The University of Toronto’s Department of Nutritional Sciences recently hosted two Aboriginal high school students, as part of the “Verna Kirkness Be a Food Researcher for a Week” program. Lindsay Bristow of Winnipeg, Manitoba and Shyanne Kinnowatner of Baker Lake, Nunavut visited Toronto for the first time from February 23 to 27, in an all-expenses-paid internship program organized by the Advanced Foods and Materials Network. Ten other Aboriginal students were also provided the opportunity to attend similar week-long internships at other participating Canadian universities.
The U of T branch of the program took place under the leadership of Dr. Ahmed El-Sohemy, an associate professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences. Leah Cahill and Karen Eny—two PhD students working in Dr. El-Sohemy’s lab—organized daily activities for Lindsay and Shyanne that introduced them to nutritional research and lab techniques.
For Lindsay, the internship program was an opportunity to further explore her post-secondary options. She plans to attend university in her home province of Manitoba next year, but is undecided about her career plan. After experiencing what it’s like to be a food researcher, Lindsay is “actually thinking about [becoming a food scientist] now. It’s pretty interesting stuff and I didn’t really know any of it existed before.” Lindsay enjoyed the variety of tasks the internship provided, with a new activity planned for each day. As for how the U of T campus compares to Winnipeg, Lindsay says that “Winnipeg’s a lot smaller, and we don’t have streetcars or subways and our downtown isn’t as safe—here there’s so much to see.”
Shyanne describes the town of Baker Lake as a community with a population of around 1,500 to 2,000 people. She feels that “Toronto has changed my life,” giving her a chance to explore what happens across Canada, and see the differences between the provinces and territories. Her favorite part of the week was performing DNA isolation, a technique commonly used in research labs. She enjoyed seeing how research equipment is used, something she had only read about in textbooks. Shyanne also enjoyed visiting Kensington and the St. Lawrence Market, where she had the chance to try various novel foods including sushi, kiwis, and pomegranates. She plans to share these new experiences with the youth in her community.
As part of the activities organized by Cahill and Eny, the students spent time in Dr. El-Sohemy’s lab, which specializes in nutrigenomics research, the branch of nutritional science that deals with the interaction between diet and genes. They had the opportunity to practice lab techniques, such as DNA isolation and genotyping. In order to show Lindsay and Shyanne additional aspects of food and nutrition research, Cahill and Eny arranged a visit to Dr. Richard Bazinet’s neuroscience lab, where the students took a tour of the animal facility and practiced lipid extraction. They also visited the Risk Factor Modification Centre at St. Michael’s Hospital, and Dr. David Jenkin’s Glycemic Index lab. In addition to touring the U of T campus, the students had the opportunity to see the food production and development labs at George Brown College.
For Cahill and Eny, the internship program provided the opportunity to show students that research can be interesting and a potential career opportunity. Cahill wanted to teach the interns that “science is fun, and easy. There’s this preconception that scientists are mean, boring, and old. A lot of people, especially girls, don’t think of it as a career option. But lots of scientists are young women. [Shyanne and Lindsay] did a lot of the activities that we [regularly] do.”
Eny took part in a similar program when she was in high school. It ended up being the major reason she went into a career in research. For these more experienced students, spending time with the interns is an exciting mentoring opportunity and a chance to pass on their own knowledge to potential future food scientists. According to Cahill, “nutritional science is growing, and lots of people don’t know about the field, which is going to need more researchers in the future.”
