Biology Graduate Programs Research Articles

Isolation, resilience, and faith: Experiences of Black Christian students in biology graduate programs

AbstractTo increase participation of students of color in science graduate programs, research has focused on illuminating student experiences to inform ways to improve them. In biology, Black students are vastly underrepresented, and while religion has been shown to be a particularly important form of cultural wealth for Black students, Christianity is stigmatized in biology. Very few studies have explored the intersection of race/ethnicity and Christianity for Black students in biology where there is high documented tension between religion and science. Since graduate school is important for socialization and Black students are likely to experience stigmatization of their racial and religious identity, it is important to understand their experiences and how we might be able to improve them. Thus, we interviewed 13 Black Christian students enrolled in biology graduate programs and explored their experiences using the theoretical lens of stigmatized identities. Through thematic content analysis, we revealed that students negotiated experiences of cultural isolation, devaluation of intelligence, and acts of bias like other racially minoritized students in science. However, by examining these experiences at the intersection of race/ethnicity and religion, we shed light on interactions students have had with faculty and peers within the biology community that cultivated perceptions of mistrust, conflict, and stigma. Our study also revealed ways in which students' religious/spiritual capital has positively supported their navigation through biology graduate school. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of why Black Christian graduate students are more likely to leave or not pursue advanced degrees in biology with implications for research and practice that help facilitate their success.

Flathead Lake Biological Station: Sentinel of the Lake Since 1899

Flathead Lake Biological Station: Sentinel of the Lake Since 1899

Biology Graduate Programs Educating Students for Life beyond Academia

Biology Graduate Programs Educating Students for Life beyond Academia

The Vascular Flora of Lee County, Texas

Lee County is located in the Post Oak Savannah and Blackland Prairie vegetation areas of east-central Texas and encompasses 635 square miles (ca. 405,000 acres). A floristic survey of the vascular plants of Lee County, Texas, was conducted from November 2002 through March 2006 as a requirement for the Master's Degree by the author in the Plant Biology Graduate Program at The University of Texas at Austin. The county was revisited in the summers of 2015 and 2017 to update information for publication. The physical and biotic settings, vegetational history, and previous collecting efforts are outlined. The checklist contains voucher collections from the present study as well as additional records from the TEX/LL, TAES, TAMU and BAYLU herbaria. The annotated checklist includes 732 species and infraspecific taxa, representing 427 genera and 122 families. The most species-rich families are Asteraceae, Poaceae, Fabaceae, Cyperaceae, and Euphorbiaceae. No federally or state listed rare species were documented, although at least two species of conservation concern were collected within the county. Native species comprise about 89% of the county flora, and include 20 species endemic to Texas. The phytogeographic position of Lee County is discussed, with a prominent feature being its position at the extreme western edge of the distributions of many species typical of the southeastern U. S. flora.

422 Dsg2 increases exosome release and enhances EGFR/c-Src content: A mechanism for an intercellular mitogenic effect

Dsg2 increases exosome release and enhances EGFR/c-Src content: A mechanism for intercellular mitogenic effect Andrew M. Overmiller1*, Jennifer A. Pierluissi1+, Peter J. Wermuth1, Ubaldo Martinez-Outschoorn2, Madalina Tuluc3, Adam Luginbuhl3, Joseph Curry3, Larry A. Harshyne4, James K. Wahl, III5, Andrew P. South1 and Mỹ G. Mahoney1 1Department of Dermatology & Cutaneous Biology,, 2Department of Medical Oncology, 3Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, 4Department of Neurological Surgery, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA, 5Department of Oral Biology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA *Gene%cs, Genomics, and Cancer Biology Graduate Program; +Cell and Developmental Biology Graduate Program ABSTRACT

The winding road.

On a bright July day more than 3 decades ago, I turned up at the physics department of the University of Delaware (UD), Newark, hoping to meet my new research adviser. I was met instead with quizzical looks: The professor had died some months before I arrived. No one had told me. ¶ I had come a long way. After finishing a master's degree in physics at the University of Calcutta, I had become interested in biophysics. I had decided to pursue a Ph.D. studying the physical properties of nucleic acids and had won admission to UD, with a teaching assistantship. I packed my bags, got my passport and tickets, and said farewell to family and friends. Half a world from home, I was left scratching my head, contemplating my next step. What would I do? I had student visa requirements and little money. I taught physics labs that summer as I pondered my future. ![Figure][1] “My career has taken several sudden, unexpected twists and turns.” ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT NEUBECKER A month later, I was taking a short cut through the biology department when I came upon an outline of a graduate cell biology course that would be offered in the fall. I liked it. I sought out the professor, told him my story, and proposed doing a biology Ph.D., even though I had never taken a college-level biology course. He looked at me as if to say, “You can't be serious.” Still, he agreed, with conditions: I had to get an A in his course, and I had to take the biology Graduate Record Exam (GRE). The fall semester was busy and tense. I was enrolled in the physics graduate program, taking a full course load, and I was teaching lab courses. I also took the cell biology course. I got an A. I took the GRE and was admitted to the graduate program in biology. There were many new things to learn. I took makeup courses, taught lab courses, and did research. It was a wonderful experience. Toward the end of the program, I got married. I finished my Ph.D., and my wife and I moved to France, where I did a postdoc at the CNRS-LGME in Strasbourg—again the packing of bags, obtaining of visas, fond farewells, the start of a new life on a new continent. I worked hard in Strasbourg but also had fun, traveling around, sampling the local cuisine, and traversing the fabled Route du Vin. Three years later, we returned to the United States, and I began my professional career. I worked in metabolic disease drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry for more than 22 years. I worked hard, published papers, presented at national and international conferences, and took fun vacations. Life was good. Last year, the company where I had more than 15 service years ended R&D efforts in diabetes and eliminated several positions, including mine. This was not as shocking as the news of the dead adviser, but it was a major jolt nonetheless. I took the severance package and found myself wondering, “What now?” for the first time in more than 30 years. A committed traveler and avid reader of travel magazines, I decided to try writing travel articles. I wrote a few articles on Indian wildlife that I had photographed on safaris and a piece on an interesting experience I had when my car broke down on the freeway near Philadelphia. I sent them off to journals and blogs. Three have been accepted, one by a popular U.S. magazine, the second by a major newspaper, and the third by the Indian government for publication on a new government website. It's not a bad start to a writing career. My career has taken several sudden, unexpected twists and turns. Careers are like that these days. I have accepted the challenges as they've come and done my best to overcome them, with reasonable success. I have always viewed my job as a means to an end, to enjoy life and work. Research offered those rewards—until it didn't. Now I have set off on another kind of exploration. [1]: pending:yes

Stealth nanotubes: strategies of shielding carbon nanotubes to evade opsonization and improve biodistribution.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have recently been in the limelight for their potential role in disease diagnostics and therapeutics, as well as in tissue engineering. Before these medical applications can be realized, there is a need to address issues like opsonization, phagocytosis by macrophages, and sequestration to the liver and spleen for eventual elimination from the body; along with equally important issues such as aqueous solubility, dispersion, biocompatibility, and biofunctionalization. CNTs have not been shown to be able to evade such biological obstacles, which include their nonspecific attachments to cells and other biological components in the bloodstream, before reaching target tissues and cells in vivo. This will eventually determine their longevity in circulation and clearance rate from the body. This review article discusses the current status, challenges, practical strategies, and implementations of coating CNTs with biocompatible and opsonin-resistant moieties, rendering CNTs transparent to opsonins and deceiving the innate immune response to make believe that the CNTs are not foreign. A holistic approach to the development of such “stealth” CNTs is presented, which encompasses not only several biophysicochemical factors that are not limited to surface treatment of CNTs, but also extraneous biological factors such as the protein corona formation that inevitably controls the in vivo fate of the particles. This review also discusses the present and potential applications, along with the future directions, of CNTs and their hybrid-based nanotheranostic agents for multiplex, multimodal molecular imaging and therapy, as well as in other applications, such as drug delivery and tissue engineering.

Attrition of Women in the Biological Sciences: Workload, Motherhood, and Other Explanations Revisited

Women and men enter graduate programs in biology in about equal numbers, but women are less likely to become academic scientists. Various hypotheses have been suggested to explain this higher rate of attrition, most of which cite family issues as the reason. However, medicine successfully recruits and retains women physicians, despite being less family friendly than biology in terms of workload, stress, and inflexible work hours. Both professions are competitive but at different times in a person's career. Competition for entry into medical school is intense, but this period of competition occurs prior to family formation for most women. For women biologists, the most intense period of competition occurs during the search for faculty positions. Many women have partners or children at this time. The increasing competition for academic positions threatens to reverse the gains that women have made into the professoriate in biology, as well as in other sciences.

Deadly Shooting Shocks Psychiatric Hospital

Back to table of contents Next article Professional NewsFull AccessDeadly Shooting Shocks Psychiatric HospitalAaron LevinAaron LevinSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:6 Apr 2012https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.47.7.psychnews_47_7_1-aAbstractA man wearing two wristwatches and carrying two 9mm handguns entered the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC) in Pittsburgh on March 8, killing one employee and wounding seven other people before being shot to death by university police.Police officers walk out of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic March 8. A gunman opened fire at the psychiatric facility at the University of Pittsburgh in a shooting that killed two people, including the gunman, and wounded seven others. AP Photo/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Justin MerrimanThe dead employee was identified as Michael Schaab, 25, a therapist working on the geriatric unit. Names of the other wounded individuals and their affiliation, if any, with the clinic had not been released by hospital officials at press time. Four of the injured required surgery but all were expected to survive, said Donald Yealy, M.D., a professor and chair of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), in a news conference.“We are all deeply saddened by the tragic events yesterday and in particular the loss of one of our dedicated staff members and the injuries to others,” said Jeffrey Romoff, UPMC president and CEO, in a statement to employees.The incident began around 1:40 p.m. when the gunman entered the building lobby and began firing. University of Pittsburgh police in the area responded and exchanged fire with the suspect before killing him.UPMC Police Chief Tim Delaney credited his department’s community emergency response training, developed in the wake of the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, for the prompt action by his officers.After some delay, the gunman was identified as John Shick, but as of press time, his motives were still unknown.He was a 2004 graduate of Carleton College in Minnesota with a degree in chemistry and was banned from the Duquesne University graduate program in biology after harassing female students last fall, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.Other news reports said that Shick had a violent encounter with police at the Portland, Ore., airport in 2009 that resulted in several assault charges and a commitment hearing there. He was ordered into psychiatric treatment for 180 days, but how long he remained in treatment has not been revealed.A UPMC spokeswoman would not disclose whether Shick had ever been a patient at the clinic, citing privacy laws. She also would not confirm news reports that a “doctor or psychiatrist” was among the injured. APA members who were asked for comment on the event referred Psychiatric News to UPMC’s media relations office, which declined to permit interviews.“Security will be reviewed thoroughly” in light of the shooting, said WPIC President Claudia Roth, Ph.D., at a news conference. The 310-bed hospital has 2,000 clinical staff members, she said.The facility now uses a metal detector at the entrance to its emergency department but not at the general entrance, where the incident began.Some psychiatric facilities use hand-held, metal-detecting wands to check patients and visitors for weapons or other contraband, said Scott Zeller, M.D., chief of psychiatric emergency services at the Alameda County Medical Center in Oakland, Calif., and president of the American Academy for Emergency Psychiatry.“At our dedicated psychiatric campus we wand all patients on arrival to the hospital and also wand all visitors prior to entry into patient-care areas,” said Zeller in an interview.However, it is not clear if such precautions would have stopped Shick, since he started shooting almost immediately after he entered the building.Shortly after the event, WPIC began providing support for staff, patients, and families in work areas and the lobby, with other teams circulating throughout the building, said Roth in a statement.About 300 staff members took part in group support sessions in the first five days. A drop-in support center for families and visitors of WPIC patients was set up and was staffed by members of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The Web site for Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic is www.upmc.com/HospitalsFacilities/Hospitals/wpic/Pages/default.aspx. ISSUES NewArchived

Computational thinking in the era of big data biology

It is fall again, and another class of students has arrived in the Watson School of Biological Sciences at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL). Building on the lab's 100-year history as a leading center for research and education, the Watson School was established in 1998 as a graduate program in biology with a focus on molecular, cellular and structural biology, and neuroscience, cancer, plant biology and genetics. All students in the program complete the same courses, centered around these research topics, with an emphasis on the principles of scientific reasoning and logic, as well as the importance of ethics and effective communication. Three years ago the curriculum was expanded to include a new course on quantitative biology (QB) and I, along with my co-instructor Mickey Atwal and other members of the QB program, have been teaching it ever since.

Kumar Krishna, in appreciation

Kumar Krishna, in appreciation

A preliminary multigene phylogeny of the diatoms (Bacillariophyta): challenges for future research

1Texas Natural Science Center, 2400 Trinity Street, University of Texas, Austin TX 78619, U.S.A. 2Section of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station (A6700), Austin, TX 78712, U.S.A. 3Plant Biology Graduate Program, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station (A6700), Austin, TX 78712, U.S.A. 4Institute of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station (A6700), Austin, TX 78712, U.S.A. *Author for correspondence: etheriot@austin.utexas.edu

Neuroimmune Pharmacology: An Elective Course for Molecular and Cellular Bioscience Graduate Programs

Neuroimmune pharmacology is an interdisciplinary field which integrates neuroscience, immunology, and pharmacology. This new discipline has developed over the last two decades in order to study the etiology and treatment of disorders involving both the immune and nervous systems. The proposed Neuroimmune Pharmacology course is a semester-long elective course for students in molecular and cellular biology graduate programs. It is designed to introduce these students to basic principles and practices of neuroimmune pharmacology as well as to the application of molecular and cellular biological techniques in the study of neuroimmune disorders. The goal of this elective course is to help prepare future molecular and cellular biologists to undertake research initiatives in the field of neuroimmunity in health and disease.

Technological Innovation Leads to Fundamental Understanding in Cell Biology

Technological Innovation Leads to Fundamental Understanding in Cell Biology

Chemical Biology at Berkeley

C hemical Biology has transformed the curriculum and student composition of the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley). The rapid growth in this area has been fueled by the steadily increasing number of young scientists who seek to apply chemical reasoning, synthetic techniques, and quantitative analysis to the study of biomolecules and the cellular contexts in which they reside. To a significant extent, these interests have been inspired by the growth of the biotechnology industry, and over the years several members of Berkeley’s Chemistry Advisory Board have suggested that individuals with both chemical and biological experience will be in increasing demand. As further evidence for this need, many Bay Area companies have been providing generous financial backing to support these interdisciplinary training efforts in our department. Equally important has been the growth of chemical biology research throughout the academic community, which has offered an expanded set of opportunities for advanced study and future academic employment for students who emerge with this type of pedigree. As the popularity of this scientific area grew, however, it quickly became clear that new programswould be needed to train students broadly in chemistry and biologywithout compromising scientific rigor. To answer this call, UC Berkeley has integrated new training opportunities and instructional approaches into both the graduate and undergraduate chemistry curricula. What has emerged is a vibrant chemical biology community that has invigorated the Berkeley Chemistry Program and initiated numerous collaborations among a diverse set of research groups. The Berkeley Chemical Biology Graduate Program. This effort began with the development of a Chemical Biology Graduate Program (CBGP), which was designed to expand the set of research opportunities that are available for students with these interdisciplinary interests. The participants are selected from the graduate admissions pools of four departments: molecular and cell biology (MCB); chemistry; chemical engineering; and bioengineering. At this time the current students are from MCB and chemistry. The CBGP does not offer a degree in chemical biology but is designed to enhance the program of the student’s home department. Students from MCB, for example, meet both the requirements of CBGP and of MCB. Students in chemistry who join the CBGP still take their Ph.D. qualifying exams in the sameway as other chemistry students. A key aspect of this program has been the incorporation of research rotations for all participants. Througha series of three10week rotations, the CBGP students gain hands-on experience that can solidify their ideas about the type of research that is personally the most rewarding. The students are strongly encouraged to explore a broad set of options before ultimately selecting a thesis laboratory for the remainder of their stay at Berkeley. As a result of this opportunity, many students have selected a laboratory that they might not have even considered under other circumstances. In 2001, a pilot rotation program began for three students in the Chemistry Graduate Program. The department covered a sig*Corresponding author, francis@cchem.berkeley.edu.

Strength in diversity: a cross-disciplinary approach to graduate training in chemical biology

Chemical biology graduate programs that are jointly organized by chemistry and life science departments can offer a stimulating 'bicultural' training environment for students from diverse backgrounds. However, communication, flexibility and responsiveness are crucial for effectively structuring such programs.

Strength in diversity: a cross-disciplinary approach to graduate training in chemical biology

Chemical biology graduate programs that are jointly organized by chemistry and life science departments can offer a stimulating 'bicultural' training environment for students from diverse backgrounds. However, communication, flexibility and responsiveness are crucial for effectively structuring such programs.

James H. Schwartz

James H. Schwartz

Mergers of Botany and Biology Departments

In the article “Biology departments restructure” by Wade Roush (News & Comment, [14 Mar., p. 1556][1]), Rytas Vilgalys of Duke University is quoted as saying that botany at several schools, including Indiana University (IU), has “gone into eclipse” or has lost influence as a result of its merger with zoology. Although the merger of taxon-based departments may have injured botanical studies at other universities, botany at IU has been strengthened by its integration with other disciplines after the interdepartmental merger in 1978. The merged department was replaced by the Plant Sciences Graduate Program, which currently includes 18 faculty members, representing an increase of four plant scientists since the merger. Faculty hires since the merger represent all levels of analysis, ranging from molecular to organismal. In addition, IU plant sciences faculty do not appear to have lost influence in the Department of Biology. The department chair and directors of three of the six graduate programs in biology are plant science faculty. Further evidence of continued excellence in botanical studies at IU includes a recent graduate research traineeship award in the plant sciences from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a “top 10%” ranking by the 1996 Gourman Report. The continued success of botany at IU suggests that departmental realignments need not weaken taxon-specific disciplines, but that instead they may serve to invigorate research areas that might otherwise decline. # Mergers of Botany and Biology Departments {#article-title-2} Vilgalys is quoted as saying that, at schools “where botany and zoology have merged,” including at the University of Michigan, “botany has gone into eclipse.” In fact, it may be argued that the botanical sciences at the University of Michigan have never been stronger. In 1974, shortly before the two departments merged, 27% of the biologists in the departments of botany and zoology were plant scientists. Today that figure is 31%. Of course, I am including in “botanical sciences” such disciplines as plant ecology and plant physiology, whereas Vilgalys appears to define botany as the traditional fields of plant taxonomy and systematics. But even in 1974, a minority of the faculty in the botany department fell into those categories. From the mid-1960s until 1974, the botany department had in place a progressive faculty hiring program; during this time only two “traditional” botanists (out of a total of 12) were hired. The rewards of the foresight of the early administrators of botany may be seen today in the University of Michigan’s thriving programs in such fields as plant ecology, plant molecular biology, and cell and molecular biology in general. # Mergers of Botany and Biology Departments {#article-title-3} In this era of increasing budget constraints and forced restructuring of academic departments as reported by Roush, one wonders whether graduate education and graduate students will be lost in the shuffle. Because graduate students represent an investment, and many of the solutions seem to depend on economics, their worth needs to be clearly defined and reinforced among administrators, faculty, and the students themselves. Graduate students are the life force of an academic department: they perform most of the hands-on research that goes on in research universities; their use as teaching assistants allows faculty the time to pursue research-related activities; and they are routinely called on to provide data and conceptual background to grant proposals “written” by their mentors. Published research done by graduate students is often co-authored by faculty, thus bolstering publication records; presentations of such research at meetings provides critical “advertising” for a laboratory, department, or university. All this while they are paid a minimal salary with few benefits, no sick leave or compensation, and often with no guarantees of funding for the next year. The lack of recognition of such contributions has led graduate students at some schools to unionize. When graduate students are empowered with the attention and respect they deserve, however, the intellectual and economic returns a university can expect far outweigh the original investment. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.275.5306.1556

Varmus at Harvard

Letters from: [ Joanne Kamens ][1] [ Stephen C. Harrison ][1] [ Editor ][1] It is sad, but not surprising, that the Harvard University student population ridiculed the choice of Harold Varmus, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as their 1996 commencement speaker (Random Samples, 21 June, p. 1747). I was hoping that times were changing. When I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1986, the commencement speaker was Michael S. Brown, who won with Joseph Goldstein the 1985 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology for their discoveries in cholesterol metabolism. I planned to enter a graduate program in biology in the fall, so Brown's excellent speech was personally inspiring. However, the majority of Penn's undergraduate population (including the hundreds of Wharton business school, pre-law, and even pre-med undergraduates) moaned, fidgeted, and rolled eyes during the speech. I suppose we can all aspire to be scientists who somehow contribute to the body of scientific knowledge in such a way that we are appreciated by our peers, but even the stars of our community are not going to be heroes to many. # {#article-title-2} I was disappointed by the coverage of Harold Varmus's commencement address at Harvard. The contents of the speech itself were not described. Instead, the piece mocked precommencement undergraduate reaction to the selection of an NIH director as speaker. The address confirmed the wisdom of that selection. Varmus spoke directly to the graduates, their families, and other alumni, reminding them of the excitement of science and of its ability to bring about change. He placed dramatic advances in medicine in the context of creative curiosity about fundamental biology. Many of us concerned with undergraduate science education and biomedical research at Harvard found the address inspiring. An account of the talk might have allowed readers to also take pleasure and pride in what Varmus had to say. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.273.5274.413a