Panchen Lab

Abby Danis
Honours student (2025-2026)

Hi, I am Abby Danis, I am a biology major at Acadia University. My research focuses on pollinator networks in the Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens. In particular I will be examining the relationship between pollinators and woody-flowering species. In my down time I can be found cooking, painting, or spending time outdoors.

Savanna Francis
Honours student (2025-2026)
Previously Research Topics (Winter 2025) and Research Assistant (Summer 2024)

I am a Biology and Environmental Science double major. I worked in the Brrr-tanical Lab for the summer of 2024 doing pollinator research and the Research Topics course during winter 2025 researching Mi'kmaw uses of plants. For my Honours research I am interested in the research of ethnobotany of Mi'kmaq people. I am from the Pictou Landing First Nation community, and I want my work to reflect my cultural belonging. I am forever proud to be an Indigenous woman in STEM.

Tedi Pollak
Honours student (2025-2026)

I am an undergraduate biology student at Acadia University, and I am starting my Honours research in with Dr. Panchen and Dr. Walker. I will be investigating Arctic lousewort plants for the presence of mycorrhizal fungi, to see if there is a symbiotic relationship present that may be mediating the germination and growth of these traditional food plants. In July, we plan to travel to Melville Island, Nunavut, where we will collect samples and survey the plant community!

Taya Lucas-Desmond (She/her)
Honours student (2024-2025)

I am a BScH Environmental Science graduate who completed my Honours thesis in the Panchen Lab! For my Honours, I investigated how native Nova Scotian plant species are responding to climate change by examining their phenology. Using herbarium specimens as a source of historic phenology data, I examined which plants shifted their phenology over time and which plants responded to temperature by flowering or fruiting earlier. Over the summer, I was able to do work in the EC Smith Herbarium and outside in the Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens!

Tegan McMahon (Any/All)
Honours student (2024-2025)
Research Topics student (Winter 2024)

Tegan McMahon is a 5th year double major in Biology and Chemistry at Acadia University. They have been working on how the short-term temperature variations (e.g. cold snaps) affect seed germination and initial growth. For their research topics they developed and tested a method for this research, which they refined and used to test native Nova Scotian seeds during their Honours. Outside the lab, Tegan loves reading and spending time outdoors.

Sarah Doyle
Research Topics student (Winter 2025)

I am a 4^th year Environmental Science student, with a passion for mycology! My Research Topics investigated the germinability and mycorrhizae potential of Pedicularis langsdorffii, a hemiparastic flowering plant with low germination success ex situ.

Angus Fraser
Research skills student (Winter 2025)

While working in Dr. Panchen’s lab, I developed many different skills vital to studying plant ecology, focusing on data collection and techniques involved with seed germination. The Three main skills I worked on were germinating seeds using an incubator, analyzing shrubs to determine annual growth through visual annotations, and recording data of the marcescent leaves on trees around Acadia University’s campus.

Sophia Salgado (She/her)
Research skills student (Autumn 2024)

Sophia is a 2nd year Biology and co-op student at Acadia University. As a research skills student in the brrr-tanical lab, she collected fall 2024 data on the leaf senescence of various plant species around campus and explored GBIF records for Betula and Salix species in Nunavut. In her spare time, you can find her playing club sports, journaling and enjoying nature.