UNews - Osaka

Research ties established through Japanese macaques

trevor.kenney — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 22:14:20 +0000

When Dr. Jean-Baptiste Leca was studying for his undergraduate degree in his hometown of Bordeaux, France, it's likely he never expected that one day he'd be doing post-doctoral work at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, and that the Japanese macaques would be the conduits for that link.

And yet here he is, with his wife Dr. Noëlle Gunst, studying these monkeys alongside Dr. Paul Vasey of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's Department of Psychology.

"We met for the first time 10 years ago because we happened to be studying the same monkeys at the same place, Arashiyama, near Kyoto city, central Japan," says Leca, who recently co-edited a book with Vasey and Dr. Michael Huffman from Kyoto ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, specifically dedicated to these monkeys. "The Japanese macaques of Arashiyama are probably one of the best known and longest studied primate groups in the world and yet we continue to find new and interesting aspects to their behaviour."

Dr. Jean-Baptiste Leca has been working with the U of L's Dr. Paul Vasey for the past two years.

Leca and Gunst have worked with Vasey for the past two years, continuing his research focus on female homosexual behaviour of Japanese macaques at Arashiyama. Last year, they explored a new field site – Minoo, near Osaka city – where free-ranging Japanese macaques also occur. By chance, the trio came across a little studied demographic setting in primates and were fortunate enough to observe male homosexual behaviour. After analyzing these new data, Leca co-authored a manuscript with Gunst and Vasey for publication in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.

"Japanese macaques live in societies that are typically multi-male, multi-female. Males, when they reach sexual maturity, leave their natal group, with some transferring directly into a new multi-male, multi-female group, while others wander around solitarily for a period of time, and even others join what we call an all-male group. Being elusive, these all-male groups are difficult to track and observe, which is why we know little about them," says Leca. "As far as we know, young males stick together, travel independently, have social interactions and form a sub-group by themselves. When the mating season comes (October through January) some of these males will walk around a multi-male, multi-female group, hopefully to mate with females. What we observed in this particular all-male group however was male homosexual behaviour. While it's not the first time that this behaviour has been reported in Japanese macaques, it is the first time it has been reported in an all-male group."

The significance of this discovery is that it may speak to the evolution of male homosexuality in humans.

"We observe sexual behaviour – not sexual orientation – in monkeys. So the link will never be direct," cautions Leca. "But our findings may provide insights into the possible origins of human homosexuality."

Here, a Japanese macaque juvenile male and a young adult male embrace each other. PHOTO by Dr. Noëlle Gunst

He describes a possible evolutionary scenario proposed by Dr. Bernard Chapais from the Université de Montréal, where ancestral humans may have transitioned from multi-male, multi-female groups to polygynous groups, or harems. After reducing the number of females associated with each male of these harem societies, early humans then may have transitioned to monogamous units, which are widespread today.

"What we suspect, is that among polygynous ancestral humans, not all the males had access to females to form their harem, so maybe some of these males ended up in all-male groups, like Japanese macaques," says Leca. "One possibility is that the earliest forms of male homosexual behaviour occurred in these all-male groups. That's why we can make a kind of parallel between monkeys and humans."

Leca and his wife have been studying monkeys for 15 years and have travelled to Japan to study the macaques each of the past 10 years, calling the area their second home. This fall, when mating season arrives, Leca says the group may not venture to Japan and instead invest their time writing papers before returning in 2014. The lure of what is possible with this new line of study is invigorating.

"This time we got very lucky and our observations are really preliminary on this male homosexual behavior," he says. "So we want to return and continue our study on these all-male groups because they are not typically researched. We'd like to know more about the social interactions between these males and by understanding some of their social bonds, see how these particular relationships may impact their sexual behaviour."

It is groundbreaking work uniting three researchers from two very distant countries in a foreign land – with science the link that brought them together.

This story first appeared in the April 2013 edition of the Legend. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Steacy siblings triumph

trevor.kenney — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 21:02:28 +0000

Jim and Heather Steacy added to their impressive track resume this past weekend, winning both the men's and women's Canadian Senior hammer throw titles in Calgary.

Jim Steacy, a 2008 Olympian and former Pronghorns star, completed more than a year long road to recovery and claimed his seventh Canadian Senior title with a throw of 76.27 metres. Steacy missed the entire outdoor season with a pair of injuries that required surgeries to both legs.

Having achieved his second 'B' standard throw of the season at the Canadian Championships, Steacy has qualified for his second World Championships later this summer in Daegu, South Korea. Steacy finished 13th at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan. He is the Canadian record holder in the hammer throw with a distance of 79.13 metres.

"I am very happy to be at the level I am at after only four months of training," says Steacy. "To have qualified for the Worlds is a huge step along the path towards the London Olympics next year."

Heather Steacy, a four-time CIS medalist, earned her first Senior National title in Calgary beating out the Canadian record holder and former Olympian Sultana Frizell. Steacy edged out Frizell with a throw of 70.86 metres.

Her throw on Saturday was just shy of her personal best of 70.98 metres but was also her second 'B' standard of the season. It will now be up to Athletics Canada to decide if she will compete at the World Championships, as Frizell has achieved the 'A' standard, automatically qualifying her for the Worlds. If she does get named to the Canadian team it would be her first trip to the World Championships.

Both Jim and Heather will get a good test in Edmonton this week at the Edmonton International Track Classic. American Kibwe Johnson, who broke the 80-metre mark for the first time this season, will travel to Edmonton, while the second ranked female in the world, Kathrin Klaas of Germany, will also compete in Edmonton. Johnson has the second furthest throw this season in the world with a mark of 80.31 metres.

The World Championships will run August 27th to September 4th in Daegu, South Korea.

Exchange student experiences Japanese earthquake

trevor.kenney — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:23:47 +0000

The following is a blog post from one of our ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students currently studying in Japan. Kelsey Thibodeau, a Taber, Alta. native, is a fourth-year Management student on an international exchange.

I'm studying at Kansai Gaidai ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Hirakata, which is located in the Osaka Prefecture. Hirakata is located more than 600 km from Sendai in the Miyagi prefecture where the earthquake and tsunami hit hard, just to give readers an idea of how far I am located from the main point of destruction.

This is the second earthquake that I have felt since I arrived in February and I must say that this earthquake felt completely different than the first. I was at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in the computer lab when the earthquake occurred just before 3 p.m. on Mar. 11, 2011. Even though the strength of the earthquake felt in Hirakata was much less than other places, the instant that the earthquake began I felt as if I was going to pass out, I experienced symptoms of vertigo during the whole earthquake (which is common with earthquakes) which lasted over 2 minutes long. I thought there was something wrong with me but when I looked I could see the computers slowly moving back and forth, so I immediately knew what was going on.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge fourth-year Management student, Kelsey Thibodeau, currently in Japan on an international exchange.

This earthquake was different in the sense that everything was not violently shaking, but it felt as if massive waves were hitting the outside of the building, rocking it hard, but very slow. The girl sitting next to me said she was experiencing the same feelings of motion sickness. The Japanese are so used to earthquakes that none of the Japanese students seemed concerned about what was going on, but all of the foreign students were paying close attention to what was happening.

After the earthquake, everything continued on as normal and I headed to class, still feeling very off balance. I hate to admit this, but I felt so strange after the earthquake that my teacher told me to go home because I didn't look my best. When I got home I thought it was just an earthquake and nothing happened until my dad called me asking me what was going on because the news of the disaster instantly reached home. I found out what was going on through listening to CNN via skype.

It was/is hard to find out information about what is going on because we only get Japanese television stations here at the dorms. The only information we find out is through the internet, just like everyone else in the world – except we are in Japan. I didn't realize the extent of the damage until the next day when the internet was flooded with information. I say I didn't realize because the area that I am in was unaffected by the earthquake. It feels SO strange to be in Japan while this natural disaster is occurring, yet I am physically unaffected by it.

Thibodeau observed many groups of Japanese citizens, like these, in Kobe and Osaka following the quake. They were soliciting help for those affected in the coastal areas.

I travelled to Kobe & Osaka two days after the earthquake and even there, in the big cities, people are carrying on with their daily lives, knowing in the back of their minds what is going on but on the outside you could never tell anything was happening in Japan at the moment. I think it is important for people to understand that this natural disaster has not damaged the entire country because information is only given out on the affected areas. This is probably the strangest thing to me that I've ever experienced. I know I'm in Japan, and I'm aware of the magnitude of distress the country is going through, yet the area I am in seems like nothing has even happened. I feel confused because I don't know what to feel or how to react, but I've decided to learn from what the Japanese people around me are doing; I'm going to follow their lead. I actually went to the grocery store a day after the earthquake and tsunami to buy extra food and water, and I looked around to see what all the people were buying and they all seemed to be shopping as if a natural disaster did not just occur in their country, but I still bought extra water and non-perishable food just to be safe.

I'm trying my best to keep myself collected but it is hard. Some students at the school have left the country already, some have tickets booked just in case, and some seem completely at calm with the situation. I feel nervous and anxious because I'm not sure of what to expect about anything here as parts of Japan were completely destroyed in a matter of minutes.

Tonight I have found out the following: "On Sunday, JMA said that based on the occurrence of aftershocks so far, there is a 70 per cent chance that an aftershock of 7.0 or greater will hit by 10 a.m. local time on Wednesday. After Wednesday morning, the chance of such an earthquake happening will be about 50 per cent until 10 a.m. local time on Saturday."

With this new information, and concerns of the nuclear power plants, I'm not sure what to expect. Everyone is being kept on the edge of their seats with what we know, but the best I can do is be prepared and try to follow what the locals are doing since I am a foreigner in a country experiencing their "greatest crisis since WWII", according to the Japanese Prime Minister. I'm counting my blessings knowing that I am extremely lucky to be in a safe area of Japan and just hoping for the best throughout this next week and praying for everyone affected by this crisis.

As I am sending this, I just felt an aftershock. It makes this situation seem so much more real.

Kelsey Thibodeau

Golden effort for U of L iGEM team

trevor.kenney — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:14:31 +0000

A group of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Chemistry/Biochemistry and Neuroscience students returned from a recent international genetically-engineered machines (iGEM) conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, MA as gold medalists and with a new appreciation for teamwork, inventiveness and taking chances.

The iGEM competition is regarded as the premier undergraduate synthetic biology competition in the World. Student teams are given a kit of biological parts – called 'BioBricks' – at the beginning of the summer from the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. Working at their own schools, they use these parts, along with new parts of their own design, to build biological systems. They then operate these systems in living cells.

The 8-person U of L team worked on harvesting solar energy by refining what was termed a 'bio-battery', focusing on a type of bacteria called a cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae) that has photosynthetic properties when exposed to sunlight.

"My iGEM experience, or my introduction to synthetic biology, began and ended with a bang," says team member Megan Torry.

"The competition was intriguing because it introduced me to a future that we cannot grasp. We have no idea of the vast number of possibilities of where the world will take us, and our future decisions regarding change. There does not seem to be an academic program that is as multi-disciplinary as iGEM. People from numerous backgrounds can come together and offer the team different perspectives and skills, further making it a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge goal to get more students involved."

The U of L iGEM team was one of the few composed mainly of
undergraduate students, and competed against more than 100 university teams to finish with a gold medal standing, one of 48 groups to achieve that mark.
They share their iGEM Gold Medal standing with such heavyweight universities as Stanford, Tokyo, Osaka, Johns Hopkins, Paris, and Cambridge, among others. They even outdid the incomparable Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) itself.

Team supervisor Dr. Hans-Joachim Wieden says the team did a tremendous job of making their project not only work, but also be complete enough to have other teams take an interest in their research.

"The team constructed some functional biobricks by successfully using synthetic biology to engineer an organism. We also furthered knowledge within the synthetic biology community and helped other teams with their projects. This is a lot of work, which the students take on in their spare time."

Torry and the others didn't seem to mind the time commitment or the complexity of their project. As successful as the project ultimately was, changes and chances were the order of the day to make the project work.

"Throughout the summer our project was forced to change as our team took chances again and again, and consequently were wrong, again and again. It was good that we were all too stubborn to stop showing up. I realized that being a risk taker and taking chances will expand synthetic biology because it will lead to the development of new ideas. I would suggest that anyone interested should take a chance with iGEM," says Torry.

"I have a BSc in Neuroscience, but iGEM allowed me to come to a conclusion that there are numerous novel lab procedures to expand my personal skills.

"I had to learn all of these new lab procedures, and I had to ask a lot of questions, interact, present, travel, write and develop myself over the last eight months. I was successful on a personal level because I was able to expand my talents, discover talent within myself, and see it in those working around me."

The iGEM project has evolved to become a credit course, and there is now scholarship money available for travel. As well, the group developed a business plan to further take advantage of any ideas that come out of the iGEM process.

UNews - Osaka

Research ties established through Japanese macaques

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