February 7th, 2008 - March 14th, 2008
Accolades
PhD Candidate Alicia Ebert of the Garrity lab was a Poster Contest Winner at the recent MCIN/CMB/BMB Poster Symposium. This marks her fourth poster contest award!
Dissertation Defenses
On February 29, 2008, Doug Van Hoewyk presented his Ph.D. dissertation on "The role of CpNifS proteins in plant selenium and sulfur metabolism: Implications for phytoremediation and photosynthesis". Congratulations to Dr. van Hoewyk and his advisor, Associate Professor Lianne Pilon-Smits.
Thesis Defenses
On February 15, 2008, Julia McCarthy of the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology presented her M.S. thesis on "Factors influencing ecological recovery gradients below streamflow diversion dams in southern Rocky Mountain streams". Congratulations to Ms. McCarthy and her advisor, Professor LeRoy Poff.
On February 19, 2008, Stephanie Owens of the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology presented her M.S. thesis on "Exploring the Mechanisms Controlling Methane Emissions from Wetlands: An Experimental Approach". Congratulations to Ms. Owens and her advisor, Assistant Professor Joe von Fischer.
Research Funding and Grants
Professor A.S.N. Reddy and Assistant Professor Asa Ben-Hur from Computer Sciences received a four-year grant from National Science Foundation to study Alternative Splicing of Pre-messenger RNAs in Arabidopsis.
Graduate student Sharon Poessel, of the Angeloni lab, was awarded a Rocky Mountain Goats Foundation Bill Burtness Fellowship to support her research.
On the Road
Assistant Professor Debbie Garrity presented two seminars recently - first to the Cell and Molecular Biology Seminar forum at CSU, and later that week to the Department of Biology at CSU-Pueblo. The talk was entitled "Calcium channel subunits in zebrafish development: synchronizing epiboly and shaping the heart."
Professor A.S.N. Reddy traveled to University Maryland to present a seminar in the Dept. of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics.
Professor A.S.N. Reddy traveled to Indianapolis to present a seminar at the Dow AgroSciences.
Professor A.S.N. Reddy traveled to Rockville, Maryland to attend the Executive Committee and the Program Committee Meetings of the American Society of Plant Biologists.
Professor Steve Stack presented a seminar titled "The role of FISH in sequencing the tomato genome" in the Department of Bioagricultural Science and Pest Management Feb. 7, 2008.
Professor LeRoy Poff gave an invited plenary presentation on stream ecosystem response to climate change at the 2008 National Park Service's Aquatic Professionals Meeting in Fort Collins on February 12.
Professor LeRoy Poff travelled to Washington DC on February 19 and 20 to attend an EPA-sponsored workshop on Climate Change Effects on Biological Indicators. His keynote presentation was "Overview of Climate Change Effects on Aquatic Ecosystems."
New Publications from Biology
Special Assistant Professor Gul Shad Ali and Professor A.S.N. Reddy have written an invited article "PAMP-Triggered Immunity: Early Events in the Activation of FLAGELLIN SENSITIVE2" in Plant Signaling and Behavior, in press.
Greg Florant, Jessica Healy, Melanie Richter, and Litto Suu had a paper accepted for publication in the Hibernation Proceedings. The conference will take place in Namibia, Africa in August, 2008. Unfortunately, Dr. Mark Simmons will not be attending.
Tewksbury, J.J., D.J. Levey, M. Huizinga, D.C. Haak and A. Traveset. Costs and benefits of capsaicin-mediated control of gut retention in dispersers of wild chilies. Ecology 89: 107-117
Leslie D. Lohmiller, Arnaud De Muyt, Brittany Howard, Hildo H. Offenberg, Christa Heyting, Mathilde Grelon, Lorinda K. Anderson. 2008. Cytological analysis of MRE11 protein during early meiotic prophase I in Arabidopsis and tomato. Chromosoma. Online publication at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00412-007-0147-z
TWIB is published (semi) weekly by the Department of Biology, Colorado State University, edited by M. Antolin