Courtney Geer

Give a brief bio about yourself/your background/your history.

I grew up in rural Southwestern MB on the family grain farm, where I spent most of my time enjoying the outdoors and my hobbies. I had a great love for reading, sewing, and drawing, which led me to volunteer at the local library, participate in 4H sewing/quilting clubs, and take art lessons for many years. As my skills developed, I gained enough recognition in the community to be asked to redesign the municipality’s logo and illustrate a local author’s book cover. I continued to take part in these extracurricular activities throughout high school and began flight school at the Brandon Flight Centre, where I learned to fly a small propellor plane. While I was busy with these extracurricular activities, I also started to focus more heavily on academics in preparation for university. Eventually, I moved to Brandon where I was able to start volunteering at Brandon Regional Hospital and the Samaritan House and begin my undergraduate degree. During my degree, I had fantastic opportunities to contribute to research at BU as a research assistant in two different labs, as well as to volunteer in science outreach programs like Let’s Talk Science. After graduating, I was lucky enough to begin a Master of Science (Environmental and Life Science) degree in Dr. Michael Charette’s lab, and am currently in my second year. So far, I’m loving my master’s and the experiences it has allowed me: working on my own research project (which focuses on the rare genetic disorder, Bowen-Conradi Syndrome), being a teaching assistant and mentor, and learning something new each day.

What education have you taken?

I graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Science degree with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry in the spring of 2021. I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Wendy Untereiner on my Honours thesis project. Now, I’m in my second year of a Master of Science (Environmental and Life Science) degree in biochemistry and my supervisor is Dr. Michael Charette, who has been wonderful to work with!

How did you become interested in your field/area of study?

I have always loved to read and learn, particularly about nature. As a child, I was fascinated with the creatures living on and around my farm, from the many different pets I had growing up to the crawfish in the nearby river. My curiousity remained as I grew older, and by the time I finished high school I knew I had to know more about life and the processes governing it, which led me to study biology and chemistry.

What accomplishments are you most proud of?

I am incredibly grateful and proud to have spent more than 5 years contributing to research at BU as a Research Assistant, undergraduate Honours student, and master’s student. Research has allowed me to discover and develop skills I never expected to have, including using programming languages/environments like R and Python and public speaking (which is something I loathe, but am hopefully improving at!). I’m proud of how much I have learned and grown over the years as both a student/researcher and as a person, and of how I have given back in the form of volunteering and mentoring. Perhaps more than anything, I am proud that I have continued to show up and do my best, despite several personal and family challenges I’ve had to deal with over the years that have made school quite difficult.

Where do you see yourself in the future? What do you hope to undertake or accomplish once you leave BU?

In the future, I plan to continue learning – whether that is in the traditional sense by pursuing a PhD or by entering the workforce, I haven’t decided just yet! I also want to spend more time on my hobbies, volunteering in the community, and traveling.

What is your philosophy in life?

My philosophies are to be kind to yourself and to go at your own pace. It’s easy to feel like others are ahead of you or that you aren’t accomplishing enough, but all you can do is your best. Some days your best might only be 50%, and that’s okay. Feeling badly about what you’re able to offer is unproductive, and consistent effort and perseverance are what’s important!…now to just take my own advice…

In one sentence, how will you #EmbraceEquity?

I will #EmbraceEquity by recognizing the advantages I have as a white settler woman and working to dismantle the systemic inequalities we have in this country.

Nominator’s Comments:

Courtney has been an MSc student in my lab since Sept 2021 through the MELS program. I previously knew Courtney through my undergraduate courses (since Sept 2019).

Courtney is a very talented graduate student with excellent technical and analytical skills. I have been very impressed with the care and diligence that she displays in performing experiments and in being critical of her own experimental data (the hallmark of an excellent scientist). Courtney is working on several different projects, one of which is trying to find what would be the first drug treatment to lessen the medical burden of the local Bowen-Conradi Syndrome.

Highlighting some of her research, Courtney is currently working on two primary research articles and one review as per of her graduate thesis. She has also presented her research at several regional, national, and international meetings in the form of either a poster presentation or a virtual oral presentation. This has recently included a regional oral presentation at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba and a poster presentation at the CancerCareMB Research Institute, nationally at the Canadian College of Medical Genetics and Can-GARD (Canadian Gene Cure Advanced Therapies for Rare Disease; Sick Kids/Uof T), and internationally at theCanadian RNA society (the RiboClub/C2R2 – has a North America-wide reach). Every one of Courtney’s presentations is beautifully and expertly delivered – clear, well-articulated, and with beautiful data!

I have also had the pleasure of working with Courtney in the teaching lab where she is a graduate teaching assistant. She displays clear mastery of the teaching subject. I’m most impressed with her teaching skills and her ability to communicate with the students.

She is additionally serving the community as the graduate student representative on Senate Research.

Overall, Courtney is an extraordinary scientist and researcher, and I am proud to have her in my research group!