Biology News and Events
Page Menu: In the news | Seminars | Student news | Faculty news | Recent extramural funding | Recent peer-reviewed articles | Recent books | Recent book chapters
Seminars
Seminars on various topics of biology are presented by invited speakers each week on Friday at 3:35 PM in Ross Hall room 1010.
Biology faculty in the news
- Dr. Rick Adams has been interviewed by numerous news organizations (Popular science, Denver 9 News, The Denver Post, The Boulder Daily Camera, The Daily Finance) for his thoughts on an emerging disease that is devastating bat populations in the U.S.
- Dr. Patrick Burns was recently featured in the Greeley Tribune newspaper because of his research into improving reproductive efficiency in cattle.
- Dr. Mackessy and his research article on snakes was recently featured as the Editors Choice by the journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine.
- Dr. Mackessy was recently interviewed by KDVR Fox News to highlight his research on snake venoms as potential therapies for cancer.
Student news
Recent student awards
Graduate students -- 2011
- Jackie Johnson: College of Natural and Health Sciences Research Awards
- Cassandra Modahl: College of Natural and Health Sciences Research Awards
- Brittney Vaughn: College of Natural and Health Sciences Research Awards
Graduate students -- 2010
- Michael Schiebout: College of Natural and Health Sciences Research Awards
- Matthew Willey: College of Natural and Health Sciences Research Awards
- Matthew Willey: University of Northern Colorado Outstanding Thesis Award
- Emily Snode: University of Northern Colorado Outstanding Thesis Award
Undergraduate students -- 2011
- Ben Lee: First Place -- Beta Beta Beta, National Biological Honor Society, Colorado Chapter, Molecular/Cellular Biology oral session.
- Lindsey Passantino: Second Place -- Beta Beta Beta, National Biological Honor Society, Colorado Chapter, Ecology/Organismal Biology poster session.
Undergraduate students -- 2010
- Alex Terry: College of Natural and Health Sciences Research Awards
- Caitlin Calhoun: College of Natural and Health Sciences Research Awards
- Lauren Nieman: College of Natural and Health Sciences Research Awards
- Dani Flynn: College of Natural and Health Sciences Research Awards
- Ashley Gross: College of Natural and Health Sciences Research Awards
- Cheysser Harding: College of Natural and Health Sciences Research Awards
- Kayka Jablonski: College of Natural and Health Sciences Research Awards
- Ryan Pevey: College of Natural and Health Sciences Research Awards
Faculty news
New faculty for fall, 2011
- Dr. Ann Hawkinson, Microbiology
- Dr. Jason Shaw, Life Sciences Concepts
Faculty transitions
- Dr. Chhandak Basu has taken a new position at California State University, Northridge.
- Dr. Leah Sheridan has taken a new position at the University of Denver.
Recent Faculty awards
- Dr. Cindy White is the recipient of the 2010 College of Natural and Health Sciences award for Excellence in Service.
- Dr. Mitchell McGlaughlin is the 2010 College of Natural and Health Sciences Faculty Research Mentor of the Year at the undergraduate level.
- Dr. Richard Jurin is the recipient of the 2010 College of Natural and Health Sciences award for Academic Leadership.
Recently funded extramural grants
- 2010 -- National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders ($60,000), Yound Investigator Award. Investigator: Mark Thomas.
- 2009 -- NSF-Division of Environmental Biology ($145,070): "The role of isolation in species diversification; insights into dispersal and evolution of endemic Lotus from the California Channel Islands." Investigator: Mit McGlaughlin.
Some recently published peer-reviewed articles
- Adams, R. A. 2010. Bat reproduction declines when conditions mimic climate change projections for western North America. Ecology, 91: 2437-2445.
- Benedict L. 2010. California towhee duets are multi-functional signals for multiple receivers. Behaviour. 147:953-978.
- Casabar, RCT, PC Das, GK DeKrey, CS Gardiner, Y Cao, RL Rose, and AD Wallace. 2010. Endosulfan induces CYP2B6 and CYP3A4 by activating the pregnane X receptor. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 245 (3): 335-343.
- Gaede, D.B., Strickert, D. & Jurin, R.R. 2010. Nature-Based Tourism Businesses in Colorado: Interpreting Environmental Ethics and Responsible Behavior. The Journal of Tourism Insights, 1(1): 52-58.
- Hayes, W.K. and S.P. Mackessy. 2010. Clinical tales from snakebite cases: are rattlesnakes evolving more toxic venom? Wilderness and Environmental Medicine 21:35-45.
- Jirage D, Keenan SM, Waters NC. 2010. Exploring novel targets for antimalarial drug discovery: plasmodial protein kinases. Infect Disord Drug Targets. 10(3):134-46.
- Leatherman, J.L. and S. DiNardo. 2010. Germline self-renewal requires cyst stem cells, while stat regulates niche adhesion in Drosophila testes. Nature Cell Biology, 12(8): 806-11.
- Mackessy, S.P. 2010. Crotalus viridis viridis (Prairie Rattlesnake). Noxious weeds as a hazard to snakes. Herpetological Review (in press).
- Mackessy, S.P. 2010. The evolution of venom composition in the Western Rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis sensu lato): toxicity versus tenderizers. Toxicon 55:1463-1474.
- McGlaughlin ME, Friar EA. 2010. Evolutionary diversification and geographical isolation in Dubautia laxa (Asteraceae), a widespread member of the Hawaiian silversword alliance. Ann Bot. Dec 30.
- Peichoto, M.E., A. Paes Leme, B. Pauletti, I. Correia Batista, S.P. Mackessy, O. Acosta and M.Santoro. 2010. Autolysis at the disintegrin domain of patagonfibrase, a metalloproteinase from Philodryas patagoniensis (Patagonia Green Racer; Dipsadidae) venom. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Proteins and Proteomics (in press).
- Weldon, C.L. and S.P. Mackessy. 2010. Biological and proteomic analysis of venom from the Puerto Rican Racer (Alsophis portoricensis: Dipsadidae). Toxicon 55:558-569.
- Wibbelt G, Moore MS, Schountz T, Voigt CC. 2010. Emerging diseases in Chiroptera: why bats? Biol Lett, 6(4):438-40.
Recently published scholarly books
- Adams, R. A., ed. In press. Into the Night: 10 biologists exploring the lives of nocturnal animals share their most captivating field experiences from around the world. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.
- Jurin, R.R, Roush, D.E. Jr & Danter, K.J. Environmental Communications: Principles and Skills for Natural Resource Professionals, Scientists, and Engineers, 2nd edition. Springer Publications. 2010.
- Fox-Parrish, L., Jurin, R. R., Schafer, M. and Sommersted, K. Ghost Cats of the Tetons: Mitzly the Mountain Lion (books 1, 2 and 3)” The Cougar Fund (third grade education book series on cougars). The Cougar Fund/Authorhouse publishing). 2010.
Recently published scholarly book chapters
- Mackessy, S.P. 2010. Thrombin-like enzymes in snake venoms. In Kini, R.M., M.A. McLane, K. Clemetson, F.S. Markland and T. Morita, (eds.), Toxins and Hemostasis: From Bench to Bedside, Springer-Verlag (in press).
- Pedersen, S. C., G. G. Kwiecinski, P. A. Larsen, M. N. Morton, R. A. Adams, H. G. Genoways and V. J. Swier. 2010. Bats of Montserrat - population fluctuations in response to hurricanes and volcanoes: 1978-2005 pp. in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation of Island Bats (T. H. Fleming and P. Racey, eds.) University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
