Matthew Yates
Post-Doctoral Researcher

Dr. Matthew C. Yates is a conservation molecular ecologist whose research centers on environmental DNA (eDNA) and environmental RNA (eRNA) as tools for monitoring aquatic ecosystems. He earned his BSc degree at Dalhousie University and completed his PhD at Concordia University, where he conducted field and laboratory experiments and meta‑analyses investigating how genetic diversity, effective population size, and habitat factors affect fitness in natural populations. His postdoctoral work (at UQAM and the University of Windsor) focused on developing and refining molecular methods to detect species and estimate abundance from eDNA, designing novel long-amplicon eDNA markers with improved taxonomic resolution, and coordinating a national 500-waterbody eDNA survey. He also explored applications of eRNA to infer the physiological status of organisms. At the University of Manitoba (with Dr. Hanson), he will be using environmental genomics and transcriptomics to investigate the ecological impacts of Quaternary Ammonium Compounds using whole-lake experiments conducted at the Experimental Lakes Area.