Interested in joining the Toxopeus lab? Please see our Opportunities page for more details, and our Research page information on current projects.
Dr. Jantina Toxopeus
Principal Investigator
Funding: NSERC Discovery Grant, NRCan (Natural Resources Canada)
I am an associate professor at St. FX, where I love researching how insects survive winter and teaching biology. I take an integrative approach to research, explaining whole animal phenotypes (like being able to survive freezing) at many levels of biological organization (genes, cells, tissues, physiological systems).
Curriculum Vitae | Google Scholar Profile
Graduate Students
Kenechukwu Ojukwu, MSc
PhD Student
Project: Overwintering of the eastern spruce budworm, co-supervised with Dr. Andrew Lang at Memorial University
Joined the lab: June 2024
Research Technicians
Jona Lopez Pedersen, MSc
Post-MSc Research Technician
Project: Effects of warm falls on diapause of the eastern spruce budworm
Joined the lab: Jan 2024
Funding: Nova Scotia Graduate Scholarship (2025)
Undergraduate Students
María Alas Romero
Directed Study Student (Winter 2026)
Project: Effect of RNAi on the cytoskeleton of freeze-tolerant crickets
Joined the lab: Jan 2026
Kiersten MacGrath
Volunteer (Fall 2025/Winter 2026)
Project: Keeping crickets alive and happy!
Joined the lab: Sep 2025
Teresa Keenan
Honours Student (Fall 2025/Winter 2026), Undergraduate Research Assistant (Summer 2024, 2025)
Project: Genetic identification of overwintering pond bugs, and cytoskeletal biology of freeze tolerance
Joined the lab: May 2024
Funding: StFX Biology Chiasson Award (2024), StFX Biology McLachlan Award (2025)
Lab alumni
Lab alumni can be viewed here!
Older photos
The Toxopeus Lab 