Julie LaRoche

Julie LaRoche (born 1957) is a Canadian marine biologist. She is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Marine Microbial Genomics and Biogeochemistry at Dalhousie University.

Julie LaRoche
Born1957 (age 63–64)
Quebec
Spouse(s)Douglas Wallace
Academic background
EducationB.Sc., McGill University
PhD., Dalhousie University
ThesisAdaptation of phytoplankton to fluctuating nitrogen concentrations: long-term and short-term changes in ammonium uptake kinetics (1987)
Academic work
InstitutionsUniversity of Kiel
Dalhousie University

Early life and education

LaRoche was born in Quebec, Canada, in 1957. She earned her Bachelor of Science from McGill University and her PhD in Biological Oceanography at Dalhousie University.[1] While earning her PhD at Dalhouse, she met her future husband Douglas Wallace.[2]

Career

After completing her postdoctoral studies at Dalhousie University, LaRoche conducted research at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL).[1] While there, LaRoche co-published “Flavodoxin expression as an indicator of iron limitation in marine diatoms" with Helen Murray-Tobin which earned them the Luigi Provasoli Award from the Phycological Society of America for the most outstanding research paper published in the Journal of Phycology.[3] She also studied how stress affects phytoplankton.[4] In 1998, LaRoche accepted a position at the University of Kiel as a professor in their Institute of Oceanography.[1]

LaRoche and her husband stayed in Germany until 2010 when they both accepted placements at their alma mater, Dalhousie. LaRoche was appointed a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Marine Microbial Genomics and Biogeochemistry, and her husband was appointed the University's Canada Excellence Research Chair.[5] Upon her return, she developed a lab to research how global climate change is affecting marine microbes and biochemical processes.[6] She specifically studied how phytoplankton and marine bacteria are affected by increases in temperature and decreases in pH.[7] In 2016, she received $149,900 in funding for her plankton research project, which allowed her to purchase a holographic microscope for a commercial ship she uses to study the Deep Panuke drilling station.[8] Previously, her team had only been able to analyze sample of water twice a year until The Atlantic Canadian company voluntarily provided the lab with free access on the Atlantic Condor.[9] The next year, she partnered with Canada C3, a 150-day expedition along the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific coasts, to collect and share data.[10]

In 2019, LaRoche was renewed as a Canada Research Chair.[11]

References
  1. "Prof. Dr. Julie LaRoche". laborundmore.com (in French). Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  2. McNutt, Ryan (May 17, 2010). "OCEANS RESEARCH GETS A BOOST". dal.ca. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  3. Greenberg, Diane (April 18, 1997). "Oceanography Researchers Recognized" (PDF). bnl.gov. p. 2. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  4. "Iron Weighs Heavily In Ocean Plankton Growth, CO2 Absorption". eurekalert.org. October 9, 1996. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  5. Weeren, Marie (June 30, 2010). "THE RIPPLE EFFECT". dal.ca. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  6. "Monitoring Marine Microbes". bdbiosciences.com. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  7. "Deciphering the Role of the Invisible Marine Life with Julie LaRoche". ace-net.ca. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  8. Kennedy, Grace (February 24, 2016). "Dalhousie gets boost for plankton research". signalhfx.ca. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  9. Comeau, Nikki (February 19, 2016). "A blooming partnership to advance ocean research". dal.ca. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  10. Lewis, Patti (August 10, 2017). "BIOLOGIST SLEUTHS SOLVE MYSTERIES WITH DNA". dal.ca. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  11. Charlton, Michele (July 3, 2019). "DALHOUSIE HOME TO SIX NEW CANADA RESEARCH CHAIRS". dal.ca. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
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