STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES:

Dr. Scott is interested to supervise research projects of an applied nature, such as those relating to the measurement and evaluation of indoor microbial contaminants, particularly moulds, and health.  Graduate programs are available at the MPH, MSc or PhD level administered through the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.  Dr. Scott is eligible to supervise students enrolled in graduate programs in the Division of Occupational & Environmental Health who are interested in conducting laboratory-based independent projects or research practica.

Some of the projects currently available at the graduate-level include:

• Exposure assessment methods for indoor biological contaminants
• The distribution of endotoxin and (1–>3)-beta-D-glucan in size-resolved fractions of air and dust
• Development and validation of a solid-state mould biosensor for building envelope research
  (this project is in conjunction with Dr. Eric Savory and Dr. Jayshri Sabarinathan at the University of Western Ontario)
• A survey of Blastomyces dermatitidis in central and northern Ontario soils by qPCR
• Testing the effectiveness of aerosol-arresting filter devices in hospital isolation room application using molecular detection
• Microbiology and community ecology of the mammalian intestinal tract
• Development of inexpensive integrative air sampling tools for exposure assessment in population health studies
• Phylogenetics of the dermatophyte Trichophyton mentagrophytes from non-foot body sites
• Characterization of microbial contaminants in machining coolants by molecular genetic methods