An international team including the Department of Biological Science’s Dr. Stanislava’s Chtarbanova has published a new paper in Cell Reports showing a dual role for the brain immune system in neurodegenration and lifespan extension in the model organism Drosophila. Read it at Cell Reports.
Dr. Stuart Pimm, Duke University “Biodiversity – The Most Beautiful Carbon Offset” 11 April 2012, 6:00pm, 127 Biology Building
Read More from Thirteenth annual William Darden lecture: April 11, 2012
The Bama Grad Expo will bring up to 50 top prospective graduate students from across the country to the University of Alabama campus on January 12-14, 2012. This annual event, hosted by the UA College of Arts and Sciences and the UA Graduate School, gives prospective graduate students the chance to tour the campus, learn about degrees offered, and visit with current graduate students and faculty in their department of interest. Admission to the Bama Grad Expo is competitive and […]
Dr. Benstead’s research program focuses on how energy availability, nutrient limitation, and temperature interact to affect food web structure and ecosystem-level processes. While his research leverages the unique characteristics of streams and their suitability for ecosystem-level research, it concentrates on broad questions that are also relevant to other ecosystem types. Although guided by theory, Dr. Benstead’s research has a strong empirical approach, spans scales from the individual to the ecosystem, and often exploits both natural landscape gradients and ecosystem-level manipulations. […]
Read More from Exploring Fundamental Drivers of Ecosystem Function
The Reed Lab uses genomic technologies and statistical genetics to assess the relative contribution of diet and genetic variation to metabolic disease in natural populations. The fruit fly is used as a model of Metabolic Syndrome, a condition effecting greater than 30% of (human) Americans. Metabolic Syndrome is typified by obesity and insulin resistance and is a precursor to developing type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It is the result of a complex interaction between genetics and the transition to a […]
Dr. Yoder’s lab uses the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to learn how genetic changes have been responsible for the evolution of diverse animal forms. He looks at how altered gene expression (when and where genes are turned on or off) has shaped the fly’s abdomen. For example, male Drosophila have fewer segments in their abdomen than females. But in other flies, like mosquitoes, segment number is the same in both sexes. Understanding what kinds of genetics changes are responsible for […]
Dr. Ryan Earley specializes in integrative animal behavior, with particular emphasis on fishes that inhabit some of the most fascinating (and challenging) ecosystems on the planet. He fuses field-based research on the ecology of these fishes with rigorous laboratory experimentation on the mechanisms – from genes and hormones to neural circuits – that drive phenotypic variation. In March 2010, Dr. Earley and several of his students donned their SCUBA gear to survey the impact of predation pressure and breeding status […]
Read More from Fish behavior in mangrove forests and volcanic lakes
Dr. Graf is an expert on the global diversity of freshwater mussels, a group of bivalve mollusks found throughout the world. He is one of the few scientists studying the ecology and evolution of these in tropical areas.