April 2008

DEPARTMENTAL SEMINARS

Paul Sharp (Major Advisor: Tim Collins) defended his Doctoral Dissertation entitled “Identification and distribution of digenean parasites and infection probability of two freshwater snails from Pa-hay-ookee, Everglades National Park” on 7 April 2008.

PRESENTATIONS

James Valdes (Major Advisor: Ophelia Weeks) was recently invited to be a platform presenter for a Neurobiology Degenerative Disesase Session of the FASEB Experimental Biology Meeting held 5-9 April 2008 in San Diego California. James’ presentation was entitled “Exposure of cultured murine brain cells to both lithium and estrogen results in altered NR1 and GSK-3 beta mRNA expression” on 6 April 2008. Congratuations James!

Robert Hegna (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly) presented a research seminar entitled “The meaning of color: Dendrobatid biology and the study of aposematism” at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida on 12 April 2008. Congratulations Robert!

Several students in the department made presentations during the 2008 GSA Scholarly forum on 9 April 2008. .

Cassandra Quave (Major Advisor: Brad Bennett) won first place in the Life Sciences Cateogry for her presentation entitled: “Anti-biofilm activity of white horehound extract on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus” Congratulations Cassandra!

Vielka Salazar (Major Advisor: Philip Stoddard) won first place for her poster presentation entitled: “Social competition affects EOD waveform plasticity and steroid hormone levels int he gymnotiform fish Brachyhypopomus pinnicaudatus” Congratulations Vicky!

Anya Goldina (Major Advisor: Philip Stoddard) won second place for her poster presentation entitled: “The evolution of electrifying diversity: melanocortins modulate communication signals differently across the order Gymnotiformes” Congratulations Anya!

Cassandra Quave (Major Advisor: Brad Bennett) won the Graduate Studen Poster Award from the American Society of Pharmacognosy for her poster: Quave, C.L., L.R.W. Plano and B.C. Bennett. Quorum sensing inhibiting activity of Schinus terebinthifolius Radii (Anacardiaceae) extracts against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Cassandra presented her poster as part of the Seventh Annual Oxford International Conference on the Science of Botanicals and American Society of Pharmacognosy held in April 2008. Congratulations Cassandra!

Cassandra Quave (Major Advisor: Brad Bennett) gave an oral presentation at the Society of Ethnobiology meeting: Quave, C.L. Zootherapeutic remedies in the traditional pharmacopoeia of southern Italy. Society of Ethnobiology 31st Annual Conference. Fayetteville, AR, USA. 16-19.04.2008.

GRANTS

Diansy Zinke (Major Advisor: Kalai Mathee) recently received a 4 year RISE fellowship. Congratulations Diansy!

Janna Rose (Major Advisor: Brad Bennett) was recently awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for her project entitled “Anti-diarrheal plants of Anatolia: do they inhibit diarrhea-causing bacteria?”. She will be working in the laboratory of Dr. Ilhan Gürbüz at Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey. Congratulations Janna!

Vielka Salazar (Major Advisor: Philip Stoddard) received a grant from Animal Behavior Society Student Research Grant program to support her doctoral research. Congratulations Vicky!

Roxaneh Khorsand (Major Advisor: Suzanne Koptur) received an FIU Agroecology Fellowship for $2400 to support her doctoral research in Brazil. Congratulations Roxaneh!

PUBLICATIONS

Nik Patel (Major Advisor: Ophelia Weeks) and former student Amita Quadros (Major Advisor: Ophelia Weeks) recently published a paper: Patel, N.S., A. Quadros, S. Brem, M. Wotoczek-Obadia, V.S. Mathura, V. Laporte, M. Mullan, and D. Paris. 2008. Potent anti-angiogenic motifs within the Alzheimer ?-amyloid peptide. Amyloid 15: 5-19. Congratulations Nik & Amita!

Paulo Olivas (Major Advisor: Steven Oberbauer) recently published a co-authored paper in Oecoologia: Jones, M.M., H. Tuomisto, D. Borcard, P. Legendre, D.B. Clark and P.C. Olivas. 2008. Explaining variation in tropical plant community composition: influence of environmental and spatial data quality. Oecologia 155:593-604. Congratulations Paulo!

Marbelys Rodriguez (Major Advisor: Leung Kim) and Sudhakar Veeranki (Major Advisor: Leung Kim) recently learned that a paper was accepted for publication: Rodriguez, M. B. Kim, N-S Lee, S. Veeranki, and L. Kim. Mpl1, the novel phosphatase with Leucine-Rich-Repeats, is essential for proper ERK2 phosphorylation and cell motility. Eukaryotic Cell, in press. Congratulations Marbelys & Sudhakar!

Meagan Dunphy-Daly (Major Advisor: Mike Heithaus) recently published a manuscript from her Master’s thesis research: Dunphy-Daly, M., M. Heithaus, and D.E. Claridge. 2008. Temporal variation in dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima) habitat use and group size off Great Abaco Island, Bahamas. Marine Mammal Science 24:171-182. Congratulations Meagan!

Claude Volmar (Major Advisor: Ophelia Weeks) recently published a paper from his dissertation work: Volmar C.H., Ait-Ghezala G., Frieling J., Paris D., Mullan M. 2008. The granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) regulates amyloid-b (Ab) production. Cytokine, in press. Congratulations Claude!

AWARDS

Tanya Simms (Major Advisor: Rene Herrera) and Rob Lowery (Major Advisor: Rene Herrera) were receipients of the 07-08 Excellence in Teaching Awards given out to Teaching Assistants. There were two of six awardees across the University. Congratulations Tanya and Rob!

Roxaneh Khorsand (Major Advisor: Suzanne Koptur) received an Honorable Mention from the National Science Foundation for the pre-doctoral fellowship competition. Congratulations Roxaneh!

CLUB ACTIVITIES

The Molecular and Cellular Biology Club hosted a movie night on 3 April 2008 in the Ecotank.

The Molecular and Cellular Biology Club celebrated its fifth anniversary on 16 April 2008 by hosting a lunch for the department.

The BGSA and the FCE-LTER student organizations hosted an end-of-the-year BBQ at Crandon park on 27 April 2008.

The BGSA held elections. The officers for the 08-09 academic year are: President: Aaron Miller (Major Advisor: Laurie Richardson), Vice President: Bryan Dewsbury (Major Advisor: Jim Fourqurean), Secretary: Kristin Kuehl (Major Advisor: Laurie Richardson), and Treasurer: Rebecca Bernard (Major Advisor: Jim Fourqurean). Congratulations to all and thanks to those who served during the 07-08 year.

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