Trainee Profile: Libby Myles

PhD student Libby Myles is a part of Dr. Tara Perrot’s Early Environment and Early Resilience Lab. Through Dr. Perrot’s lab and Mitacs funding via Dalhousie, Libby is able to travel to Montreal to work with the Rosell Institute for Microbiome and Probiotics.

With the Rosell Institute, Libby studies the effects of diet and gut health on rats and its relationship to stress, anxiety and hormone levels, and the effects of health outcomes through administered probiotics.

Libby travels to Montreal with labmate Elizabeth O’Leary. “We always go together, there’s always two sets of people learning together, we get to work on our own projects but also learn from each other.”

Libby has been in a unique position to gain simultaneous experience in academia and industry, offering great prospects to possible careers after completing her studies. “I have more choices than I expected to before I started my graduate studies,” she said.

Although her studies are on animals, Libby has been an advocate for students’ mental health and wellness since her undergraduate years, emphasizing the importance of support for the well-being of students.

Libby is from Rothesay, NB, and moved to Halifax after reviewing what Dalhousie had to offer and completed her masters in neuroscience after an undergraduate degree in molecular biology.