Publications – Welch Lab https://www.welchbiology.com at the University of Toronto Scarborough Fri, 07 Mar 2025 18:53:06 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 https://www.welchbiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/cropped-utsc_logo-32x32.jpg Publications – Welch Lab https://www.welchbiology.com 32 32 Fuel use in running vampire bats paper named one of Royal Society’s 10 most popular papers of 2024! https://www.welchbiology.com/2025/03/07/fuel-use-in-running-vampire-bats-paper-named-one-of-royal-societys-10-most-popular-papers-of-2024/ Fri, 07 Mar 2025 18:49:26 +0000 https://www.welchbiology.com/?p=885

As an annual tradition, The Royal Society, publishers of such journals as Proceedings B and Biology Letters, names the 10 most popular papers they publish each year. The Welch Lab paper led by Dr. Giulia Rossi is #9 on that list!

From the announcement:

9. Vampire bats get their energy from an unusual source

This Biology Letters paper found that vampire bats are able to burn amino acids as a fuel source, in a similar way to blood-sucking insects. In the study, researchers coaxed vampire bats in their lab to run on a treadmill as a way to measure their metabolism. Sensors monitored oxygen intake and carbon dioxide released in the bat’s breath, while the source of the energy for respiration was determined using isotopically labelled cow blood. The results revealed that the vampire bats were using amino acids for energy, rather than carbohydrates or fats, which derive from the digestion of proteins and are a common component in blood.

]]> Dr. Natalia Sandoval Herrera wins best paper prize! https://www.welchbiology.com/2024/07/25/dr-natalia-sandoval-herrera-wins-best-paper-prize/ Thu, 25 Jul 2024 18:19:00 +0000 https://www.welchbiology.com/?p=854 Lab alum Dr. Natalia Sandoval Herrera was recently named the winner of the University of Toronto Scarborough Department of Biological Sciences Best EEB Paper. This prize celebrates the best paper led by a UTSC, Biological Sciences-based graduate student within the broad fields of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. Natalia’s paper, entitled, “Non-destructive methods to assess pesticide exposure in free-living bats” was published in Science of the Total Evnironmentn in early 2023.

In this study, Natalia identified several biomarkers that reliably reflected pesticide exposure in a captive group of bats at McMaster University in Hamilton, ON. She then employed these same biomarkers in several populations of wild bats in the tropics that likely experienced differing levels of pesticide exposure (because they roosted in caves nearer, or farther away, from crops), and was able to show that the same biomarkers were both easy to collect and analyze (e.g. simple blood-smear based assays) and were of diagnostic utility.

Congrats to Natalia and all the co-authors!

Bat populations are dwindling worldwide due to anthropogenic activities like agriculture, however the role that pesticide exposure plays on these declines is unclear. To address these research gaps, we first need to develop reliable methods to detect and monitor exposure to environmental pollutants and its effects on free-living bats. The use of biomarkers is a sensitive and informative tool to study sublethal effects in wildlife, however it requires laboratory validation and integrative approaches to be applicable to free-living species. In this study, we propose a set of non-destructive biomarkers to evaluate pesticide exposure in free-ranging bats and validated their suitability with dose-exposure experiments in captivity. We selected three biomarkers that have been widely used in vertebrate ecotoxicology and that combined represent sensitive, specific, and ecologically relevant responses to pollutants: DNA damage, AChE activity, and leukocyte profiles. We used two insectivorous bat species as model species Eptesicus fuscus (laboratory) and Pteronotus mexicanus (field). We found that micronuclei frequency (genotoxicity) and AChE activity (exposure and neurotoxicity) were robust indicators of toxicant exposure. The validity of this set of endpoints was supported by their consistent performance in laboratory and field experiments as well as by the significant correlation among them. Leukocyte profile (systemic stress) results were not consistent between laboratory and field studies, suggesting further evaluation of its suitability is needed. Integrative approaches, like the one we used here, maximize the insights about toxicant effects by combining the information of single biomarkers into more meaningful inferences, which can be applied to environmental risk assessments in wildlife. Furthermore, the use of non-destructive, cost-effective biomarkers is imperative when assessing toxicant exposure and effects in vulnerable wildlife and it should be a priority in the field of wildlife toxicology.
]]> New lab publication in CBP Part B! https://www.welchbiology.com/2018/08/29/new-lab-publication-in-cbp-part-b/ https://www.welchbiology.com/2018/08/29/new-lab-publication-in-cbp-part-b/#respond Wed, 29 Aug 2018 20:36:31 +0000 http://www.welchbiology.com/?p=207

New research led by MSc graduate Alexander Myrka shows that ruby-throated hummingbirds express fructose transporter mRNA at uniquely high levels in flight muscle, but do not express fructolytic enzymes in the same tissue. This suggests flight muscle may be able to take up fructose at unusually high rates, but raises questions about how fructose phosphorylation (the first step in catabolizing this sugar) occurs.

The research appears in a special issue of Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part B commemorating what would have been the 80th birthday of renowned comparative physiologist Dr. Peter Hochachka. The work was presented at a special symposium honoring Dr. Hochachka entitled, “50 Years of Comparative Biochemistry: The Legacy of Peter Hochachka“.

Congratulations Alex!

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