News & Events
Congratulations!
Congratulations to John Menz ′14, Roberta Moore ENVS ′14 and Alison Lang ′13 for awards they received last week at the Mid-South GIS Conference. John won a $1500 GIS Student Fellowship for his oral presentation and written paper “Arboreal mapping of the Memphis Zoo: Long-term sustainable management plan.” Roberta won both 1st place and 3rd place for two posters she entered: “The influence of historic streetcar lines on economic development” and “Changes in tree coverage and steps toward arboretum certification at the Memphis Zoo.” Alison won 2nd place for her poster “Fish diversity of the Conasauga River.”
Congratulations, students!
WELCOME TO THE DEPARTMENT
Dr. Oliver Sturm will join the department in Fall 2012 in a three-year appointment. Dr. Sturm received his Diploma (M.S.) in Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bayreuth (Germany) and his Ph.D. in bioanalytical Chemistry, Imperial College (UK). He has served as Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Bioinformatics Research Centre, Department of Computing, University of Glasgow and at St. Jude Children′s Research Hospital, Memphis. He has taught previously at Rhodes as Visiting Assistant Professor in the Topics in Biomedical Science class and in offering Virology/Immunology. In his new appointment as Assistant Professor of Biology, Dr. Sturm will teach a range of courses including Virology/Immunology, Senior Seminar, Biology I, Biology I laboratory, and Biology 105. His research interests include apoptosis and necroptosis in epithelial cells infected by influenza virus, and computational modeling of biochemical pathways.
CONGRATULATIONS!
On April 29th, at the Awards Convocation, Sharwil Bell ′12 and Ted Boozalis ′12 were presented the Award of Excellence in Biology, Lindsey Bierle ′12 was given the Outstanding Research Award and Stephanie Kasper ′15 received the Award for Excellence in First-Year Biology.
Phillip Lyons, junior Biology major (and soon to be Environmental Science double-major) won first place in the poster competition at the Western Regional Meeting for Tennessee Academy of Sciences (TAS) on Saturday, April 9, 2011. Phillip’s poster, coauthored by Jen Germano and Andy Kouba of the Memphis Zoo, was titled “Absence of sexually dimorphic second to fourth (2D:4D) toe length ratios in striped newts.”
RECENTLY ARRIVED FACULTY
Dr. Rachel Jabaily joined the Department of Biology as Assistant Professor in January 2012. She filled the position of Evolutionary Biologist/Plant Biology. Dr. Jabaily received her B.S in Botany with a minor in Environment and Natural Resources from the University of Wyoming and her Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has served as Research Assistant at the Royal Gardens, Kew, UK; a Mayers Fellow at the Huntington Botanical Garden, San Marino, CA; and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Old Dominion University, MD.
GRANTS AND AWARDS
Drs. Loretta Jackson-Hayes, Terry Hill, Darlene Loprete and Mary Miller received a grant from the Merck/AAAS Undergraduate Science Research Program (http://www.merckaaasusrp.org/). The program is sponsored by The Merck Institute for Science Education administered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), with the goal of supporting student research at the interface between chemistry and biology, and of encouraging students to attend graduate school. The award ($60,000 over three years) provides four stipends in each of the next three summers to support students who will work in these professors’ laboratories. Some participating students will be drawn from four regional Historically Black Colleges. The grant also supports a visiting young investigator each year to present a seminar and meet informally with students interested in graduate school. Some additional support for this program is provided by the Provost and the Departments of Biology and Chemistry.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
Boyle, S.A., C.E. Zartman, W.R. Spironello, and A.T. Smith. 2012. Implications of habitat fragmentation on the diet of bearded saki monkeys in Central Amazonian forest. Journal of Mammalogy 93(4).
Davis, J.R., S.A. Boyle, A. Khan, A.L. J. Gay, J.M. Grisham, and L.E. Luque. 2012. Snake parasitism in an urban old-growth forest. Urban Ecosystems DOI: 10.1007/s11252-012-0234-7.
Collins, M.D., Simberloff, D., and Connor EF. 2011. Binary matrices and checkerboard distributions of birds in the Bismarck Archipelago. Journal of Biogeography. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02506.x.
Carlson A., Fitz Gerald J.N., Telligman M., Roshanmanesh J., Swanson, R.J. 2011. Defining the genetic architecture underlying female-and male-mediated nonrandom mating and seed yild traits in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol. 157:1956-64.
Kabelik, D., Schrock S.E., Ayres L.C., Goodson, J.L. 2011. Estrogenic regulation of dopaminergic neurons in the opportunistically breeding zebra finch. General and Comparative Endocrinology 173:96-104.
Kelly A.M., Kingsbury M.A., Hoffbuhr, K., Schrock, S.E., Waxman, B., Kabelik, D., Thompson, R.R., Goodson, J.L. 2011. Extended amygdala nonpeptide neurons and septal V1a-like receptors potently modulate songbird flocking and responses to novelty. Hormones and Behavior 60:12-21.
Laurance, W. F., J. L. Camargo, R. C. C. Luizão, S. G. Laurance, S. L. Pimm, E. M. Bruna, P. C. Stouffer, G. B. Williamson, J. Benítez-Malvido, H. L. Vasconcelos, K. S. Van Houtan, C. E. Zartman, S. A. Boyle, R. K. Didham, A. Andrade, and T. E. Lovejoy. 2011. The fate of Amazonian forest fragments: a 32-year investigation. Biological Conservation 144: 56-67.
Boyle, S. A. and A. T. Smith. 2010. Can landscape and species characteristics predict primate presence in forest fragments in the Brazilian Amazon? Biological Conservation 143: 1134-1143.
Simberloff, D., and Collins, M.D. 2010. Birds of the Solomon Islands: The domain of the dynamic equilibrium theory and assembly rules, with comments on the taxon cycle. Pages 237-263 in J.B. Losos and R. Ricklefs, eds. The Theory of Island Biogeography Revisited. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.
Jaslow, C. R., J. L. Carney, and W. H. Kutteh. 2010. Diagnostic factors identified in 1020 women with two versus three or more recurrent pregnancy losses. Fertility and Sterility. 93:1234-43.
Jaslow, C. R., K. S. Patterson, S. Cholera, L. K. Jennings, R. W. Ke, and W. H. Kutteh. 2010. CD9 expression by human granulosa cells and platelets as a predictor of fertilization success during IVF. Obstetrics and Gynecology International DOI:10.1155/2010/192461.
Kabelik D., J.A. Morrison, J.L. Goodson (2010) Cryptic regulation of vasotocin activity but not anatomy by sex steroids and social stimuli in opportunistic desert finches. Brain, Behavior and Evolution 75: 71-84
Boyle, S., C. Kennedy, J. Torres, K. Colman, P. Perez, and N. de la Sancha. 2011. Effects of imagery resolution of the evaluation of fragmented landscapes: a case study from Paraguay. Presented at the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation/Society for Conservation Biology - Africa joint conference in Arusha, Tanzania.
Boyle, S., C. Kennedy, J. Torres, K. Colman, P. Perez, and N. de la Sancha. 2012. Effects of imagery resolution on analysis of Atlantic Forest fragmentation. Presented at the US - International Association for Landscape Ecology Conference in Newport, Rhode Island.
Boyle, S. 2011. Habitat risk assessments using high-resolution satellite imagery. Presented at the Mid-South GIS Conference.
Cappellato, R., S. Tchang ′11. 2011. Brownfields in Memphis, TN. Presented at the Department of Planning and Development for the City of Memphis and Shelby County.
S. Tchang ′12. 2011. Memphis restaurants reduce waste in landfills with the help of Project Green Fork (PGF). Presented at the Mid-South GIS Conference.
Collins, M., D.S. Simberloff, and E.F. Connor. 2011. Checkerboard distributions of birds in the Bismarck Archipelago. Presented at the American Ornithologists′ Union in Jacksonville, FL.
Collins, M, T.W. Moore, A.J Leppold, and B. Holberton. 2011. Differential passerine migration during spring and fall in the Gulf of Maine. Presented at the Association of Field Ornithologists and Wilson Ornithological Society in Kearney, NE.
Fitz Gerald, J. 2011. The Polycom target AtFH5, an Arabidopsis formim homologue, as a potential realizator of seed size variation through parental genomic imprinting. Presented at the University of Chicago.
Fitz Gerald, J. M. Cartegena ′11, and J. Chan ′11. 2011. An adaptive model for parental genomic imprinting. And Fitz Gerald, J., B. Pope ′13, J. Chan ′11, and R. Ishii ′11. Imprinted expression of polarizing genes in the seed endosperm is subject to natural variation. Both were presented at the 22nd Annual International Conference of Arabidopsis Research in Madison, WI and the 22nd Annual International Conference in Chicago, IL.
Kabelik, D., E. Burford ′11, L. Singh ′11, V. Alix ′12, A. Kala ′12, W. Hawes ′12, S. Rafieertary ′12, and J. Ballard ′11. 2011. Neural activity associated with social behaviors in the brown anole, Anolis sagrei. Presented at te 7th International Symposium of Amphibian and Reptilian Endocrinology and Neurobiology (ISAREN) in Ann Arbor, MI.
Luque de Johnson, L., A. Khan ′13, A. Johnson ′11, K. Jones ′13, M. McCravy ′12, M. Grisham ′12, A. Yu ′13, J. Davis, and S. Boyle. 2011. An integrative assessment of snake parasitism in an urban environment. Presented at the 86th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Parasitologists in Anchorage, AK.
Miller, M. and R. Miller ′11. 2011. Exposure to ruthenium-based chemotherapeutic KP1019 delays cell cycle progression in S. cerevisiae. Presented at the Gordon Conference on Chromosome Dynamics in Mt. Snow, VT.
Miller, M. and L. Bierle ′12. 2012. Rutheniumbased chemotherapeutic kp1019 induces DNA damage response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Presented at the South Eastern Regional Yeast Meeting at Emory University in Atlanta, GA.
Davis, J., T. Boozalis ′12, L. LaSalle ′12. 2010. Good as new? Morphological and biochemical analyses reveal variation between original and regenerated lizard tails, Presented at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Davis, J., L. LaSalle ′12, T. Boozalis ′12, J. Goss ′10. 2010. Adding insult to injury: Primary and secondary costs of tail loss in lizards. Poster at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Davis, J., A. Johnson ′11, M. Grisham ’13, A. ’13, K. Jones ’13, M. McCravy ’13, S. Boyle, L. Luque de Johnson. 2010. An integrative assessment of snake parasitism across an urban-rural gradient. Poster at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Miller, M, J. Ward BMB ′10, T.W. Hill, D. Loprete, L. Jackson-Hayes. 2010. Analysis of the C-terminal domain of a putative cell wall receptor in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. Presented at the South Eastern Regional Yeast Meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Hill, T.W., D. Loprete, L. Jackson-Hayes, B. Chavez ‘11, C. Groover ‘10, E. Ogburn ’11, and M. Pluta ’11 BMB. 2010. Signaling through the Aspergillus nidulans orthologue of PKC mediates septum formation. Presented at the 10th European Conference on Fungal Genetics in the Netherlands, in March/April 2010.
Hill, T.W., D. Loprete, L. Jackson-Hayes, E.Ogburn ′11, J. Musgrove, ’10 BMB. 2010. Reduced expression of SccA increases sensitivity to wall stress. Presented at the 10th European Conference on Fungal Genetics in the Netherlands, in March/April 2010.
Hill, T.W., D. Loprete, L. Jackson-Hayes, S. Gremillion. 2010. Mutations in two Golgi apparatus COG proteins affect growth and glycosylation in Aspergillus nidulans. Presented at the 10th European Conference on Fungal Genetics in the Netherlands, in March/April 2010.
Boyle, S. 2010. Conservation implications for primates living in a fragmented landscape. Presented at the NatureServe Conservation Conference in Austin, TX.
Boyle, S. 2010. Use of satellite images in studying land cover changes in the Amazon. Presented at the symposium Colaboración International para el Desarrollo Bioinformático de Ciberestructuras para Estudios Ecohidrológicos in Panama City, Panama.
Boyle, S. 2010. Satellite imagery (in Spanish). Presented at Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá. Presented in Panama City, Panama.
Boyle, S. 2010. Biodiversity: What are the human impacts? (in Spanish). Presented at the Centro de Investigaciones Hidráulicas e Hidrotécnicas, Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá in Panama City, Panama.
Boyle, S. 2010. Studying forest fragmentation using GIS and remote sensing. Presented at the Universidad Nacional de Asunción, Paraguay.
Houghton, J. 2010. Evaluating fluid dynamic and geochemical perturbations in seafloor hydrothermal systems by subsurface biofilms using a novel flow-through experimental apparatus. Presented at the Goldschmidt Conference in Knoxville, TN.
Kabelik, D., A.M. Kelly, M.A. Kingsbury, K. Hoffbuhr, S.E. Schrock, B. Waxman, R.R. Thompson, and J.L. Goodson. 2010. Sociality and anxiety-like behavior in male zebra finches are decreased by vasotocin antisense infusions into the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and V1a antagonist infusion into the septum. Presented at the 14th Annual Meeting for the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology in Toronto, Canada.
Kabelik, D., R.L. Hancock and D.K. Hews. 2010 Do male morphs in ornate tree lizards differ in hippocampal volume?. Presented at the 47th Annual Meeting of the Animal Behavior Society in Williamsburg, VA.
Kabelik, D., S. L.Weiss and E.E. Mulligan. 2010 Effect of stress on reproduction and ornament development in female striped plateau lizards. Presented at the 47th Annual Meeting of the Animal Behavior Society in Williamsburg, VA.
Cappellato, R. 2010. Mississippi River at Memphis. Presented at the Gather at the River Conference held at the Bridges Center in Memphis.
Cappellao, R., B. O′Neil ′12, M. Jones. 2010. Wolf River Neighborhood Brownfields to Greenfields. Presented at the Wolf River Conservancy Day.
Boyle, S. A. and A. T. Smith. 2010. Behavioral modifications in northern bearded saki monkeys (Chiropotes satanas chiropotes) in forest fragments of central Amazonia. Primates 51: 43-51.
Fitz Gerald J. et al. 2009. Polycomb group-dependent imprinting of the actin regulator AtFH5 regulates morphogenesis in Arabidopsis thaliana. Development 136:3399-3404.
Kabelik D., A. M. Kelly, and J. L. Goodson. 2010. Dopaminergic regulation of mate competition aggression and aromatase-fos colocalization in vasotocin neurons. Neuropharmacology 58: 117-125.
Luque L. E., O. A. Bridges, J. N. Mason, K. L. Boyd, A. Portner, and C. J. Russell. 2010. Residues in the heptad repeat a region of the fusion protein modulate the virulence of Sendai virus in mice. Journal of Virology 84(2):810-21.
Boyle, S. 2009. The use of GIS to assess the impacts of land cover change on fauna and flora. Presented at the 9th Annual Mid-South GIS Conference held in Memphis.
Boyle S.A., W.C. Lourenço, L.R. da Silva, A.T. Smith. 2009. Travel and spatial patterns change when northern bearded saki monkeys (Chiropotes satanas chiropotes) live in forest fragments. International Journal of Primatology 30: 515-531.
Boyle S.A., Lourenço W.C., da Silva L.R., Smith A.T. 2009. Home range estimates vary with sample size and methods. Folia Primatologica 80: 33-42.
Jackson-Hayes L., Hill T.W., Loprete D.M., Fay L.M., Gordon B.S., Nkashama S.A., Patel R.K., BCMB ‘08, Sartain C.V., BCMB ’07. 2008. Two GDP-mannose transporters contribute to hyphal form and cell wall integrity in Aspergillus nidulans. Microbiology 154: 2037-2047.
Goodson JL, Schrock SE, Klatt JD, Kabelik D, Kingsbury MA. 2009. Oxytocin-like receptors and mesotocin promote songbird flocking behavior. Science 325(5942): 862-6.
Goodson JL, Kabelik D, Schrock SE. 2009. Dynamic neuromodulation of aggression by vasotocin: Influence of social context and social phenotype in territorial songbirds. Biology Letters 5(4): 554-6.
Kabelik D, Klatt JD, Kingsbury MA, Goodson JL. 2009. Endogenous vasotocin exerts context-dependent behavioral effects in a semi-naturalistic colony environment. Hormones and Behavior 56: 101-107.
Goodson JL, Kabelik D, Kelly AM, Rinaldi J, Klatt JD. 2009. Midbrain dopamine neurons reflect affiliation phenotypes and are tightly coupled to courtship in Estrildid finches. PNAS 106(21): 8737-8742.
Goodson J.L., Kabelik D. 2009. Dynamic limbic networks and social diversity in vertebrates: From neural context to neuropeptides. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology 30: 429-441.
Boozalis, TS ′12, LaSalle, LT ′12, Davis JR. 2012. Morphological and biochemical analyses of original and regenerated lizard tails reveal variation in protein and lipid composition. Comp Biochem Phys A. 161:77-82.
Castore R, Hughes C, Debeaux A ′12, Sun J, Zeng C, Wang S, Tatchell K, Shi R, Lee K, chen DR, Harrision L. 2011. Mycobacterium tuberculosis Ku can bind to nuclear DNA damage and sensitize mammalian cells to bleomycin sulfate. Mutagenesis, doi: 10.1093/mutage/ger049.
Kablik David, R.R. Thompson, M.A. Kingsbury, K. Hoffbuhr, S.E. Schrock, and J.L. Goodson. 2009. Vasotocin regulates group size preferences in zebra finches. Poster presented at the meeting of the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology at Michigan State University in East Lansing.
Musgrove, J. ′10, E. Ogburn ′11, T.W Hill, S. Gremillion. 2009. Tightly regulated expression of the PkcA and SccA genes by the inducible AlcA promoter affects both development and cell wall integrity in Aspergillus nidulans. Poster presented at the meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (ASBMB) in New Orleans, LA.
Jackson-Hayes, L., T.W. Hill, D. Loprete, L. Johnson ′10, C. Groover ′10, B. Gordon ′09, S. Martin ′09. 2009. Two GDP-mannose transporters contribute to cell wall stability in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. Poster presented at the meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (ASBMB) in New Orleans, LA.
Hill, T. W., J. Musgrove ‘10, E. Ogburn ‘11, B. Cathey, and J. Lemon. 2009. The Aspergillus nidulans orthologue of protein kinase C (PkcA) localizes to forming septa in a formin- and actin-dependent manner Presented at the 25th Fungal Genetics Conference in Pacific Grove, CA, in March.
Hill, T.W. 2008. Cell walls & cell polarity in Aspergillus nidulans. Presented seminar at the Department of Molecular Sciences, University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
Fitz Gerald, J., M. Cartagena ′11. 2009. Paternal regulation of maternal gene expression may provide an adaptive mechanism in Arabidopsis thaliana. Poster presented at the 20th International Conference of Arabidopsis Research held in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Fitz Gerald, J., J. Chan ‘11, M. Cartagena ‘11, N. Winston ‘10 and J. Holt ‘09 2009. Polycomb regulates endosperm structure through parental and regional silencing of the Arabidopsis formin AtFH5: developmental and evolutionary perspectives. Presented at the Department of Plant Reproduction and Development at the École Normale Supérieure – Lyon, France.
Davis, J., A. Kouba (Memphis Zoo) and S. Cassel (’10). 2009. Assessing amphibian marking techniques in recent toad metamorphs: Reliability, effects on survivorship and physiology, and conservation implications. Presented at the Society for Conservation Biology meeting in Beijing, China.
Cappellato, R., J. Gentry ‘09. 2009. Carbon uptake by Memphis′ urban parks estimated by using the CITYgreen software. Presented at the Ecological Society of America meeting in Albuquerque, NM.
Fitz Gerald J., M. Luo, A. Chaudhury, and F. Berger. 2008. DNA Methylation causes predominant maternal controls of plant embryo growth. PLoS ONE. 3:E2298.
Jackson-Hayes, L., T. W. Hill, D.M. Loprete, L.M. Fay, B.S. Gordon, S.A. Nkashama, R.K. Patel, BCMB ‘09, and C.V. Sartain. 2008. Two GDP-mannose transporters contribute to hyphal form and cell wall integrity in Aspergillus nidulans. Microbiology 154: 2037-2047.
Lindquester, G., K. Campbell ′05 and K Green ′09. 2008 The Epstein-Barr virus vIL-10 gene in a recombinant murine gammaherpesvirus contributes to splenomegaly but not infectious titer or latency. Presented in Estoril, Portugal to the 33rd International Herpesvirus Workshop with generous support from a Spence Wilson Faculty Travel Grant.
Hill, T., L. Jackson-Hayes, and D. Loprete. 2008. Two GDP-mannose transporters contribute to hyphal form and cell wall integrity in Aspergillus nidulans. Presented at the 9th European Congress on Fungal Genetics in Scotland.
Gremillion, S., D. Loprete and T. Hill. 2008. A mutation in a COG4 homologue affects polarity establishment in Aspergillus nidulans. Presented at the 9th European Congress on Fungal Genetics in Scotland.
Gremillion, S., D. Loprete and T. Hill. 2008. A mutation in a COG4 homologue affects polarity establishment in Aspergillus nidulans. Presented at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Mycological Society of America at Penn State University.
Cappellato, R. 2008. It is all down the river from here. Presented on September 23, 2008, to more than one hundred members of the Memphis Rotary Club.
BIOFEEDBACK
BIOFEEDBACK is the semiannual newsletter of the Department of Biology and is published prior to registration each semester. The purpose of BIOFEEDBACK is to provide an important and timely vehicle for the transfer of information concerning BOTH faculty and students of the Biology Department. Access issues of BIOFEEDBACK here.
RHODES JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE
The Rhodes Journal of Biological Science (RJBS) is a student-edited publication which recognizes the scientific achievements of Rhodes students. Access issues of The Rhodes Journal of Biological Science (RJBS) here.