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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.

It’s okay to fail. It’s okay to not know what you are doing. Be open to new opportunities. Throw yourself 100% into the things that excite you. These are things that Assistant Professor Jennifer Wang wants to share with undergrads.

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.

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.

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.

“I’m really interested in how people learn, so I focus on inquiry-based learning processes. I discovered that I absolutely love teaching when I started teaching ecology at University College (WashU’s School of Continuing & Professional Studies). I felt like I could make a large impact by bringing my research experience into teaching others, especially teaching teachers who will go on to share what they have learned with their students.”

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.”

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.

Corey Westfall talks about his background, research and teaching at WashU

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.

Washington University in St. Louis sophomores Sam Ko and Dev Mukundan, both environmental biology majors, earned full scholarships to attend the SEEDS Leadership Meeting this month at the Arizona Institute for Resilient Environments & Societies at the University of Arizona.

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.

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 Mallott Lab has two major goals. Once the impact of environmental pollutants is documented, the next step is to look and see if there are any beneficial exposures to mitigate the effects of environmental pollutants, so scientists can think about some interventions. Second, if they can show a known negative health impact at a low rate of exposure to environmental pollutants in soil and water, scientists can get state regulatory agencies to make stricter regulations, which helps everyone in the long run.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

“You must keep in mind that no individual is going to stop climate change. It takes a group effort. If everybody does their part, it makes a huge difference. So be satisfied that you're a cog in a very important wheel,” Schaal advised.

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.

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.

“I get to work with students every day, helping them carve out their path here in college. I get excited when they get excited, and I get to share some of my experiences. I felt like my calling was best served in the classroom and in this relationship building mode that I have as a dean, advisor and classroom instructor. I hope I can impact and provide a little bit of guiding light for their future trajectory,” Tony said.

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.

Biology Major Gaby Smith appointed as undergrad student representative to WashU Board of Trustees.

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.

Jason Weber is a professor at WashU School of Medicine, specializing in oncology. The goal of his laboratory is to understand the basic mechanisms behind tumor cell growth and proliferation. He has a broad background in molecular and cellular biology with an emphasis on tumor cell biology. He has recently expanded his research to understand the processes of cell growth signaling, ribosome biogenesis and mRNA translation in breast cancer.

Congratulations to our biology majors!

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.

I spend a lot of time thinking about our relationships with each other, as people, and our relationship with our environment. I am passionate about systems change, and internal institutional transformation, and my community organizing and transformation values end up creeping in to most things I do, whether it’s my work inside my sphere of influence at WashU or my neighborhood community at home.

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.

López-Sepulcre is interested in a broad set of questions that fall under the umbrella of eco-evolutionary theory: the idea that organisms not only evolve in response to their environment, but also affect their environment through those adaptations, creating a feedback between what we call ecological and evolutionary processes. To study this, he uses Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) as a model system. His research uses a combination of long and short-term experiments in the wild, mesocosm and laboratory experiments, and statistical modeling. He is currently working with Assistant Professor Swanne Gordon on building a mesocosm stream at Tyson Research Center as an extension of their collective labs.

Erik Herzog grew up in the woods near Madison, Wisconsin. He studied Biology and Spanish as an undergraduate at Duke University and Neuroscience as a graduate student with Prof. Robert Barlow at Syracuse University, followed by postdoctoral research with Prof. Gene Block at the University of Virginia. His interest in chronobiology stems from early work as an undergrad at the Duke Marine Lab.

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.

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.

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).

Swanne Gordon, assistant professor of biology, talks about her background, career challenges and passionate belief in embracing diversity and broadening horizons. "As a minority in STEM it is easy to feel that you don’t belong in academia because there are rarely people that look like you in positions of power in it, or really in any positions at all. The overt racism my father went through as a black scientist in North America in the 70’s has now given way to more covert racism (although my experiences show me the other definitely still exists); where people in academia (students and staff) devalue your merits, question your presence even in spite of your CV, limit your promotions, cite and collaborate with you less, etc. It is imperative that we fight against and fix these issues. The importance of this cannot be overstated because as I always say and wholeheartedly believe, only when the broad diversity of humanity is fairly represented, can science truly appeal to our society as a universal knowledge."

Dr. Kunkel always knew she wanted work in some sort of biological field, but it was never medicine, never human medicine at least. She credits her various courses and professors at UC Davis for exposing her to different areas of biology and helping her discover that she wanted to do research as a career. After her postdoc, she and her husband, also a biologist, Michael Nonet started looking for permanent positions, hoping to end up at the same university. Washington University provided such an opportunity, and offered them both assistant professor positions. They joined the faculty here in spring of 1994, Dr. Nonet in the Department of Neuroscience (then it was the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology) at the med school and she in the Biology Department on the Danforth campus.

April Bednarski grew up in Iowa, completing her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA. Her parents both grew up on farms in Iowa, a long family tradition, but she was the first person in her family to enter a field of science. Her inspiration for scientific study began with the challenging and engaging classes offered by her middle/high school teacher Larry Zach. Though he retired from teaching, Zach now shares his passion for naturalism and conservation through art. He is a famous wildlife artist, known for his extremely realistic paintings.

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.

Heather Barton grew up in Meadville, a tiny town in western Pennsylvania. She completed her undergrad work at Grove City College near her hometown. Her family, including her parents and four sisters, lived a quiet country lifestyle. She spent many hours as a child playing outside in the dirt, in streams and in the woods. Nature was a big part of her life from a very young age and her desire to figure out how things work in nature was a driving force behind her interest in biology.

How does sensory processing lend itself to life as we know it? If our experiences materialize due to sensory transduction, do these processes inspire our entire perspective? These questions sparked Mary Lambo’s interest in neuroscience and eventually motivated her research in neural plasticity and sensory processing. As new teaching faculty at Wash U, Mary now guides students through fundamental neuroscience concepts and challenges them to discover their own motivating questions.

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.

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."