As a scientist studying the effects of environmental toxins, Daniel Lysak wears many hats: he’s part biologist, part chemist, part engineer. Outside of the lab, his achievements as a student leader are just as impressive.
Lysak’s many talents have led to his winning this year’s Dean’s Doctoral Excellence Scholarship. The prize is awarded annually to a PhD student whose academic excellence is matched by their contributions to the community.
“Daniel has been working on some of the most challenging interdisciplinary research and his efforts have consistently led to world class publications,” says his doctoral supervisor, Andre Simpson of the Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences at U of T Scarborough.
Simpson is director of the department’s Environmental NMR Centre, where Lysak is one of a group of scientists using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to study environmental stress at the molecular level.
Specifically, he says, “Daniel is helping to build new sensors that take a ‘molecular snapshot’ inside tiny living aquatic eggs and juvenile organisms. This helps us understand how they react to environmental stressors such as contaminants. He is addressing a critical knowledge gap and explaining how xenobiotic exposure impacts environmental, and ultimately, human health.”
Now in the final year of his graduate studies, Lysak’s work centres mainly on the effects of toxins on Daphnia magna, commonly known as water fleas. He likens NMR to MRI technology, to which it’s related. Instead of generating images like an MRI, however, NMR analyzes the chemical structure of matter.
“Our environments are getting more polluted with new chemicals every day, and we don’t understand what all of them do,” he says. “I use what can be described as tiny MRIs — less than a millimeter in diameter — to look at the ways in which different compounds and metabolites change within water fleas, helping understand the impact of pollution.”
In addition to developing innovative electrical engineering techniques to create his sensors, Lysak has also published several groundbreaking articles.
“Back in my second year, we published a paper that completely mapped out all the compounds that can be assigned in living water fleas, done for the first time using NMR,” he says. “And recently, our team was the first ever to track fluorinated contaminants inside an intact egg of a D. magna.” Such contaminants are released into waterways when, for example, non-stick cookware is thrown in the garbage.
Nobody does it alone — yes, my name is on the award, but I’ve had so many people help me along the way: my family, my friends, my labmates and of course my supervisor. I wouldn’t be where I am without them and I really can’t thank them enough.
Lysak originally wanted to go to medical school but became fascinated by environmental chemistry while completing his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry.
A longtime advocate for graduate students, he served on the U of T Scarborough Campus Council for two years. He also coordinated reviews for the Journal of Natural Sciences, and was president of the Graduate Management Consulting Association, which permits students to explore the field of business and employment opportunities outside academia.
Lysak has also gained recognition as an instructor: in a course he taught two years ago, he developed teaching materials for students with disabilities. One example is an auto-sampler device, which allows students who have motor control difficulties to conduct experiments. “In this way they can create their own, real-time results, as opposed to having data given to them later,” he says.
Already the recipient of numerous academic awards, Lysak adds that receiving the doctoral scholarship is particularly meaningful, given the often solitary nature of his research.
“Graduate school involves a lot of independent work,” he says. “It is often hard to tell if you are doing a good job, which leads to self-doubt and a kind of mental struggle. So an award like this is very encouraging, and it’s truly a great honour.’
Although Lysak’s work is often accomplished in solitude, he’s eager to point out those who’ve supported his academic journey. “Nobody does it alone — yes, my name is on the award, but I’ve had so many people help me along the way: my family, my friends, my labmates and of course my supervisor. I wouldn’t be where I am without them and I really can’t thank them enough.”