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Department of Biology
The Biology Curriculum Math & Statistics Guidelines for majors Facilities Student Opportunities and Support Science and Research Office (SRO)Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC)
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More Department NewsDevavani Chatterjea and Student Present Findings at NationalConference Professor Chatterjea, was the senior author on a talk and poster presented at the 37th annual Autumn Immunology Conference held in Chicago, Nov. 21-24. The title of the talk and poster was "Changes in levels of semaphorin 4A mRNA in subsets of developing thymocytes in mice." The talk and poster were presented by Grace Linder, a senior biology major who has worked with Chatterjea since spring 2007 on characterizing semaphorin expression in the mouse thymus. Linder is currently finishing an honors project based on her work. Mark Davis Speaks on Biological Invasions in South Africa Professor Davis presented an invited keynote address at a conference on biological invasions held in Stellenbosch, South Africa, Nov. 12-14. In his presentation, Davis discussed some of the challenges confronting researchers and managers due to introduced species and offered recommendations regarding the field's future. New Baby! Biology is happy to announce a new addition to our department. Devavani Chatterjea and David Matthes have a new son, William August Chatterjea born Thursday, Oct. 30. He weighed 7 pounds, 7 oz. and is 20" long. Mother and son are doing well and big sister, Gitanjali is most pleased of all. Paul Overvoorde Published in Science Professor Overvoorde, along with collaborators from other liberal arts colleges and universities, recently published a paper in the journal Science addressing undergraduate research opportunities in the area of genomics. The article emphasized the need to provide undergraduates research opportunities during the academic year since many students are not able to participate in summer research, or there are not enough summer research positions to meet student interest. The authors, who are founding members of the Genomics Education Partnership (GEP), described both computer-based and wet-lab research projects they have developed and successfully implemented, and encouraged other colleagues to explore undergraduate research opportunities in genomics. Mike Anderson Presents Research in Bariloche, Argentina Mike Anderson presented a poster entitled 'Spatial Patterns in Alnus-infective Frankia in Two Alaskan Successional Habitats' at the 15th International Frankia and Actinorhizal Plants Meeting, which was held October 19-23 in San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina. This research is part of Mike's ongoing PhD dissertation, which examines how mutually beneficial interactions between plants and bacteria change in different environments in Alaska. So far, Mike's research has benefited from the participation of three Macalester students - Ben Freeman '06, Grace Wilson '07 and Kyle Goerschler '08 - and is supported by a grant from the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology and two grants from the National Science Foundation. Paul Overvoorde Presents Research in Marrakech, Morroco Professor Overvoorde presented a poster entitled "The Use of Small Molecules to Probe Auxin Signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana" at the 3rd International "AUXIN" conference, which was held in Marrakech, Morroco October 4-9. This gathering is held every four years and attracts individuals from over 30 countries who work on aspects of the plant hormone auxin. The presentation summarized work on a chemical-genetics project that has been carried out in collaboration with Becky Hoye (Chemistry) and Ron Brisbois (Chemistry). The six student co-authors have synthesized the small chemical molecules in the Chemistry department and have tested the effects of these compounds on plant growth and development in the Biology department. This work has been supported by a grant from the Merck Institute for Science Education, the National Science Foundation, and the Macalester Office for Research and Experiential Learning (OREL). Mark Davis Speaks at Conference Precursor to 2009 G8 Summit Professor Davis presented an invited talk on the impacts of biological invasions on native biodiversity at a conference held in Sardinia in mid-September. Titled 'Biodiversity, Desertification, Water, Food and Human Rights', the conference was organized by the University of Sassari as a precursor to the G8 Summit to be held in Sardinia in 2009. Thirty-nine speakers, representing 20 countries, were invited to speak at the conference.
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