Biology News, Seminars & Events
Calendar
Upcoming Seminars & Events
- May 27, 2013: Memorial Day-University Holiday
- June 6, 2013: Neuroscience Retreat
- July 4, 2013: Independence Day-University Holiday
- March 21, 2014: GPN Distinguished Speaker
Click here to download the current Biology Department Newsletter.
For archived newsletters, click here.
Student News
Apr 29, 2013: 2013 Student Awards Announced
Congratulations to the following students for their accomplishments, recently recognized in the following awards: Michelle Toomey (Frydman Lab): Terner Award Allison Timmons (McCall Lab): I. Macchi Award Sarah Sullivan (Ho lab): Dr. Marion R. Kramer Award Elizabeth Burmeister (Finnerty Lab) and John Majoris (Atema & Buston labs): Warren-McLeod Full Year Ben Carr (Kaufman lab): Warren-McLeod Summer Valentina Di Santo (Lobel lab): Dana Wright (summer) Brett Di Benedictis (Baum lab): Outstanding Teaching Award Kristin Radcliffe (Atema lab): Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools Outstanding Master?s Thesis Award Jesse Delia (Warkentin lab): A. Stanley Rand Smithsonian Graduate Fellowship NSF Graduate Research Fellowships: Tina Barbasch (Buston lab) Kim Cohen (Sorenson and Kunz labs) Steve Decina (Templer lab) Emily Ebel (Mullen Lab) Rebecca Sanders-Demott (Templer lab), honorable mention
Apr 09, 2013: Yi Feng (CAS '14) awarded AHA Summer Fellowship
Yi Feng (CAS '14), a Junior in Professor Frank Naya's lab was recently awarded a summer research fellowship from the American Heart Association, Founders Affiliate. Ms. Feng is majoring in Biology with Specialization in Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, and Genetics. She is also in the Kilachand Honors College. Competition for this research fellowship is stringent. In 2012, 10 students were selected for the summer fellowship program from eight states of the Founders Affiliate Region which includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Jan 16, 2013: Caitlin MacDonough MacKenzie receives GSPA Award
Graduate student, Caitlin McDonough MacKenzie, of the Primack lab, has been awarded the Ecological Society of America's Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA) and will travel to Washington, D.C in April for a Congressional Visit day. Congratulations, Caitlin!
Faculty News
Apr 29, 2013: Dr. Frydman featured in BU's Research publication
Dr. Horácio Frydman was featured in BU's most recent edition (2012) of Research - a publication that highlights current cutting edge research being performed on campus. In the article, "An Unlikely Ally by Kevin Jiang, Dr. Frydman's study of the Wolbachia bacteria is explained. This research will help scientists understand new strategies for preventing the spread of diseases like malaria, West Nile, and dengue fever.
Apr 12, 2013: Caroline Polgar (GRS '12) mentioned in Boston Globe
Recent Ph.D. recipient, Dr. Caroline Polgar (GRS '12) was recently interviewed, along with her past advisor, Dr. Richard Primack, for an article on Henry Thoreau and climate change in the March 10, 2013 edition of the Boston Globe. Drs. Polgar and Primack's research on early bloom times highlighted in the article, "Thoreau, viewed as a scientist" by Kathleen Burge. The article also discusses the opening of a new exhibition at the Concord Museum exhibit, ?Early Spring: Henry Thoreau and Climate Change,? which examines Thoreau as scientist.
Apr 09, 2013: Prof. Naya's Research Highlighted in Development
Prof. Naya's research was recently highlighted in the January 2013 issue of Development. His research on the role transcription factor myocyte enhancer factor 2A (MEF2A) plays in skeletal muscle regeneration of adult mice is reviewed.
Alumni News
May 16, 2013: Dr. Morin appointed Director of AACR Grants Program
In October 2012, Dr. Patrice Morin was named Director of Scientific Review & Grants Administration for the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR), located in Philadelphia, PA. The AACR is one of the leading cancer research organizations in the US, and strives to combat cancer by sponsoring research, education, communication, and collaboration. Dr. Morin had approximately 20 years of experience in cancer research before accepting the new position. Dr. Morin received his PhD with Dr. Tom Gilmore in 1995, and then performed post-doctoral research at Johns Hopkins Medical School. From 1998-2012, he was a Senior Investigator in the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), overseeing research on the molecular basis of ovarian cancer.
Apr 12, 2013: Caroline Polgar (GRS '12) mentioned in Boston Globe
Recent Ph.D. recipient, Dr. Caroline Polgar (GRS '12) was recently interviewed, along with her past advisor, Dr. Richard Primack, for an article on Henry Thoreau and climate change in the March 10, 2013 edition of the Boston Globe. Drs. Polgar and Primack's research on early bloom times highlighted in the article, "Thoreau, viewed as a scientist" by Kathleen Burge. The article also discusses the opening of a new exhibition at the Concord Museum exhibit, ?Early Spring: Henry Thoreau and Climate Change,? which examines Thoreau as scientist.
Dec 10, 2012: Vishal Patel (BMB '10) Attending Medical School
Vishal Patel (BMB '10) is a first year medical student at Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York. Prior to medical school, he worked for two years in the Perrimon Laboratory at Harvard Medical School Department of Genetics and Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
In Memoriam
On January 14, 2008, the Boston University community remembered their friend and colleague, Mary S. Erskine, who died on December 12, 2007, following a long battle with breast cancer. She was 61 years old. Mary was a College of Arts & Sciences Professor of Biology and former director of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). For more information, please read the profile on BU Today.
Our Faculty
Jelle Atema's laboratory focuses on three research areas: chemical ecology of lobsters, navigation in sharks, and dispersal in larval reef fishes.
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Michael Baum's research is aimed at the mechanisms controlling the sexual differentiation and adult display of courtship behaviors in mice.
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Cynthia Bradham's research is focused on understanding secondary (dorsal-ventral) axis specification and patterning in the sea urchin.
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Gloria Callard's research focuses on the biosynthesis and actions of estradiol.
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Ian Callard's research involves the cellular and molecular actions of estrogen and progesterone associated with the evolution of live-bearing (viviparity) from an egg laying (oviparous) mode of reproduction.
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John Celenza's research focuses on plant development, molecular biology, and genetics.
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Geoffrey Cooper's laboratory studies the roles of proto-oncogene proteins in the signal transduction pathways that control proliferation and survival of mammalian cells.
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Vincent Dionne's research examines the cellular mechanisms underlying detection, discrimination, and encoding of sensory information.
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William Eldred's research is studying how the neurons in the retina communicate with one another using biochemical pathways.
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Horacio Frydman's research generally focuses on understanding how microorganisms and their hosts interact at different biological levels (e.g., molecular, cellular, genetic, ecological and evolutionary).
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Tim Gardner's laboratory studies neural circuits and their development, specifically vocal learning in songbirds.
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Thomas Gilmore's research focuses on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which certain genes can transform normal cells into malignant cells, and the normal control of cellular growth by these genes.
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Stjepko Golubic's research concerns the relationship between microorganisms and mineral deposits.
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Ulla Hansen's research involves understanding how regulation of gene expression in mammalian cells controls cell growth and responses to hormones.
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Angela Ho's research concerns the molecular and cellular basis of synaptic function and alzheimer’s disease.
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Hans Kornberg's current research focuses on the metabolic routes by which mutants of E coli, which are devoid of the genes that normally affect utilization of fructose are able to grow on fructose as sole carbon source.
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Trevor Siggers's laboratory uses integrative biochemical and genomic approaches to study gene regulation in the immune and inflammatory systems.
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Jen-Wei Lin's main research focus is on the biophysical events underlying neurotransmitter release.
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Phillip Lobel is interested in fundamental concepts of fish biology and in applying this knowledge to scientific issues and to societal concerns of fisheries management and conservation.
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Edward Loechler's lab investigates the DNA polymerases involved in mutagenic and non-mutagenic bypass of DNA damage.
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Hengye Man is interested in understanding the cellular/molecular mechanisms underlying AMPAR synaptic localization and synaptic plasticity.
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Kim McCall's laboratory is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of programmed cell death and its role in development.
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Frank Naya's research includes dissecting the in vivo role of the myocyte enhancer factor-2 (MEF2) family of transcription factors in muscle development.
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Richard Primack's lab is investigating the impact of climate change on the flowering times of plants and the spring arrival of birds in Massachusetts, Japan, and South Korea.
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Christopher Schneider's laboratory combines field studies with a variety of molecular genetic and phenotypic analyses to study adaptation, population biology, systematics, biogeography, and speciation of amphibians and reptiles.
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Daniel Segrè develops theoretical approaches and computational models for the study of complex biological networks.
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Cassandra Smith's research brings novel approaches at the interface of genomics/genetic and biotechnology to complex disease studies.
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Michael Sorenson's research emphasizes molecular genetic approaches to problems in avian systematics, population biology, and behavioral ecology.
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John Finnerty studies coastal marine invertebrates in order to answer fundamental questions concerning biodiversity.
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Pamela Templer is interested in ecosystem ecology and the influence that plant-microbial interactions have on nutrient cycling, retention, and loss.
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Dean Tolan is interested in biochemistry, enzymology, molecular and human genetics, evolution, and the developmental biology of aldolases.
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James Traniello studies the ecological factors that have influenced the genetics of colonies and populations, the behavioral mechanisms of cooperation, and the neural basis of social behavior.
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Karen Warkentin's laboratory examines developing organisms in an ecological context.
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David Waxman is interested in molecular endocrinology and cell signaling through transcriptional networks, cancer gene therapy and pharmacology, liver genes and transcriptional control, and orphan receptors and responses to environmental chemicals.
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Eric Widmaier is primarily interested in the molecular and behavioral mechanisms that result in obesity or weight gain in mammals.
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Ian Davison is primarily interested in the neural basis of sensory perception.
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