Biology Faculty in the News

Dr. Kunz's research reaches national audience

Sep 08, 2009

Dr. Tom Kunz's research on white-nose syndrome reached a national audience when it was featured on the CBS Evening News on September 7, 2009.  The U.S. bat population is declining at a frightening rate due to the fungus and Daniel Sieberg's report featured Dr. Kunz and other researchers who are struggling to solve this devastating mystery.  In addition to being featured on the Evening News, Dr. Kunz's research was highlighted on the CBS News website and on BU Today.  Continued attention on this ecologically important crisis will hopefully aid in discovering a way to stop the fungus that is killing off the bat population at an alarming rate. 

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Dr. Kaufman receives Partners in Conservation Award.

Aug 31, 2009

Congratulations to Dr. Les Kaufman and his team who were recently honored for their work on the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.  Dr. Kaufman's Long-Term Monitoring Program has received a Partners in Conservation award from the Department of the Interior.  The award recognizes the team's work over several years monitoring coral reef health in the Flower Gardens Banks National Marine Sanctuary.  In presenting the award, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar noted that it was a testament to the work of Les' team that "the Flower Garden Banks in the Gulf of Mexico are among the healthiest reefs not only in the Western Hemisphere, but in the world."
 

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Dr. Sorenson, Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union

Aug 19, 2009

Dr. Mike Sorenson was recently made a Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union at the annual conference in Philadelphia.  Fellows are be chosen for exceptional and sustained contributions to ornithology and/or service to the Union.

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Dr. Kunz addresses Congress on White-nose Syndrome

Jul 21, 2009

Dr. Kunz (far right) testifies before Congress

Dr. Tom Kunz recently testified at a Joint House Subcommitte of Congress on White-Nose Syndrome in bats  He also was a guest on 'Voice of America' in June to discuss the spread of this devastating disease.  For more information on White-Nose Syndrome, view the short video on Dr. Kunz's research which aired on both the Voice of America website and YouTube.

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Dr. Gilmore wins the 2009 Metcalf Cup and Prize

May 01, 2009

Congratulations to Dr. Tom Gilmore, recipient of the 2009 Metcalf Cup and Prize for teaching excellence. For more about Dr. Gilmore and his enthusiasm for teaching, read the BU Today article, "Making Molecular Biology Less Scary." 

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Dr. Warkentin's research featured on NSF website

Feb 06, 2009

Dr. Warkentin's research featured on the National Science Foundation's website in an article entiteld Vibrational Cues for Embryos.

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Dr. Segre's research featured in Journal of Bacteriology

Dec 12, 2008

Dr. Daniel Segrè's research was featured on the January 2009 cover of the Journal of Bacteriology. The paper that is the result of a collaboration between Dr. Segre's lab and the lab of Salomon Amar, from the BU School of Dental Medicine.

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Dr. Karen Warkentin?s research highlghted in the Boston Globe

Nov 24, 2008

Dr. Karen Warkentin's research on tree frogs was highlighted in the Nov. 24, 2008 edition of the Boston Globe.  In "Fear and Loathing in the Tropics:  Frogs Adapt to Survive", Dr. Warkentin's discusses on how tree frogs have developed in response to their environments and learned to adapt to difficult conditions.

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Prof. Kunz's research featured on the NSF website

Nov 17, 2008

Prof. Tom Kunz's bat research was recently highlighted in the National Science Foundations's web blog.  Gwen Morgan, one of the media specialists at NSF,  posted a blog, "Placing a Dollar Value on Services Provided by Bats," that summarizes Prof. Kunz's ongoing NSF-funded research.

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Prof. Kunz's research highlighted on the NSF website

Oct 30, 2008

Prof. Kunz's bat research was recently highlighted on the NSF website.  On the Oct. 28 blog entitled, "'Gone Bats' Over Aeroecology", Prof. Kunz's research is discussed and specifically, how the study of bat behavior contributes to the field of Aeroecology: how and why airborne organisms--bats, birds, arthropods and microbes--depend on the support of the atmosphere closest to Earth's surface.

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Prof. Kunz's research featured on National Public Radio

Oct 28, 2008

Prof. Tom Kunz was featured on NPR's Living On Earthradio show recently.  Accompanied by host Bruce Gellerman, Prof. Kunz went into a local bat cave to try and solve the mystery of the a recent die-off in bat population.  In the segment entitled, "Fly-by-night Murder Mystery", Prof. Kunz discusses the new fungus that may be behind the drop in population.  You can listen to the radio segment at NPR's website.

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Prof. Primack's research highlighted in NY Times

Oct 28, 2008

Prof. Richard Primack's research was recently highlighted in both the NY Times and The Boston Globe.   In both "Thoreau Is Rediscovered as a Climatologist" and "Troubling Toll in Thoreau's Backyard", respecitively, Prof. Primack discusses how Henry David Thoreau's original observations can be used to track changes in the global climate. 

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Prof. Les Kaufman's research featured in Bostonia

Oct 20, 2008

Les Kaufman out on the Stellwagen Bank.

Prof. Les Kaufman's research has helped shape the draft of a five-year management plan for Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, one of the most important fishing areas in the North Atlantic.  In the article, Gone Fishing, Prof Kaufman weighs in on the future of this vital resource. Read more and view a video interview with Prof. Kaufman on the Bostonia website. 

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Dr. Finnerty featured in BU Today

Sep 12, 2008

BU Today highlights Dr. John Finnerty's research; The tiny sea anemone from the salt marshes of New England reveal some of the secrets of evolution.  Read more about the Finnerty lab's research in The Sea Anemone's Secret of Evolution. 

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Prof. Kunz is made honorary member of the ASM

Aug 22, 2008

Congratulations to Prof. Tom Kunz, who was elected as an Honorary Member of the American Society of Mammalogists in August 2008. This is the highest award given by the Society and recognizes Tom's many distinguished contributions to mammalogy.

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Prof. Kunz highlighted in The Boston Globe

Aug 21, 2008

Prof. Tom Kunz's research was recently featured in The Boston Globe on August 18,2008 in an article entitled, "Look up, he says, where bats live."

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Prof. Primack awarded Guggenheim Fellowship

May 01, 2008

Professor Richard Primack has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to study "Climate change in Thoreau's Concord." His research was recently featured on the New York Times website. Dr. Primack spoke in April to the University in a lecture entitled, What Would Thoreau Think? Global Warming at Walden Pond. His research was also highlighted in an article in the Smithsonian and National Wildlife magazines.

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Prof. Les Kaufman featured in the BU Today

Mar 14, 2008

Prof. Les Kaufman's research on the fish population of Lake Victoria was featured in the BU Today article, Nightmare of Global Proportions.

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Prof. Michael Baum featured in BU Today

Feb 14, 2008

Prof. Michael Baum's research was featured in a BU Today article entitled Scents and Sensibility. Professors Michael Baum and James Cherry have found new links between scent and sexual attraction, which may bolster the case for human pheromones.

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In Memorium: Professor Mary S. Erskine

Jan 23, 2008

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 both a College of Arts and Sciences professor of biology and former director of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). For more information, please read the profile on BU Today.

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Sir Hans Kornberg Honored

Jan 19, 2008

Sir Hans Kornberg was honored at a symposium at Boston University on January 19, 2008.  The speakers included: Antonio M. Gotto Jr. (Professor of Medicine and Dean, Weill Medical School Cornell University), Peter J. F. Henderson (Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Leeds), H. Ronald Kaback (Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California Los Angeles), William Kay (Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry, University of Victoria, President and CEO, Microtek), Antonio H. Romano (Professor Emeritus of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Dean Emeritus, University of Connecticut), William Whelan (Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine), Christopher Lourenco (Graduate Student, Boston University), and Andrew Sproul (Graduate Student, Columbia University).

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Prof. Traniello Research mentioned in Bostonia

Nov 01, 2007

Prof. James Traniello's research and NSF grant award was featured in the Fall 2007 issue of Bostonia, Notes from Underground.

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Dr. Warkentin featured in National Geographic

Dec 08, 2006

Dr. Karen Warkentin's research on the red-eyed tree frog was featured in the November 2006 issue of National Geographic magazine and also in the USA Today article, Science snapshot: Frog eggs tuned to bad vibrations.

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Prof. Kunz Research Highlighted in Globe, BU Today, NYT

Jul 16, 2006

Prof. Tom Kunz's research on bat ecology was featured in an article entitled "Going Batty" in the July 16 issue of The Boston Globe magazine. His research was also featured in the January 22, 2008 issue of BU Today and in an article in the New York Times on March 25, 2008 and in the May 4th edition of the Boston Globe.

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Dr. Wachowiak featured in the Globe

Mar 22, 2006

Dr. Matt Wachowiak's research on how the nervous system processes information about odors was featured in the May 22, 2006 issue of The Boston Globe: How the nose knows.

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Faculty Awards

  • Congratulations to Dr. Tom Gilmore, recipient of the 2009 Metcalf Cup and Prize for teaching excellence. For more about Dr. Gilmore and his enthusiasm for teaching, read the BU Today article, "Making Molecular Biology Less Scary." 

  • Congratulations to Prof. Tom Kunz, who was elected as an Honorary Member of the American Society of Mammalogists in August 2008. This is the highest award given by the Society and recognizes Tom's many distinguished contributions to mammalogy.
  • Prof. Vince Dionne was awarded the College of Arts and Sciences Prize for Excellence in Student Advising.
  • Prof. Eric Widmaier wins Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching in May 2007.
  • Dr. John Finnerty was awarded the College of Arts Sciences 2006 Gitner Award for Distinguished Teaching.
  • Prof. Stjepko Golubic was co-author on a paper in Coral Reefs that received the journal's 2005 Best Paper Award.

Recent Faculty Publications

    Dr. Buston's research featured on cover of Molecular Ecology

    Nov 05, 2009

    The research of Dr. Peter Buston and his collaborators was featured on the
    cover of this month's journal of Molecular Ecology. In this paper they
    show that kin selection, which is already known to play an important role
    in social evolution in terrestrial systems, could also play a role in the
    evolution of social behavior in marine systems.

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    Drs. Finnerty and Gilmore's research highlighted in PLoS ONE

    Oct 28, 2009

    Results of collaborative research between the laboratories of Drs. John Finnerty and Tom Gilmore have recently been published in the online journal PLoS ONE.  In this paper, it is shown that a gene (called NF-kB) that is frequently mutated in human cancers is not only present in sea anemones, but is also mutated in wild populations of sea anemones. Their results suggest that sea anemones are adapting to environmental pressure, perhaps due to human activity, through mutations in their NF-kB gene.  Drs. Finnerty and Gilmore have also recently received a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation to further pursue these studies.

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    Dr. Warkentin's research featured in Science News

    Aug 13, 2009

    Dr. Karen Warkentin's research was recently featured on the cover of the August 15, 2009 edition of Science News and mentioned extensively in the article, "Smart from the Start, Animal embryos get some respect for their survival skills" by Susan Milius.

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    Dr. Hansen's research published in Molecular and Cellular Biology.

    May 04, 2009

    Dr. Hansen's research was recently published in the journal, Molecular and Cellular Biology. The article features the transcription factor LSF, which is essential for driving cell cycle progression in mammalian cells. A novel type of delayed regulation of this transcription factor is demonstrated, where it is modified immediately as cells transit from the quiescent to cycling state, but the function of the modifications is only to keep the transcription factor inactive, until its activity is required prior to cellular DNA replication.

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    Dr. Bradham's research on cover of Developmental Biology.

    Apr 21, 2009

    Dr. Cynthia Bradham's research was featured on the April 2009 cover of the Developmental Biology. The paper tests the role of Chordin in axial and neural specification during sea urchin development.
     

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    Prof. Richard Primack's research highlighted in Audubon.

    Mar 16, 2009

    Prof. Richard Primack's research on the effect of climate change was highlighted in the field notes section of Audubon magazine.  Prof. Primack's research compares journal entries made by naturalist, Henry David Thoreau, and finds that many trees are blooming earlier than they had 150 years ago.

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    Prof. Kunz Research Highlighted in Trends in Ecology and Evolution

    Jan 26, 2009

    Prof. Kunz raises the question of why most male mammals do not lactate in his editorial, "Male lactation: why, why not and is it care?" in the January 2009 edition of Trends in Ecology and Evolution.

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    Dr. Kunz's research highlighted in Science News

    Jan 12, 2009

    Dr. Tom Kunz's bat research has been highlighted in the January 2009 edition of Science News. In an article, entitled "Fifty-two things to do with a bat wing", Dr. Kunz's and his collegues have discovered 52 things that bat's can do with their wings besides fly.  Dr. Kunz notes in the article that "nonflight tasks might have had their own influences on wing evolution." 

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    Dr. Segre's research featured in Journal of Bacteriology

    Dec 12, 2008

    Dr. Daniel Segrè's research was featured on the January 2009 cover of the Journal of Bacteriology. The paper that is the result of a collaboration between Dr. Segre's lab and the lab of Salomon Amar, from the BU School of Dental Medicine.

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    Dr. Pam Templer's research recently published in Ecology

    Nov 18, 2008

    Dr. Pam Templer's research was published in the November 2008 issue of Ecology, the journal of the Ecological Society of America.  In her article, "Plant and Microbial Controls on Nitrogen Retention and Loss in a Humid Tropical Forest," she reports on her latest findings. She writes, "Humid tropical forests are generally characterized by the lack of nitrogen limitation to net primary productivity, yet paradoxically have high potential for nitrogen loss. We conducted an intensive field experiment with stable isotope tracer additions to highly weathered tropical forest soils in Puerto Rico to determine the relative importance of N retention and loss mechanisms. Our results demonstrate the importance of the coupling between microbial processes such as dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) and plant uptake of ammonium as a potential nitrogen conserving mechanism within tropical forests ecosystems."

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