SMCM BioLog

Happy New Year to all our biology alums!! Here at SMCM our thoughts now turn to the spring semester and our second newsletter. The response to the first SMCM BioLog was overwhelming. Many of you sent updates of what has gone on in your life since graduation. As they came in we put them into one file to save the stories. We ended up with 25 pages of what our alums are up to!!! We will try to give a few of the stories in each BioLog. Continue to send them in!!! We also want to say thank you for all of the kind words you had to say about how the dept has prepared you for your career.

During the fall ’06 semester we had 3 alums come back to share their health science experiences with our students; Robert Reif ’98 (med school), Michelle Custead ’06 (vet school), and Allison Billock ‘06 (pharm school). The students love to hear what you have to say about your experiences in professional schools.

Alumni Scholar Program - Spring 2007 we will begin our Alumni Scholar Program. At least once a semester we will invite an alum back to campus to discuss their current research with students and give a formal seminar, usually at the Wednesday afternoon divisional colloquium. On March 21, Anna Kenney ’91 will give a seminar on “How cancer looks from a developmental biology perspective”. Anna is currently at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

If you happen to be coming to the DC area or down to SMCM please let us know. We would love to have on campus to share your stories with our current students or be one of our Alumni Scholars!!

As promised in the August edition we have a new biologist beginning this semester. It is our pleasure to introduce Dr. John Ramcharitar. John will be serving as our animal physiologist. John received his BS and M. Phil from the University of the West-Indies, Trinidad and his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park. He just finished a postdoc at George Washington University Medical Center. Prior to this postdoc at GWUMC he was a postdoc at Johns Hopkins. His research interests are in the form and function of fish peripheral auditory systems and the physiological effects of salinity on fish.

Byrd. J. J. and T.M. Powledge. 2006. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Microbiology. Alpha Books. Indianapolis, IN

Hung, K.F., J.J. Byrd, J.L.Bose, and C.W. Kaspar. 2006. Reduction of acid by tetracycline in E. coli expressing tetA(C) is reversed by cations. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72(6):4472-4474.

Kerry, S, M. TeKippe, NC Gaddis, and A Aballay. 2006. GATA transcription factor required for immunity to bacterial and fungal pathogens. PLoS ONE 1(1): e77.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000077

Price, J. J., Friedman, N. R.* & Omland, K. E. (in press) Song and plumage evolution in the New World orioles (Icterus) show similar lability and convergence in patterns. Evolution *=SMCM student

Crawford, K – NSF (in collaboration with Howard University) – Growth factors in intercalary regeneration.

Celine Dinocourt, Sandra E. (Nauman) Gallagher ’03 and Scott M. Thompson. 2006 Injury-induced axonal sprouting in the hippocampus is initiated by activation of trkB receptors. European Journal of Neuroscience. 24(7):1857

Our seniors will be presenting their SMP research on April 30 and May 1. Oral presentations will be all day April 30 and during the afternoon of May1. Poster session will be May 1 in the morning. If you are in the area please come and join us as we celebrate the work accomplished by our seniors. Nothing like getting the bare facts during a few good research presentations on May Day!!!

Alumni News (News from Pre 1991 alums received since the last newsletter. Sorry but I had to cut it off somewhere since I received 25 pages of alumni news. More to come in the next newsletter. Please keep the info coming!!)

Ashani T. Weeraratna ’91 – Was chosen to receive the Young Investigator Award 2006 of the Society of Melanoma Research. The prize was awarded on the evening of the 14th of September at the Third International Melanoma Research Congress. CONGRATS!!!

Kathy (Wyman) Lee ’91 - I am currently a biologist for the FDA responsible for reviewing CMC (chemistry, manufacturing and controls) sections of therapeutic proteins - mostly I look at the chemistry of the molecules for consistency of manufacturing.

Peggy Fowler '89 - I am returning to Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, Virginia for the 7th consecutive year. (I helped open the school in 2000). There, I serve as a Biology teacher and the Student Activities Coordinator. I am also a mentor to new Biology teachers.

Brian Hasson ’89 – He is currently the Chief of Medical Physics at Abington Memorial Hospital.

Sue-Ellen "Niki" Byram, ’86 - I am a histologist and was the Histology Supervisor for Civista Medical Center for several years. Here in Florida, I perform pathology gross and have privileges in two area hospitals, have just recently upgraded my license to enable me to perform immunohistochemical staining with the Ventana systems and also do routine histological duties.

Sharon (Pailen) Durham ’83 - I’ve been working at the U.S. Department of Agriculture since 1999 as a science writer. Before that time, I was the public and media affairs specialist for the U.S. Human Genome Project for NIH, which was quite exciting!

Laura R. Mitchell ’81 - I have since graduated from The College of William and Mary, with a Master's Degree in Marine Science (1991), and Cornell University, with a Master's Degree in Natural Resources Management, with a concentration in Wildlife Ecology. I am currently the Regional Fire Biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Northeast Region, stationed in Sudbury, Massachusetts. Mainly, I am concerned with assisting National Wildlife Refuges in planning, executing, and monitoring the ecological results of prescribed fire activities - our busiest ecoregions are the New Jersey Pine Barrens, salt marshes of the mid-Atlantic, and pitch-pine oak barrens of Long Island and Southern New England. She is married and has two boys, Travis Stotts (1.5 years) and Ian Stotts (3 yrs.)

William J. Snyder ’71 my career has taken me to Maryland (MES) and Federal Agencies (EPA), consulting (ERM, Inc.), and I have been with Honeywell for over 20 years in various HSE assignments throughout the US, most recently in the remediation group in NJ.

Departmental Review

February 28-March 2 the department will be reviewed by three colleagues from other institutions. The dept is currently finalizing our self-study to present to the review team. The comments sent in by all of you have been complied and will be available to the team. Thanks for taking the time to participate in the review!

Research in Biology Fund

As part of the SMCM Heritage Campaign the biology department instituted a Research in Biology Fund through the development office. A percentage of the yearly revenue from this endowed fund will be used by students to support their research. This fund is used exclusively to support student research!!! If you would like to support student research in the biology department this is an excellent way to do it. Please put “Research in Biology Fund” in the memo line of your check. Thanks to all of those that donated since the last BioLog. On the subject of biology research, we would like to thank those alumni who supported the end-of-year appeal for the new River Center.