principal investigator
b.sc., university of waterloo
m.sc., toronto metropolitan university
ph.d., mcgill university
postdoc, stanford university/hhmi
contact: callista [at] zoology [dot] ubc [dot] ca
hello folks! I have been doing C. elegans genetics since 2009! I was first introduced to the worm during my master’s work with dr. marie killeen. despite me not having any formal research experience, she gave me a chance and trained me in genetics and developmental biology. I then moved to montréal to do my doctoral work with dr. siegfried hekimi, studying how reactive oxygen species signaling can modulate worm aging. for my postdoc, I trained with dr. kang shen at stanford university/hhmi – a world expert in neuronal cell biology. now at UBC, I focus on studying the genetic programs that control presynaptic gene expression.
likes: coffee, the leafs, pwhl, knife sharpening, and riichi mahjong 🀄️
dislikes: raisins in cookies (hard no), pineapple on pizza 🍍🚫🍕
hot take: there are no squeaky cheese curds in vancouver
fav. music: twice, aespa, illit, young posse, ive, meovv, newjeans 👩🎤
what I’m probably listening to while walking: izna – mamma mia, le sserafim – boompala, ichillin – demigod, aespa – lemonade, hongshi – my type (let’s go), halcali – otsukare summer
“what do research professors do all day?”
- mentoring people in the lab
- reading papers (up to date with the literature/peer review)
- meetings (1-on-1s, group meetings, committees, collabs etc.)
- writing (grants, reference letters)
- admin stuff (ordering, paying bills, planning)
- experiments (wish I had more time to do this)
- teaching (biol 200 – intro to cell bio)
- studying for teaching (yeah I study fr)
- saving paper_final_final_for_real.docx files
- reading your sci_comm_final_final_final.pdfs
- making lists on wordpress and notion
a donut crawl in vancouver:
(doable with friends – might be too hard to do alone. if each person gets a donut at each stop you can split and try more. note: their there is closing end of summer 2026 so get your donut fill while you can)
- their there (start here: kitsilano)
- goldie’s (across the street from TT)
- lucky’s (at 49th parallel cafe, just west of TT)
- ooh lala (just east of TT)
- superbolt lab matcha (to stay hydrated – north of TT)
- stop at kits beach and eat donuts/people watch
- lee’s (bus/evo/walk to granville)
- neate (at jj bean – granville)
- sit outside on a bench and eat donuts/people watch
- cream pony (aquabus from granville to olympic village + walk)
- mello (easy bus ride)
- contemplate your life choices, then contemplate where you’re going to eat dinner if you’re still hungry…maybe somewhere that has congee because chinese donuts are still donuts (😏)