Dr. Amy Maddox‘s lab’s publication has been accepted to Molecular Biology of the cell, a peer-reviewed journal owned by the American Society for Cell Biology. The publication is from a former undergraduate student and current postdoc. Dr. Maddox tweeted, “Septins are required for anaphase chiral cortical rotation in the C. elegans zygote, and the formin CYK-1 is required not for rotation but for its direction.” Congratulations!

Congratulations to Dr. Bradley Dickerson, named 2021 Searle Scholar for his research topic, Mapping the neural circuits that control precision timing in behavior.

The Searle Scholars Program makes grants to selected universities and research centers to support the independent research of exceptional young faculty in the biomedical sciences and chemistry who have recently been appointed as assistant professors on a tenure-track appointment. The Program’s Scientific Director appoints an Advisory Board of eminent scientists who choose the Scholars based on rigorous standards aimed at finding the most creative talent interested in pursuing an academic research career. This year, 191 applications were considered from nominations by 137 universities and research institutions.

Congratulations to (newly Dr.) Elizabeth Moore, who just received an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology! She will be moving down the road to NC State, where she will be working on her postdoc project with Becky Irwin, Rob Dunn, and Caiti Heil.
Way to go, Elizabeth!

Congratulations to Sam White, who was awarded the 2020-2021 Tri-Beta Peer Mentor Award!

Congratulations to Tanner Fadero, who was awarded the 2020-2021 Biology Teaching Assistant Award! This award is presented by Tri-Beta. Tanner is a graduate student in Paul Maddox’s Lab.

Congratulations to Dr. Laura Ott, who was awarded the 2020-2021 Biology Faculty Teaching Award for excellence in the teaching of Biology! This award is presented by Tri-Beta. Dr. Ott is a Biology Teaching Professor.

Drs. Kerry S. Bloom, Joe Kieber, and Ted Salmon have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Congratulations, all!

From the website: “The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a private, non-profit society of distinguished scholars. Established by an Act of Congress, signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, the NAS is charged with providing independent, objective advice to the nation on matters related to science and technology. Scientists are elected by their peers to membership in the NAS for outstanding contributions to research. The NAS is committed to furthering science in America, and its members are active contributors to the international scientific community. Approximately 500 current and deceased members of the NAS have won Nobel Prizes, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, founded in 1914, is today one of the premier international journals publishing the results of original research.”

The Biology Undergraduate Awards Committee met last week to select this year’s Awardees. It was a tough task and required much deliberation, as all of the students did an outstanding job. Here are the awards recipients:

Kylie VanDerMolen has been awarded the Francis LeClair Award. This award is given to a senior biology major for research and academic excellence in biology with an emphasis on plant sciences. VanDerMolen was mentored by Zack Nimchuk and her thesis is called “Natural variability in clv2 phenotypes.” Congratulations, Kylie!

Sloan Fussell and Viren Baharani were awarded the Stephen Brantley Awards. These awards are given to two senior biology majors for excellence in research in molecular, cell, and developmental Biology. Fussell was mentored by Alexander Kabanov and he completed his thesis on macrophage polarization and drug delivery. Baharani was mentored by Helen Lazear and completed his thesis on viral cross-reactivity. Congratulations, Sloan and Viren!

Sebastian Nichols has been awarded the RE Coker Award. This award is given to a senior biology major for excellence in research in organismal biology and ecology. Nichols was mentored by Brian Taylor and his thesis is called “Bioinspired Navigation Based on Distributed Sensing in the Leech.” Congratulations, Sebastian!

Dan Meyers was awarded the John Couch Award. This award is given to a senior biology major with interests in plant biology or mycology who has demonstrated the highest ideals of scholarship and research. Meyers was mentored by NCBG Herbarium Associate “Van” Cotter. Congratulations, Dan!

Mark Peifer and the Biology Department gives special thanks to Amy Maddox who mentored the students writing and defending Undergraduate Honors theses, all faculty, students, and postdocs who mentored research students this year, all who evaluated written theses and talks, the Biology Undergraduate Awards Committee (Amy Maddox, Ty Hedrick, Gidi Shemer, and Steve Rogers), and, of course, Summer Montgomery who manages all things undergraduate and whose help and guidance makes our major run.

Congratulations, Gladfelter Lab!
The Feature, titled “Filamentous fungus Ashbya gossypii” describes one of the Gladfelter Lab’s videos that shows a “busy structure with wavy, thin branches dotted with sparkling pearls” (pictured right).
Ashbya gossypii is among the fungi that the Gladfelter lab studies. It’s a plant pathogen that’s closely related to the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a well-known model organism.
You can view the feature here.

Eric Hastie and Laura Ott awarded funding by UNC IAH for their TikTok Biology @ UNC project!
For this project, they will examine the implementation of the new #Learnon TikTok approach to teaching 2 courses – BIOL 101H and BIOL 205 in fall 2021. Students in these courses will develop new TikTok videos, covering core biological concepts that serve as a foundation for students’ experiences within the biology major. They will assess if student access to/watching of these TikTok videos promotes student learning.