STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAW) -- The Chancellor and onlookers signed a bright purple beam that was placed on top of the new Chemistry Biology Building at UW Stevens Point. "Today recognizes that the building is not going to get any taller, we're at the highest point of construction," Director of Facilities and Planning for UWSP Carl Rasmussen said. The $75 million project isn't opening its doors until Fall of 2018, and will be the first brand new academic building on the UWSP campus in more than 45 years. "Its been intended not only as a science on display facility but in some respects kind of an academic centerpiece for campus, for everyone," Associate Dean for Budget, Personnel and Facilities for the College of Letters and Science Todd Good said. The 176,500 square-foot facility will be the new home for the university's Chemistry Department and part of the Biology Department. It will have 39 teaching laboratories along with 19 additional research laboratories. "The natural sciences and the biology, chemistry and natural resources are really a centerpiece of this campus and one of its academic strengths. We have over 2500 students that are biology or natural resources majors or minors," Good said. … Continue reading →

by Frances Cohen | 2/28/17 2:00am Professor of biological sciences Kevin Peterson is currently researching microRNAs a form of non-coding RNA that is involved in regulating gene expressions and their role in the macroevolution of metazoan body plans. His research generally focuses on using a molecular paleobiological approach, combining molecular biology and paleontology, to work toward an understanding of early animal evolution, especially the explosive rise of animals roughly 530 million years ago, termed the Cambrian explosion. Two years after graduating maxima cum laude from Carroll College, Peterson, reminded of his childhood fossil collection, rediscovered paleontology and was accepted into the geology department and the Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he began to look at paleontological issues from a molecular point of view. Can you start by telling me a little about your work and research in molecular paleobiology? KP: I was trained as a paleontologist and my Ph.D. is in geology. And then for my post-doc I went to CalTech and learned developmental biology, and my goal is to use every means at my disposal to understand the issue of life on earth. So traditionally … Continue reading →

Listed among the global great neglected diseases, African sleeping sickness and the livestock diseaseNagana are caused by the parasite African trypanosomes. The researchers aim to illuminate the basic natural biology of the parasite, which is transmitted by the bite of an infected tsetse fly and lives in the bloodstream and tissues of the infected humans or cattle. Our goal is to understand how they avoid elimination by the host immune response and how they acquire iron as an essential nutrient from the bloodstream, Bangs says. These processes are mediated by two unique and related parasite virulence factors: variant surface glycoprotein (VSG)(for immune evasion) and transferrin receptor (for iron acquisition). The researchers will study how these proteins are synthesized and transported to their site of action, the parasite cell surface. VSG is the linchpin for survival of trypanosomes in the face of the host immune response, Bangs says, noting the parasites have genes for more than 1,000 immunologically distinct VSGs but make only one at time to make a protective coat covering its entire surface. As they grow up in the bloodstream, an immune response is mounted to clear the wave of parasites. However, trypanosomes spontaneously switch from expressing one VSG … Continue reading →

According to Ensign, fish populations migrate more than scientists originally thought. Photo credit: Ryan Basden The Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology seminar series continued Wednesday, Feb. 22, with an impromptu presentation. The series in which research scientists from all over Georgia are invited to present their work is part of an upper-level elective course for biology, chemistry and environmental science majors. The original speaker for the event could not make it, so professor of biology Bill Ensign created an impromptu presentation called, Dams, and Bridges, and Fishes Oh My! which discussed fish movement in the Etowah River basin. According to Ensign, fish populations migrate more than scientists originally thought. Original theories suggested that fish populations remained relatively still, but further research revealed that they just move in a limited way due to certain restrictions. Ensigns research involved the study of human impact on these underwater creatures, specifically how man-made channels, dams and bridges affect fish movement through creeks and waterways. He suggested that artificial structures restrict fish movement, in addition to endangering the health of freshwater habitats. On a local map, Ensign pointed out surfaces where water immediately becomes runoff due to human constructions. When water becomes runoff, it does … Continue reading →

The Frankstein-themed event brought students from across the University to the sci-fi event Fly Blimps! a series of autonomous helium filled blimps whose movements are controlled by house flies was exhibited at Emerge, Festival of Futures: Frankenstein during the Night of Open Door at ASU's Tempe, Arizona campus on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017. Art enthusiasts, science students and sci-fi fans alike gathered at last weekends eventEMERGE: A Festival of Futures to explore science through art. The event, themed "Frankenstein,"took place at the ASUNight of the Open Door on the Tempe campus Friday. The annual event hosted by the University Clubmixes biology and art to create a multitude of unique exhibits calledbio- art. May of theexhibits featuredbudding science research experiments on campus. You wont see that many green monsters with neck bolts roaming around, but instead youll see a lot of themes that are introduced in the novel replayed in the exhibits here," Ruth Wylie, facultyco-director of the event, said. "... Mary Shelly herself was a great futurist when thinking about these questions so we borrowed a lot from those questions and explore them in these different exhibits you can see." The theme "Frankenstein"showcased the benefits and consequences of newly developing … Continue reading →

I immediately spot Ned Brooks when I walk into the lobby of New Yorks Yale Club. Hes dowdily dressed in a puffy navy vest, a striped shirt, and corduroy pants. In the dim chandelier lighting, his gray buzz cut and serene, no-nonsense demeanor makes him distinctly average: a sore thumb amidst the sharp suits of the sophisticated Yale Club but the kind of vague, familiar face you feel like youve seen. Hes taken the train down from suburban Connecticut to tell me about the kidney he gave away and, when he recognizes me, he ambles towards me, his hand outstretched. We shake and he escorts me across a marble floor to a staircase that flows into a long hall and drains into an empty ballroom. Then he leaves me to get us drinks. Save for staff rushing to set the ballroom up for a party and a wall of portraits university presidents beatified with oil paints Im alone. Im also uncomfortable. Ned Brooks has gone hours out of his way to do me a favor and seems totally at home in the club, even though he didnt go to Yale (hes from a sister Ivy, Dartmouth). Its an unusual social … Continue reading →

On Feb. 24, Christian Alsterberg, a biology researcher from The University of Gothenburg Sweden, visited University Hall at the University of Massachusetts Boston. His visit was part of the Biology Departments Biology Seminar Series, where speakers with expertise in the field discuss biological, environmental, and sustainability issues. The biology seminars take place every Friday during the Fall and Spring Semesters. Last Friday, Jarren Byrnes, a biology professor at UMass Boston, hosted the event and welcomed Alsterberg. Undergraduate students, graduate students, and professors alike attended. The talk itself was titled, Habitat Diversity can Maintain Ecosystem Diversity. Alsterberg and his coworkers conducted an experiment to investigate whether diversity in a habitat can maintain or increase the multifunctionality of an ecosystem. The researchers first proposed a hypothesis: an ecosystem with at least two or more habitats is the better functioning ecosystem, capable of producing more oxygen and nutrients to sustain its own health, and will function better than an ecosystem with less than two ecosystems both with less than two habitats. Alsterbergs research also proposed that ecosystems all around the world are facing homogenization, with urbanization as a contributing factor. Alsterberg stated that although there is a general acceptation in the idea, he … Continue reading →