Congratulations to Aaron Comeault (Daniel Matute lab postdoc) who was one of 4 recipients of the prestigious “Jasper Loftus-Hills Young Investigator Awards” from the American Society of Naturalists. The other three award recipients were Rachel Germain, Rachael Bay, and Gijsbert Werner.
Congratulations to Alicia Chen, who has been chosen as the “2018 Hagadorn Award” winner. Established in 1983, the Hagadorn Award is given to the top junior Biology major based on academic and research excellence and contributions to the Biology Department. This award was established in honor of Dr Irvine Hagadorn, former Chair of the Department of Zoology at UNC. This award will be presented by Chancellor Folt at the Chancellor’s Awards Ceremony on April 24, 2018. READ MORE >>
John Bruno, whose paper entitled “How to save the ‘tropical rainforests’ of the ocean“ appears in The Washington Post. In this article, Bruno describes the current vast destruction of coral reefs, and shares ideas on how these damaged reefs can be restored.
Congratulations to Victoria Bautch, Distinguished Professor and Chair of Biology and Co-Director of the UNC McAllister Heart Institute, who was recently awarded an Outstanding Investigator Award (R35) from NIH-NHLBI. The award will bring in over $6M in funds to UNC to support her lab’s research. Entitled “Molecular and Cellular Control of Angiogenesis”, the award will allow Bautch and her group to open new directions in understanding how blood vessels form during development and function in the adult. Bautch is also a member of the Integrative Program for Biological and Genome Sciences (iBGS) and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The Biology Department is proud to announce these two UNC Teaching Awards presented to Biology Faculty members. Assistant Professor Amy Shaub Maddox received the “William C. Friday Award for Excellence in Teaching”, and Professor Bob Goldstein received the “Chapman Family Teaching Award”. Each of these awards is given annually for instructional work with undergraduate students. Amy and Bob are both grateful to the nominating committee, as well as the receptive and thoughtful students who wrote recommendations on their behalf!
The final version of the “Climate Science Special Report.” coauthored by Biology Professor John Bruno, was recently released. As the first of two volumes of the 4th National Climate Assessment, the CSSR describes physical and chemical changes to the nations land and coastal waters, e.g., in weather, ocean chemistry, and global temperature. A key finding was that based on extensive evidence it is extremely likely that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. This nearly 500 page document is considered the world’s most comprehensive and up to date synthesis of climate change science. Volume 2, which will be about the effects of climate changes on people and the oceans, will come out in Dec. 2018.
Congratulations to UNC’s Ted Salmon and Keith Burridge, among this year’s class of “American Society of Cell Biology Fellows”. “The ASCB Fellows Award recognizes ASCB members who have made outstanding contributions to the field of cell biology and to the community of cell biologists through their service to ASCB.”
It is with great sadness that we note the passing of retired UNC Biology Professor and former Chair Dr. Lawrence I. Gilbert on Oct. 31, 2017. Dr. Gilbert’s research interests included insect endocrinology, biochemistry and molecular biology. The major effort in his laboratory was to determine how hormones controlled developmental processes, using insect metamorphosis as a model. Dr. Gilbert was a member of several panels, a member of seven editorial boards, executive editor of Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received the 1995 AAAS Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement.
The lab of Amy Shaub Maddox has renewed their NIH R01 grantentitled “Mechanisms of Cell Shape Change in Cytokinesis.” This funding will allow them to explore the molecular and mechanical mechanisms of time-delayed negative feedback in the actomyosin contractile cytoskeleton that underlie the dynamics they recently discovered, such as speed oscillations. Current lab members Michael Werner, Daniel Cortes, and Katie Rehain-Bell contributed the preliminary results that made this proposal a success.
Congratulations to these UNC-CH students, enrolled as Biology majors or double majors, for their Fall 2017 induction into Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest academic honor society. At the November 6 induction ceremony, new members received certificates and Phi Beta Kappa keys, the organization’s symbol.
The new inductees are:
Seth Mckenzie Alexander, Brittney M. Allyn, Anita Amin, Alexander Ross Bennett, Margaret McIellan Bryant, Jen-hsuan Chu, Mallory Renee’ Croley, Carolyn Jean DaVanzo, Claire McBride Drysdale, Gabriel Christian Gonzalez, Alison Nancy Hollis, Nile Foxx Iverson, Vishal Balasubramanian Iyer, Brooks James Knighton, Christina Rayen Kresser, Katherine Anne Kruse, Boateng Appiah Kubi, Savannah Ashley Loehr, Alexander Matthew Payne, Kayley Peters, Jamie Austin Rose, Nishita Tusha Sheth, Sydra Larab Siddiqui, Daniel Lee Stickel, Lauren Ann Sugarman, Kristin Grace Weiss, Wilfred Chad Wong, Sarah Kathryn Yaghoubi, Shan Shana Yu, and Angela Lee Zhang.