Category — Education

Welcoming Two New Post-Doctoral Fellows

Two new post-doctoral fellows, Dr. Lindsey Vansandt and Dr. Anne-Catherine Vanhove, were welcomed to CREW in the fall of 2014.

With funding support from the Joanie Bernard Foundation, Dr. Vansandt will be working with Dr. Bill Swanson, CREW’s Director of Animal Research. Dr. Vansandt obtained her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of Missouri and her Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Maryland (in collaboration with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute). Her Ph.D. studies focused on characterization and propagation of spermatogonial stem cells in domestic cats as a model for conserving endangered cat species. Dr. Vansandt also has experience working in veterinary emergency services. At CREW, she will be conducting studies to improve the health and welfare of feral and shelter cats as well as helping to apply oviductal AI for propagation of endangered felids.

Lindsey Vansandt, DVM

With funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), Dr. Vanhove will be evaluating survival of plant samples in CREW’s Frozen Garden under the supervision of Dr. Valerie Pence, Director of Plant Research. Dr. Vanhove will complete the second phase of the IMLS project, focusing primarily on the survival of shoot tips and gametophytes after long-term storage in liquid nitrogen. She recently received her Ph.D. from the Division of Crop Biotechnics, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, in Leuven, Belgium. Her thesis work with meristem culture, stress physiology, and cryopreservation makes her well suited for the IMLS project.

Anne-Catherine Vanhove

The University of Cincinnati/Cincinnati Zoo Connection

CREW has had a long-standing collaborative relationship with the University of Cincinnati’s (UC) Department of Biological Sciences, but today it is strengthened by two promising young scientists who split their time between CREW and UC. Corrina DeLorenzo and Megan Philpott are both enrolled in UC’s Ph.D. program under Drs. Ken Petren and Theresa Culley, respectively, but they are conducting much of their dissertation research at CREW.

Corrina earned her bachelor’s degree at Miami University, with a double major in Zoology and Environmental Science. As an undergraduate, she became involved in research evaluating the population genetics of the Italian wall lizard or “Lazarus lizard” in the Cincinnati area. After graduating, Corrina was accepted to CREW’s summer internship program, working with Dr. Erin Curry on the Polar Bear Signature Project. She was recruited into UC’s graduate program in January 2014. Since starting her Ph.D. research, Corrina has identified multiple antibodies that detect specific proteins in polar bear feces in an effort to develop a polar bear pregnancy test.

Corrina DeLorenzo

Megan received her bachelor’s degree from UC in Biology and was also an intern at the Cincinnati Museum Center, managing the Museum’s Philippine Bird Genetics project. Her Ph.D. research is part of the Plant Lab’s IMLS funded project to evaluate samples that have been stored for years in CREW’s CryoBioBank for genetic changes that might have occurred over time. In April, Megan was awarded the Botanical Society of America’s Public Policy award to attend Congressional Visits Day on Capitol Hill. There, she learned about communicating science to policy makers and met with the offices of Ohio Senators and Representatives to request their support for increased federal funding of scientific research, using CREW’s research as an example of the importance of federal funding and support. (Students supported by the UC Department of Biological Sciences, Institute of Museum and Library Services and CREW Eisenberg Fellowship.)

Megan Philpott

P&G Wildlife Conservation Scholars

In 2011, CREW established a partnership with the Ohio State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine to train veterinary students in conservation sciences with funding support from Procter & Gamble Pet Care. This past summer, two OSU veterinary students, Kelly Vollman and JaCi Johnson, were selected as P&G Wildlife Conservation Scholars.

Kelly worked with Dr. Monica Stoops analyzing urinary testosterone and glucocorticoid concentrations to determine if the pattern of excretion could be used to predict gender, parturition date and assess fetal viability during Indian rhino gestation. Kelly analyzed urine samples collected throughout seven Indian rhino pregnancies that resulted in three male and four female calves. Six of the pregnancies ended with the birth of live calves, whereas one pregnancy ended in a stillbirth, a relatively common occurrence in this rhino species. By learning more about the endocrinology of pregnancy, results from Kelly’s study will help establish physiological markers to improve pregnancy outcome in this species.

Kelly Vollman

JaCi worked with Dr. Bill Swanson to investigate cat sperm vitrification as an alternative to standard slow freezing methods. Vitrification involves ultra-rapid cooling to avoid ice crystal formation and form a “glass” instead. For this study, JaCi collected semen from domestic cats (and one ocelot) and compared vitrification in a sucrose solution, with direct pelleting in liquid nitrogen, to slow freezing with glycerol in straws over liquid nitrogen vapor. Post-thaw sperm motility and acrosome status were similar between methods and 25% of domestic cat oocytes were fertilized following insemination with vitrified
sperm. This simplified approach to cat semen preservation may be particularly useful for field biologists working with felids in the wild.

JaCi Johnson

Guest blogger: Monneka Johnson, Zoo Academy Senior

My name is Monneka and I am a student at the Zoo Academy. It’s my second year in the program and I had an amazing junior year. I plan to have a successful finish! As a senior, I am not only an example, but I consider myself a leader for the juniors.

Zoo Academy students in the classroom

Being a Zoo Academy student, my day isn’t just any old crazy day of doing English, math, science, or social studies. The Zoo Academy allows me to explore beyond the average high school day; it’s an ongoing adventure. I have passed several milestones to accomplishing challenges such as handling animals that I’ve never encountered, which gave me a fright at first, but in all, I achieved a personal growth goal. I have had the opportunity to handle multiple species of animals such as the blue-tongued skinks, Brazilian rainbow boas, and armadillos!

Showing one of my classmates a blue-tongued skink

The blue-tongued skink, up close

Meet the screaming hairy armadillo

Here’s a Brazilian rainbow boa

We learn how to interact with visitors here at the Zoo, as well as with the staff; between the staff and my peers we’ve become a camaraderie. A “camaraderie” is a trust among friends. We engage what we know, want to know, and how we relate to one another and this is how we build a camaraderie. We show that we take pride in contributing to the Cincinnati Zoo mission statement every day by putting on our uniforms and making sure our tasks get done efficiently and safe.

Some of my classmates meeting a macaw at the Bird House

Hanging out with one of the primate keepers, Eric High

The Zoo is so engaging. There are no dull moments. We as a team enjoy the character in everyone’s attitude everyday. You’ll almost never be disappointed with an answer; our staff makes the days here at the Cincinnati Zoo interesting from all the informational facts. As a student at the Zoo, being able to learn as you work as well as interact with visitors is an awesome learning experience.

What is your favorite place? If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be? I bet that when you answer those questions, you are not envisioning a dot on a giant world map. In fact, I bet that you are not picturing a map at all. What you are picturing is an experience, a sensation, a memory, or a vision of an ACTUAL place. Maybe what you picture is the vastness of the grassland savannahs where zebras roam and lions stalk. Perhaps you are recalling the smell of fall leaves crunching underfoot as you rode horseback along a wooded trail. Geography is so much more than a place on a map or a point on a globe. It is more than the names of countries, states, and capital cities. It is “the why of a where.”

The National Geographic Explorer offshore at L’Ans aux Meadows

I got a firsthand chance to learn the why of a where this year when I was selected to travel to the Canadian Maritimes and circumnavigate Newfoundland as a 2014 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow. The Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship is a professional development opportunity for educators that is made possible by a partnership between National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions. The purpose of this fellowship is to recognize educators who have demonstrated a commitment to increasing geographic literacy in their students. Educators apply and, if chosen as a fellow, are sent on expeditions aboard the National Geographic Explorer vessel to get hands on experiences with the natural and cultural diversity of a region and bring these experiences back to their classroom. As the Lead Program Developer at the Cincinnati Zoo, that means incorporating my experiences into the programs that I create and the outreach that will be part of my fellowship journey. By doing so, I am hoping to increase knowledge about different places on our planet, help others develop an appreciation for the people and wildlife that inhabit these regions, and cultivate understanding about the global impact, for better or worse, that our choices and actions can have. I know that this trip was transformative for me and helped me better appreciate these things.

David Boyd salting a prepared cod at Prime Berth Fishing Village, Twillingate, Newfoundland

By circumnavigating Newfoundland, we were able to really experience the geography, topography, and culture of the region. Cruising by jagged coastlines, standing on the easternmost tip of North America, and traversing fjords turned the coastlines on a map into real and tangible places that I can visualize. The cities and waters to and through which we traveled have become more than dots on a map as well. They are the places where I tasted wild blueberries, met Vikings, felt the rough, bristly needles of a black spruce, heard the snort of a startled caribou discovering it is being watched. It is where I heard the call of circling gulls while I watched the plume of mist produced by a fin whale surfacing to swim beside the ship. They are the places where I walked the streets of a fortress, watched the “disassembly” of a cod, dragged my plankton net, and saw Alexander Graham Bell’s dreams take flight.

Showing my youngest shipmate, Connor, how to examine water samples for microscopic sea life. Photo by Sisse Brimberg – KEENPRESS

I have heard the different accents that are acquired when the Scottish meet the English meet the Mi’kmaq, Inuit, and Innu Indians. I have heard the heartbreak in a man’s voice when he speaks about the loss of the cod fishing industry and, with it, the heritage upon which Newfoundland was founded. This, all of this, is Newfoundland. This is what geographic literacy and the why of a where means to me. It is with this understanding that I will use my experience to make geography meaningful in my programs. I will help them draw connections geographically, geologically, historically, anthropologically, and biologically between areas while weaving in the intangibles of a place that speak to its essence and its roots.

I feel so fortunate to have been a part of this experience and inspired by the duty and privilege I have of sharing it with my community. We are all so much more than the place where we live. We are part of something bigger and, for me, that has never been clearer. So go and explore the wildness of a local park, contemplate the rain that falls and its journey from far off oceans to get to you, and be mindful of this planet and our place in it as well as on it. In the words of Baba Dioum, “In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we have been taught.”

Snowy owl at Salmonier Nature Park, Holyrood, Newfoundland

To learn more about the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship, click here

To learn more about how the Cincinnati Zoo’s conservation projects and how you can help conserve wildlife and wild spaces, please click here.