The phylum Ctenophora (comb jellies) consists of gelatinous, planktonic marine animals. Despite their somewhat unassuming nature, a fierce debate has been raging in the scientific literature about comb jellies as a number of genome-scale studies have suggested that ctenophores, and not the morphological simple sponges, are the sister group to all other animals. A new study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution co-authored by Dr. Kevin Kocot helps shed light on this question with new data spanning the diversity of […]

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UA Department of Biological Sciences professors Dr. Guy Caldwell and Dr. Kim Caldwel and doctoral student Hanna Kim are co-authors on a new study that provides a molecular explanation for why it is the dopamine neurons, specifically, die in Parkinson’s patients. This work, which was published in the top journal in its field, is an important step forward and highlights a new potential path for drug discovery. Read more about this work in UA News and read the original research […]

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An team of researchers including Department of Biological Science’s chair Dr. Janis O’Donnell and recently graduated  students Rami Ajjuri and Matthew Lollar has published a new paper in Biology Letters showing how varying levels of a chemical found in the brain of fruit flies can affect their responses to social interactions. Specifically, the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is also used in humans, contributes to a fly’s response to others in a social group. See popular media articles about this work in CBC Radio […]

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