““There [has been] a big conversation and dialogue about the river, how important it is, and how many peoples’ lives were affected when they became afraid of something they always took for granted to be safe”, says Dr. Janice Lawrence, Professor and Associate Dean of Science at the University of New Brunswick. Janice has found herself explaining her research on toxin-producing cyanobacteria distribution to lake associations and cottage owners alike, due to the growing concern that the bodies of water near them could be potentially hazardous. However, it was not Janice’s initial plan to be studying cyanobacteria, a prominent type of photosynthetic bacteria. Janice did her PhD at Dalhousie University studying toxic phytoplankton, a type of marine algae, and became interested in why toxic blooms, or the rapid increase of toxin-producing organisms, occur in some places in the ocean but not others.”