Professor Andrew Emili Awarded NIH/NIA Grant
Professor of Biology (CAS) and Biochemistry (BUSM) Andrew Emili and Professor of Pharmacology (BUSM) Ben Wolozin have received a joint NIH/National Institute on Aging R01 grant ($3,945,190) entitled "Systems-level functional proteomics analysis assemblies in Alzheimer's disease and mouse models of tauopathy". The goal of this proposal is to comprehensively map and identify the subnetworks of synaptic protein complexes that are central players in the synaptic dysfunction occurring with neurodegeneration. Drs. Emili and Wolozin will use the emerging power of quantitative network proteomics to systematically characterize the major protein assemblies present at normal and diseased synapses on a proteome scale. This research will be propelled by recent discoveries demonstrating that a dynamic network of protein interactions drives tau biology and changes with the course of disease. Interpreting these perturbed assembly networks, though, demands knowledge of the localization and compositional specificity of such complexes. They hypothesize that selective disruption of specific synaptic protein assemblies mediates the functional degeneration associated with tauopathy. Their unbiased interactome screening technology is uniquely suited for global interrogations of synaptic protein networks remodeled during disease progression.
Cymone Reed Publishes Biology Letters Paper
A big congratulations to Cymone Reed (CAS ’18), the lead author along with Ph.D. student Rebecca Branconi, Postdoctoral Fellow John Majoris, Research Associate Cara Johnson, and Associate Professor Pete Buston, who published the paper “Competitive growth in a social fish” in the Royal Society’s Biology Letters. The paper demonstrates that clownfish are able to increase their growth rate in response to social competition.
Buston Lab Postdoctoral Fellow Awarded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship
Theresa Rueger, who will be joining Prof. Pete Buston’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow, has been awarded a prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship from the European Commission to work on Social Evolution in Coral Reef Fishes. Dr. Rueger obtained her PhD with Geoff Jones at James Cook University and she will be co-advised during her postdoc by Mike Cant at the University of Exeter.
Davies lab members attend SICB Conference in FL
Dr. Sarah Davies and lab members attended the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) Conference in Tampa, Florida in early January. Students received financial support to attend the conference from the Biology Department Travel Awards and UROP. They had seven podium presentations and one poster presentation. In addition, Dr. Davies and her postdoc each chaired a session on symbioses and coral reefs.
Dr. Co Teams with DLI for Active Learning Video
Biology Department Senior Lecturer Elizabeth Co is featured in BU's Digital Learning and Innovation video, where she discusses using Active Learning strategies in her classroom. Check out the video here.
Diane Lebo Elected President of BU Graduate Student Organization (GSO)
Diane Lebo, PhD candidate in the McCall Lab, has been elected as the 2019 Graduate Student Organization (GSO) President. Diane has been the Biology GSO Representative since September 2017 and has been the GSO Treasurer since December 2017. Recent successful events that Diane helped run with the Executive Board members include several coffee hours for underrepresented graduate student groups as well as a large coffee hour for the entire graduate student population.
The Graduate Student Organization strives to ensure Boston University continues to be a safe and enriching environment for carrying out graduate education. Find out how you can get involved with GSO as a graduate student at Boston University: https://www.bu.edu/gso/get-involved/
Introducing the Loren E. Wold Research Awards
The Loren E. Wold Research Awards have been established by Biology alumnus Dr. Loren E. Wold (CAS ’97), a distinguished research scientist and Professor at Ohio State University. Dr. Wold is a strong advocate of undergraduate research and mentoring.
Each award supports summer research projects by funding the student's UROP stipend and providing a $200 Conference Travel Award. Four awards will be given annually beginning in 2019. The award is open to high-achieving Biology undergraduates working in research labs of faculty in the Department of Biology and other departments in the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Medicine, or the School of Public Health, as well as Boston University undergraduates from other majors working with a Department of Biology faculty member.
Awardees will be selected from the funded UROP applicant pool, in consultation with the Chair of Biology and the Biology Honors Committee.
Caron Family Donation Funds Alzheimer’s Research
In honor of the Caron Family and their generous gift to support the Ho/Beffert and Stern laboratories to study Alzheimer’s disease at Boston University, Boston University's Development Office created the following short film. The Caron Family created the Harold and Margaret Southerland Alzheimer’s Research Fund to honor Susan Caron’s late parents who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Their support allowed the Ho/Beffert laboratory to generate preliminary data for the recently awarded $2.4 million NIH grant to study the role of apoE and one of its receptors apoER2 and elucidate the functional roles of its many splice variants found in the human brain. The film can be viewed here.
Katey Lesneski Receives Best Poster Award at Student Conference on Conservation Science – New York
Katey Lesneski, Ph.D. candidate co-advised by Dr. John Finnerty and Dr. Les Kaufman, was recently awarded the Best Poster Award for "Best Use of Quantitative Methods in Conservation Research" at the 2018 Student Conference on Conservation Science in NYC. Her poster titled "Identifying resilient individuals of an endangered coral for reef restoration" focused on the physiological outcomes of a multi-year experiment she has been conducting at Turneffe Atoll, Belize.
Professor Traniello Named AAAS Fellow
Professor James Traniello has been selected as an AAAS fellow! James is one of 416 new fellows announced by the AAAS on November 27, 2018 and he will be honored in Washington, D.C. in February 2019. See the articles here and here.