Congratulations to Lindsey Chan and Tyler Mears, who successfully defended their Masters Theses today!
Lindsey’s Masters thesis is titled “Enhancing the norm: Improving cephalopod welfare with anesthetic drugs”. Lindsey’s project examined the effect of injectable veterinary anesthetics on two species of cephalopods, Sepia bandensis and Euprymna berryi. Her results add to the small but growing literature on welfare enhancements for cephalopods, and a manuscript based on her thesis is in the final stages of preparation for submission to the premier lab animal journal, JAALAS.
Tyler’s thesis is titled “3-dimensional reconstruction of Deep-Sea Octopus Neuroanatomy Could Reveal Unique Chemoreceptive Abilities in Muusoctopus robustus”. Tyler’s project used microCT to scan and measure the nervous systems of two Muusoctopus species, focusing on differences in the arms and brain between two species with different ecological niches.
After graduation Lindsey is planning to apply to DVM programs, and Tyler to PhD programs. We wish them well on the next stage of their professional careers!