Coltman Lab

Dave’s academic training and research experience follows a winding path through multiple institutions and research projects. He earned his B.Sc. in Biology (Honours) from Queen’s University in 1991, followed by a Ph.D. from Dalhousie University in 1997. Postdoctoral work included an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Alberta and a Wellcome Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh. Dave has held academic positions as a Lecturer of Molecular Ecology at the University of Sheffield and as a Professor at the University of Alberta, where he also served as Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences and Associate Dean of Research. He currently serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Biology at Western University. His research spans molecular ecology, population genetics, and evolutionary biology, focusing on wild mammal populations to understand genetic architecture and phenotypic variation related to fitness.

I’m Mel, a postdoctoral associate in the Coltman Lab. I completed my PhD at Western University under the supervision of Nusha Keyghobadi, where I examined how extreme weather shapes patterns of genetic diversity in alpine butterfly populations. Currently, I’m part of the multi-institutional TRIA-FoR Genome Canada Project, studying two economically important tree species that host the invasive mountain pine beetle. My research focuses on identifying the genes that underlie resistance to this pest. Outside of work, I enjoy crafting and spending time with my cat.

Growing up where Lake Huron meets St. Clair, I received the local titular “River Rat”. Having been allowed to roam the creek beds and forests near my home, I was privy to areas less touched by suburbia. Between this and my brother providing a steady stream of Wired and National Geographic, alongside a fair bit of science fiction à la Frankenstein and Jurassic Park, my career path was fairly clear. After completing my honours specialization in genetics at Western, I have since returned to work in the Coltman lab on Telomere Dynamics in the Grey Seals of Sable Island. 

My name is Cassidy, and I am from Calgary, Alberta. I joined the Coltman lab in 2025 as a Master’s student after completing my honors bachelor’s degree in biology at St. Mary’s University, Calgary. My research project focuses on the grey seal breeding colony on Sable Island, Nova Scotia. I am interested in how variation in individual quality correlates with biological aging using DNA methylation as a biomarker. When I am not in the lab, I enjoy rock climbing, hiking, volleyball, and reading.

My name is Carson. I joined the Coltman lab in 2024 as a Master’s student after completing my bachelor’s degree in Biology at Western University. The primary focus of my work is investigating inbreeding and inbreeding depression around a genetic rescue event in a wild population of bighorn sheep isolated at Ram Mountain, Alberta. By comparing genomic and pedigree inbreeding metrics, I aim to better understand how genomic monitoring tools and genetic rescue can aid in wildlife management.

Tommy is a PhD candidate in the Coltman lab studying the genomic consequences of genetic rescue and pneumonia survival in bighorn sheep. Tommy comes to Western University from the southwest United States, receiving his bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of New Mexico. Tommy then traded deserts for grasslands and completed his Master’s degree at Kansas State University, where his research focused on conservation genomics of least shrews in New Mexico. When he’s not in the lab, Tommy can be found wearing orange clothing, hanging out with fellow sheeple, doing yoga, playing volleyball, baking, or sewing.

I’m Marlee, and I’m a fourth-year Biology student at Western University. I first joined the Coltman Lab in summer 2025 as part of the Western Undergraduate Student Research Internship, where I examined whether telomere length in grey seal pups reflects density-dependent environmental stress on Sable Island. I am now completing my honours research thesis on the maternal heritability of telomere length in this long-term study population, exploring how genetic effects and maternal influences shape early-life telomere variation. I’m particularly interested in how telomere dynamics relate to individual quality, fitness, and the evolutionary processes that structure genetic variation in wild marine mammals.

I’m from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and acquired my B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the University of Saskatchewan. For both degrees I studied the ecology and life history of Stylops advarians, a parasite belonging to the order Strepsiptera. I began my Ph.D. in 2022 and am looking at using whole genome sequence data to examine the evolutionary dynamics of range expansion. The recent expansion of mountain pine beetle in western Canada provides a great opportunity to study these dynamics, and study how insects adapt rapidly under novel environmental conditions. In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my dog, Sox, watching baseball, and reading.