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Researcher First Name: Kevin

Researcher Last Name: Rey
Department: Science Literacy
Other Department:
Department Head's Email: Jpenafiel@langara.ca
Project Title: eDNA monitoring of False Creek and
recognition as a National Urban Park
Start semester: 9/1/2024

End Semester: 5/31/2025

Introduction - Please introduce yourself and include
pertinent background information as it relates to your
project's research area. I teach Science Literacy at
Langara College and have an interest in making science
accessible to the public. That's why I reached out to a
community group to support their environmental
conservation goals by giving them access to the
techniques I am familiar with as a wet-lab scientist. In
particular, the use of DNA sequencing can provide
relatively low-cost insight into the ecological health of
bodies of water. This is done by analyzing the DNA in the
water, which is constantly shed by fish and other
organisms, and comparing what is found to databases of
known organisms. False Creek is a marine environment
significantly altered by human activity, and understanding
its current ecological health is important for tracking any
changes over time.
Please discuss your educational background and your
work experience as it relates to this project. If possible,
include a quote that helps define your interest in the
project. My research background is in the life sciences,
specifically in transplant rejection and the regulation of
the immune system. I completed my PhD at Simon
Fraser University. At Langara, the model of research
done in partnerships with businesses or NGOs
encouraged me to think of ways that my skills could be
applied outside of my original field. When I met the False
Creek Friends Society, I knew that I could help them
achieve their conservation and policy goals by giving
them access to the data that could be produced using the
ARC lab space. Since I have experience developing
novel research projects, managing supplies, and
coordinating staff, I was able to develop this ARC Engage
project. My experience in molecular biology and
bioinformatics was also useful, since those were major
processes in this project (and this partly influenced my
search for a partner org).
Please summarize your project in plain language that
others not in your field could understand. This ARC

Engage grant supported exploratory studies in
environmental monitoring in close partnership with the
False Creek Friends Society (FCFS). Their vision for
False Creek is to restore it and steward it in line with First
Nations principles such that False Creek becomes a
healthy environment for all, human and non-human, to
experience and enjoy. This ARC Engage period largely
covered some proof-of-concept work ahead of a larger
grant application that would essentially use the same
methods. My role was to design an environmental study
based on some initial work done in 2022. We decided on
the technique of environmental DNA monitoring.
Environmental DNA (eDNA) comes from a combination of
micro-organisms and cells floating in the water, as well as
free-floating DNA. Every organism will leave behind a
trace amount of DNA when they pass through water, and
by analyzing that DNA, their presence or absence can be
tracked. Due to my previous research experience and the
context of False Creek, FCFS and I agreed to examine
bacterial eDNA, since that can act as a proxy
measurement for contamination or ecological conditions.
I worked with FCFS to determine a set of sampling sites,
and hired a student research assistant to help collect
these water samples using specialized equipment. A
second student research assistant used eDNA samples
generously donated by another faculty member to check
that our DNA preparation process was reliable and
compatible with our DNA sequencing equipment. Lastly, a
senior bioinformatics student was hired to develop the
software process of interpreting the resulting DNA
sequences into useable information. He navigated the
many nuanced and often challenging process of using
different pieces of software to build a “pipeline” and
showed that this worked by using freely available eDNA
datasets. At the conclusion of this project, we were able
to show that our sample collection, processing, and
analysis processes were up and running. Unfortunately,
due to time constraints and a significant delay in
receiving purchased materials, we weren’t able to
process samples through this pipeline. However, this
work directly contributed to the success of a major grant
application that will fund a similar study for three years.
Identify the project goals and objectives. Explain how the
results may be used to solve a problem or inform further
research in the field. Goal #1: Establish an eDNA
sampling process and pipeline. Based on the work
described above, we were able to, in principle with
simulated inputs or data, accomplish all three steps in an
eDNA monitoring project. This will dramatically reduce
the start-up time for future eDNA studies at Langara
since some initial challenges have been addressed
already. Goal #2 Establish a research plan for False
Creek with FCFS During this ARC Engage period, further
conversations with FCFS helped inform a growing
collaboration with The Hakai Institute, a marine science
non-profit that routinely assists volunteer groups and First
Nations with eDNA monitoring of water ways in the Salish
Sea. This ARC Engage grant helped provide FCFS with
the scientific perspective in order to see the value in
beginning such a partnership, and a confidence that they

would receive technical support. The partnership
between Hakai, FCFS, and Langara led to a three-year
research plan for False Creek that received federal
funding.
Briefly explain the steps taken (methods used) to conduct
the research, and describe the key findings. The next
steps for this project were to complete an application to
major natural grant (name currently under embargo), and
this was completed in February 2025. In late May, we
received the exciting news that our proposed three year
study of False Creek was funded. In Fall 2025, we will
begin establishing a research committee, hiring students,
and dialoguing with First Nations such as Musqueam, in
earnest. In this new project, I am acting as co-principal
investigator alongside Dr. Janot.
Who was involved in this project (eg. faculty, students,
community partners)? How did their involvement
contribute to the project’s success? Were there any
challenges to overcome? Langara faculty contributed to
the success of this project by providing technical support,
and perspective. Dr. Kyra Janot provided essential
research inputs by providing start-up eDNA samples for
analysis and advice on setting up a lab at ARC. This
project also benefitted from the support from Drs. Jang
and Hatam related to lab operations and bioinformatics,
respectively. ARC Staff similarly contributed by providing
guidance on how to receive shipping, organize lab space
etc. This project hired three student research assistants
in the roles listed above and were essential to the
success of this project. In particular, access to capable
students in the bioinformatics degree program inspired
myself to apply, since I would be able to enlist their help
at a high level of independence. Other student research
assistants at ARC also made important contributions. Our
community partner FCFS contributed to this project by
providing vision and specific overall study goals.
Importantly, this guidance was in parallel with helping
myself establish connections with other False Creek or
local environmental and community groups, and they
provided opportunities to share about this ARC Engage
process at local events.
Please share any personal stories that made this
research experience memorable/valuable.
FCFS had invited Langara to an event that was a
gathering of like-minded non-profits and other
organizations. All in all, there were something like a
dozen groups present, all invested in the environmental
and cultural future of False Creek. I was inspired by this
event because after the presentations had been done, it
was clear that a consensus was starting to form. I was
amazed that FCFS had done so much leg-work to
establish connections in such a broad group of people
(including City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Police
Department, Simon Fraser University). Also, this grant
provided invaluable time for me to complete a literature
review on research conducted on Indigenous territory or
with Indigenous peoples. The perspective I gained from

having the protected time to read widely has been
invaluable, and led to important changes in the way I
conceptualize and discuss work being done on unceded
territory. This was reflected in the proposed budget and
governance structure I prepared for a major grant, and I
believe was a major factor in its successful funding.
What are the next steps for this project and for you as a
researcher?
To sample water and prepare it for DNA isolation, we
used a protocol already developed by Hakai and Dr. Kyra
Janot at ARC for a different project. This involved
identifying ecologically significant and accessible sites in
False Creek and using a sampling armature to retrieve
water. The samples were brought back to Langara for
filtration and preservation so the DNA could be isolated at
a later time. In the molecular biology lab, previously
collected DNA samples, also provided by Dr. Janot, were
used as inputs for the DNA amplification step (PCR)
necessary before sequencing. We used custom DNA
primers to target a region present in bacterial DNA and
tested various experimental conditions until we had
reliable, contamination-free results. Lastly, we worked on
a software pipeline to analyze the data that would result
from DNA sequencing. This was done by first identifying
that different software available for different steps in the
pipeline, and choosing options that maximized
compatibility and fit for the specific outputs we would
produce eg. Databases that had the best reliability RE:
bacterial eDNA. These software were then hosted on the
Digital Research Alliance of Canada server. Freely
available sets of input data were used to benchmark
different parameters in the various steps of the analysis.
Unfortunately due to time constraints exacerbated by
extreme delays in the arrival of supplies, no sequencing
has been done with the collected False Creek samples.
Please upload any images that will help to showcase
your project.
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