Welcome Research Assistant Professor Randi Rotjan
We welcome Dr. Randi Rotjan as a new Research Assistant Professor and Lecturer in Biology and the BU Marine Program. One of her primary research areas focuses on the biology, ecology, and conservation of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA), which is a California-sized marine protected area (MPA) and the worlds largest and deepest marine UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in the equatorial Central Pacific, PIPA is an important natural laboratory for climate change studies. It sits at the origin of intense El Nino-Southern Oscillation events, and has experienced some of the worst thermal stress on coral reefs. Recently, the site gathered large media attention for the surprisingly rapid recovery following the worst coral bleaching event known in human history at a site called “Coral Castles” within PIPA. The story headlined in the NYTimes Science Times and was featured on NPR. Rotjan is the founder and co-chair of the PIPA Scientific Advisory Committee, and is also the Chief Scientist of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area Conservation Trust. Rotjan was recently awarded funds from NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research and her ongoing coral reef research is supported by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.
Professor Jerry Chen wins Cajal Club Cortical Explorer Award
Congratulations to Professor Jerry Chen for his Cajal Club Cortical Explorer Award! The Cajal Club is the oldest society of neuroscience in the USA, founded in 1947, and is committed to sponsoring meetings dealing with structure and function of the cerebral context on a yearly basis. The Cajal Club Krieg Kudos Awards are given to recognize outstanding neuroscientists and doctoral students who are investigating the cerebral cortex and/or its connections. For the Cajal Club Krieg Cortical Explorer Award, the candidate should have received an advanced professional degree within the ten year period prior to the time of nomination. The Awards are funded by generous donations from Dr. Wendell J. Krieg, a distinguished neuroanatomist and the first President of the Cajal Club, and his wife, Roberta Krieg. The award was presented at this year's Society for Neuroscience Meeting in San Diego on November 13th.
Cassidy D’Aloia Wins Belamarich Award
Cassidy D'Aloia of the Buston Lab was selected as the winner of the 2016 Belamarich Award for outstanding doctoral dissertation in Biology for her thesis “Patterns, causes, and consequences of connectivity within a coral reef fish metapopulation."
Post-defense, D'Aloia is currently working as a Postdoctoral Scholar at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Her research integrates empirical dispersal data, metapopulation theory, and dynamic habitat modeling to predict how species will respond to anthropogenic impacts on seascapes.
Congratulations, Cassidy. We wish you the best in your future endeavors!
Professor Richard Primack Invited to Serve as University Lecturer
Richard Primack has been selected to give the University Lecture at Boston University this year. The University Lecture has been a BU tradition since 1950 and highlights the outstanding research of one faculty member from across the university each year. The lecture will be open to the BU Community and general public. Richard was selected on the basis of the "innovative and deeply impactful nature of his research, particularly his work on climate change in Thoreau’s Concord."
Professor Primack's University Lecture will be given on October 26th at 7 pm. Admission is free and it is open to the public.
BU Today's article about Professor Primack's research and lecture can be found here.
You can read more about the University Lecture here.
Professor Celenza Receives Outstanding Undergraduate Mentor Award
Dr. Celenza was recently recognized with an Outstanding Mentor Award through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). This award recognizes mentors for their commitment to helping students in their research. Congratulations Chip!
The 19th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium is today, October 21st from 11am-1pm in the GSU Metcalf Ballroom.
Professor Jerry Chen Honored with NARSAD Young Investigator Award
Assistant Professor Jerry Lu Chen is interested in neural oscillations in the brain, which have long been associated with cognition. Abnormalities in such activity patterns have been identified in a wide-range of neurological disorders and thus can serve as a useful non-invasive biomarker for patient diagnosis. This research aims to directly assess the role of neural oscillations in information selection and routing in the cortex by establishing an integrated methodological approach combining optical and electrophysiological recording techniques across multiple scales in the awake behaving animal.
More information about the award can be found here.
MCBB Alum, Michelle Olsen (GRS ’15), Paper Featured in BU Research
BU MCBB PhD and Frydman lab alum, Michelle Olsen, is the lead author of a paper titled “Polyamines and Hypusination Are Required for Ebolavirus Gene Expression and Replication” which was recently published in the American Society for Microbiology’s mbio journal in July 2016. Michelle is now a postdoctoral fellow in the Connor Lab where she works to understand how disabled forms of Ebola virus hijack and infect cells. The paper’s findings were featured online in BU Research.
Sara Arganda Awarded Postdoctoral Affairs Grant
Sara Arganda, Postdoctoral Researcher and Marie Curie Fellow in the Traniello Lab, has been awarded the inaugural Seed Funding for Postdocs Grant from the Professional Development and Postdoctoral Affairs and the Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Office. This $5,000 award provides support for postdocs to develop research projects that will allow them to learn new skills. Sara’s innovative project uses computational neuroimaging to create brain templates—a form of a brain atlas—together with phylogenetic reconstruction methods in order to understand the evolution of the morphology of ancestral social brains in ants.
Kristina Cohen’s Paper Featured in BURST
A recent paper in Journal of Experimental Biology by Kristina Cohen, PhD candidate in Dr. Karen Warkentin’s lab, has continued to receive extensive media coverage. BURST, a new Facebook page highlighting research at Boston University, featured the video above highlighting findings from the paper. The video was also shared on BU’s Facebook page and has been viewed 2.5 million times!
Curran Uppaluri & Arianna Medina Published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Former Biology undergraduates Curran Uppaluri and Arianna Medina have their work on conflict in clownfish societies published in the September edition of Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology in collaboration with Dr. Marian Wong and Dr. Peter Buston. Curran and Arianna's research was supported by the UROP and SURF program. Since leaving BU, Curran has gone on the University of Vermont College of Medicine and Arianna has gone on to Duke Law School.