The reorganization of U of T’s main biological sciences departments into two new outfits came a step closer last Friday, as the department of zoology voted unanimously to disestablish itself. The outcome of a similar vote in the botany department was unclear as the The Varsity went to press-but that measure too was expected to pass.
Out of the ashes of the two will emerge the department of ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB), and the department of cell and systems biology (CSB).
The approval process is not yet complete, as the matter is due to come up for Governing Council approval by early February. Zoology chair Dr. Robert Baker said he expects the new departments to come into being next July.
He added that the reorganization will not affect undergraduate studies, and that, in effect, it will serve to streamline research efforts along common lines. “We’re no longer paying attention the taxonomic differences between animals and plants-we’re focusing more on the areas of research they are actually involved in.
“There were more similarities in research across the departments of botany [and] zoology than there were within them,” Baker said. “There’s an awful lot of work in cell and molecular biology in both zoology and botany.”
Those researchers share a lot of the same equipment and ideas, so “it made more sense for those people to be in the same department.”
Dr. Dan Brooks, a parasitologist in zoology, welcomed the reorganization of botany and his department. Brooks said the idea has been floating around at least as long as he had been at the university, which is 17 years.
But he worried whether the shakeup would inconvenience researchers in both departments.
“We have to see to what extent and how fast the administration follows through on essential things like building renovations and making lab and office relocations happen without disrupting research activities,” Brooks commented in an e-mail.
And there will be plenty of opportunity for that. Construction on the centre for biological timing and cognition is slated to start in late November. The facility is a joint effort between zoology and the psychology department, and, when open in the summer of 2007, will add another wing to the Ramsay Wright zoology building. But it not yet known how the vibrations and noise from construction work will affect researchers running delicate animal experiments next door.
Also, renovations on the crumbling Ramsay Wright building are due to start within two years, according to zoology chair Baker. “Ultimately we see the new cell and system biology department being housed in this building.” EEB, meanwhile, would move to the Earth Sciences Centre.
Brooks reckoned that is a pragmatic move to attract funding to facilitate the renovation of Ramsay Wright. “Ramsay Wright needs to be renovated extensively, and ecology and evolution cannot generate the private and public support (and therefore funding) necessary.”
While EEB may have a higher research profile at the university, according to Brooks, “cell and systems biology represents the area of research that has the highest public visibility and government and private sector funding.”
