BU graduate student awarded $20,000 for science research
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A Brandon University graduate student has been awarded a $20,000 Research Manitoba Master’s Studentship for investigating how animals regulate energy and whether it relates to the development of certain human diseases.
Raya Turner, a Métis student from Wawanesa, is pursuing her master of science in environmental and life sciences at BU. She is looking into the regulatory effects of a transcription factor — a protein that is encoded by a gene — called estrogen-related receptor alpha (ERRα) and its role in the energy balance in zebrafish embryos.
ERRα has been implicated in many human metabolic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes and cancer.
It is referred to as a master regulator because it helps control how cells use energy and has been widely studied in mammals but not zebrafish, Turner said in a university video posted on YouTube.
“I’ve always been drawn to how intricate and dynamic our metabolism is,” she said. “It takes multiple different factors interacting with each other in order to achieve that energy balance, so that’s really what drew me to this research. And in zebrafish, specifically, there is a lack of information on how these processes work compared to mammals.”
By temporarily suppressing ERRα in developing zebrafish embryos, Turner said she hopes to uncover how it contributes to growth, energy balance and overall metabolic function, which could shed light on how human diseases progress.
“First, we’re examining whether the function of metabolism in zebrafish is similar to their mammal counterparts,” she said. “If we do see that there’s conserved function of these pathways, we’ll have an easier model that we can use to understand how human metabolic disorders function, and how they come to be.
“So, we could potentially create gene-edited lines of zebrafish that mimic these disorders, and then we can more easily answer the questions that we seek regarding which therapeutics work best to treat these different disorders.”
Research Manitoba’s Master’s Studentship Award provides graduate students with a one-time stipend that allows students to conduct their research. It was set up to help develop, attract and retain highly qualified personnel to the province while supporting impactful research.
BU student Carter Williamson was also awarded a Research Manitoba Master’s Studentship this year, the university announced.
» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com
» enviromichele.bsky.social