Category Archives: Biology

Lexington Herald Leader Biology teacher is accused of soliciting sex with a teenager Lexington Herald Leader A former high school biology and anatomy teacher has been arrested and accused of soliciting sex with a teenage student. State police said they arrested Charanda D. Fugate, 33, of Clay City, at about 8 p.m. Monday, charging her with one count of ... Read more from the original source: Biology teacher is accused of soliciting sex with a teenager - Lexington Herald Leader … Continue reading →

There's a new sheriff in town. Paul Sniegowski, a professor of Biology, will be the next dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, according to an email announcement by Steven J. Fluharty, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. (The College encompasses justundergraduates, while SASencompasses both undergraduate and graduate students.) Sniegowski will take the reins on July 1 from Andy Binns, who filled in as interim dean in the spring while Dennis DeTurck, the longtime College dean, was ona leave of absence. In early May,DeTurckformally stepped down from his post after 12 years leading the College. "Paul has demonstrated a deep commitment to excellence in liberal arts education and to student well-being that positions him well to lead out undergraduate programs," Dean Fluharty said in the email. Fluharty's announcement praised Sniegowski's 20-year tenure at Penn and notedthat Sniegowski has been "widely published in top journals and supported by such agencies as NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health." Outside of the Biology department, he has ledthe Committee on Undergraduate Education andFaculty Senate Committee on Students and Educational Policy. Sniegowski has also been aDisciplinary Hearing Officer for the Office of Student Conduct and Office of … Continue reading →

Though researchers have had general success reproducing cancer results, studies involving mice have proven difficult to replicate. Adva/Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0) By Jocelyn KaiserJun. 27, 2017 , 8:00 AM A high-profile project aiming to test reproducibility in cancer biology has released a second batch of results, and this time the news is good: Most of the experiments from two key cancer papers could be repeated. The latest replication studies, which appear today in eLife, come on top of five published in January that delivered a mixed message about whether high-impact cancer research can be reproduced. Taken together, however, results from the completed studies are encouraging, says Sean Morrison of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, an eLife editor. Overall, he adds, independent labs have now reproduced substantial aspects of the original experiments in four of five replication efforts that have produced clear results. In the two new replication efforts, however, one key mouse experiment could not be repeated, suggesting ongoing problems with the reproducibility of animal studies, says one leader of the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology. The unusual initiative was inspired by reports from two drugs companies that up to 89% of preclinical biomedical studies didnt hold … Continue reading →

WEST LIBERTY Beginning this fall, students seeking careers in fields from pharmaceutical research to dentistry and medicine can take the next step in their educational journeys at West Liberty University. The university announced Wednesday it has received approval from the Higher Learning Commission for two new science degrees a master of arts in biology and a master of science in biology. Student applications are being accepted for the fall launch of the programs. We are pleased to offer these new masters degrees to our region and the state of West Virginia, said WLU President Stephen Greiner. Currently, no small college in the state offers the masters of biology, so we are excited to be the first and we encourage undergraduates to take a look at the opportunities that these degrees offer. The masters in science degree in biology often leads to jobs such as research technicians for the pharmaceutical industry or academic labs, environmental consulting work, or entry into doctoral programs, while the masters in arts degree in biology prepares students for professional schools such as dental or medical school, officials noted. There are a number of reasons that I believe these are important degrees for West Liberty University, said … Continue reading →

Marc Bruxelle/Getty Images/iStockphoto Marc Bruxelle/Getty Images/iStockphoto As June comes to an end, so do many events associated with Pride Month, a month-long celebration of sexual diversity and gender variance often geared towards increasing the visibility of the LGBTQIA community, as well as combatting stigma and advocating for equal rights. But the battle to eliminate stigma and achieve these rights will certainly continue, as recent debates about which bathrooms transgender men and women should use illustrate all too well. For years here at 13.7, Barbara J. King has been writing about what she calls the spectrum of gender expression, and "the fact that gender identity isn't only or even mostly about biology and that it's most certainly not reducible to the sex one is assigned at birth." That's an especially important lesson in light of new research that identifies one of the sources of prejudice against transgender individuals: the (mostly mistaken) belief that men's and women's stereotypical characteristics do, in fact, come down to some immutable feature of one's biology. In the new study, forthcoming in the journal Sex Roles, researchers Boby Ho-Hong Ching and Jason Teng Xu presented 132 university students in Hong Kong with one of three articles to … Continue reading →

Passing Washington states standardized high school graduation tests has been incredibility and unnecessarily difficult. Students, and their teachers, have been asked to hit a moving target for years. The tests seem to change at a whim. And thats why the Legislature last week agreed to allow students in the class of 2017 and beyond to earn a high school diploma without meeting the statewide testing requirements in biology. If not, more than 2,000 students would not have graduated. A vote to formalize the deal agreed to by legislators will be taken this week. Under the deal made by lawmakers, other seniors who failed standardized tests in English language arts and mathematics also could get a diploma if they file an appeal to show theyre proficient in those subjects, according to The Tacoma News Tribune. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal, himself a former legislator, said the agreement was necessary because he believes the current tests are a poor measure of whether students are ready to graduate. Ultimately, more students will graduate, because they can demonstrate high-school proficiency in more diverse ways, instead of the one-size-fits-all test, Reykdal said. This seems reasonable under the circumstances. But the Legislature, once it … Continue reading →

Enlarge / A young Charles Darwin, before evolution had caused any public controversy. In the US, opponents of evolution have tried to undercut instruction on the topic by suggesting schools should "teach the controversy." The national education authorities in Turkey, however, have decided that teachers should avoid any hint of controversy in the classroom. In service of that goal, the country is pulling evolution out of its high school curriculum entirely. The change will be implemented during the upcoming school year, 2017-2018. In Turkey, the curriculum for state-run schools is set by the national government. The move against education in biology came as the state education authorities were undertaking a review of the national curriculum. Reports indicate that the review largely resulted in an emphasis on religious themes and Turkish culture and history, at the expense of information on Mustafa Kemal Atatrk and his role in the founding of the modern Turkish state. But science got caught up in the process somehow. According to the head of the national board of education, Alpaslan Durmus, the problem is that Turkish students aren't given the necessary scientific background to separate the theory from the controversy that it has generated in some communities: … Continue reading →

June 23, 2017 Plant diseases pose a serious threat to global food security, especially in developing countries, where millions of people depend on consuming what they harvest. In sub-Saharan Africa, one plant disease in particular maize lethal necrosis is ravaging one of the regions preferred crops for food, feed and income. But understanding its biology in order to manage the disease is difficult because the disease arises from two viruses interacting which is where mathematics comes into play. A team of researchers at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS), based at UT, has used mathematical modeling to better understand the dynamics of the disease and how to manage it. Their research results, published this month in a study in the journal Phytopathology, could not only help improve our understanding of maize lethal necrosis but could also help inform the management and control of other destructive plant diseases caused by combinations of pathogens. Continue reading on the NIMBioS website. More: NIMBioS: Mathematical Biology Tackles Destructive Plant Virus - Tennessee Today … Continue reading →

OLYMPIA A state requirement that high school students pass a biology exam in order to graduate would be suspended under an agreement announced Thursday by a bipartisan group of lawmakers. The deal, if approved by the full House and Senate, clears the way for seniors who met every requirement except passing the test to receive their diploma. Also under the accord, the state will continue requiring students to achieve a minimum score on standardized tests in English language arts and mathematics but provide a new path for those who fail one or both of those tests to still graduate. It would be an expedited appeal process culminating in the superintendent of public instruction deciding if a student demonstrated enough knowledge in those subject areas to be exempted from the testing requirement. Hundreds of students around the state may immediately benefit from this accord. At the start of May, 5,875 students had not passed one or more of the required tests, including 3,302 still needing to pass the biology test, according to the state superintendents office. Specifics will be amended into House Bill 2224 which the House Education Committee approved Monday. Votes in the House and Senate wont occur until lawmakers … Continue reading →

June 23, 2017 When performed in tandem, two molecular biology laboratory tests distinguish, with near certainty, pancreatic lesions that mimic early signs of cancer but are completely benign. The lesions almost never progress to cancer, so patients may be spared unnecessary pancreatic cancer screenings or operations. The two-test combination is the only one to date that can accurately and specifically identify these benign pancreatic lesions. Its utility was described in one of the largest studies of patients with this form of pancreatic lesion by researchers from Indiana University, Indianapolis. The results of the study now appear in an "article in press" on the Journal of the American College of Surgeons website in advance of print publication. Between 2 to 3 percent of all patients have some type of pancreatic lesions or cysts revealed on routine abdominal diagnostic radiology scans.1 Nearly all of these patients will later develop pancreatic cancer. The most common and deadliest form of pancreatic cancerpancreatic adenocarcinomahas a five-year survival rate of 12 to 14 percent for early-stage disease and 1 to 3 percent for advanced disease, according to the American Cancer Society.2 A small percentage of patients have serous cystic neoplasms (SCN) that do not harbor malignant … Continue reading →