Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Skip to page-level navigation Go to the Disability Resource Centre Website Go to the DRC Booking Accommodation Portal Go to the Inclusive Technology Lab Website
The University of British Columbia
UBC - A Place of Mind
The University of British Columbia Okanagan campus
UBC Okanagan News
  • Research
  • People
    • Student Profile
    • Faculty Profile
    • Alumni Spotlight
  • Campus Life
    • Campus News
    • Student Life
    • Teaching & Learning
  • Community Engagement
  • About the Collection
    • Stories for Media
  • UBCO Events
  • Search All Stories
Home / 2016 / February / 09 / Biologist Michael Russello uses genome technology to address the biodiversity crisis
Faculty Profile, People

Biologist Michael Russello uses genome technology to address the biodiversity crisis

February 9, 2016

About

Name
Michael Russello

Role
Associate Professor

Program
Biology, and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Faculty
Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences

Campus
Okanagan (Kelowna, BC)

Education
PhD, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Columbia University (2003)

Advanced Certificate in Environmental Policy, Columbia University (2002)

Bachelor of Arts, Biology, University of San Diego (1998)

Hometown
San Francisco Bay Area, California, US

"I was drawn to the idea of coming to a smaller campus that was research-intensive, could recruit very strong graduate students, and valued undergraduate research."

MICHAEL RUSSELLO works at the interface of ecology and evolution, employing genetic and genomic approaches to study threatened global biological diversity. Sometimes that means not just restoring populations of endangered species, but discovering them in the first place.

Why Ecology and Evolutionary Biology?

An Associate Professor of Biology at UBC’s Okanagan campus, Russello was recently at the centre of an announcement about the discovery of a new species of giant tortoises living in Ecuador’s Galápagos Archipelago. This was a follow-up study to work he began as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University.

“A critical component to effective biodiversity conservation is to recognize and understand what species and populations require protection,” Russello says. “Given the small population size and reduced genetic variation, this new species is not only distinct but of high conservation priority.”

Russello heads the Ecological and Conservation Genomics Laboratory at UBC’s Okanagan campus, where he uses DNA to inform conservation strategies that help address the biodiversity crisis.

“Using genetic and genomic approaches, we can mine DNA for information about population history, including understanding how population size has changed through time,” he says. “We can also learn a lot about how individuals move across the landscape, and how human activities may limit population connectivity.”

Russello first pursued conservation genetic research while a PhD student at Columbia University, where he conducted one of the first studies that used genetic data to inform captive breeding decisions, in this case for the endangered St. Vincent Amazon parrot.

“Many captive breeding programs for endangered wildlife species have very little background information regarding the individuals they house, including in some cases, whether they are even male or female.

“We used DNA to determine the sex of individuals and how related they were to each other. This information can then be used to make recommendations about pairings that would help maintain genetic diversity in the population.”

CONSERVATION GENETICS

Russello joined UBC Okanagan in its infancy. At the time, the space his office and lab now occupies was a dirt lot and construction activity was a constant. He admits he knew little about Kelowna when he agreed to relocate from the U.S., but believed in the university’s vision of what it would someday become.

Michael Russello

Michael Russello

“I was drawn to the idea of coming to a smaller campus that was research-intensive, could recruit very strong graduate students, and valued undergraduate research,” he says.

Russello became interested in the biodiversity crisis and the sharp increase in species extinction at a young age. Moreover, while a biology student at the University of San Diego, he became increasingly intrigued by the power of molecular markers, primarily applied in biomedical sciences. Russello was fortunate to have a professor identify his dual passions and introduce him to conservation genetics, a brand new field at the time.

“My professor gave me a paper that had just come out and said she thought it might be a field that would be perfect for me. That was when it clicked.”

DEVELOPING RESEARCHERS

PhD student Evelyn Jensen has worked with Russello for four years and recently accompanied him to the Galápagos Islands, where she helped collect blood samples from the giant tortoises on Pinzón Island.

Jensen speaks highly of Russello, who she describes as a “thorough scientist” who pursues excellence in all things.

“Although I don’t think he would consider it his motto, he sets the example in our lab group that anything worth doing is worth doing well,” Jensen says.

He also takes a fairly hands-off approach when teaching; providing graduate students with the resources and tools needed to carry out projects independently.

“He is always supportive and available when we need him, while giving us the opportunity to develop as independent researchers,” she says.

Russello’s work doesn’t always involve travel to faraway places. In fact, he is currently studying the genetic basis of variation in reproductive behaviour in Kokanee salmon living in Okanagan Lake—a population he describes as “one of the most interesting in the world.”

What makes this population of Kokanee unique is the existence of two different reproductive forms; one spawns in streams, while the other spawns along the shoreline. When not spawning, the two species co-occur in the lake, making reproductive strategy one of the only obvious differences between the two.

“This system provides a great opportunity to better understand mechanisms underlying how new species arise,” says Russello. “Also, being able to unequivocally identify shore- and stream-spawners has transformed the way the provincial government manages and monitors Kokanee, a species of economic, cultural and conservation significance.”

Russello says the graduate students he works with today in his lab collect more data in a week than he did during his entire dissertation. Hopefully, that shift will lead to increasingly robust data that conservationists can use to tackle biodiversity loss and save more species from extinction.

—by Anne-Rachelle McHugh

Content type: Profile
More content from: Biology, Irving K Barber School of Arts and Sciences (prior July 2020)

Trending Stories

  • Opening doors for international student research
  • Arts and science fiction connect: UBCO student designs the ...
  • UBCO honours this year’s most outstanding researchers
  • Why don’t we eat turkey eggs?
  • Psychedelic mushroom microdoses can improve mood, mental health
All Stories
UBCO Events

About UBC Okanagan

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose traditional, ancestral and unceded territory the campus resides. The most established and influential global rankings all consistently place UBC in the top five per cent of universities in the world, and among the top three Canadian universities.

The Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. For more visit ok.ubc.ca.

Discover more about UBC Okanagan

Find a Program Admissions Book a Tour UBCO Facts
UBC Okanagan Campus News, University Relations

Innovation Precinct Annexation 1 (IA1)
3505 Spectrum Court
Kelowna, BC Canada V1V 2Z1

We respectfully acknowledge the Syilx Okanagan Nation and their peoples, in whose traditional, ancestral, unceded territory UBC Okanagan is situated.

 

Search all stories

Subscribe to receive news by email

Visit UBC's Vancouver news room

Global and Admin Messages

News

Okanagan Campus

TikTok icon Linkedin icon

UBC Okanagan News
Okanagan Campus
3333 University Way
Kelowna, BC Canada V1V 1V7
Find us on
  
Back to top
The University of British Columbia
  • Emergency Procedures |
  • Terms of Use |
  • Copyright |
  • Accessibility