Schott Lab Updates
September 2026
- New MSc student Sydney Moran joins from Cal Poly Humbolt in California!聽聽
August 2026
- Undergraduate students Anthony, Doris, Hasti, and Arshia present their summer research projects at the 2026 91亚色 Undergraduate Research Conference! Great job!聽
July 2026
- Graduate students Taegan, Jay,聽Eren,聽and Caroline present at the 2026 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in New Orleans!聽
- Schott, Lovejoy, Chang, and Lujan labs once again meet to discuss research at the 2026 Evolution and Vision Meeting聽聽
June 2026
- Undergraduate Student Hasti convocated! She will be pursuing a聽Doctor of Dental Surgery聽at Dalhousie University! Congratulations, Hasti!聽
May 2026
- Jay, Eren, and Hasti present at the 51st Annual AGSBS Symposium. Congratulations Eren for winning Best Talk!
- New undergraduate students: Arshia, Dagmara, Anthony, and Doris join the lab!
April 2026
- Hasti, Ayesha, and Yas successfully defend their undergraduate honors theses! Congratulations!
March 2026
- Caroline and Taegan head to California on a salamander safari with Dr. Rayna Bell from the California Academy of Sciences!
September 2025
- New PhD student Caroline Ritchie and MSc student Edmond Chan join the lab!
August 2025
- Undergraduate students Isabella Mokabel and Meghan Lam present their summer research at the 91亚色's Faculty of Science Summer Undergraduate Research Conference! Great job!
- MSc student Jhael Ortega successfully defends her master's thesis! Congratulations! Jhael will be moving on to Virginia Tech to complete her PhD in Dr. Lab. We cannot wait to see what you do next!
July 2025
- Taegan, Eren, Jhael, and Hasti attended the Joint Meeting for Ichthyologists and Herpetologists to present their research. Awesome job!
June 2025
- Mozhan Yaghmai wins the 91亚色 Faculty of Science Gold Medal! Well deserved!
- Schott Lab members Mozhan Yaghmai, Bethel Negash, and Lisa David convocated! Congratulations! We look forward to seeing where life takes you next!
- The Schott Lab once again collaborates with the Lovejoy Lab (University of Toronto Scarborough) and the Chang Lab (University of Toronto) to host the mini symposium: Evolution and Vision to facilitate discussions on all the recent work in evolution and vertebrate visual system studies the labs have undertaken. This year, Evolution and Vision welcomed guests and speakers from the Lujan Lab (Royal Ontario Museum/University of Toronto) and the Musilova Lab (Charles University in Prague)
May 2025
- New MSc student Jay Kwon joins the lab!
- PhD Candidate Taegan Perez, awarded QEII/OGS for 2025-2026
- Schott Lab welcomes new undergraduate student researchers: Isabella Mokabel, Meghan Lam, Lisa David, and Ayesha Raza Khan!
April 2025
- Undergraduate Honours Thesis Students Bethel Negash and Mozhan Yaghmai successfully defend their theses! Congratulations!
December 2024
- Schott Lab students present at the 91亚色 Biology Department Colloquium
September 2024
- New MSc student Eren Yigit joins the lab!
July 2024
- Ryan, Taegan, and Jhael attended the 3rd Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology in Montreal!
June 2024
- Paper alert! New paper from Jack Boyette, Dr. Ryan Schott and their colleagues: Diversity and Molecular Evolution of Nonvisual Opsin Genes across Environmental, Developmental, and Morphological Adaptations in Frogs out in Molecular Biology and Evolution (). Read the 91亚色 News feature here: Unexpected diversity of light-sensing proteins goes beyond vision in frogs - News@91亚色 (yorku.ca)
- The Schott Lab once again collaborates with the Lovejoy Lab (University of Toronto Scarborough) and the Chang Lab (University of Toronto) to host the mini symposium: Evolution and Vision to facilitate discussions on all the recent work in evolution and vertebrate visual system studies the labs have undertaken.
- Previous Schott Lab Thesis Students Matthew and Natalie convocated! Congratulations! We cannot wait to see where life takes you next!
May 2024
- Schott Lab welcomes new 91亚色 RAY Undergraduate Research Students Hasti and Mozhan!
- Schott Lab welcomes back Taiye as an NSERC Undergraduate Student Researcher!
April 2024
- Paper alert! New paper from Dr. Ryan Schott and colleagues: Diversity and Evolution of Frog Visual Opsins: Spectral Tuning and Adaptation to Distinct Light Environments out in Molecular Biology and Evolution (). Read the 91亚色 News feature here: /news/2024/04/04/the-life-aquatic-a-game-changer-for-frog-vision-but-little-difference-between-night-and-day-york-led-study-finds/
- PhD students Golnar and Taegan pass their preliminary exams. Congratulations to our new PhD candidates!
- Undergraduate Honours Thesis Students Matthew and Natalie successfully defend their theses! Congratulations!
November 2023
- Schott Lab moves into new office and lab space!
September 2023
- Schott Lab welcomes new MSc student Jhael Ortega!
- Schott Lab welcomes new undergraduate honours thesis students Matthew and Natalie!
- Golnar and Taegan travel to Ottawa to present research at the Canadian Herpetological Society Meeting!
August 2023
- NSERC USRA/DURA and YSSA recipients presented their summer research findings at 91亚色's Faculty of Science Summer Undergraduate Research Conference. Congratulations to Minoosh, Ron and Ibifuro for completing their summer research projects!
July 2023
- Ryan, Taegan, and Ron travelled to Norfolk, Virginia, USA for the annual Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH). Ryan and Taegan gave talks as part of the Amphibian Vision Symposium sponsored by the Systematics Association and the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Thank you to the symposium organizers Dr. Rayna Bell and Dr. Jeff Streicher! Ron presented a poster concerning his research on the molecular evolution of lens crystallin genes in frogs during the conference poster session. Ryan also presented a poster on behalf of Golnar regarding her research on the molecular evolution of visual opsin genes in side-neck and hidden-neck turtles.
July 2023
- Vanessa, Minoosh, Victoria, and Ron convocated! Congratulations!
June 2023
- The Schott lab hosts a MiniSymposium with the Chang and Lovejoy labs to discuss recent work in evolution and vertebrate visual systems!
May 2023
April 2023
- Victoria Mortella successfully defends her undergraduate honour's thesis. Congratulations Victoria!
- Vanessa Caramanica successfully defends her undergraduate honour's thesis. Congratulations Vanessa!
- Minoosh Fathi successfully defends her undergraduate honour's thesis. Congratulations Minoosh!
March 2023
- NSERC/DURA USRA awarded to Minoosh Fathi, Ron Alesker, and Ibifuro Opuso-Jama. Congratulations!
August 2022
- NSERC USRA/DURA and YSSA recipients presented their summer research findings at 91亚色's Faculty of Science Summer Undergraduate Research Conference. Minoosh Fathi was awarded 1st place for her poster presentation on the molecular evolution of vertebrate opsins. Congratulations to Abdullah, Saesha, Ron, and Minoosh for completing their summer research projects!
June 2022
- Professor Ryan Schott at 91亚色 discovers frog vision undergoes a surprising number of changes as tadpoles shift to their adult form to allow them to see on land where the light is bluer, as opposed to underwater where there is less light and a reddish cast.
June 2022
- New frog eye paper out in BMC Biology with Rayna Bell and Matthew Fujita. We discovered large changes in the expression of eye genes as leopard frogs shift from aquatic tadpoles to terrestrial juveniles associated with improved vision in these distinct environments.
May 2022
- Taegan Perez and Golnar Jalilvand join the Schott lab as incoming PhD students.
May 2022
- New members; Vanessa Caramanica, Minoosh Fathi, Abdullah Hakeem, Sabrina Brusco, Saesha Kukreja, Ron Alesker, and Minh-Anne Than join the Schott lab for summer research.
April 2022
- Amir Mohammad Nasiri successfully defends his undergraduate honour's thesis. Congratulations Amir!
- NSERC/DURA USRA awarded to Minoosh Fathi and Ron Alesker. Congratulations!
March 2022
- Paper Alert! Our new paper led by Katie Thomas studying the spectral transmission in the lenses of frogs and salamanders is out in Functional Ecology. We found that diurnal and climbing species more often evolve lenses that cut out UV light possibly improving their vision.
February 2022
- Paper Alert! Our first paper studying the evolution of frog opsins is now out in Ecology and Evolution with Jenny Gumm. We discovered frog opsins to be highly variable at spectral tuning sites, with evidence for positive selection in two opsins, and a duplicated LWS opsin in one species
June 2021
- Ryan Schott awarded NSERC Discovery Grant and Discovery Launch Supplement!
June 2021
- Amro Zayed, Sandra Rehan, Lawrence Packer, Emanuel Rosonina, Elizabeth Clare, Carol Bucking, and Ryan Schott awarded a NSERC Research Tools and Instruments Grant.
April 2021
- Jack Boyette has been accepted into the graduate program at the University of Alabama and will work with Professor Gui Becker on amphibian disease ecology, evolution, and conservation. Congratulations Jack!
March 2021
- Aaiza Khan and Sabrina Brusco join the Schott Lab as 91亚色 Science Scholar Award (YSSA) Researchers for the summer. Aaiza and Sabrina will work on the molecular evolution of visual genes in frogs that inhabit different light environments.
March 2021
- Wali Mir joins the Schott Lab and is awarded a NSERC Undergraduate Student Research award for the summer. Wali will work on the molecular evolution of turtle vision. Congratulations Wali!
February 2021
- Lauren Grant-Assor and Amirmohammad Nasiri join the Schott lab to assist with equipment purchases and building this website, respectively
January 2021
- Ryan Schott begins assistant professor position in the Department of Biology at 91亚色. Schott Lab founded
News in the Field
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