The pandemic and its aftermath have raised anxiety to new levels. But the roots of anxiety-related conditions, including obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorder (OCSD), are still unclear. In a new study, University of Utah Health scientists discovered insights into the importance of a minor cell type in the brain — microglia —in controlling anxiety-related behaviors in laboratory […]
Read MoreJesus Eduardo Aguayo’s interest in Biology was fueled during his high school experience. He recalls sitting in his medical anatomy and physiology class learning about neurons when, suddenly, he learned something that would impact his life’s trajectory forever. Learning about the action potential of neurons was so fascinating that it was as if he was […]
Read More“I was born prematurely at the University of Utah Hospital. My parents would tell me stories about how the doctors had to save my life. Growing up and carrying that really inspired me to be a doctor. I’ve always wanted to go to the U because that’s where I was born and ever since I […]
Read More“A lot of people assume that pigeons are garbage birds and look at them with disdain,” says Bailey Young. “However, pigeons are actually really cool! There are over 300 different breeds with dramatically different phenotypic traits including feather color, eye color, flying patterns, beak and foot size and more.” The biology senior, ready to graduate […]
Read MoreSBS’s “Highly-Cited” researchers spur collaboration in forest science Banner Photo Credit: Rob DeGraff via Flickr The first scientific journal, still in print, was launched in 1665 by the Royal Society in London, but peer review and the ubiquitous citations we’ve come to expect in research documents are a relatively recent innovation. According to the Broad […]
Read MoreSBS gathered December 15, 2022 to remember the life and legacy of the late K. Gordon Lark, founder of the Department of Biology, now the School of Biological Sciences. The event, chaired by professor and former SBS chair/co-chair of SBS Neil Vickers, included prepared remarks by Baldomero “Toto” Olivera and Nobel laureate Mario Capecchi. Both […]
Read MoreIt’s generally not a good idea (or even allowed) to take biochemistry as your first biology class. But that’s exactly what Clarissa Henry BS’95 did as a freshman at the U. “[I]t was so great,” she says, “that I changed my major from Chinese to biology.” The class Henry took was a section taught by […]
Read MoreA RETROSPECTIVE VIEW by Baldomero Olivera I have no formal academic training in pharmacology. It’s no surprise, therefore, that my path to a research career in this field has been idiosyncratic. Ultimately, my increasing involvement with pharmacological science came about because it was the indispensable scientific discipline required. At critical moments in my scientific life, […]
Read MoreHot off the press! Fall 2022 issue. Read the full issue of OUR DNA, the magazine of the School of Biological Sciences, including the Letter from Director Fred Adler. LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR Challenge of Our Time When I stepped into the role of Director of the School of Biological Sciences, I was fortunate to […]
Read More“Many people who [do] not have previous experience with plant biology,” says Haylee Mathews, “don’t realize that plants have hormones and utilize hormone signaling to communicate environmental conditions to the different structures of the plant. They need a way to regulate growth in response to the environmental conditions they’re experiencing.” The Illinois native, now a […]
Read MoreA few more than 2,000 people currently live in Salina, Utah just north of Interstate 70 and tumbling west of a 217,000-acre geological feature called the San Raphael Swell. It’s a gateway to some of the most remote (and still yet-to-be-permanently settled) land) in the Beehive State. But for Carl “Ty” Mellor, it’s been an […]
Read MoreThe School of Biological Sciences has appointed Ofer Rog, assistant professor of biology, as the Mario Capecchi Endowed Chair. The prestigious three-year faculty appointment will allow Rog to continue his work researching chromosomes, the entities that hold genetic information. The University of Utah established the chair to honor Utah’s first Nobel laureate, Mario Capecchi, through […]
Read MoreThe Dentinger Lab at the Natural History Museum of Utah has published a provocative new paper in the journal New Phytologist that describes their work with the much beloved mushroom, Boletus edulis, better known by gastronomers worldwide as the porcini. By Michael Mozdy In the paper, SBS’s Keaton Tremble and Bryn Dentinger, PhD, both present a first-of-its-kind genetic […]
Read MoreEarlier this year, when BioKids was awarded a half-million-dollar stabilization grant, where those monies were allocated spoke to the ethic of this celebrated childcare and pre-school at the School of Biological Sciences. “My first priority was to take care of our staff—to ensure they are receiving equitable wages and benefits,” says Christine Medina, Director. “They […]
Read More“I took two years off following my bachelor’s in education,” says Jon Groot, PhD. “All I knew was that I wanted to learn more. [I had] no end point in mind. I was just going for what interested me.” The Salt Lake City native moved to Seattle and spent four months in Asia, including Japan […]
Read MoreIsotope data strengthens suspicions of ivory stockpile theft | Science shows the ivory dates to the 1980s, similar in age to ivory in Burundi’s national stockpile. by Paul Gabrielsen | SCIENCE WRITER, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH COMMUNICATIONS Image credit: John Brown In January 2019, a seizure of 3.3 tons of ivory in Uganda turned up something […]
Read MoreA cracker jack team of U of U undergrads works with principal investigator Ben Myers to break open a decades-old biological mystery. Corvin Arveseth, BS’21, can’t remember when he wasn’t fascinated by science and biology. So, when he came to the University of Utah and declared his majors in biology and biochemistry, he knew he […]
Read MoreIt’s de rigeur these days to talk about cross-over science. And to do it. Physicists studying engineering. Chemists learning about quantitative modeling in the department of mathematics, to name just two. It’s the nature of scientific inquiry to mash-up, and it’s how new research gets its footing, new collaborations emerge, new insights blaze forth and […]
Read MoreNorman Negus passed away just shy of his 96th birthday, after a busy and productive life. Born in Portland OR, as a young man, he served during WWII in the Army Air Corp. He then entered Miami University (Ohio) where he earned his Bachelor’s (1948) and Master’s degrees (1950) in Zoology. He was awarded the […]
Read More… Nature is what we know – Yet have no art to say – So impotent Our Wisdom is To her Simplicity. ~ Emily Dickinson Banner image above: David S. Goodsell. Even before Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) first put pen to paper to draw the human […]
Read MoreA Message from University of Utah’s President Taylor Randall: Salt Lake City, September 20, 2022–I am excited to announce that the University of Utah is creating a new Climate Change Action Plan and reinvigorating efforts to build a healthy, resilient future. Climate change continues to cause and intensify local and global challenges. Here in Utah, […]
Read MoreThese scientific breakthroughs led to the development of a bladeless LASIK procedure, paper microscopes, and the discovery of a non-opioid pain reliever hidden in the venom of cone snails WASHINGTON, D.C. – On September 14, 2022, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society, hosted the 11th annual […]
Read MoreOn July 28, 58 junior high and high school students participated in the Summit Youth Track during the 16th Governor’s Native American Summit held at the University of Utah. The Summit Youth Track provides youth-focused workshops for Native American students. This year’s theme mirrored that of the summit, “Elevating Ourselves: Restoring Balance by Connecting with Our Cultures.” […]
Read MoreForests are engaged in a delicate, deadly dance with climate change, hosting abundant biodiversity and sucking carbon dioxide out of the air with billions of leafy straws. They can be a part of the climate solution as long as global warming, with its droughts, wildfires and ecosystem shifts, doesn’t kill them first. Top Photo: William […]
Read MoreThe geography that makes Utah unique—red rock deserts, greatest snow on Earth, cities amidst natural beauty—also makes us vulnerable to one of the biggest challenges of our time: Climate Change. Climate change can drive or exacerbate severe drought, wildfires, air pollution, water scarcity, and disappearing snowpack. Luckily, the University of Utah has a deep pool […]
Read MoreBacked by $20 million gift, U launches the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy The University of Utah today announced the creation of the interdisciplinary Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy to promote research, study effective public policies and propose entrepreneurial business solutions to curb and combat the threats that climate change poses […]
Read MoreA new paper in Current Biology authored by Crystal Su (Dale lab) and other collaborators in SBS describes the development of a novel, synthetic insect-bacterial symbiosis that is sustained through many insect generations by transovarial bacterial transmission. ^ Banner photo: Crystal Su in the lab The symbiotic bacteria express a red fluorescent protein that is […]
Read MoreThe National Science Foundation has announced a 2-to-4-year appointment of the University of Utah’s M. Denise Dearing as Division Director for the NSF’s Division of Integrative Organismal Systems, effective August 15. The Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) is one of four divisions within the Directorate of Biological Sciences at the NSF. The Division Director […]
Read MoreRemembering George R. Riser … and his tribute to Utah’s “First Dentist.” Salt Lake City, August 11, 2022 — Today, Distinguished Alumnus George R. Riser BS’47, who passed away in Pennsylvania in June, would have been ninety-nine-years old. The news of his death was especially poignant, not only because Riser’s Endowed Scholarships have been a […]
Read Moreby Zachary Allred, DO former teaching assistant/mentor, SBS Anatomy Lab above: Zach Allred (left) and Mark Nielsen I first met Mark Nielsen when I was in a high school biology class and we toured the cadaver lab at the UofU. As I watched Mark and his TAs teach us the anatomy, I was fascinated. I somewhat […]
Read MoreLockdowns are something that Stephanie VanBeuge BS’17 knows something about . . . even before the coronavirus pandemic dropped out of the sky like an anvil. It was in her third year of graduate school at the University of Oregon when VanBeuge was first diagnosed with brain cancer–on the first day of the school year. She returned […]
Read MoreThe difference between the flora and fauna of Malaysia and that of the Great Basin and Wasatch Mountains could not be more different. And yet it was the latter where SBS graduate student Elaine Tan (they/them), whose family is from the former, decided to do their graduate work in ecology and the evolution of social […]
Read MoreAnts are among the most numerous insects in the world, numbering from 10-100,000 trillion individuals globally with more than 10,000 species. But you don’t have to tell that to John “Jack” Longino, professor of biology. Known affectionately as “Ant Man” in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Utah and beyond, Longino is […]
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