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Dr. Dan McDevit

Post Doctoral Fellow

Dan is now a Professor in the biology department at Edison State College in Florida.

Email: dan.mcdevit@unb.ca

I was first introduced to algae as an undergraduate at Trinity College in Connecticut where I worked in the lab of Craig Schneider on the freshwater algal genus Vaucheria. For my PhD work I used molecular tools to study relationships between members of the Phaeophyceae (brown macroalgae) in Canada.  Primarily I worked on members of the Laminariaceae and Scytosiphonaceae but I also conducted a broad survey of all Canadian browns and found that there were a number of cryptic species complexes and potential new species.  I completed my PhD in October 2010.

PhD Thesis: A molecular assisted survey and phylogenetic study of Canadian brown macroalgae (Phaeophyceae).

I first joined the lab as a PhD student in 2005 and in addition to completing my PhD I spent a year working as Lab Manager –while Tanya was away on maternity leave – and served as the “high-throughput manager” developing new techniques for high throughput DNA extraction and barcoding for marine macroalgae.

I am currently a professor of biology at Edison State College in Fort Myers Florida where I teach introductory biology and continue to SCUBA dive and study seaweed taxonomy.  It is quite a transition from working in the cold waters of Canada to the tropical waters of the Gulf of Mexico, but I am adapting!  It truly is an exciting time in the seaweed world!

Publications:
McDevit, D.C. and Saunders, G.W. (in prep). A new species of kelp Saccharina druelii from Haida Gwaii.

McDevit, D.C. and Saunders, G.W. (in prep). A molecular investigation of Canadian Scytosiphonaceae (Phaeophyceae) including descriptions of two new species - Scytosiphon constrictus sp. nov. and S. promiscuus sp. nov.

Schneider, C.W., McDevit, D.C., Saunders, G.W. and Lane, C.E. (submitted) Notes on the marine algae of the Bermudas. 12. A molecular taxonomic assessment of Nemastoma gelatinosum M.  Howe (Rhodophyta, Nemastomatales) from its type locality. Cryptogamie-Algologie.

Saunders, G.W. and McDevit, D.C. (in press). Acquiring DNA sequence data from dried archival (type) red algae (Florideophyceae) for the purpose of applying species concepts to contemporary genetic species: a critical assessment.  Botany.

Sloan, N.A, McDevit, D.C. and Saunders, G.W. (2011). Further to the occurrence of red abalone (Haliotis rufescens) in British Columbia. Canadian Field Naturalist 124: 238-41.

McDevit, D.C. and Saunders, G.W. (2010). A DNA barcode examination of the Laminariaceae (Phaeophyceae) in Canada reveals novel biogeographical and evolutionary insights. Phycologia 49: 235-48.

McDevit, D.C. and Saunders, G.W. (2009). On the utility of DNA barcoding for species differentiation among brown macroalgae (Phaeophyceae) including a novel extraction protocol. Phycological Research 57(2): 131-141.

Liang, M., Zhang, Y., McDevit, D.C., Marecki, S. and Nikolajczyk, B.S. (2006). The Interleukin-1beta Gene Is Transcribed from a Poised Promoter Architecture in Monocytes. J. Biological Chem. 281(14): 9227-37.

McDevit, D.C. and Nikolajczyk, B.S. (2006). Changes in immunoglobulin nucleoprotein complex structure mapped by chromatin immunoprecipitation. Molecular Immunology 43(10):1541-8.

McDevit, D.C., Perkins, L., Atchison, M.L. and Nikolajczyk, B.S. (2005). The Igk3’ enhancer is activated by gradients of chromatin accessibility and protein association. Journal of Immunology 174(5): 2834-42.

McCarthy, K., McDevit, D.C., Andreucci, A., Reeves, R. and Nikolajczyk, B.S. (2003). HMGA1 Co-activates Transcription in B Cells through Indirect Association with DNA J. Biol. Chem. 278(43): 42106-14

Schneider C.W. and McDevit, D.C. (2002).  Are earthworms a possible mechanism for airborne dispersal of the alga Vaucheria? Northeastern Naturalist 9: 225-234.

McDevit, D.C. and Schneider, C.W. (2002).  The survival of Vaucheria (Vaucheriaceae) propagules in New England riparian sediments after repeated freeze/ thaw cycles.  Rhodora 104: 161-169.

Dunphy, M.E, McDevit, D.C., Lane, C.E., and Schneider, C.W. (2001). The survival of Vaucheria (Vaucheriaceae) propagules in desiccated New England riparian sediments.  Rhodora 103: 916-926.

Book Chapter:
Saunders, G.W. and McDevit, D. (in press). Methods for DNA barcoding photosynthetic protists emphasizing the macroalgae and diatoms. In Kress, W.J. and Erickson, D.L. (Eds.) DNA Barcodes: Methods and Protocols. New York, NY: Humana Press.