1965 was a hell of a year. Across the world, the Vietnam War was raging while Martin Luther King Jr. fanned the flames of civil unrest at home. In Canada, the iconic flag we know and love was adopted under the watchful eye of Lester B. Pearson. It was a tumultuous year everywhere—even here in Toronto. The opening of the Ramsey Wright Zoological Laboratories was a fitting development in this time of change and progress. It was a physical symbol of a spirit of scientific discovery and exploration that is still maintained today at U of T.
Named after the magnificently moustachioed Ramsey Wright, the building was one of the most modern biological research facilities in North America when it was first opened. At a quarter of a million square feet, it was also one of the largest. Containing lecture halls, research laboratories, student lab space and animal care rooms, the place offered a much-needed expansion for badly cramped research labs and teaching services at the school.
Ramsey Wright was the third chair of natural history at U of T and a man of dual natures. He split his time between ecological field research and work inside his lab studying embryos and development. Perhaps an embodiment of his duality of spirit, he was reportedly able to write two different sentences on a blackboard at the same time. Starting in 1874, his 38-year career as chair was notable for his focus on promoting practical biological research, introducing lab work in the biology curriculum and supporting the very new—and very controversial—idea of evolution.
Wandering by this unassuming (at least compared to monstrous Robarts across the street) structure, no clues are given regarding the rich, artificial ecosystem that is inside. From buzzing bees to reclusive rats, Ramsey Wright is alive with a wide array of organisms. Welcome to the jungle.
The bugs and the bees
Insects are exceptionally useful in biological research: they are small, easy to take care of, and breed quickly, making them ideal candidates for labs where space is a limiting factor. Doctor James Thomson’s lab works with bumblebees (definitely one of the cuter species of insect), covering topics ranging from pollination efficiency to the effect of climate change on bee populations.
Jessamyn Manson, a PhD student in the lab, works on the social and learning aspects of bumblebees among other research.
“We see bees as a model for social organisms, including people. You can teach them very basic skills very quickly. Bees are extremely smart, people don’t realize that—they are very job oriented animals,” said Manson.
The interior of the lab room is a cluttered and modest setting, featuring some common items used in unusual ways. A belt hole puncher is used to make air holes in containers, while yoghurt containers double as homes for bees—“We do a lot of what we call arts and crafts.” Even items used in dentistry (cotton dental wicks) find use as bee feeders dispensing sugary nectar.
The vast quantity of bees needed by the lab makes it impractical to breed them on site. Instead, they are mailed to the lab in buzzing boxes—“it freaks out the people who get the mail,”—and connected to large, netted enclosures using metal mesh tubes. The bees go about their business as usual, collecting nectar from artificial flowers and tending to their clumpy hives. Having the bees in easily observable units allows for the marking of certain bees with paint or the removal of males (who aren’t very useful to the hive) and other undesirables:
“When a bee does something bad, it goes in the freezer. When it does something good, it goes in the freezer. It’s the mediocre ones that outlast them all,” said Manson.
The fruits of their labour
A few floors up from the bee lab, flying insects of a different sort take up residence. Ubiquitous and sometimes annoying, fruit flies are one of the classic organisms studied in evolutionary biology. Thousands of these tiny buggers make their home in Doctor Aneil Agrawal’s lab.
“Most of my work is in some way tied to why organisms shuffle up their genotypes so frequently, which translates into why do they have sex. [It] is one of the classic questions in evolutionary biology,” explained Agrawal.
A contrast to the Thomson lab, this research space is tidy, neat and—perhaps as a result of the organisms used—much smaller. Two giant fridge-like appliances dominate one side of the room. Red displays on the top corner of each show a temperature reading of 24 degrees Celsius, the climate where the flies are most comfortable. When opened, hundreds of plastic vials of various sizes can be seen on shelves inside, all of them marked with various coloured tapes and other markings. The sheer quantity of the little guys is a bit staggering: there are easily thousands of them hanging out and thousands more on the way in larvae form. But why study fruit flies?
“There’s a long history of working on flies—a great wealth of knowledge that you can draw from.”
Given some food and a small bit of space, they practically take care of themselves, and, as anyone who has left fruit out too long knows, reproduce like crazy. That fact, coupled with short generation times, small size, and ease of use makes them an ideal candidate for studies on genetics, mutations, sexual reproductions, and population dynamics, the kind of thing Agrawal is interested in.
It helps to love what you do, especially when things don’t go exactly as planned. In biological research, this is often the case, as problems can arise from a myriad of different sources. Difficulties in ensuring maintaining correct environmental conditions and accurate measurements, as well as complications regarding equipment are just some of the potential sources of error.
“You never have enough time to do the things want to do and everything always turns out to be more difficult than you expected it to be. A lot of times you run into really simple practical problems.”
When asked to describe his research in one word, Agrawal has to think about it for a while before responding. His answer to the question neatly sums up what it is like to be a scientist and discoverer:
“Fascinating.”
Little fish in a big tank
The tacky green-and-purple painted labs (it was the ’60s, man) of Ramsey Wright also contain some other creatures higher up on the chain of life. There isn’t space for antelopes or elephants to traipse around, but there is plenty of room for fish tanks.
Doctor Helen Rodd, who currently studies guppies, wasn’t always a fish fan: “I never thought I wanted to work on fish because I thought they were really stupid.”
She initially began her research on field mice (she enjoyed working outdoors), but realized on a trip to California how much easier it was to observe organisms in clear water.
“I got really frustrated when I was working on field mice, because I could hear them squeaking… but you can’t see what their behaviours are.” With guppies, “You can see all the interactions between everyone.”
Working as a biologist has some serious perks, not least of which are the exotic locales where some creatures naturally occur:
“It’s not really a disadvantage when you have to go to Trinidad. Working on a tropical island is a real plus.”
Besides being funny-looking with their bubbleeyes and rounded bellies, guppies have some useful traits. For one thing, they are prolific breeders, able to reach sexual maturity in a matter of a few months. As well, females can store sperm for up to eight months—a useful ability when mates are rare—and certain species can even internally select which male’s sperm fertilizes their eggs. It is theorized that female guppies ‘trade up’ and seek the sperm of more attractive males. Maybe we’re not so different from our fishy friends.
Who needs sleep?
That classic symbol of biological research, the lab rat, is indeed present in Ramsey Wright. In Doctor Richard Stephenson’s lab, the main topic of research is both simple and complicated at the same time:
“My broad interest is in the basic function of sleep. We don’t know what that function is. It takes a third of our lives and we don’t know why. It’s one of the major mysteries of modern biology right now,” said Stephenson.
The rats used are a particular strain of a typical species (Rattus norvegicus), otherwise known as the common rat. The rats are albino, with white coats and bright red eyes and reach alarmingly large sizes. There is a long history of rats being used in research, hence the term ‘lab rat’ being used to describe any test subject.
There are difficulties in translating research done on rats to humans. Especially considering that rats are what are known as polyphasic sleepers, meaning they sleep in short bouts both day and night. An alternative is using simpler organisms, such as invertebrates, to study sleep.
“Invertebrates do have a resting state which is analogous to mammalian sleep. Whether or not it is identical is a matter for debate. Much has been learned in the field of neurobiology by looking at very simple organisms.”
The invertebrates used are possibly the simplest organism cultivated in Ramsey Wright. Pond snails congregate in small aquariums and munch on lettuce leaves when they aren’t busy doing nothing. Curiously, they have exceptionally large neurons, which makes them convenient study organisms on the molecular level.
It’s a jungle in here
Wandering around Ramsey Wright on a lazy Friday afternoon with our intrepid photo editor, Dan Epstein, we encountered a multitude of animals that we did not expect to find. From flailing frogs (that splashed water and nearly ruined a camera) to boxes full of scurrying cockroaches, there is a lot of life within the building’s walls. Slimy salamanders (poisonous if you eat them, but it’s not as tempting as it sounds) and glassencased bug collections are just part of the interior decoration, and it’s no wonder that there is some life outside of the labs as well. Free-range cockroaches maintain a healthy population level in the damp, dark corners of this edifice. So much so that a population ecology course, EEB319, sets out cockroach traps in the basement for an assignment on populations and reproductive output. Last year’s catch was bountiful and some of the cockroach carcasses even showed signs of light snacking from the ‘wild’ rats that dwell in this aging structure.
Our impromptu photo shoot done and curiosities satisfied, it felt as if we only scratched the surface of this unique indoor ecosystem. Like a Christmas present that is well wrapped, we could only hope to get a small sense of the life and work within the walls of Ramsey Wright Zoological Laboratories. I spent many hours talking to TAs, professors and lab assistants, all of whom were helpful, kind and informative and I truly thank them for all their help. I look forward to visiting again. After all, there is always something exciting going on where the wild things are.
—WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM: KARLEEN MURRAIN, VERN LEWIS AND GRETA CHIU
