Shreveport Times 1:06 p.m. CT June 1, 2017 Recent graduate Melissa Traver and current students Samantha Lyons and Andrianna Walsh won the top prize in the American Physiological Societys Video Contest.(Photo: Courtesy of Centenary College) Recent Centenary College graduate Melissa Traver and current students Samantha Lyons and Andrianna Walsh have won the top prize in the American Physiological Societys Video Contest for their creative entry explaining the effects of this autoimmune syndrome on kidney function. Lyons, Traver, and Walsh were all students in Dr. Cristina Caldaris Principles of Immunology course in fall 2016, and their video emerged from an assignment in the class. In the past, Caldari has used episodes of Mystery Diagnosis (a Discovery Life show) as a teaching tool in labs. The episodes feature patients who suffer from immune system issues, usually autoimmune disorders. The end of the semester assignment is for groups of students to create their own Mystery Diagnosis video and present it to the rest of the class, explains Caldari. This past year I saw that the American Physiological Society had this video contest, so instead of creating a Mystery Diagnosis, I asked the students to prepare a video that would fit APSs criteria for … Continue reading →

The Olympian (blog) Matt Driscoll: There's more to race protests at Evergreen than biology professor and viral videos The Olympian (blog) This year's approach to the annual event is where biology professor Bret Weinstein got involved. In emails that were eventually published by the Cooper Point Journal, Weinstein objected to white students, faculty and staff being asked to leave campus ... and more » Read more: Matt Driscoll: There's more to race protests at Evergreen than biology professor and viral videos - The Olympian (blog) … Continue reading →

BUFFALO, N.Y. HarkerBIO is a shining star in the growing biotech ecosystem taking shape on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The small structural biology company determines 3-D structures of proteins for drug and biotech companies. That may sound straightforward even simple but the process is something right out of Star Trek. HarkerBIO uses sophisticated biochemical techniques, supercomputing power and laboratory expertise to decipher the giant, complex structures of proteins. The company then uses that information to help pharmaceutical companies sleuth out sites where drug-like molecules may bind, eventually creating molecules for new medicines. Biotech companies, meanwhile, use the structural data to improve enzyme catalysts that hasten difficult chemical transformations. HarkerBIO was formed in 2015 by Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, which is home to the Department of Structural Biology at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, to commercialize Hauptman-Woodwards expertise in X-ray crystallography. It now has 14 employees, participates in the START-UP NY economic development program and has a partnership with Albany Molecular Research Inc., a contract research and manufacturing organization with a lab on the medical campus. Drug discovery When youre discovering a drug, you have a lot of small molecules to choose from. You have … Continue reading →

Twenty years ago, proponents of genetic engineering promised that GMO foods would increase yields, reduce pesticides, produce nutritious foods and help feed the world. Today, those promises have fallen far short as the majority of GMO crops are engineered to withstand sprays of Roundup herbicide, which is increasingly documented as a risk to human health. Now, new genetic engineering technologies such as synthetic biology and gene editing are being hailed with the same promises of revolutionizing food production, medicine, fuels, textiles and other areas. But a closer look at this next generation or "GMOs 2.0" technologies reveals possibly even greater risks than existing GMO technology with possible human health risks and negative impacts on farming communities worldwide, among other unintended consequences. And while products developed using current genetic engineering methods are regulated by the U.S. government, GMOs 2.0 products are entering the market with few or no regulations. Synthetic Biology: Extreme Genetic Engineering While traditional genetic engineering involves inserting genes from one species into another, GMOs 2.0 technologies like synthetic biology aim to create life from scratch with computer-synthesized DNA. "Genetic engineering has moved on from the first generation GMO crops," said Jim Thomas, program director at the ETC Group, … Continue reading →

The energy emanating from Northfield High School science teacher Jody Saxton West seemed to spill over into her students. As the sophomores in her Advanced Placement Biology class worked on their real-world application projects during class Wednesday, there was a certain energy. "You can see the earnestness," Saxton West said. "I love it. These kids are 16 years old and they are producing real information." Over the last few weeks, the AP Biology students have worked in small groups, performing independent research projects using Bio-Rad algae beads a product, meant to aid in pollution control, which only hit the market last fall. The beads are essentially fresh water algae wrapped in a polymer plastic. They allow students to test rates of photosynthesis and cellular respiration. The student projects vary from testing the beads under different light concentrations to predicting how they might react to the different seasonal temperatures of Lake Victoria. The information will be shared back to the company. It's an example of a Northfield School District classroom using a community partnership to provide real-world learning. In this case, the "community" aspect of the partnership is less local. Bio-Rad is a company in Hercules, California, which works on innovating … Continue reading →

I had such a good time writing mystory for the most recent Stanford Medicine magazine, which tackles critical questions about the role of sex and gender in biology and health care. I got to explore the topic to my hearts desire with world leaders in the field, such as Marcia Stefanick, PhD, who directs the Stanford Women and Sex Differences in Medicine Center, or WSDM (pronounced wisdom), and science historianLonda Schiebinger, PhD, the former director of Stanfords Clayman Institute for Gender Research. I also got to meet graduate student Amy Braun, shown above. She is as delightful as she is passionate about the need to not just include more women, and more female lab animals, in both clinical and basic research projects. One critically important starting point, she told me, is to get the language right. Even whip-smart researchers fall prey to the (false) idea that that second X chromosome confers some ineffable degree of biological variability that would render even the most carefully constructed experiments impossible to interpret. They also often resort to sloppy terminology. As Braun explained to me: We need to debunk the myth that females are mysteriously complex and we need to increase the literacy around … Continue reading →

Around campus, Department of Biology Professor Gregory Florant might be best known for his work with marmots and other hibernating mammals in the College of Natural Sciences. But outside of Colorado State University, he is a founding and active member of the National Institutes of Healths Network of Minority Health Research Investigators. His leadership role in the group was recognized this spring with the NMRI Medallion at that groups annual meeting in Bethesda, Maryland. Florant was among the original handful of underrepresented researchers in the field who, 15 years ago, looked around and saw a need for networking and mentoring among their peers. And they got to work, creating the NMRI with funding from the NIH and that groups National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. What started as a group of 15 or 20 M.D.s and Ph.D.s has grown into an organization of hundreds of researchers at all stages in their careers. We have members who are National Academy of Sciences members, and we have members who are postdocs who are just starting out. Nevertheless, Florant said, we feel like were all on a level playing field. He said, there are no hidden agendas, you dont have … Continue reading →