Date

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Available for

Agriculture SHSM, Food Processing SHSM, and Chemistry and Biology classes

Description

Grape and Wine Science

Have you ever thought about a career in the exciting grape and wine industry? Brock University is in the heart of Niagara’s wine country and boasts a 96% job placement rate for graduates from Canada’s only grape and wine undergraduate program called Oenology and Viticulture. Come experience first-hand how we chemically measure acids and sugars in juice before it is turned into wine in the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (Lab A). Then, learn how to use your sense of taste in our state-of-the-art sensory lab to distinguish which juices have high or low acid or sugar (Lab B). Does acid impact sweetness, does sugar impact sourness? You be the judge.

Ecology and Evolution

Do you enjoy solving problems and enigmas? Do you like to explore the world? Are you fascinated by our diversity? Ecology and evolution is the study of our home, and understanding its mysteries is a fascinating journey. At Brock, you can learn how to conserve rare species, protect natural spaces, monitor the environment, solve environmental problems and manage resources through hands-on experience in the lab and in the field. Our location on the Niagara Escarpment gives us access to nature just by opening a door. The Niagara region also has farms, vineyards, cities, lakes, and a lot more to explore and learn. Come explore how ecologists estimate population sizes and assess biodiversity (Lab A), and then learn about how evolution works (Lab B)! Students will also learn about a new Applied Ecology program coming soon to Brock!

Molecular Biology

Imagine this: a crime was committed in the 1970s and circumstantial evidence presented at the trial was instrumental in the sentencing of the accused to life in prison. The convicted declares their innocence. After 30 years in prison, key evidence left behind at the scene holds the clue to determining the innocence of the accused. In the forensic DNA isolation lab (Lab A), students will act as Forensic Molecular Biologists to isolate DNA from the crime scene, which will later be tested to confirm the identity of the suspect. In the DNA fingerprinting lab (Lab B), students will learn how DNA evidence assists in criminal, missing persons, mass disaster, and paternity cases. They will use current molecular forensic techniques on DNA samples collected from different suspects to identify the culprit.

Neuroscience

Have you ever wondered how the brain works? Are you interested in understanding how nerves function to send and receive signals that serve the basis of consciousness? Neuroscience is the study of nervous system function, and goes from the molecular level, through the cellular level, up to the level of entire organisms. Brock University is a great place to study neuroscience, with a thriving Neuroscience program and a range of world class researchers. Come and learn how Neuroscientists use genetic tools that can be controlled using light in order to control and investigate the function of the nervous system using optogenetic tools (Lab A). Then, learn how brain cells communicate in response to touch and movement (Lab B).

Plant Sciences

Plants and algae are extraordinary organisms and play an essential role in the ecosystem! They are photoautotrophs which means they can produce their own food using sunlight and carbon dioxide via photosynthesis. Through this process, plants create sugars and release oxygen. Therefore, plants produce the necessary energy (or food) for many other organisms to survive. Autographs are extremely diverse and have developed many adaptations to survive different climates. Learn how plants cope with different environments including the ability to withstand freezing temperatures and how we can determine exactly how much cold a plant can tolerate (Lab A). Then, we will review diversity of phytoplankton species found in water bodies in the Niagara region, and how abundance of different species relates to water chemistry, pollution, light and temperature (Lab B).

Bioinformatics & Biomedical Data Science

Thanks to the rapid advancement of computing and biotechnologies, a lot of biological research questions can be answered by analyzing existing data on powerful modern computers. This makes bio-computing a very exciting new field! Bio-computing covers many aspects of biomedical sciences, ranging from drug design, gene discovery, evolutionary biology to personal genomics and precision medicine. In this theme, students will have the opportunity to get a taste of the kinds of cool biomedical tasks that can be done on computers. In Lab A, students will be tasked to discover important things about a human gene (CA9 for the target in Lab B) and retrieve the specific information about its location on the chromosome, the length of the gene, and the size and function of the protein, as well as where in the human body the protein is expressed and how variable the gene is among people.  In the Lab B, students will have a chance to find out how a popular drug, SLC-0111, for treating cancer works by interacting with its protein target in 3D visualization using computer docking, and how they can design new and better drugs with artificial intelligence.