Biological Sciences News
Bacteria in the Human Vagina that Produce D-Lactic Acid Promote Resistance to Chlamydial Infections
Posted Tue, 08 Oct 2019 15:20:00 -0700
Department of Biological Sciences Distinguished Professor Larry Forney, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Maryland, recently published a paper entitled "The Cervicovaginal Microbiota-Host Interaction Modulated Chlamydia Trachomatis Infection" in the journal mBio that detailed their most recent study of the vaginal microbiome. These findings may enable the development of novel microbiome-based therapeutic strategies to protect women from infections and improve vaginal and cervical health. Read more
U of I Study: Thyroid Hormone Can Alter Color Vision in Zebrafish, Potentially in Humans
Posted Mon, 05 Aug 2019 13:43:00 -0700
MOSCOW, Idaho — Aug. 5, 2019 — Exposure to thyroid hormone can alter eye function in zebrafish, a result with implications for curing color blindness and retinal degeneration in humans. The University of Idaho study found the dosage of thyroid hormone in zebrafish could switch the type of opsin — proteins that support color vision — produced in individual eye cells called cones, likely influencing the animals’ color vision. Zebrafish and humans have similar genetics when it comes to color vision. Read more
Mellisa Clemons Receives NASA Idaho Space Grant Consortium Graduate Fellowship
Posted Fri, 14 Jun 2019 15:26:00 -0700
Congratulations to Mellisa Clemons of the Fuerst lab in the Department of Biological Sciences, who received a $25,000 NASA Idaho Space Grant Consortium Graduate Fellowship for “Genetic Characterizations of Retinal Cell Signaling Proteins.” Read more
Which Bacteria are Spreading Antibiotic Resistance in Wastewater?
Posted Fri, 07 Jun 2019 15:45:00 -0700
Eva Top and Thibault Stalder from the Department of Biological Sciences and the Institute for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies published in The ISME Journal, the Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology. The study identified bacteria that can carry antibiotic resistance genes through a wastewater treatment plant. These findings may help scientists determine how resistance emerges and disseminates, limit the spread of antibiotic resistance and predict which antibiotic resistance genes will show up in future infectious disease outbreaks. Read more
Jeff A. Johnson Award for Excellence Awarded to U of I Director
Posted Fri, 07 Jun 2019 15:45:00 -0700
Congratulations to Ken Baker, interim director of the University of Idaho Integrated Design Lab at the College of Art and Architecture in Boise, who received the 2019 Jeff A. Johnson Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Building Energy Codes from the U.S Department of Energy. The award recognizes Baker's outstanding accomplishments surrounding building energy codes and his impact, innovation, collaboration and passion. Read more
University of Idaho Research Hits Science Magazine
Posted Thu, 09 May 2019 15:41:00 -0700
The cover of Science Magazine currently features an important discovery made by an international research team: deep-sea fish can see more than just one color. When a Switzerland- and Australia-based research team recently needed to validate their findings regarding what colors of light a deep-sea fish species could see at up to 1500 meters below the surface, they turned to scientists at the University of Idaho. Biological Sciences Research Assistant Professor and CMCI Modeling Fellow Jagdish Patel and Biological Sciences Professors Deborah Stenkamp and Celeste Brown used Patel's newly developed computational molecular simulation based approach to generate a mathematical model to predict color sensitivity. Read more
U of I Researcher Jill Johnson Publishes Paper on Heat Shock Proteins in Nature Communications
Posted Mon, 15 Apr 2019 14:29:00 -0700
Professor Jill Johnson, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Alberta and the University of Würzburg, recently published a paper in Nature Communications titled, "The Conserved NxNNWHW Motif in Aha1-Type Co-Chaperones Modulates the Kinetics of Hsp90 ATPase Stimulation and is Essential for In Vivo Function." This research seeks to understand how Hsp90 partners with interacting cochaperones to help 10-15 percent of cellular proteins fold properly. Read more
Biological Sciences Researcher Diana Mitchell Published in Scientific Reports - Nature
Posted Mon, 01 Apr 2019 16:37:00 -0700
Assistant Professor Diana Mitchell, in collaboration with Deb Stenkamp of the Department of Biological Sciences and the IBEST GRC, recently published a paper in the Scientific Reports - Nature Journal titled "Regeneration Associated Transcriptional Signature of Retinal Microglia and Macrophages." Funding for this work was provided by Idaho INBRE through a technology access grant awarded to Mitchell and an National Institutes of Health R21 grant awarded to Stenkamp. Their research seeks to understand the remarkable capacity in which zebrafish can regenerate retinal neurons, in this case with a focus on immune cell populations present during retinal repair. Read more
National Academy of Sciences Member Jim Bull to Join U of I Faculty
Posted Wed, 13 Feb 2019 11:01:00 -0800
MOSCOW, Idaho — Feb. 13, 2019 — National Academy of Sciences (NAS) member Jim Bull will join the University of Idaho faculty in fall 2019. He will be the first NAS member affiliated with an educational institution in Idaho, according to NAS. The academy is a nonprofit and private society of scholars charged by Congress to provide the nation objective and independent council on scientific and technological matters; Bull was elected to NAS in 2016. Read more
Study Highlights the Beginnings of a Beautiful Bacterial Friendship
Posted Wed, 24 Oct 2018 14:38:00 -0700
Department of Biological Sciences' Chris Marx and colleagues representing three other universities published a study this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The laboratory study addressed how two species can evolve a relationship that increases the chance of survival for both despite the energy costs to both. Read more
U of I Faculty Awarded Seed Grant Funding for 19 Projects
Posted Tue, 15 May 2018 11:00:00 -0700
Nineteen faculty members at the University of Idaho were awarded funding for FY2019 through the university’s Seed Grant program. Sponsored by the Office of Research and Economic Development, the Seed Grant program helps early career faculty establish a scholarly program. The program aims to promote research, outreach and creative activities that will improve individual faculty competitiveness for external funding and/or will result in publications, patents, recognition, awards or exhibitions/performances. Seed Grant awards ranged from $8,200 to $12,000. Read more
Two U of I Faculty Members Earn National Recognition for Research
Posted Thu, 10 May 2018 09:38:00 -0700
Two University of Idaho faculty members have received the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious award for early career scholars. Christine Parent, an assistant professor of biological sciences and member of the Institute for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies (IBEST), and Eric Mittelstaedt, an assistant professor of geology and geophysics, both in the U of I College of Science, earned Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) awards, along with a combined $1.7 million in research funding. Read more
ORED Announces Equipment and Infrastructure Support (EIS) Award Funding
Posted Thu, 03 May 2018 10:48:00 -0700
Twelve University of Idaho proposals were selected for funding in 2018 through the Office of Research and Economic Development's (ORED) Equipment and Infrastructure Support (EIS) Award program. The program supports equipment purchases, upgrades and repairs to enhance research, scholarship and creative activity at the university.
Read more
U of I Graduating Senior Selected for NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Posted Tue, 01 May 2018 11:31:00 -0700
Spring 2018 graduate J. Tyrell Styhl has been selected as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship recipient. Styhl, originally from Idaho Falls, graduates this may with a Bachelor of Science in ecology and conservation biology with minors in wildlife Resources and Statistics. He starts graduate school in Fall 2018 with an emphasis on studying changes in the diet of southern Idaho sage grouse from chicks to adults. Read more
College of Science Paul Rowley Publishes on Genetic Parasites
Posted Mon, 30 Apr 2018 10:51:00 -0700
Department of Biological Sciences' Paul Rowley published a PLoS Genetics study last week in collaboration with University of Colorado Boulder and University of California, Irvine researchers. The team showed that yeast have evolved to protect their genomes against "genetic parasites," which are gene sequences that can propagate throughout an organism's genome. Proteins within the yeast's nuclear pore, which is a passageway into the nucleus, have evolved their shape to limit the ability of genetic parasites to enter the nucleus. Future studies will investigate how viruses like HIV hijack nuclear pore proteins to cause disease. Read more
College of Science Professor Jill Johnson Publishes in PNAS
Posted Wed, 21 Feb 2018 13:35:00 -0800
Professor Jill Johnson with the Department of Biological Sciences published a study titled "Functional and physical interaction between yeast Hsp90 and Hsp70" on Tuesday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in collaboration with researchers from the National Institutes of Health. The researchers studied the interactions among a number of proteins, called molecular chaperones, that work collaboratively to shape and stabilize other proteins. Results from the study may help researchers design treatments for human diseases such as cancer or disorders that result from the incorrect folding of proteins. Read more
Job Opportunity: Financial Technician, Department of Biological Sciences
Posted Wed, 14 Feb 2018 13:42:00 -0800
This position serves as a financial technician for the department of Biological Sciences. Read more
Department of Biological Sciences' Eva Top Receives Prestigious Fellowship
Posted Fri, 19 Jan 2018 12:41:00 -0800
Congratulations to Eva Top, professor of biology and bioinformatics and computational biology in the College of Science, who achieved fellowship status in the American Academy of Microbiology. Members of the academy are recognized for their excellence, originality and leadership in the microbiological sciences and are widely recognized as eminent leaders in the field of microbiology.
Read more
Job Opportunity: Financial Technician, Department of Biological Sciences
Posted Fri, 19 Jan 2018 10:29:00 -0800
This position serves as a financial technician for the department of Biological Sciences. This position is responsible for the financial and personnel support needs for approximately 17 faculty members (names A-L) and their lab groups and works closely with the Financial Specialist. This support includes being responsible for monitoring departmental and grant budgets for principal investigators to maintain both accuracy and accountability; serving as a resource person for faculty and staff requiring information regarding grants, contracts, and disposition of funds and the options available for various budgetary requirements; being responsible for personnel functions of payroll and required personnel actions in Banner including the timely and accurate processing of approximately 200 Electronic Personnel Action Forms (EPAFs) per year. Ensuring compliance with policy and procedures and explaining those procedures to departmental faculty and staff; the department wide processing of claim vouchers for reimbursements and processing of purchasing card statements. Read more and apply. Read more
In Memoriam: Microbiology Professor Ron Crawford
Posted Wed, 17 Jan 2018 14:03:00 -0800
Longtime University of Idaho faculty member Ronald L. Crawford passed away on Jan.11, 2018 at his home in Bend, Oregon, after battling pancreatic cancer. Ron joined the faculty in 1987 as head of the Department of Bacteriology and Biochemistry. Incidentally, this led to him becoming his twin brother's boss. They had many funny stories to share about the various confusions that being twins caused.
Read more