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Graduate students win Mellon fellowships Three graduate students in the Department of Biological Sciences have been awarded Mellon Fellowships for the 2006/2007 academic year. Josh Auld is a graduate student in the Rick Relyea lab; he is studying the reciprocal effects of phenotypic plasticity in defensive and mating-system phenotypes in the hermaphroditic freshwater snail Physa acuta. Specifically, he is investigating the lethal and non-lethal effects of predators on mating system expression (i.e. the rate of self-fertilization) and the effects of inbreeding on the production of inducible defenses. Heather Hendrickson is a graduate student in the Jeffrey Lawrence lab; she is studying how bacteria are able to exchange genetic material between species, acquiring new genes (abilities) with potentially serious consequences for human health. Her research involves discovering ways in which this gene exchange is limited by sequence architecture present in most bacterial chromosomes. Understanding the frequency of gene flow between bacteria can help us to understand what the evolutionary potential of these organisms is, and what might come next. Christine Smith is a graduate student in the Jeffrey Brodsky lab; she is working on heat shock proteins, and is identifying Hsp70 modulators that inhibit breast cancer cell proliferation and SV40 viral replication. Also, a novel connection between molecular chaperones and yeast cell wall integrity is being investigated. Pitt phage hunter takes on Tuberculosis PITTSBURGH-One third of the world's people are infected with tuberculosis, and someone new is infected every second. TB is notoriously hard to treat, requiring a course of multiple antibiotics over six to nine months. Many people don't complete the full course of treatment, which leads to increasing antibiotic resistance against the disease. More effective treatments could be on the way, however, with a new five-year, $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to Graham Hatfull, Eberly Family Professor of Biotechnology and Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences in the University of Pittsburgh's School of Arts and Sciences. William Jacobs, professor of microbiology and immunology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, is a key collaborator. Both Hatfull and Jacobs are supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The key to better treating tuberculosis, they believe, may lie in a harmless cousin of TB called Mycobacterium smegmatis. In the cover story of the December 2005 issue of Cell, Hatfull and Jacobs described how M. smegmatis forms a drug-resistant coating called a biofilm. The researchers made this discovery by infecting M. smegmatis with a bacteriophage nicknamed the "Bronx Bomber," which Jacobs had isolated from his back yard, and which Hatfull has studied extensively. They found that when infected by the Bomber, the germ could no longer form its protective coatings. Furthermore, this occurred because the phage had disrupted a M. smegmatis gene called groEL1-which has a nearly identical counterpart in M. tuberculosis. The NIH grant will allow Hatfull and Jacobs to explore whether the Bomber also affects the groEL1 gene in the TB-causing germ. If so, it could pave the way for medications that similarly break down the bacteria's defenses and thereby increase the effectiveness of antibiotics. "We'd like to have an understanding of M. tuberculosis and what happens during an infection that leads to such difficult, prolonged treatment," said Hatfull, who also codirects the Pittsburgh Bacteriophage Institute. "An ideal scenario would be to develop drugs that would allow TB to be treated over a much shorter period of time," he added. "Shortening the treatment would lead not only to more effective and simple control of the disease, but also would cut down on the development of drug-resistant organisms." Local students & teachers join Pitt's "Gene Team" PITTSBURGH-What high school student in her right mind would choose to spend the summer with a teacher? Smiling as she looks up from her Petri dish, Alison McKelvey says she's actually enjoying it quite a bit. It probably helps that during the school year, McKelvey would never have teacher Veronica Mattson for a class. McKelvey is a junior at Hampton High School, while Mattson teaches honors biology to ninth-graders at West Mifflin Area High School. But for eight weeks this summer, they are partners in the University of Pittsburgh's "Gene Team," which pairs students and teachers to do genetics research from Pitt faculty labs. The program grew out of the issue that many high school science teachers were never formally trained in the detailed topics they're now required to teach. Because of this, they may struggle to develop hands-on methods for science instruction. In response, Lewis Jacobson, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences in Pitt's School of Arts and Sciences, and Alison Slinskey Legg, the department's outreach coordinator, created the Gene Team program, which is funded through a five-year, $1.27 million Science Education Partnership Award from the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Research Resources. This year's program participants include three high school teachers and six students. Put into groups of two or three, they perform genetic screens for new mutations using three sets of model organisms: bacteria, yeast, and nematode worms. Their work, with potential applications to health issues like tuberculosis, birth defects, cancer, and tissue degeneration, will provide novel research materials for Pitt research labs. In addition, the program allows Pitt graduate and advanced undergraduate biology students with an interest in K-12 science education to serve as research consultants to the participants and hone their teaching skills. The teachers also meet weekly throughout the summer to develop modules for teaching topics using the model organisms. During the school year, they will then implement the modules with their own students using "Pitt Kits" that contain equipment for the experiments. This summer's program continues through Aug. 11. A log of the Gene Team's experiences, including photos, is available at www.pitt.edu/~dhornack. Pitt professor keeps students digging in the dirt PITTSBURGH-University of Pittsburgh undergraduates and local high school students have been getting out of the classroom and digging in yards and barnyards, all in the name of science: The students have successfully unearthed and analyzed more than 30 never-before-seen bacteriophages, viruses that eat bacteria and live in the soil. Such an experience was possible because their professor, Graham Hatfull, was named a "Million-Dollar Professor" in 2002 by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), receiving a $1 million grant to support the project. Hatfull, who also is Eberly Family Professor of Biotechnology and chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Pitt, was one of 20 such professors named by HHMI to bring the excitement of scientific discovery to the undergraduate classroom. Today, HHMI announced that eight of those professors, including Hatfull, have received grants to sustain the most successful aspects of their programs and to spread them to the broader teaching community. Hatfull will receive $500,000. "I am absolutely delighted," said Hatfull. "This enables us to move the project forward in a very positive way, by continuing an ongoing assessment of why it works, and by disseminating the system so that people elsewhere at other universities and high schools can engage in what we've established." The institute also has designated a new crop of 20 HHMI professors, each of whom will receive $1 million to put their innovative ideas into action. "The HHMI professors are as excited about teaching as they are about research, and it definitely rubs off on their students," said Peter Bruns, HHMI vice president for grants and special programs. "Undergraduates need a window into the excitement and fulfillment that scientists get from science. They need to discover that science is a way of learning and knowing, involving critical thinking, problem solving, and asking answerable questions. In this program we are supporting faculty to use research-grade innovation to advance science education." In addition to his teaching, Hatfull also is an accomplished researcher, with more than 80 research articles in peer-reviewed journals, a coedited book, and funding from the National Institutes of Health, uninterrupted, for the past 16 years. In addition, Hatfull has received the Pitt Chancellor's Distinguished Research Award. He is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Bacteriology, Journal of Molecular Microbiology, and Journal of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology. Hatfull earned the B.Sc. degree in biological sciences from Westfield College at the University of London in 1978 and the Ph.D. degree in molecular biology from Edinburgh University in 1981. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is dedicated to discovering and disseminating new knowledge in the basic life sciences. HHMI grounds its research programs on the conviction that scientists of exceptional talent and imagination will make fundamental contributions of lasting scientific value and benefit to mankind when given the resources, time, and freedom to pursue challenging questions. The institute prizes intellectual daring and seeks to preserve the autonomy of its scientists as they pursue their research. The Department welcomes two new faculty
One of the many successful activities undertaken during this past academic year was the recruitment of two new Assistant Professors to our Faculty. They are Drs. Michael Grabe and Beth Roman. Dr. Grabe received his B.S. in Mathematics and Physics in 1996 from Brown University, and then attended the University of California, Berkeley to pursue his doctoral studies on the modeling of biological molecules and systems. Since 2002, Dr. Grabe has been a post-doctoral research fellow with Prof. Lily Jan at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Grabe received post-doctoral awards from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Science Foundation, and among his research interests is a deeper understanding of the mechanism of voltage-gated ion channel function. Dr. Roman is currently an Assistant Professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine where she studies vascular development using zebrafish as a model organism. During her relatively short time at Georgetown, Dr. Roman has obtained grants from the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Roman was a post-doctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health and she obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. Please join us in welcoming both Michael and Beth to the Department of Biological Sciences! Outstanding students recognized Outstanding achievements by both Undergradauet and Graduate students in the Department of Biological Sciences were recognized at the Deaprtment kick-off meeting on 1 September of this year. Notable achievements included the following: Awards presented to Graduate Students
Awards presented to Undergraduate Students
Mary Edmonds Fund In our first issue of BioSphere, we announced the establishment of the Mary P. Edmonds Graduate Student Award Fund in honor of our friend and colleague who passed away on April 16, 2005. For those of you who knew Mary, you will remember her as a warm individual and rigorous scientist, who regularly attended seminars and participated in our graduate course. Mary was always happy to offer advice to Faculty, students, and post-docs, and it brightened our day when we encountered and chatted with Mary at the mailboxes or in the hallways. But Mary's fame stretched well beyond our Department: Mary Edmonds was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1991 and received several honorary doctorates for her work on RNA processing. Specifically, Mary characterized the enzyme that adds polyA "tails" on RNA, and her laboratory identified nuclear enriched, branched trinucleotides. With incredible foresight, Mary proposed that these branched species are involved in pre-mRNA splicing, and indeed seminal papers published subsequently confirmed Mary's keen insights into the splicing reaction. For additional information about the fund, please call (412) 624-3903. Gifts to this fund may be made online at http://www.giveto.pitt.edu/giving. In doing so, please allocate your gift to The Mary Edmonds Fund (MEDMO). You may also make your gift by completing this form. The first winner of the Mary P. Edmonds Graduate Student Award will be announced at our 30th Birthday Party on September 14-16, 2007. Hope to see you there!Doorways to the Cell PITTSBURGH-To open the door for better medicines, University of Pittsburgh assistant professor Michael D. Grabe thought he first needed to open the 'doors,' or channels, that allow for passage in and out of cells to see what science is up against when developing new drugs. A faculty member in the biological sciences department in the School of Arts and Sciences, Grabe created a model of open channels in plant cells to gauge the appearance of closed channels in the human heart and brain, which resemble open plant channels. The results appeared in the online edition of Nature last month and will be published in print Feb. 1. Scientists already know the shape of open channels in human and animal cells. With more knowledge on the shape of closed channels in animal cells, scientists will be better able to understand how to control channels with medicine and restore cell function to treat such conditions as epilepsy and heart arrhythmia, Grabe said. "Unless we know how these small devices work, it's really difficult to re-create how they work together in the body,” he explained. “It's hard to fix a door when you don't have any idea what a hinge looks like or what a hinge is." Known as ion channels, the passages that Grabe studied are proteins that open and close so that electric-charged atoms, or ions, can pass into cells. The ion's charge then passes from one cell to the next, allowing the cells to communicate over long distances. For example, ions spark a chain of electric impulses in human nervous system cells that go from a person thinking, "I want to open my hand," to the hand actually opening, Grabe said. "We wouldn't have consciousness if it wasn't for our cells' ability to hold and pass ions," he added. Ion channels cannot always be open or shut. Those in human hearts and brains, for instance, have voltage sensors that respond to certain levels of electric charge to open and close the channel. Without sensors to close the channels, the cell would run out of energy. Some toxins, such as those from puffer fish and tarantulas, work by clogging the cell's channels and killing the signals, he said. Similarly, research links mutations in voltage sensors with conditions such as epilepsy, heart arrhythmia, and deafness, Grabe said. These mutations hinder normal activity of the channel itself, the cell, and the whole body system. Modern drug developers target ion channels because of their prominent role in molecular harmony. According to Grabe, his model gives scientists another reference when mapping the mechanics of ion channels. "When developing a drug, researchers need to know what the target of the drug looks like," he said. "My research focused on what ion channels look like when they're closed and when they're open." Grabe based his model on a voltage-gated potassium channel from a plant cell. The channel acts in getting potassium to a plant's roots. The leap from plant to human is not fantastical: Grabe's model hinges on the widely held assumptions that voltage-gated channels operate similarly across most of nature and that the open voltage sensor of plant channels looks like the closed voltage sensor of animal cells, he said. "The real reason we care about these things is not because of the plants but because many people, including myself, believe these ion channels behave and look similarly in different cells," Grabe said. "They've just been co-opted into different organisms for whatever they need." Grabe began working on his model approximately four years ago at the University of California at San Francisco with funding from the National Institutes of Health and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The next step is to understand how diseases and mutations manipulate the ion channel and how medicine could counteract that interference, Grabe said. Ultimately, he wants to know why proteins take their shape and how disease alters that process, a distant goal right now. "These are small pieces in a big puzzle," Grabe said of his latest research. "But it helps." April Randle wins DDIG April Randle, a graduate student in the Susan Kalisz lab, has be awarded Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDIG) from the National Science Foundation. The title of her proposal is, "What maintains species boundaries between interfertile, sympatric congeners? A test of prezygotic/postzygotic isolating mechanisms and cryptic hybridization." The National Science Foundation awards Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grants in selected areas of the biological sciences. These grants provide partial support of doctoral dissertation research in order to improve the overall quality of the research, to allow doctoral candidates to conduct research in specialized facilities or field settings away from the home campus, and to provide opportunities for greater diversity in collecting and creativity in analyzing data than would otherwise be possible using only locally available resources. Graduation Celebration Attention April and August Grads! The Department of Biological Sciences will host two graduation events in Alumni Hall on Saturday 28 April 2007.
4:30-5:45 Meet & Greet - 5th Floor Mellon Event Room 6:00 - 7:15 Recognition Ceremony - 7th floor Auditorium DRESS: You may wear a cap & gown, or a nice outfit. ABOUT GUESTS: Even if you do not plan on attending please RSVP by 16 April to Biological Sciences Advising Office If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us. Welcome, Dr. VanDemark
The Department is pleased to welcome Andrew (Andy) VanDemark as a new assistant professor. Andy grew-up in Michigan and after receiving his B.S. in biochemistry at Eastern Michigan University he attended Johns Hopkins for his graduate training in the laboratory of Cynthia Wolberger. For his dissertation research, Andy used x-ray crystallography to elucidate fundamental insights in the mechanism by which ubiquitin is activated and handed-off to a second enzyme before being appended onto substrate proteins. In 2001, he joined the laboratory of Chris Hill at the University of Utah as a post-doctoral research fellow and continued to employ methods in crystallographic analysis as his primary research tool. Andy's recent efforts include analyses of nucleosome remodeling and nucleosome reorganizing complexes, and we are excited that he will be working at the scientific interface of several labs in the Department and at the University. Please join us in greeting Andy and his family to the Department and to Pittsburgh! Students win Fellowships Congratulations to four of our graduate students for winning Mellon Fellowships for the 2008-2009 academic year. This year's awardees are:
In addition, Alison Hale, a first year graduate student in Susan Kalisz’s lab has been awarded a Sigma Xi Grant-in-aid-of-Research. Congratualtion to all! Pitt Graduate Lands Congressional Internship Jaclyn Saunders, an undergraduate researcher in Susan Kalisz’s lab for the past two years, has been awarded one of three Congressional National Parks Internship sponsored by the Student Conservation Association and Unilever. Jaci is a December 2007 graduate of the Department of Biological Sciences. Since 2001, through participation in the Unilever-SCA National Park Congressional Internship Program, student leaders gain real world experience through summer immersion in a National Park complimented by an internship in a Congressional office on Capitol Hill. Jaci was also chosen to be a Smithsonian Environmental Research Center - Population and Community Ecology Research Intern. Congratulaions Jaci! Student Wins Outstanding Paper Award John Paul, a graduate student in the Stephen Tonsor lab, has won the Ernst Mayr Award in Systematic Biology for his paper, "Evolutionary Time for Dispersal Limits the Extent, but not the Occupancy of Species’ Potential Ranges in the Neotropical Plant Genus Psychotria." The award is presented to the author of an excellent paper - in terms of creativity, overall high quality of the paper and overall quality of the oral presentation of the paper - in the field of systematic biology; the award was presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Evolution. The abstract for the paper is: Explaining the diversity in geographic range sizes among species is a central goal of ecological and evolutionary studies. We tested species age as an explanation of range size variation among a closely related group of understory shrubs in Mesoamerican (Psychotria subgenus Psychotria, Rubiaceae). Psychotria species vary by orders of magnitude in geographic range size, yet species appear to be generally ecologically similar, bringing into question what drives variation in range size. We sequenced the internal-transcribed spacer (ITS) and chloroplast psbA-trnH loci of a large majority of the Mesoamerican species. We used Bayesian relaxed-clock dating to estimate phylogenetic relationships and species’ ages. We measured species’ geographic range occupancies and range extents using herbarium collection records. Range occupancy measures how much of a geographic range is filled, and range extent measures the maximum linear distance between collection records. We used species distribution modeling to predict species’ potential ranges. If species range sizes are limited by time for dispersal, we hypothesized that older species should have 1) larger realized range occupancies and realized range extents than younger species, 2) filled a greater proportion of their potential range occupancies, and 3) colonized a greater proportion of their potential range extents. We found 1) a significant but weak, positive relationship between species age vs. both realized range occupancy and realized range extent in Psychotria. Furthermore, we found 2) no relationship between species age and filling of potential range occupancies, but 3) older species had colonized a significantly greater proportion of their potential range extents than younger species. However, within Psychotria, species are nested in two strongly supported clades that diverged ~16 Mya. When analyzed separately, older species in one clade had colonized a significantly greater proportion of their potential range extents than younger species, explaining a third of the variance. Species age did not explain proportional range extent in the other clade, or occupancy of potential ranges in either clade. Despite the divergent evolutionary history of the clades, we found no significant differences in average geographic or elevation range attributes of species between clades and no differences in the phenotypic characteristics we measured. However, younger species in the clade where species age was not predictive of proportional range extent had larger fruit volumes than older species, suggesting that larger frugivorous birds may enhance these species’ dispersal. Our results indicate a time-for-dispersal effect may limit the extent of species’ ranges, but not necessarily their occupancy. Welcome, Dr. Boyle
The Department of Biological Sciences is pleased to welcome Dr. Jon Boyle as a new Assistant Professor. Jon earned his B.A. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Montana. Afterwards he attended the University of Wisconsin for his graduate training in the laboratory of Timothy Yoshino where he studied Schistosoma mansoni, a human parasite that causes schistosomiasis. As a post-doctoral research scholar in the lab of Professor John Boothroyd at Stanford University, Jon continued his study of human pathogens but switched his focus to the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Jon will continue to investigate the genetic, cellular, and biochemical basis of how Toxoplasma gondii infects cells and leads to mortality. Jon will bring new and exciting research to the department and University of Pittsburgh as well as add strengthen our existing expertise in cell biology, biochemistry and genetics. Please join us in welcoming Jon to the Department and to Pittsburgh! Professor Brodsky Assumes Acting Chair Duties Because Professor Graham Hatfull, our Department Chair, will be on sabbatical in the Fall Term, Professor Jeffrey L. Brodsky will assume the position of Acting Chair. Professor Brodsky holds the Avinoff Chair in Biological Sciences and has been a member of the Department since 1994. Professor Hatfull recently completed a 5-year appointment as Chair and will resume his position as Department Chair at the start of the Spring Term (2009). At that time, Professor Craig Peebles will assume the title of Associate Chair. We wish to offer our deepest thanks to Professor Hatfull for his past and continued commitment to our Department, and wish him a wonderful, well-deserved sabbatical leave. Faculty Member wins Chancellors Distinguished Teaching Award Professor Jeff Brodsky, the Avinoff Chair in Biological Sciences, was one of five recipients of the 2008 University of Pittsburgh Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award. In making the award, Chancellor Mark Nordenberg commented on teaching methods that "encourages [students] to think critically" and that Professor Brodsky's ability to blend his teaching and research roles "results in an invaluable experience" for students who he has mentored. Department Welcomes New Graduate Students We are pleased to welcome 13 new first-year graduate students to the Department of Biological Sciences, which brings the number of scientists-in-training in our graduate student community to almost 70. The students are:
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