UNC Biology’s own Corbin Jones co-authored “SARS-CoV-2 infection is effectively treated and prevented by EIDD-2801,” an article featured in Nature (2021). Congratulations, Corbin!

Corbin Jones is a Professor in the UNC Department of Biology. Corbin’s research focuses on genetic analyses of adaptations and interspecific differences in Drosophila, molecular evolution and population genetics of new genes, and evolutionary analysis of QTL and genomic data. Visit Professor Jones’ lab website to learn more.

From the abstract: “All known recently emerged human coronaviruses probably originated in bats1. Here we used a single experimental platform based on human lung-only mice (LoM) to demonstrate efficient in vivo replication of all recently emerged human coronaviruses (SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2) and two highly relevant endogenous pre-pandemic SARS-like bat coronaviruses. Virus replication in this model occurs in bona fide human lung tissue and does not require any type of adaptation of the virus or the host. Our results indicate that bats harbour endogenous coronaviruses capable of direct transmission into humans.” Access the article here.

Congratulations to Nicholas Levis for the 2021 Dean’s Distinguished Dissertation Award in Biological and Life Sciences! Nicholas’ dissertation focuses on plasticity-led evolution in nature and his advisor was Professor David Pfennig. From the website: “Where do new traits come from? Diverse evidence from spadefoot toads supports the controversial hypothesis that environmentally induced changes to development – phenotypic plasticity – can lead to the evolution of new features. More generally, this work provides critical information to inform ongoing debates around the origins of novelty, diversity and adaptation.”

Read more about Nicholas and the other 2021 Dean’s Distinguished Dissertation Award winners here.

Congratulations to the Dangl Lab for their photo of an Arabidopsis leaf injected with a pathogen featured by NIGMS! According to the photo entry on the NIGMS website, “This is a magnified view of an Arabidopsis thaliana leaf eight days after being infected with the pathogen Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis, which is closely related to crop pathogens that cause ‘downy mildew’ diseases. It is also more distantly related to the agent that caused the Irish potato famine. The veins of the leaf are light blue; in darker blue are the pathogen’s hyphae growing through the leaf. The small round blobs along the length of the hyphae are called haustoria; each is invading a single plant cell to suck nutrients from the cell. Jeff Dangl and other NIGMS-supported researchers investigate how this pathogen and other like it use virulence mechanisms to suppress host defense and help the pathogens grow.” Get a closer look at the photo here: https://images.nigms.nih.gov/pages/DetailPage.aspx?imageid2=2780

Department of Biology’s Brian Taylor has been named the Tanner Award recipient for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Congratulations, Brian!

According to The Well, “Carolina honored 25 faculty members and teaching assistants for their accomplishments with 2021 University Teaching Awards. Given annually, these awards acknowledge the University’s commitment to outstanding teaching and mentoring for graduate and undergraduate students.
‘Throughout a challenging year in the midst of a global pandemic, the winners quickly adapted to new ways of teaching. They persevered to maintain their focus on helping students become critical thinkers and problem solvers, while inspiring them to take on the most important challenges facing society,” said Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Robert A. Blouin. “Our award winners are shining examples of the University’s commitment to effective, innovative teaching.’ The University Committee on Teaching Awards, which oversees the selection process, encouraged students to nominate deserving faculty and graduate teaching assistants for the awards. The committee sought nominations with specific examples that display the nominees’ care for students, mentorship and effective use of classroom methods.”

Read more about the award recipients here.

Congratulations to Dr. Brian Taylor for his publication in The Journal of the Royal Society: Interface. The paper is titled “Long-distance transequatorial navigation using sequential measurements of magnetic inclination angle”. The authors are as follows: Brian Taylor: Lead and Corresponding author, Ken Lohmann, Luke Havens, Cathy Lohmann, and Jesse Granger (Duke University Graduate Student).
Congratulations to Dr. Taylor and his co-authors and we are excited to see what else they have in store! Read the article here.

Congratulations to doctoral student Isai Salas-Gonzalez who is the co-first author of a SCIENCE paper published together with former Dangl lab post-doc Gabriel Castrillo and members of the Castrillo and Salt labs at the University of Nottingham in the UK. Isai and his co-authors show that the root bacterial microbiome can influence the development of the root endodermis and thus define how the endodermis influences nutrient uptake. This depends on the root microbiota’s ability to manipulate the plant hormone Abscissic Acid. The work is important because root endodermal nutrient uptake ultimately defines nutrient levels in our food. Read the paper at: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6525/eabd0695 and an accompanying Perspective at: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6525/125.

Just last month, UNC Biology undergraduate student “Corbin Bryan was coming to campus to drop off some fungi he had collected over the autumn and noted scores of red-capped fungi fruiting abundantly in the mulched beds adjacent to Coker Hall.” Bryan took some samples of the mushrooms and brought them to another undergraduate Biology student, “Dan Meyers and with Herbarium Associate Dr. Van Cotter. Together they came up with a tentative identification of Leratiomyces ceres (“Chip Cherry” or “Redlead Roundhead”), a potential new species of mushroom for North Carolina.”

Read more about this exciting discovery here.

Congratulations to Dr. Gregory Copenhaver for being named an AAAS fellow!

Three faculty members of the College of Arts & Sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Fellows are recognized for their research; teaching; services to professional societies; administration in academia, industry and government; and communicating and interpreting science to the public. They are elected annually.

Dr. Copenhaver was chosen for his distinguished contributions to the field of plant molecular genetics, particularly for novel insights into plant reproductive biology.

The Daily Tar Heel published an article about students’ favorite classes from the fall 2020 semester as the last day of classes is Tuesday, November 16. UNC Biology’s own Professor Lillian Zwemer was featured as one of the favorite professors from this semester.

From the article: “Ritika Desai, a sophomore neuroscience major, said her favorite class was Biology 202: Molecular Biology and Genetics with professor Lillian Zwemer. She said she appreciated Zwemer’s accommodating attitude and use of… online resources to make learning as easy as possible. “I find myself adopting new perspectives and problem-solving strategies,” Desai said. Zwemer said many of the strategies she used this semester were thought up by the biology department as a group over the summer. She said even though she had to cut some of the content of the course to accommodate the fall semester’s shorter schedule, the online format of the class can be just as good — if not better — for some students. “I think for a certain type of student, like a student who learns a certain way, it’s a very good fit,” Zwemer said. “But I think not every student learns that well.” She said in an email that one of her main priorities this semester was to build a sense of community among her students by holding weekly group office hours where students can ask questions and engage with each other in a relaxed environment. She encouraged students to send her pictures of their pets or the people in their lives to share with the rest of the class during these sessions.”

To read the full article and see some of the other featured classes and professors, click here: https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2020/11/university-rg-favorite-classes

UNC Biology’s Zachary Nimchuk lab has two new publications in Current Biology both looking at how peptide signaling in plants controls auxin-mediated development. One of the studies was led by Nimchuk lab postdoc Daniel Jones and graduate student Amala John.

Highlights from “CLAVATA Signaling Ensures Reproductive Development in Plants across Thermal Environments”: “CLAVATA (CLV) signaling mediates continuous flower outgrowth in Arabidopsis thaliana; CLAVATA2/CORYNE function alongside CIK-family co-receptors; CLV signaling promotes auxin-mediated floral primordia growth in colder temperatures; High temperatures bypass CLV signaling, upregulating auxin through ELF3.”

Read more on this article here: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)31512-8

Highlights from “Auxin-Regulated Reversible Inhibition of TMK1 Signaling by MAKR2 Modulates the Dynamics of Root Gravitropism”: “MAKR2 is co-expressed with PIN2 and regulates the pace of root gravitropism; MAKR2 controls PIN2 asymmetric accumulation at the root level during gravitropism; MAKR2 binds to and is a negative regulator of the TMK1 receptor kinase; Auxin antagonizes the MAKR2 inhibition of TMK1 by delocalizing MAKR2 in the cytosol.”

Read more on this article here: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)31515-3