Three students at Washington University in St. Louis have received the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, a prestigious award that honors students who conduct research in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering. WashU winners were among the 500 scholars selected among an applicant pool of some 5,000 college sophomores and juniors.
Angel Lu received the 2023 Florence Moog Scholarship for her diverse interests in biology and music.
The week before classes began, my Pathfinders cohort received an email to meet at Schnuck Pavilion. Stan Braude, a teaching professor of biology and the leader of the first Pathfinder course, arrived with a bag full of snacks — something I would later learn is pretty common for him. He told the 12 of us to look around the circle we had formed, at the faces that would become incredibly familiar to us over the next four years. He said the cohort would develop into a little family. At that time, however, I was busy trying to figure out how to memorize everyone’s names.
Elizabeth Carlen and two of her undergraduate researchers work to bring science outside the walls of WashU.
PEMRAP’s mission is to provide undergraduate students an opportunity to witness the clinical aspects of medicine in a high-volume pediatric emergency room while also providing insights and knowledge of clinical research that can inspire the next generation of physician scientists, something Hoganson refers to as a “virtuous cycle”.
A popular Ampersand program is preparing the physicians of the future to understand the scientific and social aspects of cancer.
WashU engineers visited Kennedy Space Center to report research progress and understand testing capabilities for alternative feedstocks in biomanufacturing
Whether you aspire to practice medicine, run a research lab, affect conservation policy, design new pharmaceuticals, or launch a start-up, research can be a key, formative stepping-stone along your journey.
“I like teaching undergraduate students because I enjoyed interacting with my professors when I was an undergrad. When I started getting familiar and interacting with a professor, I could see myself in them, and this helped shape my future career interest."
Harsh Moolani founded Create Circles as an undergrad. The nonprofit that pairs older adults with college students is now a national organization with some 700 volunteers in 33 states.
Ephraim Oyetunji discusses his path to WashU, his experiences in the lab, and why he’s passionate about tackling some of medicine’s biggest mysteries.
Award from the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation honors “exceptionally talented” undergrads.
Miriam Silberman, a senior majoring in Microbiology, with minors in Anthropology and Psychological and Brain Sciences, is the inaugural winner of the Garland Allen Prize in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Biological Sciences.
Abt completed research in the Moron-Concepcion Lab, culminating in his thesis Investigating the sex-specific effects of pain on mesolimbic circuitry during fentanyl self-administration using in vivo wireless fiber photometry. He was nominated by his Bio 500 independent research mentor Jose Moron-Concepcion, Henry E Mallinckrodt Professor of Anesthesiology.
This year, there are two winners from the School of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis: Larissa Rays Wahba, a senior majoring in Neuroscience and Latin American Studies, and Xiyun Zhang, a senior majoring in Neuroscience and Psychological and Brain Sciences.
This year, there are two winners from the School of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis: Maya Tsingos, a senior majoring in Microbiology, with minors in Medical Humanities and Chinese Language and Culture, and Sindhuri Ivaturi, a senior majoring in Biochemistry and Anthropology: Global Health and Environment, with a minor in Music.
During poster sessions, over 200 undergraduates explained the results of their research with fellow students and researchers in the Washington University community. A diverse range of research was displayed, situated largely within the social and natural sciences.
Senior Miriam Silberman sat down for an interview with Clara Richards, Co-Editor-in-Chief, on Monday, April 10. Silberman is from the suburbs of Chicago and is pursuing a major in microbiology, she recently ended her tenure as the president of Student Union (SU). During the conversation Silberman reflected on her experience as SU president and what she was able to accomplish over the last year. This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
Shelei Pan, who is majoring in biology, on the neuroscience track, and Spanish in Arts & Sciences, plans to research cerebrospinal fluid handling in the developing brain to better understand and develop treatments for pediatric hydrocephalus. Pan is a research assistant in the lab of Jennifer Strahle, MD, an associate professor of neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery and pediatrics at the School of Medicine. Pan published research that characterized cerebrospinal fluid circulation to specific functional areas of the neonatal brain and spinal cord. Pan also launched Made to Model, which designs clothes for children with disabilities.
Biologist Jonathan Losos, the William H. Danforth Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and director of the Living Earth Collaborative, is teaching a new course at WashU that takes advantage of this interest, encouraging biology majors to get to know one of the most popular pets in America. “I think one of the appeals to people of having a cat is that it’s your own little piece of the wild,” Losos said. “You’ve got a mini-lion in your house. Cats are not that much changed from their wild ancestors.”
Finding a way to close the carbon cycle is crucial in our steps towards a greener planet; researchers believe that filtering out petroleum and utilizing other options like biofuels can help reduce our CO2 emissions
Stella Rusel was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. She moved to Bangkok, Thailand at age 23, where she lived and worked for 9 years, before joining the staff in WashU’s Biology Department.
This is an eBook by two amazing female undergrads working in the Bose Lab, Miriam Silberman and Cindy Chao
Junior John Jachimiak says lower-income students bring important experiences and perspectives to Washington University. He serves as president of the university QuestBridge chapter and co-president of Heart for the Unhoused, which provides health screenings and other services.
The revamped office will help students across academic disciplines gain research experience and build relationships with faculty mentors.
Two WashU undergrad bio majors wrote: Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) describes the approach to convert CO2 to various carbon compounds via the electrochemical interactions of electrographic biocatalysts and an electrode. Here, we discuss the role of synthetic biology in MES
Seniors Sam Norwitz and Ephraim Oyetunji at Washington University in St. Louis were finalists for the Rhodes Scholarship, one of the world’s most prestigious academic honors, to study at the University of Oxford in England.
Emily Konkus is a senior athlete on Washington University’s women’s cross country team. Konkus serves as one of the co-captains of the team, and she was the highest-place finisher for the team at the UAA Championships — one of many collegiate career highlights for the athlete. Konkus gave Student Life insight into the team culture that motivates her to attend every 6:30 a.m. practice, advice she has for younger student-athletes, and her successful UAA weekend competition.
The new project will create state-of-the-art instructional labs for students and new spaces for faculty research in the Department of Biology.
The Vagelos Fellowship is a brand-new program, born of a gift intended to support both the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences (DBBS) graduate programs and undergraduate research at Washington University in St. Louis. The undergrad portion consists of a paid summer research experience with faculty from the Medical School, preceded by a 2-credit course offered in spring semester, which will expose students to experts in the field and help prepare them for their own research experience.
The ENDURE Program wrapped up summer 2022 with a symposium on August 4 in the Eric P. Newman Education Center at Washington University in St. Louis. The conference showcased the work of the 14 undergraduate scholars who pursued cutting-edge questions in neuroscience for 10 weeks over the summer.
The study was led by Jacqueline Reu, who graduated from Washington University in 2019 with a double major in environmental biology and in physics in Arts & Sciences, as part of her honors thesis in biology. Reu was mentored by Christopher P. Catano, a PhD graduate of Washington University who is now a postdoctoral research associate at Michigan State University, and Jonathan A. Myers, associate professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University.
“Next year I will be working at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago as a clinical research coordinator while applying to medical school with plans to start in 2023.”
Gabriella (Gaby) Smith is majoring in biology in Arts & Sciences. She serves as a peer leader of the Biotech Explorers Pathway program in Arts & Sciences. She has served as a speaker and senator on the Student Union Senate, performs clinical research through the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Research Associates Program and has served as an undergraduate student representative to the university’s Board of Trustees.
Biology majors Gaby Smith, and Rohith and Akhil Kesaraju are featured in Class Acts, class of 2022
Kayla Wallace, a senior majoring in environmental biology, with a minor in anthropology, in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been awarded the 2022 Spector Prize.
Ethan Lowder, a December 2021 graduate who majored in the biochemistry track of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been awarded the 2022 Ralph S. Quatrano Prize.
ArtSci undergraduate Sophia Dutton, double major in biology neuroscience track and Japanese, also President of Heart for the Unhoused, wins the Gerry and Bob Virgil Ethic of Service Award, an annual Gephardt Institute award recognizing a select group of WashU community members who exemplify a character of service and engagement with the St. Louis region.
Gaby Smith, a biochemistry track major in the School of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and a member of the Class of 2022, received the 2022 Harriet K. Switzer Leadership Award from the Women’s Society of Washington University. The award recognizes outstanding graduating senior women who have made a significant contribution to WashU during their undergraduate years and have demonstrated exceptional potential for future leadership.
Arts & Sciences researchers recently won grants and honors from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Association for Psychological Science.
May is one of seven members of the Washington University community who were honored April 19 at the Gerry and Bob Virgil Ethic of Service Awards, sponsored by the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement. Now in their 19th year, the awards celebrate leaders who are devoted to improving the St. Louis region. Among the honorees is Sophia Dutton, a junior studying cognitive neuroscience in Arts & Sciences, serves as co-president of Heart for the Unhoused, which works to increase health-care access for unhoused St. Louisans.
The Biotech Explorers Pathway (BEP), an Ampersand first-year program, engages students with the science of biotechnology and the process of moving discoveries from the lab into the real world. Senior biochemistry major Gaby Smith describes how BEP’s hands-on, multidisciplinary approach shaped her time as an undergraduate and her career aspirations.
While the majority of students presenting at the Undergraduate Research Symposium have conducted independent faculty-mentored research, many still are participating due to the creativity of the Biology Department’s instructors. Bringing the symposium into the classroom encourages students to improve their presentation skills and helps prepare them for an important aspect of their scientific careers: to effectively communicate their research and engage a wide audience of people.
Congratulations to biology majors Ephraim Oyetunji and Madhav Subramanian!
This course gets you interested in its discussions in a way that transcends academic discipline. Each expert speaker was willing to answer additional questions outside of the class, and I am happy to have built relationships with great mentors and minds. The course is a unique opportunity to dive deep on essential topics with peers and instructors that genuinely care for the material and want to see you succeed.
The Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) program encourages undergraduate students and recent graduates to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers by providing research experiences at the Department of Energy (DOE) laboratories. Selected students participate as interns appointed at one of 17 participating DOE laboratories/facilities. They perform research, under the guidance of laboratory staff scientists or engineers, on projects supporting the DOE mission.
Janet Goins joins the Department of Biology in a new hybrid position. She will be teaching and mentoring while also coordinating undergraduate research experiences. In her last role, she served as associate director of Undergraduate Research Center-Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Arts & Sciences undergraduate students Will Leidig and Mishka Narasimha are co-hosts of “Master Minds,” a student-led science and medicine podcast that interviews faculty members about groundbreaking research. Recent guests include Ray Arvidson, Michael Kinch and Rebecca Messbarger.
Recent Washington University in St. Louis graduate Gabbie Cesarone was named the 2021 D3soccer.com Defender of the Year and also received a First Team All-America nod.
Margaret Dresselhuys, a WashU sophomore, is not a science major. But her love for biology in middle and high school motivates her to continue learning about science. It also influenced her decision to enroll in Professor Heather Barton’s Biology in the News course last academic school year. The course, designed for non-science majors and offered in the spring semester, grabbles with the difficult question: how do we talk about biology with the general public?
Irene Antony, a neuroscience major in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, won the Trainee Professional Development Award (TPDA) from the Society for Neuroscience (SfN).
Miriam Silberman, a microbiology major in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, won a Promega D.O.O.R.S. (Diversification of Our Research Scientists) scholarship.
Merrin Foltz investigates fruit fly genes related to mating patterns and pheromone detection.
Alumna and future physician Eka Jose has been named a top 30 finalist for NCAA Woman of the Year, an elite honor for athletes who have demonstrated excellence in academics, athletics, service and leadership.
“EST was the first organization I applied to and the first one I got rejected from. So it was definitely shocking,” said Tayal, who is set to graduate in December with a degree in biology from Arts & Sciences. “But I used it as motivation to look at other organizations, which is how I found my dance team, WashU Chaahat.”
Bear Studios is an undergrad-run organization started by students from Washington University in St. Louis in 2014. The organization connects undergrads from different areas of study including STEM fields, finance, design, and more with opportunities to freelance and provide startups and established businesses with strategy, design and technology solutions.
WUSTL ENDURE partners with groups across WashU and local institutions to improve diversity in the neuroscience field.
Antony’s project is based on the identification of genomic variants that likely contribute to autism. As part of her involvement with the Astronaut Scholars Foundation, she will present her research at the Astronaut Scholar Technical Conference during 2021 Innovators Week in Orlando, Florida.
ENDURE students come from diverse backgrounds, including underserved minority groups and the LGBTQ+ community. Lori takes great pride in helping ENDURE students have the most comfortable and positive experience possible. She found that WashU has many resources for educating staff on diversity, equity, and inclusion awareness, and signed herself up for a class about pronoun use.
Biology Major Gaby Smith appointed as undergrad student representative to WashU Board of Trustees.
Tyson Research Center’s summer programs welcome local students into hands-on environmental research, giving them real scientific experience, a chance to explore their interests, and a community to call home.
In his nomination letter, Joseph Jez, Spencer T. Olin Professor of Biology and Department Chair, wrote: “Irene is a truly rare student with intellectual depth and achievement across multiple areas of Arts & Science, including biology, medicine, history, humanities, and religion. Interestingly, the mix of her faith and dedication to science led her to explore the relationship between Renaissance medicine and the Catholic Church. The result of her Medical Humanities capstone project is a concrete demonstration of how Irene combines arts and sciences and lives up to the legacy of Prof. Stalker.”
In his nomination letter, Jez said “Dani's Bio500 project to develop and test the "Precision Patch" was truly distinctive and unique, as well as entirely built on her intellectual contributions. It is Dani's genuinely original approach to both her senior thesis and entire undergraduate education that continually created new directions that distinguishes Dani and makes her an excellent nominee for this prize, which aims to recognize a nominee's creativity. She is an ideal example of a serial academic entrepreneur.”
Ella was nominated by her faculty mentor Malia Gehan, Assistant Member and Principal Investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, who focuses on improving resistance to temperature stress. Her thesis, titled “Assessing Natural Variation in Brachypodium distachyon Responses to Combined Abiotic Stresses” was praised by all who read it for the design of the experiments, the technical excellence with which they were carried out, and the incisiveness of interpretation of the results.
Since his arrival on campus, Tinoco has worked to reduce waste on campus. He introduced dorm-room composting to the South 40 and successfully lobbied the Office of Residential Life to fund the program. Since 2018, the program has diverted 40,430 pounds of compostable waste.
“Out of all the students we have previously worked with, Zi’Onay is exceptional. Her passion for research/medicine and her motivation to apply that toward research makes Zi’Onay more than deserving of this scholarship,” ABmR coordinator Tyler Buckley said.
“The program supports and reflects our continued and shared commitment towards inclusion, equity, and access for all WashU students,” said Aimee Wittman, interim associate vice chancellor for student affairs for career development, by ensuring that students have equitable access to career resources and can pursue career-oriented opportunities without financial limitations.
“Computer science is going to be a huge part of the future of medicine,” said Baral, who most recently used computational biology in the Ding lab at the School of Medicine to determine which protein complex formations can lead to cancer. “By integrating the computational and the experimental, we can ask new questions and really accelerate discovery.”
My time in the Hengen Lab has fundamentally shaped who I am as a student and scientist. My peers and mentors have fostered my drive for scientific inquiry and pushed me to understand how to learn and ask important questions.
For the first time in 24 years of presenting the Switzer Leadership Award to graduating seniors, the group selected three honorees for their commitment to the university through leadership. Debbie Killmer, chair of the society’s leadership committee, presented the award to Gwen Klein, Delanie Ludmir and Anna Vaclavek.
Structural Bioinformatics of Proteins, taught by Senior Lecturer in Biology Craig Smith, gives undergraduate students the opportunity to use cutting-edge bioinformatics tools to evaluate protein structures. It also exposes them to the process of being a scientist.
Congratulations to our biology majors!
When the COVID-19 pandemic left faculty around the country scrambling to provide students with an online research experience, the WashU-founded GEP was uniquely prepared to transition to remote learning.
For both of us, COVID has changed things but we believe that the Kranz lab has adapted well to these challenges. I believe that our openness in communication, adaptation to challenges of zoom, and recognition that COVID has made our personal lives more flexible has greatly added to this success.
My name is Ellie Sapiro and I’m currently a junior double majoring in Biology on the Neuroscience track and Global Health. I have had the privilege of working in the Herzog Lab since the spring of my sophomore year. The Herzog Lab studies biological clocks and different cells, circuits, and molecules that affect circadian rhythms. Biological clocks are intrinsic oscillators that coordinate approximately 24 hour physiological and behavioral rhythms in almost all organisms.
My name is Shayna Rosenbloom and I am a senior majoring in Environmental Biology. For the last year and a half, I have been lucky to work with Dr. Swanne Gordon as part of her eco/evo lab with Dr. Andrés López-Sepulcre.
No matter what your major or field of interest, undergraduate research is a great way to gain skills, make a difference, and fulfill your curiosity. Three seniors in Arts & Sciences share their projects in the humanities and social sciences.
Joe Jez spoke at the Amgen Scholars Summer Science Series about his research and scientific career path and shared his advice for young scientist.
As a collaboration between the Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) Institute for School Partnerships (ISP) and the Synapse Scholars program, the Sheep Brain Dissection was one of the numerous mentorship opportunities Synapse provided to local elementary, middle and high schools in the surrounding St. Louis community.
Andrew Oh was drawn to the Wikipedia assignment even before taking Dr. Joan Strassmann’s class at Washington University in St Louis. “In fact, I signed up for the class because its course listing description talked about how we’ll be writing for Wikipedia,” Andrew tells us in an interview. “No other class on the listing had a description remotely similar, and I was curious as to what exactly we would be writing on. I was excited!”
Nikhil Aggarwal, a senior majoring in the neuroscience track of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been awarded the 2020 Ralph S. Quatrano Prize.
Lily Xu has been awarded the 2020 Harrison D. Stalker Award from the Department of Biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.
Manasvi Verma, a senior majoring in biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been awarded the 2020 Spector Prize.
Since spring semester of my sophomore year, I have had the privilege of working in Dr. Haswell’s lab. Her lab studies the ways in which plants respond to mechanical stimuli.
This fall, you can take advantage of an opportunity to apply what you learn in the classroom to real life current events. Bio 4492: Infectious Diseases: History, Pathology, and Prevention, an upper level, writing intensive class, will be modified in fall 2020 to focus on pandemic disease in general and SARS-CoV-2 in particular.
In the first week of March, seniors enrolled in Microbiology Lab entered the laboratory in Rebstock Hall. They had to attend a few more classes before they could leave for their well-deserved spring breaks. Maggie Schlarman, who teaches Microbiology Lab, had them continue experiments that would incubate over the break. In a week and a half, they would return to campus and analyze the results. But they would never return.
Congratulations to our biology undergrad winners of the Goldwater Scholarship!
The plan was set. Washington University in St. Louis students Shelly Gupta and Rory Mather would launch their video campaign, “WashU Between the Lines,” after spring break. They hoped the series — deeply personal stories of uncertainty and hope, failure and resilience — would encourage students to know each other, as we say at Washington University, by name and by story. And not just the stories posted on Instagram or Facebook.
Last week, Chancellor Andrew D. Martin announced that the next dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences will be Feng Sheng Hu, the Harry E. Preble Dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Arts & Sciences staff have been essential to moving classes online in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, often embracing new roles and working across units to build training modules and support systems for faculty who are now teaching remotely.
On March 4, 2020, members of the Department of Biology came together to share their stories, feelings, and concerns surrounding the spread of SARS-CoV-2 as well as the spread of fear, racism, and xenophobia related to COVID-19 disease.
Six Arts & Sciences students shared how they found and fell in love with their chosen areas of study.
Are you registered to vote? The presidential primaries are happening on 3/10/20. The deadline to register is Wednesday, February 12, 2020. Not sure how to register? No problem! Wustl.turbovote.org will guide you through the process whether you are registering in your home state, here, or you need an absentee ballot because of spring break.
I took Dr. Strassmann’s Behavioral Ecology class last semester, during the fall. Among other assignments and activities, the class is structured on writing Wikipedia articles for a selected category of animals. We work to select, research, and write about species that have incomplete or nonexistent Wiki entries. This year, we worked on Diptera (aka flies).
Michael was attracted to Washington University because of its bright students, its superb biology department, and its close ties to other regional research institutions. During his time studying at Yale, he learned about the Missouri Botanical Garden, a global leader in botanical research and systematics, and the Living Earth Collaborative at Wash U, a new consortium that fosters collaborations between St. Louis institutions to research issues surrounding biodiversity. Michael joined the department last fall and is setting up his lab. His group is interested in learning how evolutionary processes behave and how Earth's biodiversity has changed over time.
My time in the Budge Lab has been incredibly transformative and has sparked a love for research and scientific inquiry. The Bio500 research mentors are truly invested in the success of their students and create a welcoming environment to work in. Independent research gave me the opportunity to take charge of my education and assume a more active role in the scientific community.
The advice was simple and blunt: “Stop stressing out and focus on what you love.” Washington University in St. Louis senior Harsh Moolani was skeptical. As a pre-med student, Moolani believed he needed to pack his resume with clubs, activities and academic accolades. Then he considered the source: a remarkable woman with a successful career, good friends — and a few months to live. The two had become close at a local hospice, where Moolani was a volunteer and she was dying of Parkinson’s disease.
“Science has its own culture, language and unspoken norms that are hard to understand and navigate. When you do not understand that culture, it makes the already difficult journey to becoming a scientist harder. I did not want other students to have that difficulty or to have it dissuade them from pursuing a scientific career. As the ENDURE program coordinator, my goal is to help students both understand scientific concepts and culture, while encouraging them to change it to reflect all scientists” (Diana José-Edwards, WUSTL ENDURE Program Coordinator).
As a member of the science communication team led by Suzanne Loui, lecturer in environmental studies, recent graduate Christian Fogerty and I developed projects to identify methods to best communicate the research happening at Tyson. Both of us shadowed a different research team in order to document and express the human elements that make their scientific work possible. I had the privilege of embedding with the plant disease team, led by Rachel Penczykowski, assistant professor of biology. I worked in the field with the team every day for two weeks while taking notes and capturing photos and video footage.
Stan Braude, professor of the practice of biology, was awarded the Arts & Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award. Braude is ever deserving of this award – an award he is receiving because he was nominated by numerous students. The impact he has had on the students he has taught and mentored over the years is impossible to measure. Read some of their stories.
Tyson Research Center, Washington University’s environmental research station, is 20 miles west of the Danforth Campus. Past a monitored steel gate and over a mile through the woods, that’s where Kayla Mans, a rising junior majoring in environmental policy in Arts & Sciences, worked this summer to strengthen the science communications skills of St. Louis-area high school students. Mans chose the major because she likes writing and getting involved in environmental issues. She spent her days at Tyson teaching in the Tyson Environmental Research Fellowships (TERF) program, which places high school students as apprentices in university-based environmental biology research.
Three Washington University in St. Louis students have received the prestigious Barry Goldwater Scholarship, which honors students who conduct research in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering. Maya Samuels-Fair, a biology major in Arts & Sciences, with an emphasis on ecology and evolution, is a Nemerov Scholar and plans to conduct research across ecosystems, curate a field museum collection and write about conservation for popular audiences.
High school student Aiyana Evers and Wash U undergrad Grace Choi will join the Bose Lab this summer for research funded by the US Army.
Mather is majoring in biology, in the neuroscience track, in Arts & Sciences, with a minor in electrical engineering. His main research interests are systems neuroscience, brain dynamics and control, and signal processing. Mather conducted his thesis work, titled “Understanding the Breadth and Genetics of the Dictyostelium-Burkholderia Symbiosis,” under the direction of Joan Strassmann, the Charles Rebstock Professor of Biology. Outside of the laboratory, Mather was active as a contributing reporter for Washington University’s Student Life newspaper. He served as vice president of public relations and public relations team manager for the Washington University Student Union.
Hsu’s thesis was titled “Astrocytic Degeneration in Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.” Reviewers praised his work for the design of the experiments, the technical excellence with which they were carried out and the incisiveness of Hsu’s interpretation of results.
Chin’s research identifying the genetic networks that regulate complex social decision-making behaviors in insects stood out among this year’s nominees, evaluators said, in part because it yielded unexpected results. Her thesis was titled “The contribution of Williams Syndrome-related genes to Drosophila social behaviors uncovers an evolutionarily conserved genetic toolkit underlying animal sociality.”
Wang, who is majoring in both biology-neuroscience and in international and area studies, both in Arts & Sciences, serves as executive director for the Washington University Political Review, working to encourage civic engagement on campus. She worked with the Assembly Series to plan an event focused on journalistic truth in the digital age. Additionally, she works as the health clinic chair for Partners in East St. Louis, a campus service organization that provides volunteer support to East St. Louis institutions.
Adaptation to local environments is critically important for a plant’s ability to survive in a variety of ecological settings and persist in the face of climate change. The genetic and physiological mechanisms that regulate these processes, however, are not well known. In the Olsen Lab, we aim to understand the genetic basis of evolution in plants. We are specifically interested in understanding how genetic variation within a species is shaped by natural selection, population history, and other various evolutionary forces.
My work in the Chheda lab as a Bio500 independent research student has given me a fantastic opportunity to explore my interests at the intersection of epigenetics and cancer biology. Additionally, the ability to conduct independent research with the exceptional support which my PI (Dr. Chheda) and bench mentor (Dr. Galdieri) provide has enabled me to learn new techniques and think critically about experimental design and analysis. The hands-on application and extension of classroom concepts in a lab setting has been extremely valuable to my learning process. Through my research experiences, I have learned a great deal about translational research and am now considering a career as a physician-scientist.
Though I originally arrived at WashU set on attending medical school, my experience in the Kummer lab through Bio 500 and the interactions with my professors and valued mentors have led me to reconsider. I am grateful to have realized that research is a stimulating process of continual growth that I want to pursue as a career, and I am hopeful for the findings that our generation of neuroscientists will discover about the complex organ that makes us human.
In 2017, it was estimated that nearly 87,000 people across the nation are in some form of solitary confinement. This becomes a significant problem upon realizing that not only do prolonged stays in solitary confinement cause significant neurological issues, but Black and Brown persons are placed in these conditions at alarmingly disproportionate rates across the United States in comparison to white inmates.
"We must encourage interest in science and math subjects without surprise or foreboding and empower young girls to pursue these interests in multiple facets of their academic and extracurricular lives. If we can connect young girls’ aptitude for STEM subjects to their personal ability to succeed in these fields in the future and share our hope to increase numbers of women in STEM, they will hear how much their talents are needed."
In the Rentschler lab, we aim to address heart disease by looking at how developmental pathways and gene regulation networks are associated with various heart diseases. We are specifically interested in how alterations of genes during development or in the adult can lead to arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia.
As Tyson Humanities Fellows, Kit Lord and Hayley Huntley spent three months at the university's environmental field station, embedding with the Tyson community to explore the human side of science. After conducting hundreds of hours of interviews, the fellows, led by environmental humanities lecturer Suzanne Loui, profiled the people who make Tyson a thriving research ecosystem. Here, Lord details their collaborative interview project, Humans of Tyson.
I have been working in Dr. Elgin’s lab for the past two and a half years to analyze the characteristics of an unusual chromosome in Drosophila (fruit flies). The fourth chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster is unusual because this tiny chromosome is almost entirely heterochromatic yet contains about 80 protein-coding genes. In the Elgin lab, we use a combination of DNA manipulation experiments done in the wet lab and bioinformatic analyses done on the computer to identify factors that enable the expression of fourth chromosome genes within a mostly heterochromatic domain.
Joel Perlmutter’s lab has many different projects, most of which are focused on the development of new PET radiotracers for Parkinson disease. My project in the lab is to study a non-human primate model of Parkinson disease, and the effects of a new drug, Carboxyfullerene (C3), on neurotransmitter levels and dopaminergic cells in different regions of the brain.
Amgen Foundation Deepens Commitment To Aspiring Scientists Worldwide By Expanding Amgen Scholars Program. Through a new $21 Million, Four-Year Investment, Amgen Scholars Program to Reach Additional 1,500 Undergraduates. Nearly 4,000 Undergraduates From More Than 700 Colleges and Universities Have Participated to Date. Alumni Pursuing Advanced Scientific Degrees and Careers Across the U.S. and Globe
Joseph Jez began his work with the Biology Department ten years ago as an assistant professor. He is now Professor of Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and as of July 1, 2018 the Biology Department Chair. We sat down to talk about the changes he’s witnessed over the last decade as well as what he would like to see in the future.
"I am motivated to conduct my research not only because I find it personally interesting, but because it grants me the privilege to contribute to the greater scientific community."
Li also collaborated with Erik Herzog, professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University who studies the cellular and molecular basis of circadian rhythms in mammals
ENDURE fosters community in undergraduate research
Emily Haussler has been awarded the 2018 Harrison D. Stalker Award from the Department of Biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.
Alex Chen and Yixi Wang, seniors majoring in biology in Arts & Sciences, have been awarded the 2018 Ralph S. Quatrano Prize.
This year’s recipient is Jordan Shaker. His thesis, titled “Endogenous Opioidergic Circuits Involved in Thermoregulation,” won praise for the experiments’ design, the technical excellence with which they were carried out and Shaker’s incisive interpretation of results.
Maya Chan is third-year undergraduate student fulfilling a Biology Major and Anthropology Minor. Last fall semester, she studied abroad in Shanghai, China through the Global MedPrep Scholars Program.
Read about Jonathan's background and his new collaboration with MOBOT and the STL Zoo.
Congratulations to our biology majors who will be recognized at the annual James E. McLeod Honors and Awards Ceremony as 2018 Ralph Bunche Scholars.
Three years after launching the Biotech Explorers Pathway, a unique opportunity for first-year and sophomore students, biology professor Joe Jez shares how the program started and some of what its students have accomplished so far.
Explore our department's BIOrhythms and Biologue newsletters.