Department of Biological Sciences

Department of Biological Sciences

News and events


Biological Sciences Student Achievements

  • Graduate Student Presentations at Scientific Conferences
  • Five Biological Sciences graduate students were the latest recipients of the Graduate College Research and Travel Grants
    for March - April 2012
    Teresa Clark - project title - "Identification of Novel Regulatory Factors in the Biosynthesis of Aspartate-Derived Amino Acids"
    Allister Malcolm - project title - "The Influence of Anthropogenic Noise on Acoustic Mating Signal Effectiveness in Hylid Frogs"
    David Jeng - project title - "Studies Related to Tanapox Virus 15L Open Reading Frame"
    Amanda McKenna - project title - "Mapping the Microglia/Immune Response to Two Methods of Olfactory Bulb Deafferentation in Zebrafish"
    Krystal Seibert - project title - "Development of Tanapox Virus of Oncolytic Therapy"
  • Two Biological Sciences graduate students were the latest recipients of the Graduate Teaching Effectiveness Award and two were the latest recipients of the Graduate Research and Creative Scholar Award.
    Alexandra Haase M.S. - The Department Graduate Teacher for 2011-2012
    Daniel Kueh Ph.D.     - The Department Graduate Teacher for 2011-2012
    Taylor Paskin M.S. - The All-University Scholar for 2011-2012
    Benjamin Slager Ph.D. - The Department Scholar for 2011-2012
  • Elizabeth Warburton received the Willis A. Reid Jr. Student Research Grant from the American Society of Parasitologists (ASP). This is the only graduate student grant that ASP gives and this year Elizabeth had the highest rated proposal in the nation.
  • Five Biological Sciences graduate students were the latest recipients of the Graduate College Research and Travel Grants.
    Rachel Bredernitz - project title - "The Relative Importance of Resources Limitation and Predator Limitation in a Trout Stream Food Web"
    Rachel Chimner - project title - "Isolation of a Dosage-Dependent Suppressor Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a Yeast Model System"
    Jacob Job - project title - "Can You Hear Me Now? Does Urban Noise Induce Plastic Responses in Populations of Chipping Sparrows (Spizella Passerina)?"
    John-Mary Vianney - project title - "Does Electrical Stimulation Regulate Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (GDNF) in Skeletal Muscle Cells?"
    Nicholas Wicks - project title - "Testicular Effects of Immunological Castration of Swine With Two Different Commercially Available Anti-GnRH Vaccines"
  • Monica McCullough has been named a Gwen Frostic Dissertation Fellow of the Graduate College for 2011-2012. This is a highly competitive fellowship awarded to doctoral students engaged in exceptional research.
  • Three Biological Sciences graduate students were recipients of the first round of Graduate Student Research and Travel Grants for 2011-2012. Monica McCullough Ph.D., Mary Thwaites M.S. both research grants and Derrick Hilton Ph.D. travel grant.
  • The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) has selected Fernanda Jimenez Otero as a 2011 award recipient of the ASM Undergraduate Research Fellowship.

Recent Biological Sciences Grants

  • Dr. Maarten Vonhof received funding from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for a project entitled "Test of a Biocompatible, Biodegradable, Widely Available and Inexpensive Anti-Fungal Agent on the Growth of G. destructans, the Causative Agent of White-Nose Synrome, on Experimentally Infected Bats Under Controlled Laboratory Conditions"
  • Dr. Maarten Vonhof received contract funding from Penn State University to study Little Brown Bat populations.
  • Dr. Todd Barkman received funding from the National Science Foundatioin for a project entitled "Ghosts of Evolution Past: Resurrecting an Extinct Ancestral Enzyme to Understand the Origins of Modern-day Biochemical Activites".
  • Dr. Silvia Rossbach received contract funding from Oklahoma State University and Chevron for a project entitled "Biogeophysics for Optimized Mitigation of Hydrocarbon Contaminated Soils: From Theoretical Developments, Laboratory Experiments to Field Valdiation."
  • Dr. Christine Byrd-Jacobs received funding from the NIH for a proposal entitled "Olfactory Bulb Cell Genesis and Survival in a Model of reversible Deafferentation."

Recent Biological Sciences Publications

  • Dr. John Jellies had the following paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Comparative Physiology, with Biological Sciences graduate student Dan Kueh as coauthor. Jellies, J. and Kueh, D. Centrally patterned rhythmic activity integrated by a peripheral circuit linking multiple oscillators, Journal of Comparative Physiology.
  • Dr. Sharon Gill had the folowing paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Avian Biology.
    Gill, SA & Haggerty, TM. A comparison of life-history and parental care in temperate and tropical wrens. Journal of Avian Biology
  • Dr. Kathryn Docherty had the following 2 papers published in the journal of Biogeochemistry.
    Docherty, KM., Gutknecht, JLM. The role of environmental microorganisms in ecosystem responses to global change. Biogeochemistry: Volume 109, Issue 1 (2012), Page 1-6
    Docherty, KM, Balser, TC, Bohannan, BJM, Gutknecht, JLM. Soil microbial responses to fire and interacting global change factors in a California annual grassland. Biogeochemistry: Volume 109, Issue 1 (2012), Page 63-83
  • Drs. John Geiser, Len Ginsberg and Renee Schwartz had the following conference paper accepted at this year's Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) conference. "Engaging STEM students from the beginning: and interdisciplinary approach to introductory biology and chemistry laboratories"
  • Dr. John Jellies had the follwing paper accepted for publication in The Journal of Experimental Biology with Biological Sciences graduate student Dan Kueh as co-author.
    Targeting a neuropeptide to discrete regions of the motor arborizations of a single neuron.
  • Dr. Todd Barkman had the following paper accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) with BIOS student Noah Sorelle and BIOS graduate student Ruiqi Huang as co-authors.
    Enzyme functional evolution through improved catalysis of ancestrally non-preferred substrates. Ruiqi Huang, Frank Hippauf, Diana Rohrbeck, Maria Haustein, Katrin Wenke, Janie Feike, Noah Sorrelle, Birgit Piechulla and Todd J. Barkman
  • Dr. John Spitsbergen had the following paper accepted for publication with three Biological Sciences Graduate students as co-authors.
    John-Mary Vianney, Monica J. McCullough, Amy Gyorkos, and John Spitsbergen. Exercise-dependent regulation of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) expression in skeletal muscle and its importance for the neuromuscular system. "Invited Review in Frontiers in Biology".
  • Dr. Sharon Gill had the following papers accepted for publication.
    Gill, S.A. 2012. Strategic use of allopreening in family-living wrens. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
    Gill, S.A. 2012 Testing Hyypotheses for the evolution of long-term genetic monogamy in Neotropical buff-breasted wrens (Cantorchilus leucotis). Journal of Ornithology.
  • Dr. Steve Malcolm had the following paper published in the Journal Chemoecology.
    First-instar monarch larval growth and survival on milkweeds in southern California: effects of latex, leaf hairs and cardenolides.

2011 Biological Sciences Publications

 

Department of Biological Sciences
3425 Wood Hall
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5410 USA
(269) 387-5600 | (269) 387-5609 Fax