The following is a list of past news from the Department of Biological Sciences. For more general stories or announcements, please visit the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science homepage, the FAU Jupiter campus webpage, and the Owl Research & Innovation Magazine.
New Parasite Revealed Amid Decline of California’s Channel Island Fox - Results of the study, published in the International Journal for Parasitology, identify the parasite as Pachysentis canicola, a common acanthocephalan in multiple carnivore species in mainland North America. The parasite was detected in 69% of the necropsied foxes from San Miguel Island and was not found in any of the other five Channel Island fox subspecies.
From Patient to Medical School: Cancer Diagnosis Sparks Alumnus’ Passion for Medicine - Stephen Mariano Lancia, Jr., ’22, transferred to FAU without a clear major. Diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma, he found his calling during recovery.
Rain or Shine? How Rainfall Impacts Size of Sea Turtle Hatchlings - An internationally collaborative study by Florida Atlantic University's Dr. Jeanette Wyneken and led by the University of Tübingen in Germany, delves into how fluctuating rainfall impacts the development of sea turtle hatchlings, revealing that it has a more profound effect than changes in air temperature .
Pfizer Hires Schmidt College of Science Alumna Shilei Richards - Newly minted college graduate Shilei Richards ’24, B.S. Biological Sciences and Mechanical Engineering, is making her way to Boston .
FAU Science Co-PI on $1.3M Collaborative Conservation Project - The United States National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation have announced a $1.3 million collaborative grant for a project designed to cost-effectively identify and track wildlife using artificial intelligence. Dr. Sarah Milton and Dr. Matt Ajemian (Assoc. Research Professor and director of Fisheries Ecology & Conservation Lab at FAU Harbor Branch) are co-PI's on the grant.
FAU Lands $1.3M NSF Grant to Boost Dryland Soil Quality - To enhance understanding of climate resistance of individual microbes and to improve microbial remediations to reduce soil degradation under climate change, Florida Atlantic University has received a $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Dr. Vanessa Fernandes is the lead PI and her colleagues include Dr. Jennifer Rudgers from UNM and Dr. Nicole Pietrisiak from UNLV as co-PIs. The team will mentor 3 graduate and 24 undergraduate students as well as support 3 "Research Experience for Undergraduates REU) students.
Dr. Rindy Anderson takes on the role of Associate Director of the IB Program
Dr. Samantha Kuschke jumpstarts career in academia and sea turtle research through new postdoctoral program. Dr. Kuschke, along with Tiffany Roberts Briggs, Ph.D., chair, Associate Professor, and director of the Coastal Studies Lab in the Department of Geosciences in the Schmidt College of Science, will investigate the presence of a fungal organism (Fusarium sp.) in leatherback sea turtle nests and in the sand on local beaches. This fungal organism causes sea turtle egg fusariosis (STEF), which can lead to death of sea turtle eggs. Read more here: https://www.fau.edu/science/news/dr-samantha-kuschke-jumpstarts-career/
Sadelyn De Los Santos, B.S. Biology '15, MCMSc, PA-C Alumna is a physician associate at Cardiac Electrophysiology in Boca Raton and credits her academic experience as a Biological Sciences student in fostering her love of learning and preparation for future graduate studies and her medical career.
https://www.fau.edu/science/news/alumna-spotlight-sadelyn-de-los-santos-2015/
NSF News Features Thresher Shark Research from FAU National Science Foundation (NSF) News featured associate professor Marianne Porter's research on the thresher shark, which is known for its long tail that whips prey. Using micro-CT scanning, Porter and team imaged the internal architecture of each vertebra to understand exactly how the shark's unique catapult system works. Watch here.
Alumna Spotlight: Stephanie Toleno, ‘23 Accomplished alumna Stephanie Toleno, B.S., ’23, is ready to take her significant scientific talents and apply them to a different discipline — medicine. The outstanding first-generation college student graduated in just three years with the honorary title of summa cum laude, with a Bachelor of Science in biological sciences and a minor in philosophy.
The ELASMOLAB will be shown in episodes of Shark Attack 360 on NatGeo the first week of July - streaming on DisneyPlus and Hulu!
The Department of Research has awarded funding overloads for FAU Instructors to conduct research. Congratulations to Dr. Timothy Theisen, Dr. Melissa Reiterer, and Dr. Joshua Scholl!
MARINE SCIENCE LAB receives $1.6 million from Glenn W. Bailey Foundation to extend by 5 years its Marine SEA (Science, Education, and Arts) Scholars Program within the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science's Marine Science Laboratory. SEA Scholars is directed by Dr. Jeanette Wyneken and is based in the Gumbo Limbo Environmental Complex in Boca Raton. The program provides financial assistance to students of academic excellence committed to being ambassadors of community outreach focused on FAU Marine Science Lab studies, discoveries and activities. Learn more: Marine Science Lab receives $1.6M from Glenn W. Bailey Foundation
Jenna Lutes, a Masters Student in Environmental Science, was 1 of 6 to receive the 2024 Russell Myers Scholarship od $10,000 from The Land Conservancy of New Jersey. The funding will support her research on annual breeding wading bird monitoring on Lake Okeechobee and studying wading bird prey in the lake's surrounding wetlands.
FAU Sea Turtle Experts Provide ‘Best Practices’ During Nesting Season Three internationally renowned Florida Atlantic University researchers, Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, Dr. Sarah Milton and Dr. Annie Page (HBOI) provide “best practices” and answer some of the most frequently asked questions to help protect Florida’s nesting sea turtles and their hatchlings. The press release has also been picked up by a number of media outlets.
How Do You Know Where a Fish Goes? A pioneering study by researchers at Florida Atlantic University and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center addresses these limitations by filling in the gaps in sporadic detection data and tackles the tradeoff between spatial coverage and cost. Results of the study, published in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution, demonstrate how researchers can apply these techniques and measure the accuracy and precision of the methods to their study sites.
Beth Bowers, Ph.D. alumna and Dr. Stephen Kajiura had another paper published from her dissertation as reported in Science Daily and has been picked up by other media outlets as well: Science Daily press
The actual paper is: Mary E. Bowers, Stephen M. Kajiura. A novel process to infer the reliability of ecological information derived from passive acoustic telemetry track reconstruction. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 2024; DOI: British Ecological Society Journal
Paola Gonzalez-Lerma defended her dissertation on "GABA-ergic neurotransmission and potential rescue methods from chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathies in C. elegans". Her advisor was Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully and co-advisor Dr. Howard Prentice
Dr. Sharon Homer-Drummond, an alumna from Dr. Sarah Milton's lab, presented a seminar on "Internship, Fellowships, and Funding Opportunities with AAAS and the NSF" to about 25 students, faculty, and post-docs in the College of Science.
Dr. Jake Francis co-organized a colloquium with Dr. Jordan Dowell (LSU) at the annual meeting of the Botanical Society, which was funded by the phytochemistry section. The session was titled "Small molecules shaping big interactions: Interdisciplinary perspectives from early career botanists bridging biochemistry, physiology, animal behavior, ecology, and evolution" focused on bringing together diverse researchers to think about how integrative approaches can deepen our understanding of chemical ecology. Dr. Francis also gave a talk in the session "Microbial changes to floral phenotype have unexpected impacts on floral microbiome assembly - an agent-based modeling approach".
Undergraduates Sadine Al-Farauki and Seymour Haque have been named the 2024 recipients of the Goldberg Scholarship.
Dr. Stacee Caplan was awarded the College Excellence in Staff Service Award for 2023 for her work as the Biology PhD Graduate Program Coordinator!
Dr. Tanja Godenschwege and Dr. Rodrigo Pena were awarded a $124,481.00 Tech fee grant to install high-end computers for data processing and courses in Jupiter and Boca. An Institutional license for Neurosim5 will soon become available as an FAU app, and some computers on both campuses will have access to the full Adobe Creative Suite in the next 3 years.
Dr. Ashkaan Fahimipour had a paper accepted to Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, titled "Interspecific dispersal constraints suppress pattern formation in metacommunities". The special issue it will appear in is on "Diversity dependence of dispersal" and the final article is online at
Joshua Reynolds, an FAU High-Wilkes Honor College dual enrolled undergraduate, received an OURI Summer research fellowship with Dr. Tanja Godenschwege and another of her students, Fernanda Salomao Del Bianco, an FAU High dual enrolled undergraduate, received the John Nambu Research Fellowship.
Shant Faradyan, an undergraduate researcher in Dr. Nwadiuto Esiobu's Microbiome Innovation research center, will work with her on the Microbiome vaccine platform using a Summer 2024 SURF grant. Another Microbiome Innovation undergraduate researcher, Declan Sullivan, will have a well-paid experiential learning summer with US Sugar and USDA in Canal Point. Joel Eduard, also an undergraduate mentee in the Microbiome Innovation Cluster, will spend the summer conducting paid research experiential learning in John Hopkins, Maryland.
Graduate Student from FAU Harbor Branch, Hanna Bridgham, was awarded the Student Employee of the Year at the North campus awards. Hanna is also the Harbor Branch Student Association Vice President and is a Research Assistant at the Geochemistry and Geochemical Sensing Lab at FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute
Graduate Student, Brent McKenna, from Dr. Baldwin's lab, won the OWL award. The Owl of the Year award is given to a student leader who is a graduating student and has shown commitment to the university, academic excellence, and community leadership.
Graduate student Kayla Ahlness in Dr. Kate Detwiler's lab won the FAU 3MT championship and on April 9 went on to the state contest
Carly Dempsey and Alex Hoey, undergraduate researchers in Dr. Marguerite Koch-Rose's lab, were the 1st Place Winners for the Poster People's Choice Award at the 14th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium that was held April 5.
Itzel Cabrera, Vitor Baruffi, Lara Darwish and Maria Merlano Gomez, undergraduate researchers in Dr. David Binninger's lab, won first place in the People's Choice category at the 14th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium that was held April 5.
Shan Damas, an undergraduate researcher in Dr. Nwadiuto Esiobu's lab, won the 2nd place Best People's Choice award at OURI at the 14th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium that was held April 5.
Dr. Vanessa Rodrigues received a partial scholarship to attend Columbia University's Quantitative Genomics Training for this June, allowing her to bring skills back to FAU
Cristina de la Rosa, Davie lab coordinator, won Staff Member of the Year for the Broward campuses
Dr. Rindy Anderson named the Faculty Member of the Year for the Broward campuses.
Undergraduate student spotlight: Joseph Swaress of Dr. Rindy Anderson's lab won the 2023 Undergraduate Researcher of the Year award. Joseph is also an Honors Biological Sciences Research member.
Undergraduate student spotlight: Abigail Shepard from Dr. Rodrigo Pena's lab received a summer undergraduate research fellowship (SURF) where she will be developing computational models in his lab for a collaboration with Dr. Fitzpatrick's lab at Max Planck Florida Institute (MPFI).
IB PhD student, Emily Turla of Dr. Jeanette Wyneken's lab, wins the Archie Carr award for best oral presentation in the "Biology" field at the International Sea Turtle Symposium in Thailand.
Dr. Jeanette Wyneken and Dr. Sarah Milton labs presented at the International Sea Turtle Symposium in Thailand. Dr. Michael Salmon and Dr. Jeanette Wyneken presented two posters, Dr. Sarah Milton presented two posters and the following students from the Wyneken lab gave oral presentations: PhD candidates Emily Turla, Gaby Carvajal, and Sam Kuschke. From the Milton lab 2 posters were presented by PhD candidate Schelli Linz and PhD candidate Heather Seaman presented one poster. Dr. Milton's undergraduate Rachel Southards also presented a poster at the symposium.
Second Annual Authors & Artists Event . The Office of the Provost and University Libraries co-hosted a celebration of the creative, distinguished and dedicated works of the FAU community at the second annual Authors & Artists event. Congratulations to Dr. Ashkaan Fahimipour!
The Florida Wildlife Corridor and Resilience . Watch the FAU Frontiers in Science Lecture Series about The Florida Wildlife Corridor's (FLWC) ~18 million acres protect natural and working lands from development, and help various species adapt to the state’s booming human population.
IB PhD Student Publishes Paper . Jordan Waldron, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Kajiura, recently co-authored an article about aerial surveys revealing ample populations of rays in Southeast Florida.
IB PhD Student Research Featured in the New York Times . Jamie Knaub, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, recently published a paper in the journal Royal Society Open Science and featured in an article titled "Fear the Tails, Not the Jaws, of These 'Weirdo' Sharks."
Student Spotlight: Alexandra Hoey Studies Stressors That Influence Tropical Seagrass in Florida Bay . Alexandra Hoey, an undergraduate researcher that works in the laboratory of Dr. Marguerite Koch-Rose, was featured by the College of Science!
2023 Art of Science Contest Winners . The Art of Science showcases original images and footage of the inherent beauty in research, scholarship and creative activity. Congratulations to all the many Biology students and faculty that placed in this year's contest!
IB PhD Candidate Publishes Paper . Subash Bhandari, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Jang-Yen Wu, recently published a paper assessing behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia in a mouse model of Alzheimer's Disease.
IB PhD Candidate Publishes Paper . Jamie Knaub, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, recently published a paper that uncovers the mechanics of ‘Tail-Whipping’ in Thresher Sharks.
Science In Seconds: Why Song Birds Are Losing Color . Dr. Rindy Anderson discusses how a bird's environment can influence its behavior.
Camera Traps Uncover Mysterious Lesula Monkey’s ‘Business’ . Just like Ring home security cameras capture both mundane and extraordinary events, strategically placed camera traps in the Congo Basin reveal the behavior of an elusive African monkey known as the "lesula."
Florida State Senators, Representatives Tour FAU’s Marine Science Lab . Last fall, numerous elected officials visited the Marine Science Lab at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center during sea turtle nesting season and were treated to a special tour to learn more about its research programs, the services it provides, as well as its powerful impact in the community and beyond.
Toxic Algae Blooms: Study Assesses Possible Health Hazards to Humans . Researchers collected and tested water samples from 20 sites within Florida's Indian River Lagoon and found unique patterns of cytotoxicity associated with toxins in the lagoon.
HBOI Exhibit at the South Florida Fair . The Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute has brought their life-sized humpback whale exhibit to the South Florida Fair. The display gives guests an up-close and inside look at the anatomy of these marine mammals.
New AI Method Counts Manatee Clusters in Real Time . FAU researchers are among the first to use a deep learning-based crowd counting approach that could help endangered species in complex environments.
FAU Receives USDA $1 Million Grant for Microbiome Innovation Center. In collaboration with Florida International University, FAU has received a four-year, $1 million grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture to establish South Florida’s first-of-its-kind FAU Microbiome Innovation Center!
IB PhD Students Appear in PBS Segment. Dr. Jeanette Wyneken and IB PhD students Emily Turla and Cody Mott appeared in the PBS segment "Wild Hope."
NBC6: Sea Turtle Nesting Season in Broward Has Been Record-Breaking, Despite Challenges. NBC6 interviewed Jeanette Wyneken, Ph.D. who shared that despite the positive trend, “We’re just not seeing a lot of boys. As a matter of fact, we’ve only seen two loggerhead boys and two green turtle boys, which is not great."
How Do Rising Sea Levels Affect Florida's Drinking Water? Learn about how Florida's growing population relies mostly on groundwater for drinking water. This groundwater is found in porous, limestone aquifers that saltwater can easily infiltrate as sea levels rise.
'Nature on PBS' Showcases FAU Leatherback Sea Turtle Research . The PBS episode of "Wild Hope" released on Nov. 27, features the groundbreaking research taking place at FAU's Marine Science Lab!
FAU Soar-In-4 Scholars . This is a unique and highly customized program that provides participants with professional hands-on support and personalized attention as students advance towards their Bachelor's degree within four years of their initial freshman enrollment.
Soaring High: Senior Daphney McCoy. Daphney McCoy, an undergraduate biology major in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, has built a foundation of academic and personal accomplishments, including filing for her first provisional patent!
Frontiers in Science Public Lecture Series . The 2024 Frontiers in Science Public Lecture Series, hosted by the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, is announced. This season includes live panel discussions with experts in the sciences and Q&A sessions from the audience.
FAU Named Fulbright HSI Leader by the U.S. Department of State . Florida Atlantic University has been named as a Fulbright Hispanic-Serving Institution Leader for 2023, the U.S. government’s flagship international academic exchange program.
FAU Receives Grant from Community Foundation of Broward . A new partnership between Florida Atlantic University and the Community Foundation of Broward extends mental health-focused research and educational programs
Science In Seconds . Delve into the cutting-edge realm of artificial intelligence and its remarkable applications in the field of healthcare with Dr. Behnaz Ghoraani's groundbreaking research that focuses on the utilization of advanced AI algorithms to detect early signs of Alzheimer's Disease.
IB Alumna Publishes Paper . Dr. Alexandra Lolavar, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, recently published a paper about sea turtles' adaptive responses to climate warming.
FAU Launches New School Dedicated to Environmental Sustainability . The School of Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sustainability (ECOS) is a partnership between the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute.
What We Can Learn from Insomniac Fish. Dr. Erik Duboué has gained valuable insights into the core purpose of sleep using the Mexican tetra, a freshwater fish found in Northeastern Mexico.
Biology Undergraduate Researcher Wins Student Talon Award . Kaylia Cooper, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Kailiang Jia, received the 2023 Student Talon Award. Cooper is the founding director of the Medi-Futures FAU Virtual Shadowing Program, which helps students connect with and learn from health professional experts.
Watch baby sea turtles get released into the ocean on TODAY . Dr. Jeanette Wyneken and IB PhD student Emily Turla were featured on NBC TODAY and released baby sea turtles into the ocean!
FAU Climbs Significantly in List of Top Universities . FAU made considerable gains in the U.S. News & World Report list of “Top Public Schools,” moving up to No. 112 from No. 131 in this year’s ranking of the nation’s best universities. This is the largest rise out of all public universities in the state of Florida for the second year in a row!
IB PhD Student Publishes Paper . Peter Rodriguez, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Randy Blakely, recently published a review article in the Journal of Cellular Physiology.
IB PhD Student Publishes Paper . Madeleine Hagood, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, recently published a paper in the scientific journal Integrative and Comparative Biology.
Welcome New Faculty . The FAU Biology Department of Biological Science welcomes 6 new faculty members as part of a strategic hiring initiative to expand three key research and academic areas — the environment, health, and computational and data-driven science.
Marine Debris Sculptures . FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute loaned Manatee Lagoon two of the marine debris sculptures created through a partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Lucie County called “Keep the Sea Free of Debris.” Through Nov. 2, the public can view two of these sculptures.
Science In Seconds . Explore the captivating world of leatherback turtles and their conservation efforts alongside Dr. Annie Page and IB PhD student, Derek Aoki.
IBMO PhD Student Publishes Paper. Heather Seaman, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Sarah Milton, recently published a paper in the journal Endangered Species Research that is the first study to show impacts of heat on U.S. leatherback hatchlings.
FAU Study Reveals Common Wristbands ‘Hotbed’ for Harmful Bacteria . Dr. Nwadiuto Esiobu and her student researchers recently conducted a study that tested various textures of wristbands to determine if they harbor pathogenic bacteria and published results in the journal Advances in Infectious Diseases.
FAU Rises in ‘Washington Monthly’s’ Rankings . Florida Atlantic University is now among Washington Monthly’s top 50 universities in its annual College Guide!
IB PhD Student Publishes Paper . Anastasia Tyulmenkova, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Ceylan Isgor, recently published a paper in the scientific journal Epilepsy Research.
Biology Graduate Lands Position at NIH . Alexis Surtel, who received her B.S. in Biological Sciences this past May, will begin working with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) this September as a postbaccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA) trainee.
HBOI Study Records Grouper Mating Calls in U.S. Caribbean . Researchers at FAU's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute deployed an autonomous, passive acoustic platform to survey marine protected areas on the western shelf of Puerto Rico during grouper reproductive seasons.
IB PhD Alumna Featured on NPR . Dr. Beth Bowers, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Kajiura, was recently interviewed on NPR about her work on blacktip shark migrations and how it is changing with climate change.
Biology Faculty Member Featured on GMA . Dr. Jeanette Wyneken was recently featured in a Good Morning America segment on climate change threats to sea turtle populations.
2023 Goldberg Scholarship Winners . Kyahra Morrissey, a Biological Sciences undergraduate and Carlos Ojeda, a Medical Biology undergraduate, have been named the 2023 recipients of the Golberg Scholarship, which provides additional support for pre-health track students who plan to pursue careers in the medical and health professions.
Biology Master's Student Research Highlight . Bethany Simpson, who works in the laboratory of Dr. John Baldwin, was recently featured in the College of Science news webpage about her research studying the genetic structuring of Orchid species in Florida.
IB PhD Alum Publishes Paper . Dr. Saheed Oseni, who worked in the laboratory of the late Dr. Kumi-Diaka, along with other Biology faculty, Dr. James Hartmann and Dr. Nwadiuto Esiobu, recently published a review article in the scientific journal Cancers.
IB PhD Alumna Publishes Paper . Dr. Chelsea Bennice, who is currently a postdoc with Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, recently published a paper in the journal Frontiers in Physiology.
Biology Undergraduates Publish Paper . Dr. Nwadiuto Esiobu and her students recently published a paper on wristbands and disinfection, this publication was mainly driven by undergraduate research!
Graduate Students Awarded Fellowships. Clark Morgan, IBMO PhD student who works in the laboratory of Dr. Matt Ajemian, and Natalia Jaworski, MSES student who works in the laboratory of Dr. Michael McCoy, were each awarded a $5,000 Guy Harvey Foundation Scholarship for Marine Science Research.
Summer 2023 SURF Participants. Congratulations to all the faculty mentors and undergraduates that received a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) this summer. Each award allocates $4,000 in support of the research project!
Biology Faculty Member Featured in Sharkfest 2023. National Geographic's highly popular series featured Dr. Stephen Kajiura and includes incredible visual effects where sharks swim right up to Kajiura in the cutting-edge VFX shark lab!
Announcing the School of Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sustainability. We are pleased to announce the partnership between the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and FAU's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute!
IB Alum Coordinates Trial of "Zymot" co-developed by FAU Scientist. Dr. Olumide Adenmosun recently coordinated the trial of a recently FDA-approved medical device, Zymot, and Boca Fertility achieved increased clinical pregnancy rates.
IBNS PhD Student Publishes Undergraduate Research. Maria Smirnova, current graduate student, had her undergraduate research with Dr. Itzel Sifuentes-Romero and Dr. Johanna Kowalko published in the scientific journal Integrative and Comparative Biology.
Biology Faculty Guest Editor. Dr. Laura Fontenas is serving as a guest editor for a JoVE collection on the "Optical Approaches in Intact Animals to Study Neuroregeneration" that will gather articles that use microscopy and optical techniques to dissect neurons in vivo or to observe the consequential regeneration.
IBNS Student Paper Featured in The Wildlife Society. Morgan Slevin, IBNS PhD student who works in the laboratory of Dr. Rindy Anderson, recently co-authored a paper along with Biological Sciences MS alum, Charlie Daria, in the scientific journal Acta Ethologica and was featured on The Wildlife Society.
IB Alum Publishes Paper. Dr. Ryan Bos, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Tracy Mincer, recently published a paper that uncovered a connection between Sargassum, plastic marine debris and Vibrio bacteria that could have important implications for marine life and public health.
Alumni Spotlight: Jackie Kingston, Sea Turtle Adventures Founder. The College of Science featured Jackie Kingston, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Salmon, for using skills she learned at FAU to form an organization called Sea Turtle Adventures that contributes to conservation efforts.
HBOI Boat Tours Return. Sign up today for a fun and educational 1.5-hour excursion aboard FAU Harbor Branch’s pontoon tour boat, the Discovery!
Biology Faculty Featured in National Geographic. Dr. Marianne Porter was featured in a National Geographic article "Do Sharks Hold Their Breath Underwater?" discussing a new paper reporting an unexpected behavior in scalloped hammerhead sharks.
Biology MS Alum Publishes Paper. Kasey Macleod, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Marguerite Koch, recently published a paper in the scientific journal Aquatic Botany.
Biology Faculty Interviewed on NHPR. Dr. Stephen Kajiura was recently interviewed on New Hampshire Public Radio in a feature titled " Outside/Inbox: How do shark noses work underwater?".
Biology Master's Student Wins 2nd Place in State-wide 3MT® Competition. Hayley Knapp, who works in the laboratory of Dr. John Baldwin, placed second overall in the state-wide Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition for her presentation, “From Poop to Parent: Examining Paternity in Dynamic Atlantic Spotted Dolphin Populations in the Bahamas.”
Alumni Spotlight: Sea Turtle Scientist Jeff Guertin. The College of Science featured Jeff Guertin, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Salmon, that is currently a biologist with Inwater Research Group in Jensen Beach.
Biology Alumni Featured in Magazine. Last fall, Southern Living magazine featured three FAU Biology Master's alumni, Jeff Guertin, Jacki (Lorne) Kingston, and Caitlin Bovery, along with Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, for their devotion to saving sea turtles.
Biology Professor in CBS News Broadcast. Dr. Nwadiuto Esiobu joined a CBS News segment broadcast nationally to discuss a possible rise in fatal flesh-eating bacterial infections due to global warming.
Biology Graduate Students Start Podcast. Haley Davis and Sydney Bell, who both work for Dr. Joshua Voss, recently launched a "To Dive For" podcast with interviews from divers and marine scientists to share their experiences, thoughts, advice, and stories.
Biology Faculty Recognized in College of Science Excellence Awards. Congratulations to Dr. Marianne Porter and Dr. Rindy Anderson for receiving the Researcher of the Year and Scholar of the Year awards, respectively.
IB PhD Student Receives Grant. Samantha Trail, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, recently received funding from the Sea Turtle Grants Program for their research examining how young sea turtles disperse to offshore nursery areas and contend with currents in their offshore environments.
Biology Senior Recognized During 54th annual Honors Convocation. Luis Carrillo, a senior in the Biological Sciences degree program who works in the laboratory of Dr. Evelyn Frazier and Dr. Colin Hughes, received the University Scholar Award.
Pair of FAU Students Named Goldwater Scholars. Congratulations to Dr. John Baldwin and his son, David, who was recently named a Goldwater Scholar!
2023 Cesar Chavez Day of Service. Thanks to Davie lab coordinator Cristina de la Rosa for helping to organize students for the Cesar Chavez Day of Volunteering on the FAU Davie Campus!
10th Annual LSSF STEM Undergraduate Research Symposium Winners. Congratulations to Savannah Arvin, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Kajiura, for winning 3 rd place for her poster on “ Size and sex distribution of blacktip sharks in southeast Florida” at her first ever scientific conference!
13th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium Winners. Congratulations to Dr. Evelyn Frazier's students, Rachel Starck and Martha Torres, for winning 1st and 2nd place for oral presentations in the “ Environmental, Ecological & Marine Sciences” category at the 2023 Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium!
FAU Developed AUTOHOLO Shows Potential as Red Tide Warning System. FAU Researchers at Harbor Branch are the first to use a new autonomous, submersible holographic 3D microscope and imaging system to break new ground for monitoring harmful algal blooms.
Spring 2023 Biology Scholarships. Congratulations to all graduate students that received a Biology Department Scholarship! Many thanks to the generous contributions of all Biology Department Scholarship donors!
FAU Team Launches Weather Balloon. Dr. Xing-Hai Zhang and collaborator, Dr. Oscar Curet, with a team of FAU undergraduate Engineering students launched a weather balloon carrying a prototype of a small satellite (CubeSat). Inside the satellite was a chamber with a collection of growing plants (alfalfa, lettuce and tobacco). The balloon reached an altitude of ~98,000 feet (~30 km) before the satellite returned and safely landed. Those plants are now growing in the lab for further study of the effect (if any) of radiation and microgravity. The dream is one day to grow plants on the Moon and Mars! Another story about it was also featured on NBC Montana.
Biology Faculty Publishes Paper. Dr. Jeanette Wyneken recently published a paper in the journal Ecological Modelling, a novel heuristic model of environmental impacts on loggerhead sea turtles based on her long term temperature data set of Boca beaches.
Wild Animals Stop the Spread of Socially Transmitted Misinformation. Dr. Ashkaan Fahimipour recently published a paper that suggests that even in the absence of predators, animals produce and perceive visual motion cues produced by others, thereby forming dynamic information exchange networks. This work was featured in an article in the Cornell Chronicle at Cornell University as well as the FAU News Desk!
FAU HBOI Receives Gift For Queen Conch Farm. FAU's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI) has received a $2.8 million gift from Builders Initiative to establish a queen conch hatchery in Grand Bahama. This support expands FAU HBOI’s extensive aquaculture and food security program!
2023 3MT® Championship Winners. Congratulations to FAU's 7th Annual Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT®) winners! Congratulations to Hayley Knapp, a Master's student who works in the laboratory of Dr. John Baldwin, for winning 1st place and recipient of the Dr. Eric H. Shaw 3MT® Championship Endowed Award!
Biology Master's Alumni Publish Paper. Two alumni who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Matthew Ajemian, Brianna Cahill (Marine Science Master's program) and Breanna DeGroot (Biology Master's program), both co-published a paper in the scientific journal Aquaculture Environment Interactions .
IB PhD Alumna Lands U.S. EPA Grant. Gabrielle Barbarite, who worked in the lab of Dr. Peter McCarthy, has received a $399,963 grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) South Florida Initiative Program to support a new Indian River Lagoon field trip program aboard the “Discovery,” FAU Harbor Branch’s state-of-the-art tour boat.
IB PhD Student Spotlight. Derek Aoki, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Annie Page-Karjian, recently co-authored a paper that used forensic analysis of shark bites on sea turtles in Florida and Alabama to infer the possible size and species of the predator.
IB PhD Alumna Publishes Paper and Named 2023 Knauss Finalist. Alexis Sturm, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Joshua Voss, recently co-authored a paper in the scientific journal Frontiers in Marine Science and was named one of the 2023 finalists for the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship.
MSO Alum Publishes Paper. Eddie Perri, Marine Science & Oceanography MS alum, recently published a paper with Dr. Paul Wills, Dr. Jay Baldwin and Dr. Susan Laramore in the scientific journal Fishes describing the effect of microalgal diets on the sunray venus clam .
Faculty Member Receives Coveted NSF Career Award. With a five-year NSF grant, Dr. Andia Chaves-Fonnegra, will develop fundamental ecological research to understand the functional ecology and biodiversity patterns in sponge-dominated coral reefs.
Study Resolves 50-Year Dispute of Teleost Fishes Ancestral Lineage. FAU Harbor Branch's Sahar Mejri, Ph.D., is among a team of scientists to use genome mapping to demonstrate sister groups from a common evolutionary ancestor.
FAU Study First To Show Cannabis-related Deaths in Florida. Using data from 2014 to 2020, researchers from FAU's Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing analyzed deaths in Florida associated with cannabis and synthetic cannabis use.
IBNS PhD Students Publish Paper. Ojasee Bapat and Monil Shah, IBNS PhD students who work in the laboratory of Dr. Vidhya Rangaraju at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, recently co-authored a paper in the scientific journal bioRxiv.
FAU Hosts Events in Honor of Black History Month. Each year, FAU observes National Black History Month by celebrating the history and contributions of its African American/Black Diaspora communities with a series of events for students, staff and faculty.
Polo Reef Science Internship. Registration is now open for interested FAU undergraduate students to apply for a 12-week internship opportunity on-site at the Polo Reef Company in New York.
Social Media Spotlight: Save Our Seas Grant Supports Student Research. Congratulations to Ariadna Rojas Corzo, an IBMO PhD student who works in the laboratory of Dr. Matt Ajemian, for winning a @saveourseasfoundation small grant to continue her research on whitespotted eagle ray nursery habitats!
2022 Art of Science Contest Winners. Alexis Moyle, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Milton, received first place in the video category for her entry "Space Hatchling." IB PhD student, Jamie Knaub, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, also received an honorable mention for her photo “Millipede Marvel.” Dr. Jeanette Wyneken was named the Faculty in the Field winner for her entry “Turtles at Dusk.”
Register Now for the 7th Annual Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT®). FAU graduate students from all degree programs are invited to compete in the University's Annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition, taking place in February 20-24, 2023. Over $30,000 in scholarship prizes are awarded to Preliminary Round and Championship winners!!!
FAU Online Programs Move Up in Rankings. FAU's online programs have moved up in ‘U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT’ rankings.
IBNS PhD Student Publishes Paper. Morgan Slevin, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Rindy Anderson, recently co-authored a paper along with Biological Sciences MS alum, Charlie Daria, in the scientific journal Acta Ethologica.
IBMO PhD Student Wins in 2022 Art of Science Contest. Congratulations to Clark Morgan, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Matt Ajemian, was named the "Student in the Field Winner" for this year's Art of Science Photography and Video Contest!
Student Spotlight. Medical Biology major Rachel Rubenzahl was recently featured on the College of Science's student spotlight!
Undergraduate Student Researcher Spotlight. Alexis Surtel, an undergraduate biological sciences student, worked with IBNS-IMPRS PhD student Akshay Naraine in the laboratory of Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully was recently featured in a College of Science Student Spotlight!
IBNS PhD Student Publishes Paper. Zidan Yang, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Hidehiko Inagaki, recently co-authored a paper published in Cell that demonstrates how the midbrain can control cortical dynamics via the thalamus for rapid and precise motor behavior.
IB PhD Student Publishes Paper. Laura King, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Paul Wills, recently co-authored a paper in the journal Aquaculture describing the first low salinity study on Florida pompano.
Spring 2023 Frontiers in Science Lecture Series. Preview the 2023 season of our public lecture series, Frontiers in Science, hosted by the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. This season will be back in-person, with live talks and question and answer sessions.
Fall 2022 Biology Scholarships. Congratulations to all graduate students that received a Biology Department Scholarship! Many thanks to the generous contributions of all Biology Department Scholarship donors!
IB PhD Student Publishes Paper. Aubrey Clark, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, recently published a paper in the Journal of Morphology that explores shark nose shape, size, and link to sensitivity of smell.
Biology Faculty Member Lands $3 Million NSF Grant. Dr. Ashkaan Fahimipour received a five-year, $3 million NSF grant, in collaboration with the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of New Mexico, and the University of California - Santa Cruz, for a project to empower coral reef monitoring.
IBMO PhD Student Presents At Conference. Hanna Bridgham, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Jordon Beckler, recently presented her research at the 2022 Ocean Optics Conference in Vietnam!
IB PhD Students Featured in Florida Atlantic University Magazine. Samantha Trail, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, and Akshay Naraine, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Dawson-Scully, were featured in the Fall 2022 issue.
FAU International Education Week. International Education Week (IEW) is an opportunity to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide. Take a look at FAU's week long celebrations and events for IEW 2022!
FAU Lands U.S. Department of Defense Grant for Powerful Imaging Tool. FAU has received a $599,503 grant from the United States Department of Defense for a transmission electron microscope, a joint effort across six colleges and institutes!
Student Spotlight: Medical Biology Major Vanessa Belizaire. Vanessa Belizaire is embarking on her second year in the Schmidt College of Science’s new medical biology degree program.
Biology Undergrad Attends the 2022 Yale Summer Enrichment Medical Academy. Dodlee Mosilme, a first-year Biological Sciences student, participated in the 2022 Yale Summer Enrichment Medical Academy (YSEMA) in New Haven, Connecticut this past summer.
Environmental Science Graduate Students Receive Awards From the National Parks Conservation Association. Congratulations to four FAU Environmental Science graduate students who were selected as recipients of the 2022-23 National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) funding support.
FAU Receives ‘INSIGHT Into Diversity’ 2022 HEED Award. Florida Atlantic University has received the 2022 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.
Biology Professor Publishes Paper. Dr. Jeanette Wyneken recently co-authored a paper in the scientific journal Ecological Modelling about the missing link between temperature and sex ratio for temperature-dependent sex determination.
FAU Ranks in ‘Diverse’ Magazine’s Top 100 Minority Degree Producers. Diverse: Issues In Higher Education magazine ranked FAU as No. 17 for graduating African American students with bachelor's degrees in all disciplines combined in its list of top 100 minority degree producers.
FAU & Thermo Fisher Scientific Collaborate on Conservation. FAU Harbor Branch and Thermo Fisher Scientific have entered into a unique agreement to advance marine science and endangered species research worldwide from the tropics to the Arctic.
FAU-Max Planck Joint Program Creates New M.D./PH.D. Dual Degree. The new accelerated academic dual-degree program is the latest addition to the innovative partnerships between FAU and MPFI, expanding student opportunities in South Florida and nationwide.
IB Alumna Publishes Paper. Dr. Cindy Elliser, who works with Dr. Denise Herzing with the Wild Dolphin Project, was featured in FAU's Research Daily for their recent publication in the scientific journal Marine Mammal Science. Check out the full article here.
IBNS PhD Student Publishes Paper. Samantha Trail recently co-authored a paper published in Molecular Psychiatry that uncovered key differences in the molecular dopamine synapses in the brains of male and female mice that support attention, movement, motivation and pleasure.
Biology Professor Featured on the TODAY Show. The FAU Marine Lab's critical sea turtle conservation research was featured. Dr. Jeanette Wyneken releases sea turtles in Riviera Beach and discusses why there are more female than male turtles being born.
IBMO PhD Candidate Publishes Paper. Cody Mott, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Sarah Milton, recently co-authored a paper in Molecular Ecology Resources.
Biology Professor Featured on NBC Nightly News. Dr. Jeanette Wyneken was featured in a segment titled "Climate change causing more turtles to be born female."
New Director of the Environmental Science Program. Dr. Tiffany Roberts Briggs was named as the new Director of the Environmental Science Program.
IBES PhD Candidate Wins Award. Daniel Alempijevic, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Kate Detwiler, was awarded the Best Student Paper of 2021 by the American Journal of Primatology at the American Society of Primatologist conference in Denver.
IBNS PhD Candidate Publishes Paper. Akshay Naraine, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully, recently published a paper in Scientific Reports and featured in the FAU News Desk and other media outlets such as The Independent.
IBBS PhD Student Publishes Paper. Oliver Pelletier, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Janet Robishaw, co-authored a paper published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Biology Undergraduate Researchers in OURI Annual Summer Research Showcase. Congratulations to all the undergraduate researchers that presented their work from the following laboratories: Dr. Nwadiuto Esiobu, Dr. Evelyn Frazier, Dr. Marianne Porter, and Dr. Sarah Milton. See here for the list of awardees and photos!
IBBS PhD Candidate Publishes Paper. Paola Gonzalez-Lerma, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully, recently published a paper in the scientific journal microPublication Biology.
Study First to Explore ‘Walking’ Shark Movements in Early Life Stages. Dr. Marianne Porter, associate professor and senior lead author, is part of a team researching the newly-discovered walking shark that breaks all of the rules for survival.
IBNS PhD Candidate Publishes Paper. Morgan Slevin, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Rindy Anderson, recently co-authored a paper published in the Journal of Field Ornithology.
FAU Experts Featured in National Geographic's SHARKFEST. The research of FAU Marine Lab principal investigators, graduate students, and alumni are featured in several National Geographic SHARKFEST programs.
Social Media Spotlight: @faumarinelab. Check out this scan from a stingray! Did you know that stingrays are related to sharks? Stingrays and sharks are considered to be a part of the class elasmobranchs, which is also known as cartilaginous fish. The picture shows the bottom of the stingray, which is where their mouth is located.
Student Spotlight: Morton Fellow and Soar-in-4 Scholar. Michelle Gras, an undergraduate researcher who works with Dr. Shailaja Allani and Dr. Herbert Weissbach, is both a member of the Soar-in-4 program that provides high-achieving student research opportunities and mentorship, and she is also a Morton Fellow.
Biology Alumna Interviewed by CESCOS. Deborah Santos de Azevedo, who worked with the Elasmobranch Shark Laboratory as a field research assistant, is a marine biologist and multicultural shark researcher that was recently named a National Geographic Young Explorer! Check out her recent interview.
Brain Bites: The Neuroscience of Addiction with Dr. Judith Grisel. Tune into the newest episode of "Brain Bites: a bite-sized neuroscience podcast" featuring Dr. Judith Grisel, Professor of Psychology at Bucknell University, discussing the impacts of drugs and addiction in the brain on a biological level.
Study Shows Hydrology Impacts on West Florida’s Continental Shelf. Dr. Laurent Cherubin of FAU's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in collaboration with FlU demonstrates the impacts of climate warming and water management on West Florida's Continental Shelf using a high-resolution simulation model.
CESCoS Interviews Biology Master's Student. Haley Davis, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Joshua Voss, was recently interviewed about winning second runner-up in FAU’s sixth annual Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT®).
CESCoS Interviews IBNS PhD Student. Morgan Slevin, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Rindy Anderson, was recently interviewed about winning first place in FAU’s sixth annual Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT®).
IBNS PhD Student Publishes Paper. Zidan Yang, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Hidehiko Inagaki, recently published a paper in the scientific journal Cell that describes how the midbrain can control cortical dynamics via the thalamus for rapid and precise motor behavior.
Student Scientists Serve As Manatee Masters. Hear from some of our current and former students about what it's like to serve as a Manatee Master at Manatee Lagoon!
IBNS PhD Student Publishes Paper. Connon Thomas, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Naomi Kamasawa, recently published a paper with labmates Skylar Anthony, an FAU undergraduate, and Seth Goldin, an FAU High School student, that describes user-friendly software they developed to analyze the precise location of proteins in the brain in an automated and efficient manner.
IB PhD Alumna Publishes Paper. Dr. Danielle Ingle, co-authored a paper with her dissertation advisor, Dr. Marianne Porter, in the scientific journal Integrative Organismal Biology that found that cetacean vertebral trabecular bone properties differed from the properties of terrestrial mammals.
New Tool Will Assess Water Discharge Impacts from Florida’s Everglades. Researchers from FAU Harbor Branch have received a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to study the connectivity between the Everglades and Florida Keys via the Florida Bay.
IBNS PhD Student Publishes Paper. Jacob LaMar, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Randy Blakely, recently published a paper with Dr. Vidhya Rangaraju at the Max Planck Institute for Neuroscience along with other co-authors in bioRxiv, an open access preprint repository for the biological sciences hosted by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Biology Faculty Member WPTV Interview. Dr. Jeanette Wyneken and the Marine Science Laboratory were featured in an article titled "Climate change tipping the gender balance of some species" to discuss how hotter temperatures are leading to more female sea turtles hatching than males.
IB Alumnus Featured on Podcast. Dr. Kyle Newton, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Kajiura and now a research associate at Oregon State University, was recently featured on a Save Our Seas Foundation podcast titled "How do marine animals navigate the ocean?." Dr. Newton was also recently quoted in a Scientific American article on the work of A. Kalmijn, who first showed that sharks and rays can sense electromagnetic fields and use them to locate hidden prey!
2022 3MT® Championship Winners. Congratulations to FAU's 6th Annual Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT®) winners! Congratulations to Morgan Slevin, an IBNS PhD candidate who works in the laboratory of Dr. Rindy Anderson, for winning 1st place and recipient of the Dr. Eric H. Shaw 3MT® Championship Endowed Award! Congratulations to Haley Davis, a MS student who works in the laboratory of Dr. Joshua Voss, for winning Second Runner-Up!
FAU Max Planck Honors Program Students Present Research. Congratulations to the FAU Max Planck Honors Program students for successfully defending their theses!
FAU Experts for the 2022 Hurricane Season. With an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season forecast for 2022, several FAU faculty experts are available to discuss various issues surrounding hurricane preparedness, evacuation and aftermath.
National Save The Sea Turtle Foundation Funds Marine Science Scholarships and Renovations to Lab. The National Save The Sea Turtle Foundation (NSTSTF) recently gifted $60,000 to FAU’s Marine Science Lab at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton and this new gift will support six graduate students with annual scholarships.
IB PhD Student Publishes Paper. Samantha Trail, who completed her master's thesis with Dr. Michael Salmon, recently published a paper in the scientific journal Animal Behaviour that investigates why Baby Leatherback Marine Turtles Can’t ‘See the Sea.’
Biology Professor Featured on Local News Channel. Dr. Stephen Kajiura was recently featured on CBS 12 news channel looking for a tracker that popped off a 10-foot hammerhead shark. During the interview, a local man came up to Kajiura and the reporter and said he found the tag!
FAU Marine Science Trailblazer Receives Lifetime Achievement Award. FAU Harbor Branch's Shirley Pomponi, Ph.D., an ocean explorer, aquanaut and marine biotechnologist, will receive the Society for In Vitro Biology's highest award - the 2022 "Lifetime Achievement Award."
FAU Scientists and Students Featured in Local News Story. Dr. Joshua Voss and his students were featured in a WPBF news story about their research using human medicine to heal coral reefs.
Research Excursion to Big Cypress National Park. River Vanderveer, an undergraduate researcher studying Environmental Science, recently visited remote areas of Big Cypress National Preserve by helicopter to survey vegetation, bird nesting sites, and sample fish populations in the wetlands.
Faculty Member Receives Prestigiuos NSF Career Award. Dr. Matt Ajemian has received the coveted National Science Foundation (NSF) Early CAREER award through the Biological Oceanography Program.
Undergraduate Honors Research Pathway Thesis Defense A Success. The Honors Research Thesis Pathway program had very successful defense talks. Listen to the recordings here. Congratulations to all the undergraduate student researchers that participated!
First U.S.-based International Max Planck Research School Established with FAU. FAU recently formalized an agreement with Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (MPFI) to partner in launching its first U.S.-based International Max Planck Research School for Synapses and Circuits (IMPRS-SC). The first class of students will begin in fall 2022.
2021-2022 Biology Scholarships. Congratulations to all graduate students that received a Biology Department Scholarship this year! Many thanks to the generous contributions of all Biology Department Scholarship donors!
IB PhD Students Win Award at International Sea Turtle Symposium. Samantha Trail and Emily Turla, who both work in the laboratory of Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, were recently named Archie Carr Student Awardees at the 2022 International Sea Turtle Symposium. This award is given for excellence in graduate student research!
IB PhD Student Featured on Local News Channel 7. Emily Turla, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, along with undergraduate researcher Sean Williamson, a Glenn W. and Cornelia T. Bailey Marine SEA Scholar, were featured in a special segment called “Where’d that little turtle go?” about their work in Cayman tagging green turtles with trackers to learn more about their movements.
IB PhD Student Publishes Paper. Cassandra Ruddy, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, recently published a paper in the Journal of Fish Biology, along with John Loyer, an undergraduate researcher that participated in the Miami Dade College- FAU summer research program.
IBNS Alumna Publishes Paper. Dr. Herborg Asgeirsdottir, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Stackman, recently co-authored a paper published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports.
Undergrad Researcher Named 2022 Goldwater Scholar. Samantha Zaninelli, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Erik Duboué, was named a 2002 Goldwater Scholar. She was selected from a pool of 1,242 students from 433 institutions across the country. This is the first time in FAU history a student has been named a Goldwater Scholar.
Wild Palm Beaches Sea Turtle Segment. The FAU Marine Laboratory was featured in the Wild Palm Beaches Gumbo Limbo sea turtle segment.
IBNS PhD Student Publishes Paper. Clara Tepohl, who works in the laboratory of Dr. David Fitzpatrick at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, has recently published a paper in the scientific journal Neuron.
IBNS PhD Student Gives Research Talk. Morgan Slevin, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Rindy Anderson, recently gave a talk in the South Florida Wildlife Center's Wild Lecture Series.
Biology Faculty Member Featured in Jupiter Magazine. Dr. Stephen Kajiura was featured in the March issue of Jupiter magazine in an article titled “Protecting the Predator” about threats to sharks.
IB PhD Student Publishes Paper. Karim Dawkins, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Nwadiuto Esiobu, recently published a review article, along with undergraduate researchers, in the American Journal of Plant Sciences.
Biology MS Alumna Publishes Paper. Victoria Garefino, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Sarah Milton, got her first paper published in a special issue of the journal Animals, on the impact of sunlight on the health parameters of green sea turtles in rehab facilities.
2022 Goldberg Scholarship Winner. Jorge Torres, who is pursuing a B.S. in Biological Sciences, was recently named the 2022 recipient of the Goldberg Scholarship!
IBES PhD Student Publishes Paper. David Essian, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Dale Gawlik, recently published a paper in The Journal of Wildlife Management.
Calling all Citizen Scientists. Do you enjoy taking photos of wildlife? Are you interested in contributing to dolphin research? FAU Harbor Branch invites you to participate in our new land-based Dolphin Spotter citizen science project.
Unique FAU Seagrass Nursery Aims to Help Florida’s Starving Manatees. Dr. Dennis Hanisak and researchers at HBOI are investigating the cause of seagrass loss and contributing to important restoration efforts in the Indian River lagoon.
IBMO PhD Student Publishes Paper. Ryan Bos, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Tracy Mincer, recently co-authored a paper that is the first to unveil the prevalence of plastics in the entire water column of an offshore plastic accumulation zone in the southern Atlantic Ocean and implicates the ocean interior as a crucial pool of ‘missing’ plastics.
Biology Alumna Named 2021 National Geographic Young Explorer. Deborah Santos de Azevedo, who worked with the Elasmobranch Shark Laboratory as a field research assistant, is a marine biologist and multicultural shark researcher. She earned a B.S. in Biological Sciences from FAU in 2021 and currently works as a research assistant for the American Shark Conservancy and project manager for their Shark Surveys project, collecting in-water diversity, abundance, and behavioral data from shark species.
FAU's REU SINE Participant Wins Cell Press 2021 Rising Black Scientists Award. Charleese Williams, who participated in FAU's 2021 Summer Integrative Neuroscience Experience (SINE) for undergraduates, is the winner of the Cell Press 2021 Rising Black Scientists Award for an undergraduate scholar!
IBNS-IMPRS PhD Student Publishes Paper. Roberto Hernandez, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Gregory Macleod, recently co-authored a paper published in Biophysical Journal that was featured on the cover of the December issue!
FAU Spring 2022 Virtual ‘Research in Action’ Lineup. FAU research on topics ranging from environment to human health and behavior to some of society’s most challenging problems and offer viable solutions.
Marine Sponge Cells in 3D Could Ramp-up Production of Drug Compounds. FAU Harbor Branch scientists are the first to culture sponge cells in 3D to scale-up production of sponge biomass and bioactive metabolites for novel drug compounds.
Student Spotlight. FAU undergraduate student Gabriela Carina Rico is currently studying neuroscience and behavior and has found endless curiosity in synaptic plasticity and the mechanisms of learning and memory since joining the laboratory of Dr. Carmen Varela.
Spring 2022 Marine Science Seminar Series. Check out the Marine Science Seminar line up. We have amazing speakers including graduate students, FAU Sea Scholars, post docs, and faculty from here and around the country.
Protecting South Florida's Wild Vervet Monkey Population. Dr. Missy Williams, IB PhD alumna and founder of the Dania Beach Vervet Project, and her team, were interviewed by WPTV about their work to secure a permanent enclosure and skytrails for a colony of monkeys that are thriving in Dania Beach.
FAU Marine Science Lab Welcome Video. IB PhD student Emily Turla, who works with Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, takes the Owl TV crew for a tour of the FAU Marine Science Lab at Gumbo Limbo.
2021 Art of Science Photography Contest Winner Details. Check out the details behing the winning photos of the 2021 Art of Science photography contest!
Frontiers in Science Public Lecture Series. Experts this season from a range of scientific disciplines who are speaking about: conservation photojournalism, artificial intelligence, white holes: how a black hole dies, the social science of disasters and community resilience, and more!
Fall 2021 Biology Scholarships. Congratulations to all graduate students that received a Biology Department Scholarship! Many thanks to the generous contributions of all Biology Department Scholarship donors!
2021 Art of Science Photography Contest Winners. Congratulations to IB PhD students Clark Morgan, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Matt Ajemian, and Jamie Knaub, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter. Clark was named in the "2021 In the Field Student Winner" category and Jamie tied for the "2021 In the Lab Student Winner" category. Congratulations to both!
Septic System Waste Pervasive Throughout Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. There are more than 300,000 septic systems adjacent to Florida's Indian River Lagoon. A new FAU Harbor Branch study shows even properly functioning septic systems contaminate groundwater and surface water.
IBES PhD Candidate Featured in 2022 Knauss Fellow Spotlight. Kate Shlepr, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Dale Gawlik, was recently featured as a spotlight for the Knauss Fellowship that she received!
Student Spotlight. Jorge Torres, a pre-health Biology major, discusses how he got involved with research and how others can get involved.
Student Spotlight. Cesar Rivas discusses how the PSM Business Biotechnology program set him up for success to achieve his future career and academic goals.
Student Spotlight. Tsaiace Edwards, a pre-health Biology major, discusses how getting involved helped her make meaningful connections that can last a lifetime.
Professional Science Masters in Business Biotechnology: A Successful Track. Check out the latest news from the PSM program. Nearly every student receives a job offer during the internship or shortly after graduation!
Study Identifies Four Elements That Lead to Employability. Researchers at Florida Atlantic University and two other schools studied what makes people employable.
IBMO PhD Student and Researchers Featured in FAU News Desk Article. Clark Morgan, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Matt Ajemian, was recently featured in an FAU News Desk article along with fellow researchers about a novel tag that provides a detailed look into goliath grouper behavior.
Investigating the Ocean's Blue Holes. Scientists from FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute explore mysterious deep, dark holes that extend into the seafloor almost three times deeper than the overlying water column.
Visit FAU College of Science at the 8th Annual LagoonFest. FAU and research partner exhibits include FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, OctoNation (presented by FAU alumna, “Octogirl,” Chelsea Bennice, Ph.D.), Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, Loggerhead Marinelife Center, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
FAU Researchers Heal Deadly Coral Lesions with Common Antibiotic. Dr. Joshua Voss has found a promising treatment for coral disease that has impacted the corals of Florida’s 350-mile coral reef.
Biology Faculty Featured in Owl Research & Innovation Magazine. Dr. Michelle Petersen, Assistant Research Professor, was recently featured in an article titled "Long-term Tracking of Wetland Birds."
Biology Faculty Member Interviewed on WLRN/NPR. Dr. Sarah Milton was recently interviewed by WLRN/NPR news to discuss her research examining immune function in green sea turtles and linking diseased turtles' weakened immune system to pollution.
IB PhD Student Receives NIH F31 Fellowship. Kerriann Badal, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Sathya Puthanveetil at Scripps Florida, was recently awarded a NIH F31 Predoctoral Fellowship to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research.
Molecular Study Finds IRL Green Sea Turtles Biologically Stressed. Dr. Sarah Milton recently published a paper in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases that examined immune function in two populations of non-captive green sea turtles, comparing resident turtles from an area of poor water quality with those in a more pristine environment.
2021 Art of Science Photography Contest. The third annual Art of Science photography contest is open to members of the FAU community to showcase the cutting-edge research, scholarship and creativity happening at FAU.
Sleep Research Earns FAU Scientist ‘Alzheimer’s Association’ Award. Dr. Carmen Varela, Biology graduate programs faculty member, recently received the Alzheimer’s Association’s “Research Fellowship to Promote Diversity” award to investigate the relationship between sleep patterns and one’s overall brain health.
Biology Graduate Students Publish Paper. Alexis Sturm and Ryan Eckert, IB PhD candidates, and Ashley Carreiro, MS student, who all work in the laboratory of Dr. Joshua Voss, recently co-authored a paper in the scientific journal Coral Reefs that highlights the need to conserve mesophotic reef communities in the Florida Keys.
Biology Undergraduate Researcher Spotlight. Wayne Robinson, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Tanja Godenschwege, is investigating the cellular causes of neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
‘Octo Girl’ Takes a Deep Dive to Uncover How Octopus Species Coexist. Dr. Chelsea Bennice, IB PhD alumna, recently published a paper in the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, showing two species of octopus coexisting in a shallow Florida Lagoon.
FAU Receives NOAA Grant to Assess Shark Interactions with Fishing. Dr. Matt Ajemian in collaboration with researchers from Mississippi State University have received a $195,306 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
State-of-the-Art Microscope Blazes New Trail in Brain Imaging. FAU scientists are among the first in the state of Florida to capture 3D images of clusters of identified brain cells in the intact brain using a new, fully automated, microscope.
Blame It On the Brain. On FAU’s Jupiter campus, three powerhouse institutions are collectively nurturing a thriving neuroscience ecosystem and conducting cutting-edge research.
Fall 2021 Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Workshops. The Fall 2021 RCR series, offered in partnership with MPFI, consists of four live Zoom modules covering core research competencies, best practices and guidelines for researchers.
FAU Kicks Off Fall 2021 Virtual ‘Research in Action’ Series. FAU's Division of Research "Research in Action" talk series on Zoom is free and open to the public. Each week, participants can listen to experts in their fields as they present their latest research.
IB Alumna Publishes Paper. Dr. Jennifer Krill, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully, recently published a paper in a special edition of the Journal of Neurogenetics dedicated to Dr. Marla Sokolowski.
Biology Undergraduate Researcher Featured in CESCoS Student Spotlight. Jorge Torres is a pre-medical track student working towards a B.S. in Biological Sciences and member of the Tiny Earth Lab, researching antibiotic producing bacteria found in the soil.
Cures From the Deep. Soft-corals and sponges may be the key to curing diseases such as Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and triple negative breast cancer, and that’s the mission of HBOI’s Marine Biomedical and Biotechnology Research Program.
IB PhD Alum Publishes Paper. Dr. Hersh Chaitin, who is a postdoc in Dr. Khalid Hanafy's laboratory, recently co-authored a paper in the scientific journal Reviews in the Neurosciences.
IB PhD Student Earns Gulf Research Program Fellowship. Kirstie Tandberg, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Amy Wright, was awarded a Science Policy Fellowship through the Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
IB PhD Student Publishes Paper. Ryan Eckert, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Joshua Voss, co-authored a paper using a low-cost 3D method that rapidly measures disease impacts on coral reefs.
2021-2022 Graduate College Fellowship Recipients. Congratulations to all Biology students that received a Graduate College Fellowship!
What's Killing Coral Reefs in Florida is Also Killing Them in Belize. A study is the first to offer evidence that nitrogen enrichment from land-based sources like sewage is driving macroalgal blooms and causing massive decline in hard coral cover in the Belize Barrier Reef.
Celebrating Fintastic Fish. We are celebrating shark awareness to commemorate research and conservation of 500 unique species of sharks.
HBOI Scientists Help Debilitated Sea Turtles in Rehab Get the Right Diet. For debilitated sea turtles in rehabilitation, part of the healing process is to provide a species-specific, balanced diet that provides nutrition similar to that of a wild diet.
IB PhD Student Named 2022 Knauss Finalist. Kate Shlepr, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Dale Gawlik, was recently named a finalist for the 2022 John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Program!
IBNS PhD Student Publishes Paper. Akshay Naraine, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully, recently published a paper in The FASEB Journal.
IB Alumna & Biology MS Alumna Publish Paper. Dr. Melissa Reiterer and Lynsey Bruce recently published a paper in the scientific journal Metabolites with Dr. Sarah Milton.
IB Alumni Publish Paper. Drs. Sirisha Kudumala and Priyanka Kakad have recently "micro-published" their work on "The conserved MASRPF motif in the Attractin homolog, Distracted, is required for association with Drosophila E3-ligase Mgrn1" with Dr. Tanja Godenschwege.
SharkFest 2021. This summer, four FAU researchers, including Drs. Stephen Kajiura, Tricia Meredith, and Matt Ajemian, are featured on National Geographic TV's SharkFest series.
FAU Gets $736,000 from NASA to Study Coastal Carbon Budget from Space. FAU is one of 10 universities in the nation and the only university in Florida to receive this grant in support of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in seeking a better understanding of the ocean’s role in the Earth system.
IBNS Student Featured in I-BRAIN Magazine. Morgan Slevin, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Rindy Anderson, had his paper featured in FAU's Masterminds Magazine.
IB Alumna Spotlight. Dr. Lillian Onwuha-Ekpete, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Gregg Fields, was recently featured in the College of Science's Postdoc Spotlight.
FAU Ranks #3 in Florida State University System. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our students, faculty and staff, FAU ranked No. 3 among the state universities. The University recorded its highest-ever score of 89 points from a possible 100.
IBNS Student and Alum Publish Paper. Justin Palermo, IBNS PhD candidate, along with Dr. Kazuma Murakami, IBNS alum, have recently published a paper that identifies a gene related to sleep duration and starvation resistance.
Origin of the 'Motion of the Ocean' in the Straits of Florida Revealed. A numerical study by FAU Harbor Branch is the first to identify mechanisms of instability responsible for the formation of sub-mesoscale eddies, which has important environmental implications.
IBES PhD Candidate Featured in "Mutton Snapper Challenge" Video. The PBC Environmental Resources Management has teamed up with local fisherman in a citizens science initiative called the "Mutton Snapper Challenge" and Dr. John Baldwin's laboratory participated! Lauren Kleiman, IBES student, was featured in the final video released after the event.
Understanding Algal Blooms in Florida. FAU's Center for Environmental Studies and the U.S. Geological Survey have developed a series of free online modules to assist in understanding the science and challenges related to harmful algal blooms.
Happy World Sea Turtle Day. Listen as Dr. Jeanette Wyneken shares interesting sea turtle hatchling and nesting facts from her Research in Action talk.
FAU’s Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute. Contributions totaling $10 million to Florida Atlantic University from David J. S. Nicholson will welcome an era of unprecedented research, education and discovery at FAU’s John D. MacArthur Campus in Jupiter.
IB PhD Alumna Publishes Paper. Dr. Danielle Ingle, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, recently published a paper with Dr. Jeanette Wyneken that documents morphological data on craniofacial and axial bifurcation in sea turtles from south Florida beaches.
IBNS PhD Student Publishes Paper. Justin Palermo, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Alex Keene, recently co-authored a paper in the scientific journal eLife that investigates the discriminative capabilities of taste systems using Drosophila as a model system.
Biology Undergraduate Student CEO Wins $19k in Three Competitions. Paris Prince, CEO of SPods, is an FAU High School senior and a junior in B.S. Neuroscience and Behavior program, who won $19,500 in funding from three competitions for her innovative student project and startup business called SPods; a portable, eco-friendly, hand hygiene product.
Biology Faculty Member Featured on Smithsonian Magazine Website. Dr. Jeanette Wyneken was recently featured in the article "Baby Sea Turtles Spend ‘Lost Years’ in Sargasso Sea" that discusses her research on tracking neonate green turtles. This research was also featured online in a Popular Science article!
Study Reveals Health Status of Vulnerable Gopher Tortoises. A comprehensive health assessment of gopher tortoises at two sites in southeastern Florida provides important baseline information on this vulnerable species.
IB Alumna Publishes Paper. Dr. Missy Williams, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Kate Detwiler, recently published a paper in the scientific journal Primates that provides critical baseline information about the monkeys of Dania Beach.
IBNS PhD Student Research Featured on APS website. Akshay Naraine, IBNS PhD candidate who works in the laboratory of Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully, had his research featured on the American Physiology Society's webpage.
Biology Graduate Student Spotlight. Samantha Trail, who works with Drs. Jeanette Wyneken and Mike Salmon, was recently featured in the College of Science Student Spotlight!
Marine Science Masters Program Graduate Publishes Paper. Erin Shilling, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Joshua Voss, recently published a paper that reveals how a common antibiotic is showing promise in treating disease-affected coral colonies.
FAU Announces Winners of 2021 ‘Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition’. Congratulations to Nirthieca Suthakaran, IBBS PhD student who works in the lab of Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully, for receiving the Championship Second Runner-up award!
FAU Celebrates 52nd Annual Honors Convocation Awardees. Congratulations to Dr. Johanna Kowalko for receiving the University Researcher of the Year award!
IB Faculty Member Receives Faculty Advocate Award. Dr. Marianne Porter received the Faculty Advocate Award from the 6th Annual Women/Womxn’s Leadership Institute recognizing her continued efforts in embodying the spirit of “Voices of the Unheard: Refusing to Be Silenced” and empowering women in her lab and in the FAU community.
FAU Professor Named ASBMB Fellow. Dr. Herbert Weissbach, FAU professor emeritus, was selected as a Fellow of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB).
Helping Hand for Wading Birds. Dr. Michelle Petersen, a new research assistant professor, talks about her study on how prey availability in the Everglades is impacting threatened wading bird nesting success.
IBES PhD Candidate Publishes Paper. Daniel Alempijevic, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Kate Detwiler, recently published a paper in the scientific journal Oryx.
FAU 2021 3MT Thesis Competition Preliminary Round Winners. Congratulations to the Biological Sciences graduate students that placed in the preliminary round of the 3-Minute Thesis Competition!
11th Annual OURI Research Day. Congratulations to undergraduate researchers Angel Rodgers, who is supervised by Jeanette Wyneken, and Claudia Gonzalez, who is supervised by Dr. Bethany Stanhope, for both winning 2nd place in the 'Environmental, Ecological & Marine Sciences' and 'Health & Medical Sciences' categories, respectively.
FAU Researchers Receive Grants to Combat Alzheimer’s Disease. Four FAU researchers, including Dr. Alex Keene, have received grants totaling $641,818 from the Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer's Disease Research Program.
IB PhD Student Publishes Paper. Evan Lloyd, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Alex Keene, recently co-authored a paper in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
IB Alumna Publishes Online Article. Dr. Danielle Ingle, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, recently published an article about barnacles that live on sea turtles.
Biology Undergraduate Honors Research Thesis Defense Talks. Come support biology undergraduates doing research by attending the virtual Honors Research Thesis Defense on April 12th!
These Baby Great White Sharks Love to Hang Out Near New York. FAU Harbor Branch scientists and collaborators provide the first-ever glimpse into 3D movements of young great white sharks in the New York Bight using cutting-edge satellite technology.
FAU Neuroscientists Publish Paper. Drs. Alex Keene and Johanna Kowalko, along with Drs. Bethany Stanhope and Itzel Sifuentes-Romero and collaborators, recently published a paper in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
IB Alum Publishes Paper. Dr. Justin Perrault, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, recently published a paper co-authored with current IBMO PhD student Cody Mott and current master's student Sarah Hirsch, along with Dr. Annie Page-Karjian at FAU's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute.
Wonder Women of STEM. The STEM Training Hub and Campus Life at FAU Jupiter jointly celebrate women that pioneered with immense success in STEM fields! This mixed in-person and virtual symposium will hear the first-hand research and career experiences from women that continue to succeed in academic and scientific industries. Join us on March 23rd at 5:30pm!
IB Alum Publishes Paper. Dr. Joe Niederhauser, who worked under the direction of Dr. Rindy Anderson, along with current IBNS PhD candidate Morgan Slevin recently published a paper in the scientific journal Behaviour.
Spring 2021 Biology Scholarship Recipients. Congratulations to all graduate students that received a Biology Department Scholarship! Many thanks to the generous contributions of all Biology Department Scholarship donors!
IB PhD Alum New President of the FAU Postdoctoral Association. Dr. David Bradshaw, postdoc at the FAU HBOI campus, was featured in the Postdoc Spotlight: Striving for Balance article in the FAU Research Daily.
IB Alumna Helps Release "Cold-Stunned" Sea Turtles. Dr. Danielle Ingle worked with a team to recover 60 "cold-stunned" sea turtles.Turtles underwent "swim tests" to evaluate if they were ready to be returned to the wild.
FAU Alumna Co-founds Organization to Promote Diversity and Break Barriers. Emerging shark scientist and FAU alumna Carlee Jackson is on a mission to create opportunities for minority girls to get into marine science. Check out her #FAUAlumni success story.
Biology MS Student Publishes Paper. Breanna DeGroot, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Matt Ajemian, recently published a paper in collaboration with the Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, the University of Florida and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and are the first to conduct a multiyear study examining large-scale movements of whitespotted eagle rays in United States waters.
New BS in Medical Biology Program. The Department of Biological Sciences' new B.S. in Medical Biology prepares students for competitive professional training programs in the health sciences with a streamlined, pre-professional degree program.
FAU Brain Institute Announces 'Brainy Days 2021' schedule. Beginning Friday, March 2nd through Saturday, March 23rd, the month-long virtual celebration of neuroscience strives to engage, empower and educate the public about brain diseases and ultimately reduce the stigma associated with brain disorders.
IBNS PhD Alum Publishes Paper. Dr. Alberto Padilla, who worked in the laboratories of Drs. James Hartmann and Frank Mari, recently published a paper with collaborators that finds anti-adhesion drugs derived from cone snail venom may hold the key to treating malaria, COVID-19, AIDS and other diseases using blockage therapies.
‘Generation Ocean: Sharks’ 360 Film Features FAU Shark Scientist. The second of the “Generation Ocean” series, this short film follows Dr. Stephen Kajiura and his research team from the FAU Elasmobranch Lab as they study the well-known blacktip shark migration.
Crunch! ‘Shell-crushing’ Sounds Revealed in a Large Marine Predator. Dr. Matt Ajemian and collaborators are the first to quantify "shell-crushing" consumption noises in a large marine predator using the whitespotted eagle ray.
Time-lapse Video of bottlenose dolphin skeleton. Check out this video that features IB PhD alumna Dr. Danielle Ingle, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, putting together the bottlenose dolphin skeleton that is on display in the physical science building's atrium.
IB PhD Alumna Publishes Paper. Dr. Kate Galloway, who graduated in summer 2020, recently published a paper with her PhD advisor Dr. Marianne Porter that examines predator–prey puncture mechanics using lionfish as a model.
FAU Neuroscience Building Construction: Taking Life Science to New Heights. Construction of the new 58,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Neuroscience Research Building on FAU’s Jupiter campus is underway.
‘Hail to the Queen’ - Saving the Caribbean Queen Conch. Dr. Megan Davis has dedicated more than four decades of research into the science and art of growing queen conch.
Spring 2021 CMBB Lecture Series. The CMBB seminar lecture series will be held virtually via ZOOM this semester.
Spring 2021 'Frontiers in Science' Lecture Series. FAU College of Science will host its 2021 “Frontiers in Science” series with eight different virtual lectures on Fridays.
Satellite Tracking Juvenile Leatherbacks in Florida. Using prototype “micro-satellite” tags specifically designed to fit juvenile leatherback turtles, Upwell and Florida Atlantic University researchers including Dr. Jeanette Wyneken released eighteen captive-reared juvenile leatherbacks.
IBBS PhD Candidate Publishes Paper. Sean Paz, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Massimo Caputi, recently co-authored a paper that develops a simplified COVID-19 diagnostic method to ramp up testing.
FAU 2020 Year in Review. Florida Atlantic University reflects on an unforgettable year.
Documentary Wins Two Suncoast EMMY Awards. The WLRN-TV documentary "Troubled Waters: A Turtle's Tale" that features the research of Dr. Jeanette Wyneken recently won two Suncoast EMMY Awards.
2020 Tech Fee Proposal Award Recipients. Congratulations to Drs. David Binninger and Danielle Scheurle, who received $73,482 for "Instrument Replacement for Microbiology Teaching Laboratories” and to Drs. Diane Baronas-Lowell and Lyndon West for their proposal “Tiny Earth at FAU Strengthens Interdisciplinary Educational Experiences” in the amount of $50,738.97.
IB PhD Student Publishes Paper. Braden Ruddy, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, recently published a paper in the scientific journal Drones. The study used drones to examine swimming behavior in free swimming sharks and was also co-authored by Dr. Stephen Kajiura.
FAU Grad, Entrepreneur Passionate About Helping People. Hannah Herbst, who worked as an undergraduate researcher in FAU’s Biomechanics Laboratory under the guidance of Dr. Marianne Porter, has accomplished more than some do in a lifetime – all before turning 20 years old.
Neuroscience Building on FAU's Jupiter Campus. Construction of the new Neuroscience building is underway. Crews are prepping the site where a 58,000-square-foot, $35 million facility will create space for more than 30 researchers.
IB PhD Candidate Featured on News Channel. Olumide Adenmosun was recently featured on News Central TV Nigeria discussing how his startup tech DNAEnsemble.com can provide a technology-based solution to fight insurgency in Nigeria.
IB PhD Candidate Featured in Online Newspapers. Olumide Adenmosun's start-up companies Eurekan Biotechnologies and DNAEnsemble were featured in the Nigerian Tribune and the Guardian:
Stunning Discovery Finds Bonefish Dive ‘Deep’ into the Abyss to Spawn. Steven Lombardo, an IBMO PhD candidate who works in the laboratory of Dr. Matt Ajemian, recently published a paper in the scientific journal Marine Biology that will be instrumental for conservation efforts for the economically and culturally important fish (Albula vulpes)species.
IB PhD Alumna Publishes Paper. Dr. Alexandra Lolavar, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, recently published the final chapter of her dissertation research in the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology.
IB PhD Alumna Spotlight on Podcast. Dr. Chelsea Bennice, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Randy Brooks, was recently interviewed in the "So You Want to Be a Marine Biologist?" podcast. Dr. Bennice covers advice for aspiring marine biologists, tales from more than four hundred hours of underwater study, and her fascinating
octo
pus research.
FAU Receives NIH Grant to Enhance Social Engagement in Older Adults. FAU neuroscience, physics and nursing researchers have received a grant from the National Institute of Aging to test a mathematical model designed to optimize social and physical engagement in older adults.
Biology Faculty Featured in The New York Times. Dr. Alex Keene's in-depth look into the underappreciated phenomenon of caterpillar aggression.
Very Hungry and Angry, Caterpillars Head-butt to Get What They Want. Inspired by his own butterfly garden at home, Dr. Alex Keene got a unique look at how monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) caterpillars behave when food is scarce.
FAU Student Wins Prestigious Florida Startup Competition. Hannah Herbst, an FAU senior, studied the properties of shark skin while working as an undergraduate researcher in FAU’s Biomechanics Laboratory under the guidance of Dr. Marianne Porter.
Fall 2020 Biology Scholarship Recipients. Congratulations to all graduate students that received a Biology Department Scholarship! Many thanks to the generous contributions of all Biology Department Scholarship donors!
Biology MS Alum Publishes Paper. Justin Kirke, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Xing-Hai Zhang, has recently had his research published in the scientific journal Molecular Biotechnology.
Study First to Show Relationship between a Bird’s Gut and its Brain. IBNS PhD candidate Morgan Slevin and his advisor Dr. Rindy Anderson recently published a paper in the Royal Society’s journal Biology Letters that shows the relationship between cognition and the gut microbiome of captive zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata).
Herbert Weissbach Receives BioFlorida’s ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’. Professor Emeritus Dr. Herbert Weissbach received an award that recognizes outstanding leadership in the life science industry throughout an individual’s career and for significant contributions to industry growth.
FAU Biology Faculty Quoted in the New York Times. Dr. Marianne Porter shared expertise for The New York Times article "How Suckerfish Surf Across Blue Whales Without Falling Off."
Fall 2020 Owl Research & Innovation Magazine. Check out the latest edition of the FAU Division of Research's magazine that features Dr. Erik Duboue, Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, Dr. James Hartmann, Dr. Johanna Kowalko, Dr. Kate Detwiler and her IB PhD student Daniel Alempijevic, and the FAU Jupiter STEM Training Hub!
Novel Tracking Technology Sheds Light on Leatherback Sea Turtles’ “Lost Years”. Dr. Jeanette Wyneken and researchers at the FAU Marine Lab at the Gumbo Limbo Environmental Complex are working with Upwell Turtles to better understand the journey of leatherback turtles.
Boo! How Do Mexican Cavefish Escape Predators? IBNS PhD student Alexandra Paz and the cavefish trilab advisors Drs. Alex Keene, Erik Duboue, and Johanna Kowalko recently published a study in a special issue of the Journal of Experimental Zoology: Molecular and Developmental Evolution on the evolution of Mexican cavefish.
IB Alumna Publishes Paper. Dr. Betsy Evans and her former advisor Dr. Dale Gawlik recently published a paper in the journal Scientific Reports.
Scientists are First in the World to Spawn Bonefish in Captivity. A breakthrough by FAU researchers at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in collaboration with Bonefish & Tarpon Trust are the first in the world to successfully spawn bonefish in captivity – in just four years!
Discovery of Manta Ray Nursery. FAU Biology alumna Jessica Pate uncovers first urban nursery ground for manta rays off the coast of south Florida.
Climate Change Basics in 15 minutes. Dr. Marguerite Koch explains the science of climate change to those who don’t have a science background using only photos and videos.
Remembering Geri Mayer. It is with sadness we share that a stalwart in the Department of Biological Sciences, Geri Mayer, has passed. Geri was a close colleague and confidant to many in the department, the college, and around the University.
FAU Faculty Member Quoted in The New York Times. Dr. Marianne Porter was recently quoted in a New York Times article titled "The Pros and Cons of Swimming with a Hammerhead."
Announcing the Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences. The CES College of Science welcomes Dr. Sarah Milton as the chair of the Department of Biological Sciences. Dr. Milton previously served as the interim chair for the department since 2019 and will permanently assume this role.
FAU Scientists Patent Protective Compound. Drs. Ken Dawson-Scully and Salvatore Lepore have teamed up and discovered a compound with the potential to protect the brain from degeneration: This finding has just been patented.
Gulf of Mexico Mission: ‘Ocean Blue Holes Are Not Created Equal’. Researchers from FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute are among a team of scientists who are getting a unique glimpse into offshore ledges, sinkholes and springs collectively known as carbonate karst “blue holes” thanks to gutsy divers and a maneuverable 500-pound autonomous lander designed especially to descend deep into blue holes.
Nikon Renews Brain Institute as a Center of Excellence. Nikon recently renewed the FAU Brain Institute as a Center of Excellence. This partnership, which began in 2016, gives researchers across FAU, and partner establishments, access to state-of-the-art imaging systems and joint ventures with world-renowned research institutions.
FAU-Israeli Partnerships Win Two International Grants. Dr. Erik Duboué and Prof. Yoav Gothilf of Tel Aviv University have received a $320,000 grant from the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation for their work on the neuronal and genetic basis of anxiety.
Mapping Cavefish Brains Leads to Origin of Behavioral Evolution. Drs. Alex Keene, Erik Duboue, and Johanna Kowalko in collaboration with Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan in Israel, is the first to identify large-scale differences between surface fish and cavefish populations of A. mexicanus.
Thank You to FAU's Essential Workers. Thank you to the FAU employees who work tirelessly to maintain our campuses and bring the best possible experience to our students during this unprecedented and unusual time.
IB PhD Candidate and IB Alumna Publish Paper. Beth Bowers, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Kajiura, and Dr. Joy Young, an IB PhD program alumna, recently published a paper in a themed issue of Marine and Coastal Fisheries: Dynamics, Management, and Ecosystem Science.
FAU Moves Up in ‘U.S. News & World Report’s’ List of Top Universities. Florida Atlantic University moved up in the U.S. News & World Report's list of “Top Public Schools,” to No. 136 in the latest rankings of the nation’s best universities. FAU ranked No. 140 in 2020.
2020 Art of Science Photo Contest. Entries for the 2020 Art of Science Photo Contest are now being accepted through Oct. 15. All FAU faculty, staff and students are welcome to submit original images of research taking place in connection to FAU, including color-enhanced microscopy, photos taken in the lab and the field, underwater photos of marine research, fractal imagery and other photos that illustrate the beauty of the natural world.
Remembrance Video. FAU faculty, staff, and students remember the events that took place on September 11, 2001.
Face Shield or Face Mask to Stop the Spread of COVID-19? To increase public awareness about the effectiveness of face shields alone as well as face masks with exhalation valves, researchers from FAU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science used qualitative visualizations to test how face shields and masks with valves perform in impeding the spread of aerosol-sized droplets.
Hot Dogs, Chicken Wings and City Living Helped Wood Storks Thrive. A recent study published by Dr. Dale Gawlik provides evidence and a systematic understanding of how a wetland species, the Wood Stork, persists and even thrives in an urban environment, by switching to human foods like chicken wings and hot dogs when natural marshes are in bad shape.
Swimming to the Top. Dr. Marianne Porter is the the first faculty member in FAU’s Biological Sciences Department to earn the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) coveted early career award.
Can Eight Hours of Sleep Enhance Memory? Dr. Carmen Varela researches how sleep and rest contribute to learning and memory.
Fall 2020 Return to Campus. FAU President John Kelly welcomes Owls back to campus for the Fall 2020 Semester and provides an update on the state of the university.
FAU Parking Announces Fall Intercampus Shuttle Bus Schedule. FAU Parking & Transportation Services recently posted the fall semester shuttle schedule. The shuttle runs daily between the FAU Boca Raton and Jupiter campuses.
Recent IB Graduate Publishes Paper. Dr. Kate Galloway, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, recently published a paper in the Journal of Experimental Zoology A: Ecological and Integrative Physiology and moved to Louisiana to take an Instructor position at Nicholls State University.
Science Behind the Virus. Dr. James Hartmann was featured in the FAU Research Daily and talks about the science behind the coronavirus that caused the recent global pandemic.
2020-21 Graduate College Fellowship Recipients. Congratulations to all College of Science graduate students that received a Graduate College Fellowship!
Four FAU Researchers Receive Prestigious NSF CAREER Awards. Four FAU researchers have received the coveted National Science Foundation Early Career award: Waseem Asghar, Ph.D., Behnaz Ghoraani, Ph.D., Feng-Hao Liu, Ph.D. and Marianne E. Porter, Ph.D.
2020 Three Minute Thesis Competition Winners from the College of Science. Watch College of Science winners of the fourth annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition.
Dr. Esiobu Featured on WPTV5. In July, WPTV and scientists from FAU’s biology department led by Dr. Esiobu conducted an experiment that tested the effectiveness of different face coverings.
Study Provides Unique Glimpse into Whitespotted Eagle Rays’ Behavior. Dr. Matt Ajemian used uniquely coded transmitters and acoustic telemetry to give them a leading edge to unravel fine-scale movement, behavior, and habitat use of whitespotted eagle rays in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon.
FAU High/Undergrad Students Publish Paper. Two FAU High School/Undergrads, Nicholas Pizzo and Mohamed Abutineh, along with Drs. Xing-Hai Zhang and Lyndon West recently published a paper in Plant Growth Regulation.
FAU Study First to Show Tiger Sharks’ Travels and Desired Hangouts. Dr. Matt Ajemian and colleagues used satellites in a tracking study of 56 tiger sharks that provides a first look at how their patterns of movement across the Gulf of Mexico vary according to their sex, their life stage and the season.
Biology Postdoc Publishes Paper. Dr. Itzel Sifuentes-Romero, a postdoc currently in Dr. Johanna Kowalko’s lab, has a newly published paper in Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B Molecular and Developmental Evolution, including Drs. Johanna Kowalko and Alex Keene as co-authors.
Biology Professor Featured on Shark Week. Dr. Stephen Kajiura will be featured during this year's National Geographic Shark Week. He will appear in the following episodes: Shark vs Surfer: premieres on National Geographic Channel on 7/19 @ 8:00pm eastern; Sharkcano: premieres on National Geographic Channel on 7/21 @ 10:00pm eastern; When Sharks Attack: premieres on National Geographic Channel 8/6 @ 9pm eastern.
FAU Sea Turtle Researcher Finds More Human Interruptions During Nesting Season. Beaches were closed right before turtle nesting season; however, Dr. Jeanette Wyneken says there were actually more turtles being interfered with. Wyneken reminds everyone to not approach a turtle while crawling on the beach or in the surf, do not disturb nests, and keep artificial lights off the beach.
IB PhD Alumna Featured in Online Magazine. Dr. Chelsea Bennice, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Randy Brooks, explains the scientific reason why baby octopuses ride with jellyfish in the online magazine Inverse.
Seeing is Believing: Effectiveness of Facemasks. Recently published research demonstrates a method to assess the effectiveness of facemasks in obstructing droplets.
IB Phd Student Featured on Global Wildlife Conservation. Daniel Alempijevic, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Kate Detwiler, was recently featured for his research showing the first videos of the critically endangered Rolaway monkey recorded in the wild.
The History of FAU in Two Minutes. The history of FAU dates back to 1942, when the Boca Raton Army Air Field opened in the sleepy coastal resort town of Boca Raton. Watch how the airbase transformed into Florida Atlantic University, the first public university in South Florida.
Marine Science Lab Receives $1.125M from Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation. The monies will support a cohort of scientists-in-training, comprised of one post-doctoral fellow, three graduate students and five undergraduate students supervised by Dr. Jeanette Wyneken.
Study Sheds Light on Neuroinflammation and Psychological Disorders. A groundbreaking study by FAU neuroscientists published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
IB PhD Alumna Featured on Local News. Dr. Missy Williams was featured on News Channel 7 story "Scientists coming up with new ways to help Dania Beach monkeys."
Frontiers in Science Virtual Lecture: Animal Behavior: Bird Songs and Monkey Business. Dr. Rindy Anderson and Dr. Kate Detwiler present their research on the interesting aspects of animal behavior in monkeys and songbirds.
FAU MS Graduate Dubbed Conch Girl. Recent MS Marine Science and Oceanography graduate Laura Issac Norton traveled to the Bahamas to help design and operate a queen conch restoration hatchery. In fact, she spent so much time in the water studying the queen conch, the community nicknamed her the "conch girl."
Smarts and Symbiosis: How a Bird's Gut Microbiome Influences its Cognitive Performance. Watch FAU 3MT Championship 1st place winner Morgan Slevin, who works for Dr. Rindy Anderson, present his research.
Exposure to Multiple Algal Toxins Among Juvenile Bull Sharks, Carcharhinus leucas, in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. Watch FAU 3MT Championship Runner-Up Michelle Edwards, who works for Dr. Matt Ajemian, present her research.
Frontiers in Science Virtual Lecture: Tuning Fish: Changing Skeletons and Swimming. Dr. Marianne Porter presented her research investigating the contributions of the shark cartilaginous vertebral column, skin, and animal movements that tune the body during swimming.
‘With This Ring,’ Scientists Hope to Predict COVID-19. A team of FAU scientists is implementing a three-pronged approach to predict COVID-19 infection in healthcare workers that uses a smart ring worn around-the-clock to continuously provide data in real-time.
May 2020
IB PhD Candidate Part of Keep Moving. Keep Moving, a team of students that recently won the Division of Research's COVID-19 Change Challenge, are moving their winning proposal forward.
Can’t Touch This! Drone Aerial Video Shows It’s ‘Hammerhead’ Time. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) enabled Dr. Stephen Kajiura to unobtrusively observe and allow natural behaviors to be documented in the wild, providing insight into seldom-seen predator–prey interactions.
FAU Announces Winners of Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition. Congratulations to Morgan Slevin, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Rindy Anderson, for winning 1st place and to Michelle Edwards, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Matt Ajemian, for receiving Runner-up.
IBNS PhD Student Featured in AOS website. Morgan Slevin, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Rindy Anderson, was recently highlighted in the American Ornithological Society (AOS) for his research on the connections between the gut, the brain and the nervous system using songbirds.
IB PhD candidate publishes paper. James Jaggard, IB PhD candidate, and Drs. Bethany Stanhope and Alex Keene recently published a paper in Current Biology that examines the impacts of sleep on the rate of injured neurons.
FAU Announces Winners of COVID-19 Change Challenge. Congratulations to IB PhD students Sean Paz and Toluleke Famuyiwa for winning for their ideas of how to meet the demands of COVID-19 related issues.
Research and Teaching Continues for Tiny Earth Lab Team. Upon FAU’s transition to remote learning, the Tiny Earth team kicked into high gear to preserve the efforts of Tiny Earth teaching labs and added 368 antibiotic-producing bacteria to the collection, bringing the total number of antibiotic-producing bacteria to 1,392 at FAU.
2019-20 Biology Graduate Fellowship Recipients. Congratulations to this year's Graduate College Fellowship awardees!
11th Annual GPSA Research Day. Congratulations to Steven Lombardo, IB PhD student who works in the laboratory of Dr. Matt Ajemian, who won 1st place in the Biological and Chemical Sciences division.
April 2020
FAU Researchers Seek Answers to Challenging Environmental Issues. Last Wednesday marked the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Researchers at FAU reflected on how their research can impact today’s most challenging environmental questions.
Ask A Scientist Features Microbiologist and Biotechnologist . Dr. Nwadiuto Esiobu was featured in the fourteenth episode of the podcast series. Esiobu answers questions ranging from how does a virus generate, how do we find drugs to block the coronavirus disease, how AI is used to find treatments for diseases, and how a pandemic becomes endemic.
IB PhD Candidate Awarded NIH T32 Fellowship. James Jaggard, a graduate student working in the Keene Laboratory, was awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) T32 Fellowship to compete his postdoctoral training at Stanford University, where he will continue investigating sleep.
FAU Develops New Way to Identify the Sex of Sea Turtle Hatchlings. Drs. Sarah Milton and Jeanette Wyneken have developed a first-of-its-kind technique that is minimally invasive and greatly enhances the ability to measure neonate turtle sex ratios at population levels across nesting sites worldwide. This research is a crucial step in assessing the impact of climate change on imperiled turtle species.
Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement. Drs. Alex Keene, Rod Murphey, and Evelyn Frazier were awarded a National Institutes of Health grant to fund an Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (U-RISE).
FAU Teams Up with U.S. Coast Guard to Release Three Baby Sea Turtles. With closed beaches and scuba boats not permitted to travel due to COVID-19, Dr. Jeanette Wyneken and researchers from the FAU Marine Laboratory used their creative skills to release three baby sea turtles to learn more about their offshore travels.
FAU: We're here for You. While you’re taking classes online, we want you to know that we are here for you. There are a number of events, programs and services online so we can stay connected, because you’re online and so are we.
‘Virtual’ Communication in the Age of Social Distancing. In a world of social distancing and virtual communication due to COVID-19, a first-of-its-kind study compares the fixated gaze of 173 participants in a real-time online connection versus a pre-recorded video.
FAU Biology Professor on Apple Podcast Series. Dr. Stephen Kajiura, Professor of Biology, recently did an interview with William McKeever, author of the book Emperors of the Deep. His interview is featured on the episode 'Ocean Warming and Sharks,' which kicks off a 6-part series of interviews with various shark scientists and conservationists.
COVID-19 Change Challenge. The Division of Research’s competition is open to students who want to do their part to help the world meet the demands of coronavirus-related challenges.
FAU's response to Coronavirus: We're in This Together. As we navigate this unprecedented situation and seek to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak, Florida Atlantic University is coming together and will come out stronger than before.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updates. While no cases have been reported within the FAU community, steps are being taken to ensure we are prepared. Faculty, staff and students should regularly check the University’s designated site for updates on the virus, travel and health guidance, and helpful resources.
College of Science Highlights IBNS Student. Morgan Slevin, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Rindy Anderson, was recently featured on the College of Science's Student Spotlight website!
Monogamous Female Sea Turtles? Yes, Thanks to Sperm Storage. Drs. Jeanette Wyneken and Colin Hughes' research was featured in the research section of the FAU News Desk.
Undergraduate researcher hosts "The Research Diaries" Podcast. Jessica Chomik, a neuroscience student who works in the laboratory of Dr. Alex Keene, is host of the podcast “The Research Diaries” where she shares the “failures, frustrations, and excitement of setting up novel experiments and making new discoveries” from the perspective of an undergraduate student.
Cavefish: Out of the Dark, Into the Limelight. Dr. Alex Keene and his university collaborators, Dr. Johanna Kowalko and Dr. Erik Duboué, are helping FAU emerge as a hub for the growing field of cavefish research.
Esioubu Lab Featured on the National News. Dr. Nwadiuto Esiobu made the national news this week, reaching over 6.5 million Americans on multiple national and local TV stations and media outlets.
IB PhD Student Publishes Paper. Amy Makler, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Waseem Asghar, recently published a review paper entitled "Exosomal biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and patient monitoring" in the scientific journal Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics.
2020 Science Olympiad. The annual Science Olympiad, hosted by FAU’s College of Science, is almost here! This year’s competition will involve nearly 1000 high school and middle school students from around south Florida.
12th Annual IB Retreat A Success. This year the annual Integrative Biology Retreat welcomed the Distinguished Alumni recipient Dr. Kimberly Rowland, Assistant Professor at Lynn University, and keynote speaker Dr. Raul Gonzalez, Professor at Florida International University.
Most Rehabilitating Sea Turtles with Infectious Tumors Don’t Survive. Caused by a herpesvirus, fibropapillomatosis (FP) is the most significant infectious disease affecting sea turtle populations worldwide. It is widespread in warmer climates like Florida, where almost 70 percent of sea turtles in a population have FP in some places.
New Innovative Genetic Technologies Course. The new STEM Training Hub at FAU Jupiter launched its first course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE). Students are learning how to apply innovative Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) gene-editing technologies to identify genes that cause eye, pigmentation and taste disorders.
Special $6,000 sensors will keep daily diaries of blacktip sharks off Palm Beach coast. Dr. Steve Kajiura, Professor of Biology, was recently featured in the Palm Beach Post for his research studying shark migration off the coast of Florida.
FAU at the Southeast Regional Sea Turtle Network. Dr. Sarah Milton, Professor of Biology and Interim Chair, is attending the meeting in Corpus Christi along with multiple graduate students that are presenting talks and posters as well as an undergraduate DIR student. Her Ph.D. student Cody Mott also helped to organize the meeting.
Study Shows New Way to Treat Stroke Using an Already FDA-Approved Drug. Dr. Jang-Yen Wu, Professor of Biomedical Science and Biology graduate programs, and Dr. Janet Menzie-Suderam, IB PhD alumna, recently published a paper in the Journal of Biomedical Science.
JLSI Faculty Member Receives Research Grant. Dr. Carmen Varela, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Jupiter Life Science Initiative (JLSI) faculty member, recently received $75,000 grant from the Whitehall Foundation for a project entitled "Thalamocortical Dynamics Underlying Flexible Memory Consolidation."
Local Neuroscientists Gather for Synapse 2020. FAU JLSI research hub recently participated in an annual neuroscience networking event held in collaboration with Scripps Research and Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience. More than 200 of the brightest research scientists and students throughout the region gathered at Scripps Research to network and share their research findings.
FAU Professor Featured in Boca Magazine. Dr. Steve Kajiura, Professor of Biology, was recently featured in the "Meet the Expert" series in Boca Magazine in an article entitled "Jaws’ Best Friend: FAU shark researcher Stephen Kajiura hopes to reduce locals’ fear factors."
IB PhD Alums Publish Collaborative Research. Drs. Olena Mahneva, Monica Risley, and Ciny John, who all worked in the laboratory of Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully, published a collaborative paper in the scientific journal PLoS One with Dr. Sarah Milton, who also co-advised Mahneva's doctoral research, and Dr. William of Scripps Florida.
IB PhD Recent Graduate Publishes Paper. Dr. Alexandra Lolavar, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, published a paper entitled "The impact of sand moisture on the temperature-sex ratio responses of developing loggerhead (Caretta caretta) sea turtles" in the scientific journal Zoology.
FAU Biology Well-Represented at SICB 2020 Conference. Twenty-five FAU faculty and students attended this year's Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) annual meeting in Austin, TX. The Anderson Lab, Kajiura Lab, Pomponi Lab, Porter Lab, Salmon Lab, and Wyneken Lab attended the events, where 16 of the 25 FAU participants presented their research.
Zoo Miami Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU). Zoo Miami will offer a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) for college students from across the US beginning in summer 2020.
Congratulations Fall 2019 Graduates. The Biological Sciences Department would like to congratulate all of the Fall 2019 MS and PhD graduates!
What Can You Do With a Biology Degree? December 2019 Featured Alum. Aaron McFarlane earned a B.S. in Biological Sciences from FAU in spring 2019. He is now a graduate student in the Integrative Biology PhD program and working towards pursuing a career in biomedical research.
IB PhD Alumna Publishes Paper. Dr. Melissa Reiterer, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Sarah Milton, recently published an article in the scientific journal Fee Radical Research.
2019 Broward Student Research Symposium Winners. Integrative Biology PhD graduate students swept this year's competition and highlights the outstanding work our students are doing under the mentorship of the exceptional FAU faculty.
What Can You Do With a Biology Degree? November 2019 Featured Alumna. Kaitlin Grell earned a B.S. in Biological Sciences and an Environmental Science certificate from FAU in May of 2019. About a month after she graduated from FAU, she started work with the Walt Disney World Company as an Aquatic Research Intern at the Seas with Nemo & Friends.
IBNS Alumna Publishes Paper. Dr. Priyanka Kakad, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Tanja Godenschwege, recently published an article entitled "Transcriptional dysregulation by a nucleus-localized aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase associated with Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy" in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
Biology Postdoc Publishes Paper. Dr. Itzel Sifuentes-Romero, a postdoctoral fellow, recently published a paper with Dr. Kate Detwiler, Associate Professor of Anthropology, in the scientific journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.
Biology Faculty Member Featured on WFTV Orlando. Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, Professor of Biology, was recently featured on WFTV Orlando to discuss why female sea turtle births are at an all-time high.
Colgan Foundation Supports FAU Shark Research. The migration and behavioral patterns of blacktip sharks can tell us a lot about the health of our oceans. That’s why we’re grateful for the generous and ongoing support from the Colgan Foundation to renowned shark researcher Dr. Stephen Kajiura, Professor of Biological Sciences.
Biology Honors Thesis Student Presents at a National Conference. Anastasia Tyulmenkova, a Biology Honors Thesis student who works in the laboratory of Dr. Ceylan Isgor, recently presented her research at the Society for Neuroscience 49th Annual Meeting that took place last month in Chicago, Illinois.
IB PhD Student Trains at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Danielle Riboul, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Greg Macleod, recently trained at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in collaboration with Dr. David Hall, the director of the world’s most extensive C. elegans electron microscopy database, the WormAtlas.
'Image of Distinction' in 2019 Photomicrography Competition. Congratulations to Dr. Wen Shen, Associate Professor of Biomedical Science and Biology graduate program faculty member, for receiving the 'Image of Distinction' honor for her entry in the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition.
'FAU Day' Celebrated at the Florida Capital. Every year, FAU sends a select group of students to join FAU President John Kelly and the FAU Board of Trustees to advocate on behalf of the University in Tallahassee. Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully, Associate Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, joined to represent FAU.
IB PhD Student Publishes Paper. James Jaggard, who works in the lab of Dr. Alex Keene, along with collaborators recently published a paper entitled "An Adult Brain Atlas Reveals Broad Neuroanatomical Changes in Independently Evolved Populations of Mexican Cavefish" in the scientific journal Frontiers in Neuroanatomy.
FAU Jupiter Executive Director of Academic Operations Selected. After a national search, FAU selected Bethany Stanhope, Ph.D., as the Executive Director for Academic Operations of the Jupiter campus effective October 19, 2019.
Sea Turtle Research Featured at the Museum of Discovery and Science Turtle Trackers Exhibit. FAU sea turtle conservation research from the FAU Marine Research Lab at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center is on display in a new exhibit at MODS in Fort Lauderdale now through the end of the year.
Blacktip Sharks of Florida. Dr. Stephen Kajiura was featured on JONATHAN BIRD'S BLUE WORLD, an Emmy Award-winning underwater science/adventure series featuring underwater cinematographer/naturalist Jonathan Bird.
Biology Faculty Featured in Online News Platform. Dr. Stephen Kajiura was featured in the online article "Sharks Swimming Farther North: Another Sign of Global Warming" on WhoWhatWhy.org. Kajiura discusses his research findings on shark migration patterns.
Biology Graduate Program Faculty Member Earns Early-career Fellowship. Dr. Andia Chaves Fonnegra, Assistant Professor of the Wilkes Honors College and Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, received The Gulf Research Program’s 2019 Early-Career Research Fellowship of The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
IB PhD Students Among Poster Winners in the 2019 Research Showcase. Danielle Ingle and Alexandra Lolavar, both IB PhD candidates, and Andrea Hernandez, a Biology Masters student, were among the authors listed on the "FAU Owls Imaging Lab" poster from FAU High School that received an award. The 2019 FAU Research Showcase saw more than 300 people come through the doors at FAU Tech Runway last week to hear about some of university’s top research initiatives.
FAU to Host Events in Honor of 2019 Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month. Florida Atlantic University will celebrate Hispanic/Latinx Heritage with a series of events for students and staff beginning Saturday, Sept. 14 through Sunday, Oct. 15, at its Boca Raton, Jupiter and Broward campuses.
Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Randy Blakely, executive director of the FAU Brain Institute, received the Lifetime Achievement Award during the 2019 STEM Innovation Awards.
FAU Postdoctoral Fellow Awarded NARSAD Young Investigator Grant. The Brain and Behavioral Research Foundation (BBRF) awarded the prestigious NARSAD Young Investigator Grant to Dr. Adele Stewart, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Randy D. Blakely.
IBNS Student Studies Gene Editing Techniques. Roberto Hernandez, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Greg Macleod, recently visited Brown University to learn gene-editing techniques from leaders in the field who developed the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technique for fruit flies, a powerful technique for investigating the genetic basis of human disease.
FAU Ranked by ‘U.S. News & World Report’ as Top Public School. U.S. News & World Report ranked FAU in its list of “Top Public Schools” in the nation for the first time in the university’s history.
FAU Marine Lab Helps Turtle Conservation. Dr. Jeanette Wyneken and the FAU Marine Laboratory at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center were recently featured in the Miami Herald article discussing how climate change negatively affects the sea turtle gender ratio.
‘Dream Team’ Awarded $1.1 Million for Blind Mexican Cavefish Research. Drs. Erik Duboue, Johanna Kowalko, Alex Keene and collaborators have received a three-year National Science Foundation EDGE grant totaling $1,148,464 to develop powerful transgenic tools and gene-editing technologies in the blind Mexican cavefish to significantly advance it as a research model system.
FAU Attracts Record Number of National Merit Scholars. Florida Atlantic University has welcomed a record number of National Merit Scholars for the fall 2019 semester. A total of 35 National Merit Scholars are enrolled this semester and 11 of those finalists will join the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College at FAU's John D. MacArthur Campus in Jupiter.
IBBS PhD Student Publishes Paper. Joshua Disatham, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Marc Kantorow, recently published a paper in the scientific journal Developmental Biology.
New Faculty Member Joins the Biology Department. Dr. Carl Hansen joins the department from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. His current research focuses on understanding G-protein mediated signaling inputs regulating angiogenesis, a collaborative effort with the laboratory of Dr. Janet Robishaw.
Marine Science Master's Student Featured on German Public Radio. Dr. Sarah Milton and her graduate student Heather Seaman were featured four times over the past few weeks on different broadcasts over German Public Radio.
2019 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Retreat. The FAU Undergraduate Research and Inquiry (OURI) office held their 7th Annual Summer Retreat. SURF projects are ten-week, intensive summer immersion research experiences for FAU undergraduate students. This year students in the labs of Drs. Rindy Anderson, Evelyn Frazier, Diane Baronas-Lowell, James Hartmann, and Marianne Porter participated in the SURF program.
What Can a Blind Fish Teach Us About Sleep? Frontiers for Young Minds recently published an article written by Alexandra Paz, a second-year Integrative Biology-Neuroscience student who works for Dr. Alex Keene, that explores the various experiments that can be conducted using cavefish and why these experiments might be useful for humans.
IB PhD Alums Publish Paper. Drs. Olena Mahneva and Stacee Caplan, both who were co-advised by Dr. Sarah Milton and Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully, recently published a paper in Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part C: Toxicology & Pharmacology.
Shark Researchers Featured on National Geographic. Drs. Steve Kajiura and Matt Ajemian were recently featured on the National Geographic television show "When Sharks Attack" in an episode titled, The Shark Bite State.
IB PhD Student Research Featured in Online News Platform. Daniel Alempijevic, IB PhD student who works in the laboratory of Dr. Kate Detwiler, had his research featured in Mongabay, a nonprofit environmental science and conservation news platform.
Nambu REU Student Presentations. The John Nambu Memorial Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program showcased this year's scholarship recipients at the annual Nambu REU Research Day. Congratulations to this year's recipients!
Growing Up Scientist. Jane Goodall, Ph.D., and FAU’s Kate Detwiler, Ph.D., credit similar childhoods, filled with investigating the natural world and encouragement from supportive parents, that lead to their successful careers as scientists.
FAU Social Video: Under the Sea Discoveries. FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute researcher and Biology graduate programs faculty member Dr. Shirley Pomponi has made some interesting discoveries exploring our oceans.
New Associate Director of the IB PhD Program. Dr. Xing-Hai Zhang has agreed to serve as the Associate Director of the Integrative Biology PhD Program.
IB PhD Student & Alum Publish Paper. Tyrone Penserga, IB PhD candidate who works in the laboratory of Dr. Tanja Godenschwege, recently published a paper with former lab mate Dr. Sirisha Kudumala in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience entitled "A Role for Drosophila Amyloid Precursor Protein in Retrograde Trafficking of L1-Type Cell Adhesion Molecule Neuroglian."
Ask A Scientist Features Behavioral Ecologist. Dr. Rindy Anderson was featured in the eighth episode of the podcast series. Anderson studies the social behavior of songbirds, in particular the vocal signals of Bachman's sparrows.
Biology Students Win Competitive Research Awards. Two students that work in Rindy Anderson's laboratory, Morgan Slevin, a PhD student, and Gillian Cannataro, an undergraduate researcher, both won competitive Sigma Xi Grants in Aid of Research awards from the American Ornithological Society. Slevin was also awarded a prestigious and competitive Hesse Award for Graduate Research.
New Interim Chair of Biology Department. We are pleased to announce that Dr. Sarah Milton will be appointed as the Interim Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences beginning July 13th.
FAU Student Spotlight on Podcast. Boris Tezak, a PhD candidate who works in the laboratory of Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, was recently interviewed in the So You Want to Be a Marine Biologist podcast. Tezak studies temperature sex determination in sea turtles and has discovered a new way to identify the sex of young sea turtles without the need for invasive surgery. He discusses his research in the podcast "Hot Chicks and Cool Dude Sea Turtles" with host and FAU alumni Kara Muzia.
Biology Faculty Gives Talk in Israel. Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully, Associate VP for Strategic Initiatives and Associate Professor of Biology, was recently invited to give a talk at Ariel University located on the West Bank. Dawson-Scully discussed his current research in a talk entitled "Protein Kinase G modulates seizure duration in C. elegans using a novel electroconvulsion assay.”
FAU Receives NIH Grant to Develop Rapid, Reliable, Low-cost HIV Test. Drs. Waseem Asghar and Massimo Caputi, members of the IB PhD program faculty, have received a $377,971 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a disposable HIV-1 viral load microchip that can selectively capture HIV from whole blood/plasma.
Help Support Coral Reef Research Conservation. Drs. Chelsea Bennice and Randy Brooks are asking for donations to help survey octopuses near the Blue Heron Bridge, Phil Foster Park and Lake Worth Lagoon. Coral reefs are at risk due to the populations of many reef animals quickly declining and the microbiome of local octopus species may be the key to conserving our reefs.
Ask A Scientist Features Shark Migration Expert. Dr. Stephen Kajiura was featured in the sixth episode of the podcast series. Kajiura researches the seasonal aggregations of black tip sharks that visit south Florida during the winter months.
New Lionfish Exhibit at Gumbo Limbo Features IB PhD Candidate. Kate Galloway, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, is featured in the new lionfish wall exhibit at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center! She was also recently featured on the College of Science Facebook page!
Cavefish Tri-Lab Publishes Visual Guides in JoVE. Drs. Alex Keene, Erik Duboué, and Johanna Kowalko have recently published a number of visual guides to study cavefish and zebrafish function and behavior in the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE).
New FAU Research Hub App. Connect, collaborate and fine research funding by joining the hundreds of faculty and students who have signed up for the FAU Research Hub. The hub is a new web and mobile platform that connects researchers with students, collaborators and funding opportunities. Investigators are encouraged to post projects in just minutes.
Tolerance to Stress is a ‘Trade-off’ as Fruit Flies Age. Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully was recently featured in the FAU Newsdesk for his research using the common fruit fly to find biomarkers of aging and identify therapeutic interventions to counteract the deleterious effects of aging.
Dual-Enrolled Student Wins at International Science Fair. Hannah Herbst, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, recently won $5,000 for first place in the translational medical science category at the 2019 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
Ask A Scientist Features Primatologist. Dr. Kate Detwiler was featured in the fifth episode of the podcast series. Detwiler studies monkeys in their natural habitat, specifically hybridization between different species of monkeys. She performs research in Gombe Nartional Park in western Tanzania, Africa and other sites in the Congo Basin.
FAU HBOI Marine Biologist Selected For NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operation (NEEMO) 23. Dr. Shirley Pomponi, marine biologist at FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute was selected to join NASA’s next underwater mission to study what happens when one lives underwater for an extended period of time.
Biology Graduate Student Featured in Graduate College Newsletter. Katherine Galloway, IB PhD candidate who works in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, was featured in the Graduate Research Spotlight of the May 2019 newsletter!
Biology Graduate Students Sweep 10th Annual GPSA Research Day. Congratulations to all the biology graduate students that received awards during the annual GPSA Graduate Research Day.
New Associate VP of Academic Affairs for FAU Jupiter Campus. Dr. Rod Murphey, Professor and Chairman of the Biological Sciences Department, has been newly appointed as the Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs for the FAU Jupiter campus.
FAU Grad is a Real Life "Science Mermaid". Chelsea Bennice, recent graduate of the IB PhD program who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Randy Brooks, recently accepted a position at FAU Brain Institute’s ASCEND program, an innovative program used to address the national shortage in STEM career-oriented students.
FAU scientist studying effects of oil spills on stingrays. Dr. Stephen Kajiura, Professor of Biology, was featured on a FAU social media video about his research investigating the effects of oil spills on stingrays.
Marine Science Masters Student Featured in Science Connect. Catherine Lo is the first student at FAU to receive a Master of Science in Marine Science and Oceanography in this newly established degree program.
Biology Faculty Member Selected To Attend 2019 Summer Faculty Fellowship Program in Israel. Dr. Marianne Porter, Assistant Professor of Biology, has been selected to attend the faculty fellowship in Israel this summer that runs from May 25th to June 7th.
Biology Faculty Published in FAU Undergraduate Research Journal. Dr. Diane Baronas-Lowell, Associate Scientist, and her undergraduate students had a publication in the Spring 2019 edition of the FAUJR featuring their work entitled "Discovery of Soil Bacteria which Display Broad-Spectrum Antibiotic Activity," a collaborative project with Dr. Lyndon West, Associate Professor of Chemistry.
Biology Undergrad Researchers Win Awards at 2019 OURI Research Symposium. Congratulations to faculty that had student winners in the poster session: Drs. Kailiang Jia, Evelyn Frazier, Diane Baronas-Lowell, Nwadiuto Esiobu, Xing-Hai Zhang, and James Kumi-Diaka. Congratulations to faculty that had student winners in the oral session: Drs. Sarah Milton, Lyndon West, and Laura Vernon.
Biology Graduate Students Win Awards at GPSA Research Day. Congratulations to the following IB PhD students for winning awards: Daniel Alempijevic, Dorota Tokmina-Roszyk, and Kirstie Tandberg! Congratulations to Biology Master's student Krystyna Powell for winning an award as well!
FAU Scientist Presents at Journal of Experimental Biology Symposium 2019. Dr. Johanna Kowalko was recently invited as a guest speaker at the Genome Editing for Comparative Physiology Symposium where she discussed her research investigating "The genetic basis of behavioral variation in natural populations."
JLSI Neuroscientist Hosts Annual Cavefish Meeting. Dr. Alex Keene, Associate Professor of Biology, recently organized the Sixth Annual Astyanax International Meeting (AIM) in Juriquilla, Querétaro, Mexico.
IB PhD Candidate Publishes Paper. Stephanie Kelly, who worked under the direction of Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully and will receive her Ph.D. this May, published a paper examining how PKG, encoded by the polymorphic foraging gene, confers hypoxia tolerance at the expense of lifespan and healthy aging, indicating a role for PKG in aging and senescence.
Ask A Scientist Features Biology Professor. Dr. Jeanette Wyneken was featured in the third episode of the podcast series. Wyneken speaks about how the environment can impact sex determination of sea turtles, the effects of climate change on incubation temperatures in nests, and the research being performed in the FAU Marine Lab at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.
2019 College of Science Initiative to Stimulate Extramural Research Funding Award. Dr. David Binninger, Associate Professor of Biology, was selected for funding on his project entitled "In Vivo Interactions of Serotonin and Methionine Sulfoxide Reductase Deficiency in Drosophila melanogaster."
FAU Neuroscientist Named Kavli Fellow by National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Alex Keene, Associate Professor of Biology, has been named a Kavli Fellow by The National Academy of Sciences. Keene recently participated in the 30th Annual U.S. Kavli Frontiers of Science symposium (KFoS), which took place at the Academy's Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center in Irvine, California.
Royal Caribbean Donates to FAU Marine Lab at Gumbo Limbo. Thanks to a generous gift from Royal Caribbean International, Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, is doing some groundbreaking research on leatherback sea turtles and where they grow up.
Biology Assistant Professor JEB Interview. Dr. Marianne Porter was recently featured in the Journal of Experimental Biology as part of an early-career researcher conversation piece.
FAU Jupiter Represented at Sunposium 2019. The Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience held the annual Sunposium conference this week, bringing hundreds of the world’s most esteemed neuroscience researchers together.
IB PhD Candidate & Advisor Attend ASLO 2019 Conference. Dr. Marguerite Koch, Professor of Biology, and her IB PhD student, Mr. Conall McNicholl, presented at the 2019 Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) in San Juan, Puerto Rico this last week (February 23-March 2, 2019).
IB PhD Candidate Publishes Paper. Congratulations to Katherine Galloway, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, for getting her research examining the mechanical properties of venomous spines and morphology among lionfish species published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Their image will also be featured on the cover of the next issue (April 1st)!
JLSI Neuroscientist Named Kavli Fellow. The National Academy of Sciences has named Dr. Alex Keene, Associate Professor of Biology and JLSI researcher, a Kavli Fellow and participate in the 30th Annual U.S. Kavli Frontiers of Science symposium (KFoS) scheduled from Feb. 28th - March2nd. Keene, who is focused on understanding the neural basis through which sleep and feeding state interact, is only the second FAU faculty member to receive this honor!
Annual IB Retreat A Major Success. The Association of Integrative Biology Students and Association of Biological and Biomedical Students hosted the annual recruiting event featuring a poster session, a Faculty 3-Minute Thesis Competition, Distinguished Alumni talk, keynote speech, and reception.
They’re Back! Scientists Now Have Intimate Shark 'Diaries'. The annual migration of blacktip sharks is in full force along South Florida’s Atlantic coast as thousands of them head south for warmer weather. For almost a decade, Stephen Kajiura, Ph.D., an internationally renowned shark researcher and Professor of Biology, has been tracking the migration patterns of these top predators by air and by sea. Now, the latest addition to his arsenal of tools is providing personal and intimate details about them.
FAU Jupiter Campus to Host BioFlorida. Attend to learn about Scripps Florida's significant impact on the industry and their vision of the future; hear about FAU Tech Runway's exciting expansion into Jupiter and connect with key stakeholders in Jupiter’s vibrant life sciences cluster.
JLSI Post-Doc Selected to Speak at Sunposium 2019. Bethany Stahl, Ph.D., who works in the laboratory of Dr. Alex Keene, has been selected to speak at the fourth biennial conference highlighting some of the most complex issues at the forefront of understanding neural circuits. The conference also features world-renowned scientists from the Max Planck Society and research institutes and universities throughout the United States and Europe.
Biology MS alumna will receive an Outstanding Young Owl Award. Shelby Creager, who received her Master's degree under the direction of Dr. Marianne Porter, will receive an award honoring exceptional young FAU alumni at the annual OYO award ceremony on March 15, 2019.
FAU Biology Well-Represented at Sea Turtle Symposium. FAU Biology faculty members Drs. Jeanette Wyneken, Michael Salmon, and Sarah Milton along with their graduate and undergraduate students represented FAU and swept the awards competitions at the 2019 International Sea Turtle Symposium.
FAU Max Planck Academy Featured in Hechinger Report. The FAU Max Planck Academy will give high school students extensive research experience as they pursue diploma and associate degree. The Max Planck Academy is set to enroll between 35 and 50 high school juniors in 2020.
FAU Scientist Invited Talk at Journal of Experimental Biology Symposium 2019. Dr. Johanna Kowalko was recently invited as a guest speaker at the Genome Editing for Comparative Physiology Symposium where she will discuss her research investigating "The genetic basis of behavioral variation in natural populations."
FAU Scientist Searches For New Antibiotics. Dr. Diane Baronas-Lowell was featured in a Charles E. Schmidt College of Science video discussing the Tiny Earth project, where she works alongside her students seeking new antibiotics to kill superbugs.
IB PhD Candidate Publishes Paper. Chelsea Bennice, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Randy Brooks, recently published an article in the scientific journal Marine Ecology Progress Series.
Biology MS Students Featured in FAU Social Video. Rachel Shanker, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Randy Brooks, and Andie Hernandez, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, are two of FPL's fifteen Manatee Masters. FPL opened Manatee Lagoon in 2016 for the public to watch the sea cows in action and they hire FAU students to become their manatee experts!
IB PhD Candidate Featured in Biology Open. Congratulations to Sarah Hoffmann, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, for her recent publication in the scientific journal Biology Open and interview in First Person, where early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers!
IB PhD Student Gets Cover of Cell Reports. Kerriann Badal, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Sathya Puthanveettil at Scripps Florida, recently published in the top-tier scientific journal Cell Reports and artwork related to their research report was chosen for the cover image!
IBNS PhD Candidate Publishes in Neuron. Kuo-Sheng Lee, who works in the laboratory of Dr. David Fitzpatrick of the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience and faculty member of the Integrative Biology-Neuroscience program, recently published a paper in the scientific journal Neuron.
Biology Faculty Member Presents Research in Israel. Dr. Alex Keene, Associate Professor of Biology, presented collaborative research on the evolution of behavioral and developmental processes in Mexican cavefish at the 27th Annual Israel Society for Neuroscience held at the Hilton Queen of Sheba, Eilat.
Dual-Enrolled Undergrad Researcher Named Scholar. Congratulations to Hannah Herbst, a FAU High School dual-enrolled student who works in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, for being named one of the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS) Scholars, the nation's most prestigious pre-college science competition, for her project entitled "Biomimetic Antibacterial Engineered Surface Topography Development to Reduce the Spread of Pathogens in Medical Facilities."
Who's Tougher? Baby Sharks or Daddy Sharks? Congratulations to Danielle Ingle, IB PhD candidate, and her advisor, Dr. Marianne Porter, for having their recently published work featured in the FAU News Desk!
Biology Professor & Undergrad Internship Featured on FAU Social. Danielle Bartz and Dr. Stephen Kajiura were recently featured on a FAU social media video about her internship in his laboratory studying blacktip shark migration.
IB PhD Candidate Publishes Paper. Congratulations to Danielle Ingle, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Porter, for getting her research examining the mechanics of shark cartilage published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
FAU Launches MaryLynn Magar Fellowship at MPFI. An FAU Magar Fellow is a data science student from FAU High that is pursuing research at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (MPFI). The fellowship will include $3,000 to support the student’s research efforts.
FAU and Max Planck Launch First-Of-Its-Kind Academy. The Florida Atlantic University Max Planck Academy on the John D. MacArthur Campus in Jupiter is the latest partnership that will be organized as a standalone extension of FAU High School and will open in Fall 2020.
IBNS Alum Publishes Two Papers. Dr. Wes Bollinger, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully, and lab mate Nadia Sial, member of the inaugural class of the FAU High School M.D. Direct pipeline program, recently published two papers this month in the Journal of Neurogenetics and ACS Chemical Neuroscience.
Biology Scholarships. Congratulations to all graduate students that received a Biology Department Scholarship! Many thanks to the generous contributions of all Biology Department Scholarship donors!
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill’s Dramatic Effect on Stingrays. Dr. Stephen Kajiura, Professor of Biology, is one of the first to quantify the physiological effects of whole crude oil on the olfactory function of the Atlantic stingray, Hypanus sabinus, in a recent publication in Scientific Reports.
IBNS PhD Candidate Publishes Paper. Kazuma Murakami, PhD Candidate who works in the laboratory of Dr. Alex Keene, recently published a paper in Current Biology that identifies a new mechanism regulating sleep that involves glia.
New Undergraduate Scholarships funded by the National Save the Sea Turtle Foundation. The Biological Sciences Department and College of Science has received a donation to fund new scholarships for undergraduate seniors conducting research in marine biology!
Mentoring Program Awards Announced. The Division of Research announced the faculty awarded pilot funding as part of the junior faculty mentoring program. Congratulations to Drs. Alex Keene and Sarah Milton!
IBNS PhD Candidate Publishes Paper. Maria Yurgel, PhD Candidate who works in the laboratory of Dr. Alex Keene, recently published a paper in G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics that identifies a gene that promotes sleep.
FAU Awarded NSF I-Corps Grant. Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully, Associate Professor of Biology, along with co-PIs Dr. Dimitris Pados (College of Engineering) and Rhys Williams (Tech Runway) received a three-year NSF I-Corps grant to create an NSF I-Corps Site at FAU as a component of FAU Tech Runway®.
Integrative Biology Students in 2018 3MT Championship. Congratulations to the many Integrative Biology PhD students and their advisors for making it into the Championship Round of the FAU 2018 3MT Competition that will be held on Friday, November 2nd!
Dr. Evelyn Frazier Keynote Speaker at Florida Statewide Symposium. Congratulations to Dr. Evelyn Frazier, Senior Instructor of Biology, for being selected as the keynote speaker at the 11th Annual Florida Statewide Symposium: Best Practices in Undergraduate Research.
IB PhD Candidates Relaunch The Nonprofit Sirenian International. Congratulations to Beth Brady and Danielle Ingle, who work in the labs of Dr. Edmund Gerstein and Marianne Porter respectively, to promote the conservation of manatee and dugong species around the world through research, education and inter-cultural collaboration.
IB PhD Candidate Gives Talk at the South Florida Wildlife Center. Missy Williams, IB PhD candidate who works in the laboratory of Dr. Kate Detwiler, spoke about The Dania Beach Vervet Project that she started in January of 2014 to promote public education, conservation, and awareness about the local free-living vervet monkey population.
Max Planck, FAU set new annual records for NIH funding in 2018. FAU landed grants totaling $7.3 million in 2018, a 36 percent jump from its 2017 haul of $5.4 million. Max Planck Florida of Jupiter brought in $5.3 million in 2018, up 16 percent from its 2017 total of $4.5 million.
Biology Master's Student Receives Guy Harvey Scholarship. Breanna Degroot, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Matthew Ajemian at HBOI, was named one of seven graduate students in Florida to receive Guy Harvey scholarship awards, recognizing their outstanding achievement in marine fisheries science research.
Shark Researcher Receives Leon H. Charney Foundation Gift. Dr. Stephen Kajiura, Professor of Biology and director of the Elasmobranch Research Laboratory at FAU, has received a $117,501 gift from the Leon H. Charney Foundation, Inc. for a joint program with the University of Haifa in Israel.
IB PhD Student and Alumna Publish Paper. Congratulations to Tyrone Penserga, IB PhD candidate, and Dr. Priyanka Kakad, IB alumna, who both work in the laboratory of Dr. Tanja Godenschwege, Professor of Biology and JLSI faculty member, for getting their paper accepted to the Journal of Biological Chemistry!
IBBS PhD Student Named Among Top Posters Presented at the Inaugural Research Showcase. Congratulations to Joshua Disatham (IBBS student) and his advisor Dr. Marc Kantorow, Professor of Biomedical Science, for being named among the top posters out of the 50 that presented!
FAU Among Most Ethnically Diverse Universities. For the second year in a row, U.S. News and World Report has included Florida Atlantic University on the list of the most ethnically diverse universities in the United States.
Sea Turtle Research at Gumbo Limbo. This video features the FAU Lab at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center where Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, Professor of Biology, is doing a variety of sea turtle research such as the gender-ratio of hatchlings, swimming mechanics, and anatomy.
Review Article Receives Record Views. Congratulations to Karim Dawkins, IB PhD student, and his PhD supervisor Dr. Nwadiuto Esiobu, Professor of Biology, for achieving a milestone 5,000 views on their Frontiers in Plant Science publication!
IB PhD Candidate Publishes Paper. Congratulations to Boris Tezak, PhD candidate who works in the laboratory of Dr. Jeanette Wyneken- Professor of Biology, for publishing an article in Journal of Experimental Biology!
Biology Faculty Featured in National Magazine. Dr. Sarah Milton, Associate Professor of Biology and Integrative Biology Program Associate Director, is featured in a one-page spread in the September 2018 National Geographic Kids magazine for her sea turtle research.
2018-19 Biology Graduate Fellowship Recipients. Congratulations to this year's Graduate College Fellowship awardees!
IB PhD Candidate Wins Scholarship and Presents Abroad. Katherine Galloway, who works under the direction of Dr. Marianne Porter, recently received the 2018 Marine Technology Society Student Scholarship for Graduate Students and traveled to Italy to present her research at the 2018 Society of Experimental Biology Conference.
New IBNS Student Publishes Paper. Morgan Slevin, who works with Dr. Rindy Anderson, has recently published a paper in Avian Conservation & Ecology.
JLSI Names New Associate Director. Dr. Laura Vernon, Associate Professor of Psychology at the Honors College, has recently been appointed to the role of Associate Director of the Jupiter Life Science Initiative.
Hot Temperature Impacts Turtles. Not a single male turtle has been found in seven of the last ten years Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, Professor of Biology, has studied them. Warmer temperatures may be to blame, she recently told CBS This Morning.
IBNS Student Publishes Paper. Congratulations to Ke Zhang, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Jason Christie at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, who recently published a co-authored paper in the scientific journal Neuron.
FAU Professors Debunk Myths. Check out the latest video of FAU faculty debunking common myths!
IB PhD Alumnus Receives 2018 BioOne Ambassador Award. Congratulations to Dr. Larry Wood, IB alum who worked with Dr. Sarah Milton, for receiving this award that honors early career researchers!
Scientist Joins JLSI Research Space and the FAU Brain Institute/College of Medicine. Dr. Henriette van Praag, an Associate Professor of Biomedical Science and Biology graduate programs faculty, will strengthen FAU's faculty expertise in neuroscience and aging.
Small Non-coding RNA Expression and Vertebrate Anoxia Tolerance . Dr. Sarah Milton, IB Program Associate Director and Associate Professor of Biology, recently published an article in the scientific journal Frontiers in Genetics.
Differential tuning of excitation and inhibition shapes direction selectivity in ferret visual cortex. IBNS-IMPRS alum, Dr. Dan Wilson, recently published in the scientific journal Nature. Wilson worked under the direction of Dr. David Fitzpatrick at MPFI located on the FAU Jupiter campus.
Where Baby White Sharks ‘Hang Out’ in the North Atlantic. Dr. Matthew Ajemian, HBOI Research Scientist and Biology graduate programs faculty, us confirms the movement patterns and seasonal migrations of baby white sharks in the north Atlantic Ocean.
Unique Sea Animal Encounters. Dr. Shirley Pomponi, HBOI Research Scientist and Biology graduate programs faculty, shares how she got into marine and biomedical research, and some of the most unique sea animals she’s seen on countless dives.
IB PhD Candidate Featured on the PADI Website. Chelsea Bennice aka "Octogirl" was recently featured on the PADI website for using scuba diving in her research! Congratulations on the feature article Chelsea!
2018 REU Program Student Presentations. This year the Nambu REU scholarship recipients from six research laboratories presented their summer research projects. Faculty mentors included Drs. Ken Dawson-Scully, Alex Keene, Erik Duboue, Tanja Godenschwege, Bob Stackman, and Randy Blakely.
Alex Keene Featured on PBS SciTech Now Episode. Dr. Alex Keene discusses his research on sleep using the Mexican cavefish as a model system.
FAU Partnerships Create Opportunities for Students. Local biotech companies in connection with the FAU Jupiter campus offer new skills training and potential internships for FAU students.
Nerve regeneration study designs "closed-loop" system to study damaged nerve cells in real-time. Dr. Jianning Wei, Associate Professor of Biomedical Science and Biology graduate program faculty, is part of an interdisciplinary team of FAU scientists recently funded by the NIH.
Congratulations to Alexis Martin, Biology undergraduate, and her faculty mentor Dr. Diane Baronas-Lowell, Biology faculty member, for presenting at the 2018 Tiny Earth Symposium in Madison, Wisconsin. Her poster focused on the discovery of novel cyclic depsi-lipopeptide isolated from soil bacteria in Palm Beach County.
Inaugural recipients of the College of Science Initiative to Stimulate Extramural Research Funding: Internal Grants Program. Congratulations to Drs. Rindy Anderson and Erik Noonburg, Biology faculty members for receiving funding!
Deep-sea Sponges May Hold Key to Antibiotic Drug Resistance. Drs. Peter McCarthy and Guojun Wang, Biology Graduate Program and Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute faculty members, along with others, examined 50 actinobacteria strains from deep sea marine samples to look for new anti-infective agents.
Synaptic Functional Properties Study Awarded NIH Research Grant. Dr. Greg Macleod, Associate Professor in the Biological Sciences Department and Honors College and JLSI faculty member, has received a four-year NIH R01 grant for his collaborative project with Dr. Kathaleen O'Connor-Giles (University of Wisconsin-Madison).
Population Genomics Study Awarded NIH Research Grant. Dr. Alex Keene, Associate Professor in the Biological Sciences Department and JLSI faculty member, has received a four-year NIH R01 grant for his collaborative project with Dr. Suzanne McGaugh (University of Minnesota).
The Origins and Evolution of Sleep. Drs. Alex Keene and Erik Duboue, Biological Sciences and JLSI faculty members, published a review in the Journal of Experimental Biology that describes the contributions of classical and emergent genetic model systems to investigate mechanisms underlying sleep regulation and potentially identify novel drug targets and approaches to treat sleep-related diseases.
Congratulations to IB PhD alumnus Dr. Ramon Garcia-Areas for receiving a postdoctoral fellowship award from the PRESTIGE Programme in France!
2018 Neuroscience Pilot Awards. Congratulations to Biology and Jupiter Life Science Initiative faculty members for receiving 2018 Neuroscience Pilot Awards: Ken Dawson-Scully, Tanja Godenschwege, Kailiang Jia, Robert Stackman!
NSF-URM Publishes Paper. Congratulations to Leonardo Calle, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Gawlik, for publishing his research in the journal Ecological Monographs!
Congratulations to Nadia Sial, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Dawson-Scully, for being highlighted in the Owl Research & Innovation online magazine. Sial became one of the nation’s youngest medical students when she was accepted into the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine last year as the inaugural class of the FAU High School M.D. Direct pipeline program.
Congratulations to IB PhD student Stephanie Kelly and recent graduate Monica Risley, both of whom worked in the laboratory of Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully, for publishing two papers in the Journal of Experimental Biology and Invertebrate Neuroscience in the last month!
IB PhD Alum Wins Award from the French Senate. Congratulations to Dr. Ramon Garcia-Areas for receiving a medal of recognition for his work with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Honduran government to create research programs in Honduras.
Genessee Scientific Drosophila Art Gallery. Congratulations to Julieta Di Mase, a MS student that works in the laboratory of Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully, for having her watercolor fruit fly painting featured on the flystuff.com (a division of Genessee Scientific) Drosophila Art Gallery!
2018 Flies on the Beach Research Symposium. The annual South Florida Drosophila Research Consortium meeting unites South Florida researchers using fruit flies as a model organism. This year's events included FAU, UM, FIU, UF, Scripps Florida, and a guest lecture from the Perrimon lab at Harvard University.
IB Alumna and JLSI faculty get paper in high impact journal. Congratulations to Dr. Lucia Carvelli, member of the Brain Institute and JLSI research group on the FAU Jupiter campus, and Sirisha Madem, IB PhD program alumna, for getting a paper accepted in Frontiers in Physiology, the second most cited journal in the physiology field!
FAU Alum and Former Undergrad of the Year Publishes Paper. Congratulations to Sabah Ali, FAU alum who worked with Dr. Rindy Anderson, for publishing a paper in a top ornithology journal, The Auk.
IB PhD Spring 2018 Graduates. Congratulations to the following (PI name in parentheses): Jennifer Krill (Ken Dawson-Scully), Olena Mahneva (Sarah Milton & Ken Dawson-Scully), Keith Murphy (Ken Dawson-Scully), Monica Risley (Ken Dawson-Scully), Brittany Stinson (Keith Brew), and Michael Studivan (Joshua Voss).
FAU Graduate a National Winner of a $20,000 Graduate Scholarship. Congratulations to Tevin Ali, FAU graduate and in a biotechnology entrepreneurship program at Johns Hopkins, for receiving a $20,000 National Graduate Scholarship by Sallie Mae and Scholarship America!
FAU AND MAX PLANCK TEAM UP ON FIRST-EVER JOINT POSITION. Congratulations to Ken Dawson-Scully for being newly appointed to the role of Associate Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and head of institutional partnerships for FAU and the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience.
IB PhD Candidate Wins 1st Place in Statewide Competition. Congratulations to Keith Murphy for winning 1st Place at the Conference of Florida Graduate Schools Three Minute Thesis Competition in Tallahassee!
New poop sample analysis reveals interspecies monkey romance. Kate Detwiler, Assistant Professor and Integrative Biology program faculty, has authored a new paper that offers genetic evidence of what she’s observed: in the Tanzanian national park made famous by Jane Goodall’s study of apes, two species of guenon monkey are able to interbreed and produce fertile hybrid offspring who live alongside—and sometimes interbreed with—red-tailed monkeys. MONKEYS SEE, MONKEYS DO CROSS SPECIES BOUNDARY.
Congratulations to Biology Honors Thesis Program student Andrea Rodriguez, who works gopher tortoises in the laboratory of Dr. Evelyn Frazier, who was awarded the University Scholars Award for the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science.
Undergraduate Researchers Represent FAU. Five undergraduate researchers presented their work at the Life Sciences South Florida Symposium at Florida International University.
Teaching Innovations Improve Student Success. Many Biology faculty members are re-designing their teaching strategies to engage students and improve comprehension by implementing better technology and interactive resources, in-class exercises, and real-world applications of learned concepts to practical problem-solving skills.
2018 Nambu REU Winners. Congratulations to the undergraduates that were chosen to participate in the fifth annual John Nambu Memorial Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program. This program is funded by the Jupiter Life Science Initiative and offers full-time research opportunities with stipend support for FAU undergraduates.
Hanisak Named 2018 Audubon Hero. Congratulations to Dr. Dennis Hanisak, FAU Harbor Branch Research Professor and Education Director and IB PhD program faculty member, was recently named the recipient of this year’s Environmental Educator Award by the Pelican Island Audubon Society.
Keene lab publishes paper with students of all levels. The paper entitled "Variation in sleep and metabolic function is associated with latitude and average temperature in Drosophila melanogaster" examines the role that ecological forces play in sleep and metabolic function. The author list includes students at all levels in their academic careers- Valerie Rozzo, a Lifelong Learner, Joshua Torres, an undergraduate at the Wilkes Honors College, and Arianna Kerbs, a Dwyer High School student.
Digital life team creates animated 3-D models of sea turtles from live specimens. Dr. Jeanette Wyneken in collaboration with the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, and the Inwater Research Group, have released new online full-color animated models of a loggerhead and a green sea turtle through a collaboration with sea turtle rescue and research institutions.
Department of Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Thesis Defense. Join us April 9, 2018 in the Student Union Palmetto Palm Room from 9am -12pm for the Biology Undergraduate Honors Thesis Defense Seminars!
8th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. Biology Honors Thesis students presented their research along with fellow undergraduate researchers at the annual OURI Research Day!
Congratulations to the 2018 GPSA Research Day Winners. The Biology Department swept the competition this year! Congratulations to Jordan Merritt- IB PhD candidate, Sean Paz- IB PhD student, Rashean Graham-Biology MS student, and Tasso Cocoves-Environmental Science MS student, for placing in many of the science categories!
VOICE PITCH SWAYS VOTERS, DOESN'T RESULT IN BETTER LEADERS. To determine if there is a correlation between voice pitch and leadership ability, Dr. Rindy Anderson, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, and Dr. Casey Klofstad, associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Miami, conducted an observational study and an experimental study that was published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.
SYNAPSE 2018 a big success. The Jupiter Life Science Initiative sponsored event showcased the work of more than 150 young scientists including, 40 Postdocs, 40 graduate students and 30 undergraduates from FAU, MPFI, and TSRI.
Congratulations to Dr. Alex Keene, Associate Professor in the Biological Sciences Department, for recently receiving a $213,987 NIH research award for his project entitled "Development of Genetic Tools for Functional Analysis of Sleep in Cavefish."
Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Milton, Associate Professor in the Biological Sciences Department, for recently receiving a $9,750 sponsored research award from the FAU Foundation/Friends of Gumbo Limbo for her project entitled "Impacts of UV-B Light Therapy on Vitamin D and Immune Responsiveness in FP Turtles."
THEY'RE BACK! SHARK MIGRATION SEASON BEGINS IN S.E. FLORIDA. In the largest migration in U.S. coastal waters, blacktip sharks are headed south in the thousands for their annual migration off Florida’s southeast coast. For eight consecutive years, Stephen Kajiura, Professor in the Biological Sciences Department and internationally renowned shark researcher, has been observing and tracking these “snowbirds of the sea.”
IB PhD Candidate Wins Award at Southeast Regional Sea Turtle Network . Boris Tezak, a graduate student in Dr. Jeanette Wyneken's laboratory, recently won the Boyd Lyon Award for best student talk at the 2018 meeting of the Southeast Regional Sea Turtle Network.
IB PhD Candidate Presents at Regional 3-Minute Thesis Competition. Boris Tezak, a graduate student in Dr. Jeanette Wyneken's laboratory, recently presented at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools regional 3MT Competition in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The Evolution of Sleep Loss: Behind the Paper. Dr. Alex Keene is featured in a blog post in Nature Ecology and Evolution about his recent publication.
Jose Grisales Recieves the 20th Annual Greater Everglades Student Memorial Scholarship. Congratulations to biology undergraduate Jose Grisales for receiving this nomination and the ceremony award will take place at the FLTWS Spring Meeting in Crystal River, Fl on April 11-13th.
WHO'S YOUR DADDY? GOOD NEWS FOR THREATENED SEA TURTLES. New study published by Drs. Colin Hughes and Jeanette Wyneken and Integrative Biology PhD candidate Jake Lasala is featured in the FAU News Desk. This is the first study to document multiple paternity in loggerhead sea turtle nests in southwest Florida.
Study Shows Male Sea Turtles Are Vanishing Closer To Home. Drs. Sarah Milton and Jeanette Wyneken of the Biological Sciences Department have been studying and documenting sea turtles in Palm Beach County since 2002, and found that 97 to 100 percent of the hatchlings have been female.
Blind Cavefish in Mexico Offer Clues to Sleep Regulation. Dr. Alex Keene of the Biological Sciences Department has published new research identifying new mechanisms that regulate sleep in vertebrates using the mexican cavefish, A. mexicanus. This work will be highlighted in upcoming high-profile journals and a blog post will appear in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Biology Students/OURI Awardees Publish Their Research on Gene Promoter. Justin Kirke, Biology Master's student who works in the laboratory of Dr. Zhang in the Biological Sciences Department, and Stephanie Velez, FAU Biology alumna, recently published their research in
Molecular Biotechnology.
Warmer Weather is Turning Turtles on this South Florida Beach Female. Dr. Jeanette Wyneken of the Biological Sciences Department had her research studying underground sea turtle nests recently featured in the Sun Sentinel.
Breeding sex ratio and population size of loggerhead turtles from Southwestern Florida. Jake Lasala, Integrative Biology PhD candidate, along with Drs. Colin Hughes and Jeanette Wyneken of the Biological Sciences Department published a new paper evaluating breeding sex ratios of loggerhead turtles to understand how growing populations behave before extreme environmental effects are evident.
How milking venomous snails can help us build better medicines. Alberto Padilla, Integrative Biology PhD candidate, along with Drs. Patricia Keating, James Hartmann, and Frank Mari received media attention for their recent study published in Scientific Reports . The study has received coverage the Washington Post, National Institutes of Standards and Technology News (NIST), and Science Daily. Congratulations to all the authors!
Biological Sciences Senior Recognized in OURI Student Spotlight. Congratulations to Alessandra Lezcano, senior Biology major who works in the laboratory of Dr. Rindy Anderson, for being recognized by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry!
Integrative Biology Alum & Biology Master's student Featured in Sea Turtle Article. Dr. Justin Perrault, IB alum & Associate Director of Research at Loggerhead Marinelife Center and Christina Coppenrath, intern at Loggerhead and Biology Master's student, were featured in an online article about a deadly virus affecting sea turtles on the Oceana Organization website.
New Research Receives Media Attention. Dr. Erik Noonburg, Associate Professor in the Biological Sciences Department, recently published a collaborative research article in the journal Ecology that received a press release by the Ecological Society of America and write-up on the Science Daily website.
FAU Biology Has Big Presence at SICB 2018. Many faculty and students attended this year's annual Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Conference. Many Integrative Biology graduate students gave talks and poster presentations.
More Female Sea Turtles Born as Temperatures Rise. Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, Professor in the Biological Sciences Department, weighs in on new research about female sea turtle populations and climate change.
Biology graduate students help rescue juvenile sperm whale. Danielle Ingle, Cameron Luck and Grace Roskar, assisted with a beached juvenile sperm whale near Juno Beach.
Testing Sea Turtle Hatchling Stamina. Dr. Sarah Milton, Associate Professor in the Biological Sciences Department, and her graduate student, Karen Pankaew, conducted the first study on disorientation to examine the physiological effects of extended crawling and swimming performance on sea turtle hatchlings. The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology has received coverage on numerous TV news and broadcasts around the country and featured online at National Geographic, the Wildlife Society, Newsweek, and the New York Times.
Congratulations to Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully for his new position as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies!
Science Remix Podcast Series Episode 1. The new podcast series by the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science features Dr. Diane Baronas-Lowell, Associate Scientist in the Department of Biological Sciences, in its first episode entitled "Antibiotic Resistance."
FAU Hosts Nikon Microscopy Workshop. The two day event boasted 23 graduate students, post docs, and faculty members from the Departments of Biological Sciences, Psychology, Biomedical Sciences, and the Honors College.
Annual Biology Holiday Party A Success. Thank you so much to all the efforts of everyone that helped put this together, the many volunteers and especially Rebecca Dixon for such a wonderful holiday celebration!
General Ornithology Twitter Conference with the British Ornithologists' Union. Integrative Biology PhD student Betsy Evans, member of Dr. Dale Gawlik's laboratory, participates in the international ecology social media conference.
FAU AND MAX PLANCK UNVEIL FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND HONORS PROGRAM. A new partnership between FAU and MPFI will establish an undergraduate honors program in neuroscience that will be the first of its kind across the globe! Read the Sun Sentinel article.
Biology graduate student artwork featured on book cover. Congratulations to Thomas Parker, PhD candidate in the laboratory of Dr. Kailiang Jia, for having his artwork featured on the cover of Autophagy: Cancer, Other Pathologies, Inflammation, Immunity, Infection, and Aging 1st Edition
Biology Scholarships. Congratulations to all graduate students that received a Biology Department Scholarship! Many thanks to the generous contributions of all Biology Department Scholarship donors!
2018 Frontiers in Science Lecture Series. Please see the new season of lectures and the 2017 Graduate Student winners of the 3MT Competition featured in the finale.
2017 Three Minute Thesis Videos. In this challenging event, students presented their 8,000 word thesis in 3 minutes! Science swept the event taking the top three prices, with Biology graduate students receiving the Championship, People's Choice, and First Runner-Up!
Integrative Biology PhD Candidate Wins Photo Contest. Congratulations to Chelsea Bennice, student in Dr. Brooks laboratory, for winning the cover photo for the 2018 LagoonFest calendar photo contest!
Biology Master's Alumna Publishes in Zoology . Congratulations to Shelby Creager, former student of Department of Biological Sciences faculty member Dr. Marianne Porter, for getting her Master's thesis work published!
OwlGEMS receive a bronze medal at the 2017 iGEM Jamboree. Congratulations to the OwlGEMS team for winning a bronze medal at the iGEM Giant Jamboree, the largest Synthetic Biology competition in the world with over 100 countries represented!
Short Term Synaptic Plasticity Study Awarded a National Institute of Health Research Grant. Congratulations to Dr. Greg Macleod for receiving a four-year research grant from the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke!
Congratulations to Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Championship winners! Congratulations to Integrative Biology students, Keith Murphy (First Runner-Up) and Boris Tezak (Championship Winner and People's Choice Winner)
Congratulations to Tevin Ali, Biology student alum - Class of 2017, that was named 'Intern of the Year' by the Florida Association for Colleges and Employers.
Integrative Biology Student Presents at CSHL Neurobiology of Drosophila Meeting. Congratulations to Tyrone Penserga of the Godenschwege laboratory for being chosen to present during the 'Disease Models and Mechanisms' session!
UNIMAID Delegation Visits FAU. Dr. Esiobu of the Biology Department has spearheaded the collaborations between FAU and the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), Nigeria for educational cooperation in the areas of climate change and environmental studies, protection and conservation.
FAU Recognized as Leader in Undergraduate Research. The Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) has selected Florida Atlantic University as one of three recipients of the 2017 Award for Undergraduate Research Accomplishments (AURA)!
IB PhD Alumna Receives 2017 Outstanding Young Owl Award. Congratulations to Dr. Chandana Buddhala for receiving this prestigious award!
Integrative Biology Alum Publishes in Nature . Brian Orr, who received his PhD for the work that he did in Dr. Rod Murphey's laboratory, recently published a research article in Nature (vol 550; pg 109-113) showing that semaphorin-2B is the retrograde factor that regulates synaptic strength.
College of Science Expeditions at Explore FAU . The Biological Sciences Department had several faculty, staff, and students present their research at the FAU Expo for High School students. Thank you to everyone that participated and showcased our department!
FAU Neuroscience Student Organization (NSO) Colloquium Series. Join the FAU NSO for a presentation By Ingo Gotthard about "Autism Spectrum Disorder - from genetics to neuronal circuit impairments." Cookies and coffee will be served!
Palm Beach Post Highlights NIH Grants Awarded to FAU, Scripps and MPFI . FAU received $5.4 million, up from last year’s $4.9 million. FAU raised its grant game in large part by recruiting out-of-state scientists with NIH funding.
New Program for Recent College Graduates. The FAU Brain Institute welcomed its inaugural class of post-baccalaureate Brain Institute Research Scholars. Three students will pursue full-time research in the labs of mentors Janet Robishaw, Ph.D., Ken Dawson-Scully, Ph.D. and Randy Blakely, Ph.D., prior to entering FAU as medical students.
First Video of Rare Monkey featured in FAU's Digital Magazine. Thanks to the work of primatologist Kate Detwiler, Ph.D., FAU is at the epicenter of ground-breaking research involving the Dryas Monkey, an endangered species located in one of the world’s most remote regions — the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Lomami National Park.
SIZE DOESN'T MATTER - AT LEAST FOR HAMMERHEADS AND SWIMMING. Dr. Marianne Porter of the Biological Sciences Department had her research published and got the cover of the recent issue of Journal of Experimental Biology . Congratulations to Dr. Porter and her students, IB PhD student Sarah Hoffmann and undergraduate researcher Matthew Warren.
Dr. Tanja Godenschwege of the Biological Sciences Department had her research published in PLOS Biology . This study established a role for insulin/insulin-like growth factor signaling in regulating the trafficking of gap junctional proteins that is conserved over the large evolutionary distance between Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) and humans, and between different cell types.
Brain Institute featured in Florida Trend magazine. The September issue of the magazine featured an article about FAU’s Neuroscience Pillar and the Brain Institute.
Dr. Tanja Godenschwege of the Biological Sciences Department and her recent graduate Sirisha Kudumala had their research published in PLOS One . This study established the Drosophila Giant Fiber neurons (GF) as a novel model to study axonal trafficking of L1-type Cell Adhesion Molecules (CAM) Neuroglian (Nrg) in the adult CNS using live imaging.
Neuroscience Images Featured in FAU's First Digital Research Magazine. Many researchers of the Biological Sciences Department, Jupiter Life Science Initiative and Brain Institute had their images featured on the 'Brains Illustrated' cover story.
Prestigious Fellowship Awarded to Biology Master's Student. Congratulations to Biology Master's student Danielle Dodge who was chosen for the prestigious 30-year old NOAA Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship.
Graduate College Fellowship Recipients. Congratulations to the Integrative Biology PhD students that have received scholarships from the Graduate College.
FAU Biology student and alumnus recognized as emerging scholars. Gabrielle Rind, Biology major, and Dawit Rumicha, recent Biology graduate, were each given the Emerging Scholar Award at the 17 th International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities and Nations in Toronto, Canada. The two also gave a research presentation on diversity in higher education during the conference.
Dr. Kailiang Jia of the Biological Sciences Department had his NIH-funded study recently published in PLOS Genetics . This is the first study to demonstrate how autophagy, a garbage-disposal like process where cells remove debris they produce - combined with food absorption and food smell - impacts the aging process, primarily by diet restriction.
Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully of the Biological Sciences Department has been named the 2017 Distinguished Researcher! This award is given once a year to a researcher who leads by inventing and innovating by the Florida Atlantic Research and Development Authority (FARDA), which operates the Research Park at Florida Atlantic University.
FAU Scientists discuss black tip shark migration and shark physiology. Drs. Stephen Kajiura and Marianne Porter, Professors in the Biological Sciences Department, discuss the black tip shark migration (6:30) and shark physiology (43:00). Check out the show and happy shark week!
FAU SCIENTIST HELPS DISCOVER NEW MINIATURE SHARK SPECIES. Dr. Stephen Kajiura, Professor in the Biological Sciences Department, was part of a team of scientists who discovered a new species of miniature, glow-in-the-dark sharks belonging to the Lanternshark family.
USA Today Interview. Dr. Marianne Porter, Assistant Professor in the Biological Sciences Department, discusses Olympic legend Michael Phelp's chances racing a shark.
Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. FAU was well-represented by faculty and students from across several campuses at the 2017 large national conference. Congratulations to Sarah Hoffmann, IB Ph.D. student in Dr. Porter's laboratory, for receiving an award in the student talk competition!
Good Morning America Interview. Dr. Stephen Kajiura, Professor in the Biological Sciences Department, discusses great white sharks with GMA hosts as they discuss actor Rob Lowe's encounter with a great white shark off the California coast.
FAU -SCI Partnership Yields First Careers. FAU’s new workforce training partnership with Sancilio & Company (SCI), a Riviera Beach-based biotech company, has yielded new careers for recent graduates.
Avian Expert Awarded Scientific Product Grant. Wildlife Acoustics, Inc. has awarded a Scientific Product Grant to Rindy Anderson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. Anderson will receive acoustic recording units to further her research on Bachman's sparrow.
Research In Action. Anthropology researchers led by Kate Detwiler, Ph.D., are studying a little known monkey population living in Dania Beach. The video features Missy Williams, IB PhD candidate, and Daniel Alempijevic, MSc Environmental Science student.
Former Biology Honors Thesis Program Student Making Waves in SNMA. Congratulations to Sergeine Lezeau on being chosen to serve as the Publications Committee Co-Chair and Journal Editor of the Student National Medical Association’s (SNMA) National Committee Chair.
Loggerhead turtle nests facing new threats. Dr. Marguerite Koch-Rose of the Biological Sciences Department along with researchers at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center were interviewed on WPTV to discuss rising threats to South Florida nesting grounds and sea turtle populations.
FAU Biology Student Named Florida Student of the Year. Congratulations to Tevin Ali, recent B.S. Biological Sciences Graduate for receiving the prestigious award from the Florida Association of Colleges and Employers (FloridaACE).
The Mystery of the Wild Monkeys of Dania. Congratulations to Integrative Biology PhD student Missy Williams and Dr. Kate Detwiler, her advisor, for getting their research featured in the summer issue of Gold Coast magazine (page 58).
Biology Master's student wins award. Congratulations to Danielle Dodge of the Voss laboratory for winning “Best Graduate Student Poster Presentation” at the 2017 Benthic Ecology Meeting in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Dr. Nate Dorn Reignites Research Collaboration. Dr. Dorn recently restarted a collaboration and currently has four funded research projects totaling more than $640K.
Biology Scholarship Recipients. Congratulations to this year's Biological Sciences Department scholarship recipients and their advisors!
Decoding the Songs of Bachman Sparrow. FAU researchers in the Biological Sciences Department are listening to the songs of Bachman Sparrows to determine communication patterns.
The FAU Hall of Fame & Distinguished Alumni Awards Ceremony. Congratulations to Dr. Phil DeYoung and his mentor Dr. Ram Narayanan of the Biological Sciences Department for receiving a Distinguished Alumni Award!
The Flies on the Beach 2017 Research Symposium. This year the annual Drosophila Neurobiology Research Symposium welcomed over 80 Drosophila researchers from south Florida to FAU's John D. MacArthur Jupiter campus.
The John Nambu Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program. These are exciting and once-in-a-lifetime chances to perform research in sophisticated neuroscience labs. Congratulations to the 2017 Nambu REU scholarship recipients!
Congratulations to Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, Professor in the Biological Sciences Department, as one of three award recipients for the inaugural presentation of the 2017 Presidential Award for Outstanding Faculty-Led Community Engagement.
The Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine's Graduate Student Research Day. Congratulations to IB PhD student Jordan Merritt for winning first place in the competition. Congratulations to Caryoln Coles and Patricia Louis for winning second and third place, respectively!
The Department of Biological Sciences Honors Thesis Proposal Defense. Congratulations to all of the undergraduate researchers currently part of the Honors Thesis Program in Biology that have recently presented their research.
Undergraduate Researcher of the Year for the College of Science. Congratulations to Sabah Ali, member of Dr. Rindy Anderson's laboratory. He is a shining example of the success of FAU's undergraduate research programs.
Do Songbirds Just Sound Smart? Dr. Rindy Anderson publishes first study to focus on song learning accuracy versus song complexity to test the theory that song is a measure of cognitive ability.
New Way to Identify Sea Turtles' Sex. IB PhD student, Boris Tezak, and Drs. Jeanette Wyneken and Kathleen Guthrie publish a paper demonstrating a new way to identify baby sea turtles' gender.
Seventh Annual FAU Broward Student Research Symposium. Congratulations to Saheed Oluwasina Oseni, Sanjoy Barman, Vannia Arana and Caitlyn Montero who emerged as winners.
Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium 2017. Congratulations to the Department of Biological Sciences undergraduate winners for presenting their exciting research projects.
Congratulations to IB graduate student winners of the 8th annual Graduate and Professional Research Day in the biology and marine sciences categories.
Shark Biology Study Highlighted in Nature Magazine. Dr. Marianne Porter’s original article is published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
Rod Murphey, Ph. D., director of FAU’s Jupiter Life Science Initiative and chair of the Biological Sciences Department, and Randy Blakely, Ph. D., executive director of the FAU Brain Institute, were recently honored with “See the Light” awards at the Mathew Forbes Romer Foundation's "Sweetness & Laughter Gala."
Anthony Singer (former Biology Honors Thesis program student) has been accepted into the Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology graduate program at USF.
FAU Parking has announced a new shuttle to Jupiter starting March 13.
IB alumni Kim Rowland, Melissa Borgen, and Brandon Lloyd, along with Jana Boerner and Aruna Khan under the guidance of Dr. Rod Murphey, have had their recent paper chosen as the cover article for the March issue of the journal Genetics. Their paper is entitled “Axon Termination, Pruning, and Synaptogenesis in the Giant Fiber System of Drosophila melanogaster Is Promoted by Highwire.”
Cross Institution Collaboration Breeds Success. Dr. Melissa Borgen, alumna of the Integrative Biology PhD program, has published her thesis research in the journal Genetics and gets highlighted on the cover of the issue.
February 2017
FAU hosted the Florida Undergraduate Research Conference, and many biology undergraduates presented their research in a poster forum.
Crab clones its allies by ripping them in half. Dr. Randy Brooks lends insight into the relationship between sea anenomes and other animals.
Springtime is shark time in coastal Florida waters. Dr. Stephen Kajiura’s study records weekly shark density.
Dr. Jeanette Wyneken weighs in on the use of satellite tags for sea turtles.
Cavefish may help humans evolve to need very little sleep. James Jaggard (IB-N PhD) and Alex C. Keene, PhD, have published their findings in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Watch the livestream of the cavefish here.
NeuroPharmalogics experiencing many successes. FAU TechRunway company featured in BioCentury Innovations and finished in the top three of BioFlorida's BioPitch Statewide Competition.
IB alumni Kim Rowland, Melissa Borgen, and Brandon Lloyd, along with Jana Boerner and Aruna Khan under the guidance of Dr. Rod Murphey, have published in the journal Genetics. Their paper is entitled “Axon Termination, Pruning, and Synaptogenesis in the Giant Fiber System of Drosophila melanogaster Is Promoted by Highwire.”
Applications available for the 2017 Nambu Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates. Full-time research opportunities await undergraduate students this summer (May 15 – July 21, 2017). These are exciting and once-in-a-lifetime chances to perform research in sophisticated neuroscience and behavior-oriented labs while expanding your scientific expertise. Please visit our web site http://www.fau.edu/jlsi/faculty/index.php to find a professor whose research interests you.
A new study from The Condor: Ornithological Applications shows that traffic noise makes birds less responsive to alarm calls that would otherwise alert them to dangers such as predators. Learn more about Dr. Anderson’s work here.
Biomaterials: Sharks shift their spine into high gear. The languorous undulation of a shark cruising along a reef gives little hint of the fish's potential to unleash a burst of high-speed movement when pursuing prey. Writing in the Journal of Experimental Biology, Porter et al. reveal how the structural properties of the non-bony, cartilaginous skeleton of the spiny dogfish shark (Squalus acanthias) allow this fish to shift seamlessly between low-speed cruising and high-speed swimming.
Four PhD students were hooded at the graduation ceremony on December 16th.
A study on fear memory by Robert Stackman, Ph.D., professor and interim chair of the Department of Psychology, and Joan Lora, a doctoral student in Integrative Biology - Neuroscience, was recently published online in the journal Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. Collaborators include Sathyanarayanan (Sathya) V. Puthanveettil, Ph.D., associate professor at Scripps, who led the study. Previous work defined a role for the prefrontal cortex in consolidation of fear memory. However, the involvement of this brain region in encoding new long-term memories had not been determined.
The biology department recently awarded more than $34,500 in scholarships to 21 graduate students. Additionally, 18 biology graduate students received Fellowships from the FAU Graduate College for the 2016-2017 academic year. Please join us in congratulating the following students:
COURTENAY GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS IN CONSERVATION BIOLOGY/ CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
Narcissus Smith (Baldwin; Hughes)
CAPTAIN AL NATHAN MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP/PALM BEACH COUNTY FISHING SCHOLARSHIP
Chelsea Bennice (Brooks)
VINCENT SAURINO FELLOWSHIP FOR GRAD STUDENTS IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Stephanie Kelly (Dawson-Scully)
Saheed Oseni (Kumi-Diaka)
Melissa Slocumb (Keene)
Paveena Vichyavichien (Zhang)
Dr. G. ALEX AND CARLA MARSH SCHOLARSHIP FUND
Jessica Dell (Benscoter)
Sergio Gonzalez (Dorn)
ROSALYN E. SCHONZEIT SCHOLARSHIP IN ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
Karim Dawkins (Esiobu)
LUTZ MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
Lauren Kircher (Baldwin)
Marisa Martinez (Gawlik)
NATIONAL SAVE THE SEA TURTLE SCHOLARSHIP
Lisa Celano (Salmon)
Christina Coppenrath (Milton)
Danielle Ingle (Porter)
Rachel Bladow (Milton)
Alexandra Lolavar (Wyneken)
Jacob Lasala (Wyneken)
Boris Tezak (Wyneken)
Sarah Hoffmann (Porter)
BOCA RATON ORCHID SOCIETY ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP
Erick España (Esiobu)
JOHN NAMBU SCHOLARSHIP FOR MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
Priyanka Kakad (Godenschwege)
FAU Brain Institute Designated ‘Nikon Center of Excellence’. Florida Atlantic University’s Brain Institute in Jupiter is now home to a Nikon Center of Excellence, making it one of seven designated centers in the United States and 17 worldwide. Drs. Rodney Murphey and Ken Dawson-Scully were instrumental in developing this strategic partnership between Nikon and FAU.
Congratulations to Florida Atlantic University's inaugural Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Championship winners! Three students from the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science placed in the Championship Heat. The IB PhD program took the 2nd and 3rd place positions in the Graduate College’s inaugural Three Minute Thesis Competition this last month. Stephanie Kelly (Dawson-Scully) and Keith Murphy (Dawson-Scully/Ja (Scripps)) took 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
Championship Winner ($2,500) Mickelene Hoggard, Doctoral candidate, Chemistry
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. "Snail Spit to Medicine." Advisor: Dr. Mare Cudic & Dr. Tanja Godenschwege
First Runner-Up ($1,500) Stephanie Kelly, Doctoral candidate, Integrative Biology
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. "Of Flies and Men: Insights from an Age-Related Stress Tolerance Assay" Advisor: Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully
Second Runner-Up ($1,000) Keith Murphy, Doctoral candidate, Integrative Biology
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science "Postprandial Sleep Mechanics in Drosophila." Advisor: Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully & Dr. William Ja
Following eight 3MT Heats comprised of nearly 90 graduate students representing each college and a range of disciplines, 17 graduate students advanced to compete at the Championship. A number of our PhD and MS students placed and/or won People’s Choice throughout the 3MT heats. We’d like recognize the following students for representing our department:
Christina Coppenrath (Baldwin)
Douglas Holmes (Esiobu)
Kyle Newton (Kajiura)
Betsy Evans (Gawlik)
Victoria Erb (Wyneken)
Alexandra Lolavar (Wyneken)
Carlie Perricone (McCarthy)
Michael Studivan (Voss)
Alberto Padilla (Hartmann)
Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully’s company Neuro Pharmalogics participated in the Tech Runway program and has just entered into a licensing agreement with FAU. Neuro Pharmalogics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies for patients with rare neurological diseases. Read more here:http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/careers/fl-fau-tech-runway-company-licensing-20161130-story.html and here.
Keith R. Murphy (IB-N PhD) is the primary author of a paper about how different foods can play roles in the immediate effects of sleep titled, “Postprandial Sleep Mechanics in Drosophila.” Researchers at FAU, Scripps Florida Research Institute, and Bowling Green State University have discovered evidence for “food comas”, the sleepy-like stupor that comes after eating a large meal. The study has gained national press this Thanksgiving, including articles in the Huffington Post and Fox news. Drs. Ken Dawson-Scully and Alex Keene and IB student Maria Yurgel are co-authors on the paper. Read the study here: https://elifesciences.org/content/5/e19334.
FAU Drug Study Proposal Selected by National Institute on Aging Interventions Testing Program. The National Institute on Aging’s (NIA) Interventions Testing Program (ITP) recently approved a proposal by two Florida Atlantic University faculty members to test the known anti-inflammatory drug sulindac in a pilot study for life span extension. Distinguished Research Professor Herb Weissbach, Ph.D., and Shailaja Kesaraju Allani, Ph.D, research assistant professor- both of FAU’s Center for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science- based the proposal on years of research conducted at FAU on the drug, which revealed other unique biological properties that protect normal cells against oxidative damage that occurs after traumatic events such as heart attack and oxidative damage to the retina. Additionally, they have shown that sulindac can make anti-cancer drugs more effective in killing cancer cells. For more information, contact Weissbach at hweissba@fau.edu.
The Neuroscience Student Organization Hosted Kick-Off Event. Graduate students interested in brain sciences and brain health at FAU launched the group Neuroscience Student Organization (NSO) with an event held in downtown West Palm to network and hear TED-style talks focused on key facets of the graduate experience, from the perspectives of senior neuroscientists. The speakers included Tanja Godenschwege, Ph.D., associate professor, biological sciences, FAU, Robert Stackman, professor & interim chair, psychology, FAU and David Fitzpatrick, scientific director & CEO of Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience.
October 2016
Worm Holds Key to Treating Epilepsy and Rapid Drug Discovery. IBAN student Monica Risley and researchers from FAU, in collaboration with The Scripps Research Institute, have opened up the possibilities for rapid drug screens to treat seizures in the near future by using a microscopic nematode worm. Current methods to control epilepsy, which affects 1 in 26 Americans, are not only inefficient but have not improved in more than 150 years when the first anticonvulsant drug was developed.
Congratulations to Brittnee McDole, a Graduate Student in the Integrative Biology Ph.D. Program for receiving one of the 2016 Society for Neuroscience Travel Awards from the FAU Brain Institute. Recipients receive up to $1000.00 toward reimbursable expenses to attend the SFN meeting in November 2016.
The John Nambu Scholarship for Molecular Biology was established in memory of the late and great Dr. John Nambu, Professor of Biology at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). After his passing, this scholarship fund was created to help continue keeping his passion alive by supporting students studying molecular biology.
Nathalia Gazaniga, a recent graduate from FAU High and the Honors Thesis Program has accepted an internship at the National Institute of Health. She is a part of the National Institutes of Health Postbacculaureate Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA) program. This program allows recent college graduates to obtain research experience at the NIH while applying to graduate and medical school programs. Nathalia is currently working in the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases in the Translational Immunology Section and is specifically focused on auto inflammatory diseases.
Nathalia is also featured in a video by the American Association of Immunologists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpUCHzWB_7I.
July 2016
May 2016
Biology Honors Thesis Defense held on Friday, April 22, 2016 from 9:00 am-1:30 pm
Biology wins at FAU northern campus achievement awards, April 2016
Congratulations to Biology’s winners at FAU’s 6th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium.
September 2015
Dr. Dawson-Scully: The science behind the survival skills of cells under stress
Fruit flies 'push the limit' and lead researchers to an unexpected discovery
