraith/B.Sc., M.Sc. (Guelph), Ph.D. (Queen’s)
Jonathan Midwood/B.Sc., Ph.D. (McMaster)
Mahbuba Rahman/B.Sc., M.Sc. (Dhaka), Ph.D. (Kyushu Institute of Technology)
Angela Scott/B.Sc., B.A., Ph.D. (Saskatchewan)

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS

Sigal Balshine/(Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour) B.Sc. (Toronto) , Ph.D. (Cambridge) /Canada Research Chair
Ana Campos/(Interdisciplinary Science) B.Sc., M.Sc. (Rio de Janeiro), Ph.D. (Brandeis)
Reuven Dukas/(Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour) B.Sc. (Jerusalem) , Ph.D. (North Carolina State)
David Earn/(Mathematics and Statistics) B.Sc., M.Sc. (Toronto), Ph.D. (Cambridge)
Margaret Fahnestock/(Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences) B.Sc. (Stanford), Ph.D. (California-Berkeley)
Paul Faure/(Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour) B.Sc., M.Sc. (Calgary), Ph.D. (Cornell)
Chad Harvey/(Interdisciplinary Science) B.Sc. (Guelph), M.Sc. (Auburn), Ph.D. (Wisconsin-Madison)
Paul G. Higgs/(Physics & Astronomy) B.Sc., Ph.D. (Cambridge) /Senior Canada Research Chair 
endrik Poinar/(Anthropology) B.Sc., M.Sc. (California), Ph.D. (Munich) /Canada Research Chair in Paleogenomics
Elyanne Ratcliffe/(Pediatrics) B.Arts Sc., M.D. (McMaster)

Emeriti Biology

Robert Baker/B.Sc., M.Sc. (Guelph), Ph.D. (Alberta)
André Bédard/B.Sc. (Montreal), Ph.D. (McGill)
Turlough M. Finan/B.Sc., M.Sc. (Galway), Ph.D. (Guelph)
J. Roger Jacobs/B.Sc. (Calgary), M.Sc., Ph.D. (Toronto)
Richard A. Morton/M.S., Ph.D. (Chicago)
Colin A. Nurse/B.E.Sc. (Western Ontario), Ph.D. (Harvard)
Michael J. O’Donnell/B.Sc., Ph.D. (Toronto)
James S. Quinn/B.Sc. (Queen’s), M.Sc. (Brock), Ph.D. (Oklahoma)
Andrew J. Rainbow/B.Sc. (Manchester), M.Sc. (London), Ph.D. (McMaster)
C. David Rollo/B.Sc., M.Sc. (Guelph), Ph.D. (British Columbia)
Rama Singh/B.Sc. (Agra), M.Sc. (Kanpur), Ph.D. (California-Davis)
George J. Sorger/B.Sc. (McGill), M.S., Ph.D. (Yale)
Bradley N. White/B.Sc. (Nottingham), Ph.D. (McMaster)

DISTINGUISHED UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS (EMERITI)

Frank L. Graham/B.Sc. (Manitoba), M.A., Ph.D. (Toronto), D.Sc. (McMaster), F.R.S.C.
Christopher M. Wood/B.Sc., M.Sc. (British Columbia), Ph.D. (East Anglia), F.R.S.C./Senior Canada Research Chair

Facilities for Research

In addition to general research facilities in Biology, the Department has available: facilities for use of radio-isotopes, tissue culture laboratories, molecular and cellular laboratories, physiology laboratories, constant temperature rooms, growth chambers, a research greenhouse, an aquatic facility, and animal rooms. The laboratories are equipped with advanced instrumentation, including analytical and preparative ultracentrifuges, confocal microscopes, interference and fluorescence microscopes, radio-isotope counting facilities, a microspectrophotometer, recording spectrophotometer, micromanipulator, real-time PCR, proteomics and metabolomics tools, etc.  The MOBIX Molecular Biology Facility or MOBIX lab, located in Health Sciences Complex, provides several essential services in molecular biology including DNA sequencing and oligonucleotide synthesis.  Research opportunities are augmented by the Computing and Information Services, a 200 curie Caesium-137 gamma source, collaboration with the National Water Research Institute (Canada Centre for Inland Waters), Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (London Research and Development Center), and by the Royal Botanical Gardens whose 1880 acres of varied lands and water areas adjoin the McMaster University campus.

A detailed description of the research and recent publications of each faculty member is available on our website (see above). 

Programs

• Biology, M.Sc.

• Biology, Ph.D

• Biology Courses

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