Professor Primack Publishes Work on Biodiversity
A number of recent studies have found that at most sites the diversity of species has been stable or increasing over time, even as many species are faced with global extinction. These surprising results have large implications for conservation biology and the provision of ecosystem services. However, the results have been hotly disputed in the scientific literature. Professor Primack summarizes the dispute in an editorial in Biological Conservation. Primack and colleagues also wrote a summary of this controversy for the BU's blog.
Rebecca Branconi’s Publication Highlighted by the Editor-in-Chief of Insects Sociaux
Rebecca Branconi, a PhD candidate working with Dr. Pete Buston, has had her first paper from her Masters featured in the Insects Sociaux blog. For her Masters, Rebecca investigated questions of social evolution in insects; For her PhD, she is investigating questions of social evolution in coral reef fishes.
Professor Emeritus David Shepro Dies at 93
Dr. David Sheprow of Woods Hole, Mass., died peacefully on January 5, 2018, age 93. David was a Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Biology and Surgery at Boston University.
Following the war, David returned to Clark University where he met the love of his life, Marilyn Aronson. The couple married in 1949. After earning his Masters degree at Clark, David headed to Boston University where he earned his PhD in Biology. He remained there as a professor, became an academic dean of the Medical School, and was mentor to many students in the classroom and in his research lab until he retired to Woods Hole in 2004 at 80 years old.
For over 40 years, his laboratory's research focused on the biology and pathology of the microvasculature. He was one of the first to develop methods to isolate and culture vascular endothelial cells, an accomplishment most people in his field believed was not possible. David was a true pioneer. The work revolutionized the study of microvasculature research and contributed to the understanding of diabetic eye disease, wound healing, and dementia.
He was the founding editor, and for 38 years, the editor-in-chief of the international journal Microvascular Research, and in 2006, edited a two-volume encyclopedic review on the biology and pathology of microvessels, published by Academic Press/Elsevier.
David loved to teach, and to the many scientists he trained over the decades of his career, he was the ultimate mentor. He taught the next generation of scientists not only the scientific method, but how to think creatively, do science generously, and live life fully.
To read more about Dr. Sheprow, see his profile in the BU Bridge, and his obituary.
Professor Templer Awarded 3-Year NSF Grant
Professor Pam Templer is PI on a newly awarded NSF NRT training grant to Boston University. “Boston UniverCity: Partnering Graduate Students and Cities to Tackle Urban Environmental Challenges" is a new $3 million five-year program that will train students from the interdisciplinary PhD program in Biogeoscience (students from Biology, Earth & Environment, Archaeology) and the Environmental Health PhD program in the School of Public Health. Along with Professor Templer, Professor Lucy Hutyra of BU's Department of Earth and Environment, and Professor Jonathan Levy of BU's School of Public Health are co-PIs on the grant. Read more about the grant and Professor Templer's work in BU Today.
Davies Lab Collaborating on Hurricane Harvey Research
The Davies lab is involved in NSF RAPID-funded research in response to Hurricane Harvey. The team's first two research trips can be seen in this video created by the researchers involved. Samples from these research trips are being processed in the Davies Lab.
PhD Candidate, Karina Scavo, Receives BU Graduate Research Abroad Fellowship (GRAF)
Karina Scavo, a PhD candidate working with Dr. Les Kaufman and Dr. John Finnerty, has received a Short-term Graduate Research Abroad Fellowship (GRAF) to support her travel and research in Belize in 2018. With these funds, Karina will be able to further study and understand the role of mangroves as potential reef refuges which is critical in the design and development of marine protected areas (MPAs) and reserves.
Annual Outstanding Learning Assistant Awards
Alondra Concepcion-Gonzalez, Mady Eori, Claire Esielionis, Sophia Holmes, Ambika Manhapra, and Sarah Ziobro Receive the Outstanding Learning Assistant Award
The Biology Department recognized the wonderful efforts of all of our Learning Assistants (LAs) by presenting “The Outstanding Learning Assistant Award” to the group of LAs who presented a poster that was judged by the Biology Honors Committee to best outline procedures that will improve teaching in our undergraduate laboratories. Financial support for this award was made possible by Professor Emerita Elizabeth Godrick.
Top award:
Alondra Concepcion-Gonzalez, Mady Eori, Claire Esielionis, Sophia Holmes, Ambika Manhapra, and Sarah Ziobro, for their poster titled “Implementing an Interactive and Dialogic Learning Environment for BI107 Lab”. The group developed a hands-on interactive lab which investigates fish species diversity in the Charles River and measures water quality in the river. Students will be able to walk five minutes to the Charles, take samples from the river, and return to the lab to analyze the data.
A close runner-up:
Andres Amaya, Ian Chin, and Natalie Stamatiadis for their poster titled “Systems Physiology Lab Final Review”. They developed exercises to help students prepare for the BI315 final. They gathered data to determine the effectiveness of their review and presented histograms showing how effective the students felt the review was for them. They implemented the review exercise with about 50 students.
Alumna Dr. Kristina Cohen Accepts Postdoc Position at Brown
Dr. Kristina L. Cohen (2017 PhD from the Warkentin lab) will be starting a new position in January 2018 as an HHMI-STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning at Brown University. She will develop novel course-based undergraduate research opportunities in introductory STEM courses, building on her PhD research with amphibian hatching mechanisms. She will also assess and disseminate teaching and learning innovations, working in collaboration with faculty in the Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry.
New Paper Authored by Professor Daniel Segrè in Nature Communications
Professor Daniel Segrè has published a new paper in Nature Communications. This paper combines two mathematical approaches – evolutionary game theory and biochemical network modeling – to help understand how stable cross-feeding interactions could arise in microbial communities. These interactions are thought to be ubiquitous in these communities, including the human microbiome, and likely affect their dynamics and diversity. You can read the full paper here.
Tiputini Biodiversity Station Publication Wins Award
"Los Secretos del Yasuní”, based on research at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, was awarded first prize by the municipality of Quito for best contribution in the category of biological sciences for 2017.
Dr. Swing notes that the project is distributing a few thousand copies of this 343-page book, which includes hundreds of color images from nature, gratis (publication financed by the German government) to a series of community high schools (mostly indigenous, Kichwa and Waorani primarily, some extremely remote) across eastern Ecuador where the information may be applied most directly. Contents are intended to provide local people with scientifically-based information that incites pride and appreciation while justifying conservation of the Biosphere Reserve. Although these students all have access to regular school texts, they are uniformly commenting that no one has ever given them a book before.
To read more about the award (in Spanish), click here.