Latest news with #MartinMallet
The Independent
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
An absolute joy: Timmy Mallet completes cycle around island of Ireland
TV host Timmy Mallet has praised the 'profoundly gorgeous' kindness of people after completing a cycle around the coastline of the island of Ireland. While on the 6,000km cycle of roads, paths and greenways, he discovered a family link to Blacksod Lighthouse in Co Mayo that has deeply affected him. The colourful personality is known for his children's television series in the 80s and 90s and cover of Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. He embarked on a cycle circumnavigation around Great Britain in 2023 to raise awareness of people's potential after the death of his brother Martin, who had Down's Syndrome and died in 2018. He began a cycle along Northern Ireland's and Donegal's coast in March last year, before returning to cycle around the whole island. 'This is the completion of my cycle circumnavigation of the island of Ireland,' he said at Stormont on Monday. 'I kicked off in lashing rain in March last year when I aimed to see if I could do a cycle circumnavigation of Northern Ireland.' He said he then decided he would add the 'forgotten county' of Donegal. 'Further north than Northern Ireland, but in the south. I love that nuttiness,' he said. 'Five hundred and fifty miles after completing Donegal, I thought to myself I'd like to come back and see if I could do the Wild Atlantic Way.' He said he put aside two months to do as much of the Wild Atlantic Way as possible, and got as far as Kinsale in Co Cork. 'I phoned up Mrs Mallet and she said 'I'm having the bathroom done, so just keep going, I'm not ready to have you home yet, Mallet'.' He said it was 'an absolute joy' to complete the circumnavigation of the island. He added: 'There's something about the kindness and generosity on this island that is really lovely. It's profoundly gorgeous, this welcome that comes across the whole of Ireland. 'I am thrilled to say I have got a squillion new friends in Ireland and I love it. It's almost in the DNA of the Irish actually to say 'welcome, come on in, we're your friends'.' He said Ireland had 'an understanding of differences' and celebrated things that bring people together. He added: 'I'm inspired on this journey by my brother Martin (who had) language and learning difficulties. He never let Down's Syndrome define him. He'd say 'You and me, I'm happy.' 'That's about being in the moment, celebrating the here and now of living. It reminds me that all we have to do in life is reach our potential. We don't have to be the best in the world, just the best that we can be.' He recounted highlights of the trip, including a family connection at a Mayo lighthouse and a person who helped during Wacaday filming 35 years ago. 'I went to Blacksod Lighthouse in Co Mayo which has got a family connection for me that I didn't know,' he said. 'The weather forecast for D-Day was supplied by Maureen Sweeney in June 1944 and my mum was working at supreme headquarters, at the time, on the weather forecasting for D-Day. 'And Maureen's grandson Fergus tells the story of how a squeaky-voiced English lady phoned up to check Maureen's reports. That was my mum. 'This connection of two women, in a cataclysmic world event, doing their bit for freedom has had a profound impact on me. 'I also loved the journey down further south, in Dingle, where I meet Jimmy Flannery who had taken me, 35 years ago during the Wacaday filming, to meet and swim with Fungi the dolphin. 'And here he is there still and we shared happy memories of that day of filming 35 years ago in 1990. 'On the border between North and the Republic, I came across that lovely conundrum, if you like, where somebody's house is in the UK but their garden is in the Republic. 'They were living with it all day every day and enjoying the best of both sides of that wee border.' He added: 'I'm coming back, I love you. Keep 'er lit. This is a gorgeous, gorgeous country.' Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly met with Mallet at Stormont on Monday.
CTV News
27-05-2025
- Health
- CTV News
‘Minimize the damage': Race to study MSX heats up as deadly disease hits Maritime oysters
Scientists at Research and Productivity Council lab in Fredericton examine an oyster. (CTV News) Researchers in Atlantic Canada are racing to try to solve a pressing problem — how to tackle a parasite that's killing oysters and threatening the region's multimillion-dollar industry. 'What we're trying to do is minimize the damage as much as possible,' said Martin Mallet, an evolutionary biologist and co-owner of Mallet Oysters in Shippagan, N.B., where he manages his family's oyster hatchery. The disease multinucleate sphere unknown, known as MSX, is caused by a parasite that is harmless to people but is deadly to oysters and has already had a devastating impact to oysters in some areas of P.E.I. after first being detected in Bedeque Bay in July 2024. MSX has now been confirmed across P.E.I. and multiple locations in New Brunswick. As uncertainty grips the industry, researchers are trying to tackle the problem from multiple angles. Environment detection MSX was discovered in 1957 in the U.S. but there is a still a lot that remains unknown about the disease and the parasite that causes it, including how it's transmitted. Martin Mallet Martin Mallet, an evolutionary biologist and co-owner of Mallet Oysters in Shippagan, N.B., looks through a microscope. (CTV News) Mallet's team is part of several projects involving governments, industry and academia aiming to solve key questions — can MSX be detected within the environment? What is its genetic sequence? How quickly can researchers create disease-resistant oysters? One project, funded by Genome Atlantic, will try to detect MSX and Dermo — another deadly oyster disease caused by a parasite — in the environment. 'So in some cases we might be able to detect before we see oyster infections. That's a really important piece of information,' said Mallet. While major gaps in knowledge surround MSX, it's suspected to be transmitted through an intermediate host. 'Much like malaria infects humans via mosquitoes, we think that oysters are infected via some unknown critter,' said Mallet. Missing genetic data Multiple teams are trying to solve a key piece of the MSX puzzle — figuring out its genetic sequence. Mallet's team is collaborating with Université Laval on a project to sequence the genome for Haplosporidium Nelsoni, the parasite that causes MSX. The project received more than $110,000 from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). Mallet thinks cracking this scientific problem would open up a host of questions, such as where it comes from and how it got here. 'That requires an understanding of the genetic diversity that exists within the parasite population,' he said. 'And with the available small fragments of DNA that we have, we can't do that kind of work.' New Brunswick's Research and Productivity Council (RPC) lab also received more than $250,000 from DFO. Attiq Rehman, Director of Bioscience at the Fredericton RPC lab, is working to map out the DNA of MSX by doing single-cell whole genome sequence analysis. Maritimes oysters Attiq Rehman, Director of Bioscience at Research and Productivity Council lab in Fredericton. (CTV News) 'This will definitely increase our understanding of the infection dynamics,' said Rehman. 'The scientific community would be thrilled to have that information for infection models and for developing resistant seeds as well as understanding the intermediate host which is currently unknown.' Scientists at RPC have been monitoring for MSX through a provincial program in New Brunswick since 2002, when it was first detected in the Bras d'Or Lakes in Nova Scotia. Since the disease was found in P.E.I. last summer, the lab has received thousands of oysters from across Atlantic Canada to shuck and test. Initially, the team relied on a conventional PCR test, which took more time and was more costly. To keep up with demand, they developed a faster and more sensitive process by using a rapid multiplex PCR test that can detect for three diseases — MSX, Dermo and seaside organism — at once. 'We'll get three hits in one test in a lot quicker turnaround time and sensitivity in results,' said Rebecca Liston, Supervisor of Fish Health Diagnostic Services at RPC. To Liston, her team's role is to provide industry support. 'It's a concern for all producers and they work hard to provide these beauty gems from our waters,' she said. 'We're here to help them in their time of crisis.' Aiming for disease resistance Mallet, who's been breeding oysters for about a decade, called a disease-resistant strain the 'holy grail'. 'We're throwing sort of all the tools in the toolbox, at this,' he said. One traditional method involves moving oysters into areas that have been affected by MSX and seeing what oysters get infected what oysters survive, and who their relatives are. Mallet notes his team is looking to augment that process with genomic tools. Disease-resistant breeding has helped the industry adapt in the U.S. east coast. Mallet explained the industry in the U.S. relied on oysters that survived MSX outbreaks to breed but it took a few generations to develop an appreciable level of resistance. Most experts, he said, are comfortable saying it takes two generations to develop 50 per cent resistance. 'That's kind of like our baseline target. And what we're trying to do is improve on that, with genomic tools,' Mallet says, 'We're hopeful some amount of resistance within a year or two, an appreciable amount of resistance within probably four years. And that's being kind of like hopeful but reasonable.'
CTV News
26-05-2025
- Health
- CTV News
‘Minimize the damage': Race to study MSX heats up as deadly disease hits Maritime oysters
Scientists at Research and Productivity Council lab in Fredericton examine an oyster. (CTV News) Researchers in Atlantic Canada are racing to try to solve a pressing problem — how to tackle a parasite that's killing oysters and threatening the region's multimillion-dollar industry. 'What we're trying to do is minimize the damage as much as possible,' said Martin Mallet, an evolutionary biologist and co-owner of Mallet Oysters in Shippagan, N.B., where he manages his family's oyster hatchery. The disease multinucleate sphere unknown, known as MSX, is caused by a parasite that is harmless to people but is deadly to oysters and has already had a devastating impact to oysters in some areas of P.E.I. after first being detected in Bedeque Bay in July 2024. MSX has now been confirmed across P.E.I. and multiple locations in New Brunswick. As uncertainty grips the industry, researchers are trying to tackle the problem from multiple angles. Environment detection MSX was discovered in 1957 in the U.S. but there is a still a lot that remains unknown about the disease and the parasite that causes it, including how it's transmitted. Martin Mallet Martin Mallet, an evolutionary biologist and co-owner of Mallet Oysters in Shippagan, N.B., looks through a microscope. (CTV News) Mallet's team is part of several projects involving governments, industry and academia aiming to solve key questions — can MSX be detected within the environment? What is its genetic sequence? How quickly can researchers create disease-resistant oysters? One project, funded by Genome Atlantic, will try to detect MSX and Dermo — another deadly oyster disease caused by a parasite — in the environment. 'So in some cases we might be able to detect before we see oyster infections. That's a really important piece of information,' said Mallet. While major gaps in knowledge surround MSX, it's suspected to be transmitted through an intermediate host. 'Much like malaria infects humans via mosquitoes, we think that oysters are infected via some unknown critter,' said Mallet. Missing genetic data Multiple teams are trying to solve a key piece of the MSX puzzle — figuring out its genetic sequence. Mallet's team is collaborating with Université Laval on a project to sequence the genome for Haplosporidium Nelsoni, the parasite that causes MSX. The project received more than $110,000 from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). Mallet thinks cracking this scientific problem would open up a host of questions, such as where it comes from and how it got here. 'That requires an understanding of the genetic diversity that exists within the parasite population,' he said. 'And with the available small fragments of DNA that we have, we can't do that kind of work.' New Brunswick's Research and Productivity Council (RPC) lab also received more than $250,000 from DFO. Attiq Rehman, Director of Bioscience at the Fredericton RPC lab, is working to map out the DNA of MSX by doing single-cell whole genome sequence analysis. Maritimes oysters Attiq Rehman, Director of Bioscience at Research and Productivity Council lab in Fredericton. (CTV News) 'This will definitely increase our understanding of the infection dynamics,' said Rehman. 'The scientific community would be thrilled to have that information for infection models and for developing resistant seeds as well as understanding the intermediate host which is currently unknown.' Scientists at RPC have been monitoring for MSX through a provincial program in New Brunswick since 2002, when it was first detected in the Bras d'Or Lakes in Nova Scotia. Since the disease was found in P.E.I. last summer, the lab has received thousands of oysters from across Atlantic Canada to shuck and test. Initially, the team relied on a conventional PCR test, which took more time and was more costly. To keep up with demand, they developed a faster and more sensitive process by using a rapid multiplex PCR test that can detect for three diseases — MSX, Dermo and seaside organism — at once. 'We'll get three hits in one test in a lot quicker turnaround time and sensitivity in results,' said Rebecca Liston, Supervisor of Fish Health Diagnostic Services at RPC. To Liston, her team's role is to provide industry support. 'It's a concern for all producers and they work hard to provide these beauty gems from our waters,' she said. 'We're here to help them in their time of crisis.' Aiming for disease resistance Mallet, who's been breeding oysters for about a decade, called a disease-resistant strain the 'holy grail'. 'We're throwing sort of all the tools in the toolbox, at this,' he said. One traditional method involves moving oysters into areas that have been affected by MSX and seeing what oysters get infected what oysters survive, and who their relatives are. Mallet notes his team is looking to augment that process with genomic tools. Disease-resistant breeding has helped the industry adapt in the U.S. east coast. Mallet explained the industry in the U.S. relied on oysters that survived MSX outbreaks to breed but it took a few generations to develop an appreciable level of resistance. Most experts, he said, are comfortable saying it takes two generations to develop 50 per cent resistance. 'That's kind of like our baseline target. And what we're trying to do is improve on that, with genomic tools,' Mallet says, 'We're hopeful some amount of resistance within a year or two, an appreciable amount of resistance within probably four years. And that's being kind of like hopeful but reasonable.'
