Principal Investigator

Byron N Van Nest, PhD (he/him)

I am a computer scientist-turned-biologist. My early formal training was in artificial intelligence and robotics, but after working as an engineer and then in biotech, I eventually realized that natural intelligence is far more interesting than artificial intelligence. In the last several years, I have been investigating how brains produce behaviour and how different brains produce different behaviour.

I have been studying brains and behaviour in invertebrate species four about 15 years. Most of my work has been with honey bees, but I also occasionally work with other bee species as well as flies, cockroaches, moths, hydra, and nematodes. My motivation is to learn how brains produce behaviour, and I work with brains that are (almost) tractable, as opposed to vertebrates (and especially mammals).

I am usually recruiting new BSc, MSc, and PhD students to join my group. If you have a specific research question in mind already, that’s very exciting. I’d love to talk to you about how we might try to answer your question.

If you’re interested in discussing research opportunities, please contact me at Byron.VanNest@umanitoba.ca.

Graduate Students

  • Matthew N Aniagu

    MSC STUDENT

    Matthew graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in biotechnology from VSUET Russia in 2021 and worked in the agro-biotech industry prior to joining the Van Nest Lab as a graduate student. His research is focused on studying the behaviours of honey bees and how they sense and interpret modulated electric fields associated with the waggle dance. Outside of academia, he enjoys sports, reading, and outdoor activities.

  • Brianna Kaldor-Mair

    MSC STUDENT

    Brianna first joined the lab as a BSc Honours student in 2021, completing her honours in 2022. She rejoined the lab as a graduate student in the summer of 2023, and while her research interests are broad, her current project focuses on the ecology and neurobiology of social parasitism and aggression in yellowjackets. Outside of academia, Brianna enjoys activities such as writing, mudlarking, and playing the cello.

  • Lauren Peters

    MSC STUDENT

    Lauren studies variation among individual honey bees in a binary choice learning assay. The project incorporates mathematical modeling and automated video analysis. Her BSc Honours project examined the brains regions involved in colour learning in honey bees by performing in vivo surgeries and behavioural assays. She also has a background in wildlife and conservation biology working with various species of birds, butterflies, and mammals at the Assiniboine Park Zoo and Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre.

Undergraduate Students

Lovepreet Singh
BSc Student

Declan Mckelvy
BSc Honours Student

James Watson
BSc Student

Alumni

Tessa Morelli
BSc Honours (2021)

Ankita Dhawan
BSc

Grace Fedirchuk
BSc Honours (2022)

Grabriella Dela Cruz
HS Intern

Suseong Lee
BSc Honours (2023)

Manahil Ayoub
BSc Honours (2024)