Sophie Hansen received her first liver transplant as a teenager, an experience that drives her passion for medical research and patient care. Now a senior in the School of Biological Sciences, Hansen navigates the challenges that come with having a chronic illness as a college student. National Donor Day on Feb. 14 recognizes the impact of […]
Read MoreJanuary 29, 2025 Above: Megan Duval in the Longino lab, School of Biological Sciences “Through research, I’ve been able to find a community at the U, build relationships with mentors, learn valuable research skills and I’ve worked with some really amazing ants in some really cool places! I first became interested in ants when I […]
Read More2024 GSA Awards Seminar Series. Parental chromosomes separate during meiosis and segregate into sex cells, like sperm or egg, transferring genetic information to the next generation. For successful inheritance to occur, chromosomes must communicate with each other to ensure they remain intact throughout the process. Ofer Rog, who is Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at […]
Read MoreJanuary 23, 2025 Above: William Anderegg In his last week in office, President Biden awarded nearly 400 scientists and engineers the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers early in their careers. William Anderegg, professor of biology and director of […]
Read MoreJanuary 13, 2025 Above: Luiza Aparecido Luiza Aparecido is a new assistant professor in the School of Biological Sciences and an expert in plant ecophysiology, focusing on how plants respond to a changing climate. Born and raised in the São Paulo State in Brazil, her journey to the University of Utah is rooted in her […]
Read MoreJanuary 13, 2025 Above: New DWR Director Riley Peck Utah Department of Natural Resources Executive Director Joel Ferry named Riley Peck as the new director for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, effective Monday, Jan. 13. A resident of Eagle Mountain, Utah County, Peck started working for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources in 2006 […]
Read MoreJanuary 9, 2025 Above: A woodrat (N. lepida) between two food staples; juniper (left, ancestral diet) and creosote bush (right, new diet for the species). Woodrats are one of the only animals that can tolerate large quantities of creosote, a shrub with leaves coated in a chemical cocktail of poisonous resin. The critter’s constitution has […]
Read MoreJanuary 9, 2025 Above: Trap camera photo of a coyote recorded in the Wasatch Mountains in October 2019. Credit: Austin Green. Counterintuitive findings are based on images from hundreds of trap cameras deployed in nationwide campaign to document wildlife. Coyote populations across the United States are influenced by a number of factors, but surprisingly their […]
Read MoreIn October, Paul Keim, one of the longest-serving postdoctoral researchers in the lab run by the late K. Gordon Lark, was tapped to present the annual Lark Lecture at the School of Biological Sciences Science Retreat.One of this year’s distinguished alumni awardees, Keim was a natural pick for the distinction, not only because of his […]
Read MoreThe average American spends about 90,000 hours working, so before you hit that treadmill remember: your undergraduate career is the perfect time to take risks and explore your options! Whether you’re a freshman or an experienced biology student, getting involved in biology and finding your niche in science at the U can seem daunting. In […]
Read MoreOur DNA has now been posted on the college website here and the full screen ISSUU link is available here. This issue features articles about our new faculty, Eleinis Avila-Lovers, Nicholas Vierra and uiza Aparecido. Outstanding research by the Karasov, Werner, Ehleringer, Dale, Gagnon and Clayton/Bush labs, student profiles and other exciting milestones.
Read MoreTalia Backman – Ph.D. student, School of Biological Sciences, shares a micrograph of tailocins. From multicellular organisms, like us humans, to single-cell bacteria, living things are subject to attack by viruses. Plants, animals and even bacteria have evolved strategies to combat pathogens, including viruses that can threaten health and life. Talia Backman, a University of Utah […]
Read MoreNovember 18, 2024 Above: Ella Bleak Ella Bleak’s journey as a self-proclaimed science nerd started at a young age. Her inner nerd was fostered by high school chemistry and biology teachers, and having a professor in developmental biology with a PhD from the U as a neighbor didn’t hurt, either. That led her to discover ACCESS […]
Read MoreCalifornia’s Caldor Fire burned more than 220,000 acres in the Sierra Nevada in 2021, destroying more than 1,000 structures. Photo by Acacia England, U.S. Forest Service. U biologist Jon Wang, with UC Irvine colleagues, uses satellite imagery to document the growing destructiveness of Western wildfires since 1980. Wildfires continue to damage California’s forests as human-driven […]
Read MoreSmall choices can make a big impact this holiday season, starting with your Christmas tree! As Douglas firs and white pines appeared in lots around Salt Lake City, Natalie Vickers, a junior pre-occupational therapy major and video intern at the School of Biological Sciences, got curious—how does the tree-trimming tradition fit into a changing climate? […]
Read MoreFinding Success as a Transfer Student: Support Systems and Determination “I am a transfer student from Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) where I received my Associate of Science in Pre-Health Sciences. It was much easier for me to get involved in U of U campus life than I had anticipated — and it’s been so […]
Read MoreUniversity of Utah SACNAS cohort in Puerto Rico. Left to Right: Benning Lozada, Palepoi Gilmore, Parker Guzman, Lorelei Sole, Nayma Hernandez, Laura Rupert, Chelsea Bordon, James “Jim” Ackerman (University of Puerto Rico Campus Río Piedras) Bottom: Rodolfo Probst and Felis catus. Not pictured: Fatima Serratos. Photo credit: Luz. An undergraduate extension of the University of Utah chapter of the Society for the […]
Read MoreSeptember 25, 2024 Above: Eleinis Ávila-Lovera Like all living things, plants have to respond and adapt to various stressors in their environment. But unlike most living things, plants must cope with these issues while being completely immobile. This stalwart resilience fascinated Eleinis Ávila-Lovera in her undergraduate years, an interest that has guided her entire educational journey as a […]
Read MoreSeptember 17, 2024 As Utah’s Great Salt Lake shrinks, exposing more of its playa, concerns grow about the dust the dry lakebed emits. But scientists lack the data to fully understand what pollutants are present in these airborne sediments. Researchers from the University of Utah, including atmospheric scientist Kevin Perry and biologist Michael Werner, are […]
Read MoreAbove: Microbiolites at Bridger Bay on the northwest corner of Antelope Island. Credit: Utah Geological Survey. Biologists Jody Reimer and Michael Werner are part of a 1U4U team that study microbiolites. Six College of Science faculty members are members of winning teams awarded seed grants of up to $50,000 as part of the 1U4U Seed […]
Read More“Innovation in biotechnology is touching on every aspect of our lives, from climate change and agriculture to health and wellness,” Fred Adler, Professor of Mathematics and Biology, Director School of Biological Sciences. Chemistry and biological sciences, which educate a significant number of students that join the biotech and life science sectors, are the top-ranked programs […]
Read MoreSeptember 3, 2024 Above: Colin Dale, 2012 “We’re looking at how deterministic the process of evolution is,” biologist Colin Dale says. “We’ve leveraged that question in this beautiful system, where we’ve got samples that have evolved under near identical conditions in nature.” At the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Utah, the Dale […]
Read MoreSeptember 3, 2024 “Dream big and take the initiative to put yourself out there. If you’re hesitant or afraid of your goals, that’s okay. Your goals should be big, they should be scary, my goals certainly terrify at times.” Nathan is an undergraduate student double majoring in biochemistry and biology, and he plans to pursue […]
Read MoreAnts are famous for their regimented and complex social behaviors. In the tropics, they are also famous for forming mutualisms with plants. Certain species of trees have conspicuous hollow swellings that house ants, often feeding the ants with specialized ant food. In return, the ants are pugnacious bodyguards, swarming out to aggressively defend the plant […]
Read MoreJuly 18, 2024 Around 1989 an energy company was trying to see if they could plant trees in Guatemala and then use the absorption of carbon from those trees to offset their emissions of a new coal-fired power plant in the United States. It was the dawn of carbon-off-setting, emitting one place and then […]
Read MoreJuly 17, 2024 Why do the vast majority of cancers arise late in subjects’ lives? A traditional explanation in the development of cancers, known as the somatic theory, is a paradigm focused on mutations in individual cells. In this theory a cascade of approximately six mutational changes in a single cell is the source that […]
Read MoreMay 30, 2024 Above: Photo of the wolf captured by Çağan Şekercioğlu on eastern Turkey’s Kars-Ardahan plateau. Photo Credit: Çağan Şekercioğlu Utah biologists track gray wolves with GPS collars and camera traps as their numbers rebound into populated parts of northeast Turkey. After 14 years of gathering and analyzing field data, an international research team […]
Read MoreJune 13, 2024 Above: Mary Fairbanks BS’23, biology A DNA repair system known as the GO DNA repair system removes oxidized guanine. This helps protect the system from mutating, and while scientists understand how it works, the origin of this mechanism isn’t well understood. That’s where the Horvath Lab comes in and, in particular, Mary Fairbanks BS’23. She and […]
Read MoreBacteriophages, viruses that attack and destroy bacteria, are everywhere in the natural world where they play a vital role in regulating microbe populations in ways that are not yet well understood. New research led by the University of Utah and University College London (UCL) has found that plant bacterial pathogens are able to repurpose elements of […]
Read MoreHave you ever wondered how a cell knows whether it’s supposed to be skin or muscle? Or philosophized about “nature vs. nurture,” that is, how contributions from both genetics and the environment influence physical phenotypes? Epigenetics, a relatively new field in biology, helps explain the mechanistic basis for this phenomenon—and is the field I have […]
Read MoreJune 5, 2024 Above: John “Jack” Longino, in the tropics University of Utah professor Jack Longino’s research mainly takes him to Central America, but on the weekend he collects and examines the diverse ant species around him. Jack Longino likes to spend his weekends close to the ground. He often wears a vest that holds […]
Read MoreBy Hannah Meier , PhD Student, School of Biological Sciences Caption: [from left to right]: Tegan Lengyel, a PhD student in the Anderegg lab, investigates the impact of climate change on forest biodiversity and carbon sequestration. Rebecca Senft, a PhD student in the Aparecido lab, delves into the interaction between global change and invasive species. Hannah Meier, […]
Read MoreFor the 2024 University of Utah student commencement speaker Eron Powell, a love of learning is one of the most important things he is taking away from his time at the U. “Outside of college and into the future, I hope to always be able to educate myself,” Powell said. “We are never complete people. […]
Read More