Research scientist Abigail Chapman will give a primer on the fascinating biology of honey bee queens' ovaries, talk about what constitutes queen failure and some of the potential causes, and discuss some of her research regarding viral infection and honey bee queen fertility.

Abigail is starting the final year of her PhD studies in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of British Columbia where she also completed her BSc Hon. in Biochemistry in 2015. She is supervised by Dr Leonard Foster and has been lucky to work in close collaboration with Dr Alison McAfee on many projects.

Abbi’s thesis is focused on identifying the impacts of virus infection on honey bee queen fertility and investigating a potential trade-off between reproduction and immunity. She found this focus after discovering a potential link between virus loads and queen failure in a survey of queens she and Ali conducted in 2019 in collaboration with local beekeepers.

Abbi began beekeeping in research setting in 2017 and has fallen steadily more in love with being in the apiary ever since. She is proud to have won student research awards from many Canadian and American beekeeping organisations and greatly enjoys opportunities to connect with beekeepers locally and beyond by speaking at bee club meetings.

After graduating Abbi plans on joining the British Columbia beekeeping industry as a queen producer, putting the knowledge she’s accumulated over the years to practical use.

NOTE!
Somerset BKA is using a new ticket platform which does not provide email reminders as previously. You will receive an email when you order a ticket - click on the link in the email and you will be taken to the Zoom registration page. You must register with Zoom in order to attend the talk.  Sign in before 7pm on the night and you will be let into the room when the event starts.

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• The webinar may be recorded and by attending you are consenting to being recorded.

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https://www.somersetbeekeepers.org.uk/