Faculty NewsMichael Cosgrove has beenpromoted to associatepr<strong>of</strong>essor with tenure.Marvin Druger continueshis retirement by serving assecretary <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> educationsection <strong>of</strong> AmericanAssociation for <strong>the</strong>Advancement <strong>of</strong> Science,doing a radio programon WAER (Science on <strong>the</strong>Radio), teaching FreshmanForum, giving campus tours,reviewing grant applicationsfor <strong>the</strong> National ScienceFoundation, writing for 55-Plus Magazine, and promotingfour books, including <strong>the</strong>soon to be released sequelto his Strange Creatures andO<strong>the</strong>r Poems, titled EvenStranger Creatures and O<strong>the</strong>rPoems. Marvin and his wife,Pat, recently returned from atrip to <strong>the</strong> Galapagos Islands,where he claims to haveinterviewed a tortoise thatremembers Charles Darwin’svisit.Scott Erdman attended<strong>the</strong> 26th Fungal GeneticsConference sponsored by <strong>the</strong>Genetics Society <strong>of</strong> Americaand held in Asilomar,California, in March. Hepresented a poster and atalk entitled “Genome-widescreens using a naturalproduct saponin to identifythree PDR pathway targetgenes, PDR19, PDR20 andPDR21, which influence lipidhomeostasis and membranepermeability in Saccharomycescerevisiae.” During <strong>the</strong> pastyear he continued serving <strong>the</strong>department as associate chairand director <strong>of</strong> undergraduatestudies.Jason Fridley’s grant proposal“Will climate change alterrates <strong>of</strong> old field successionacross <strong>the</strong> U.S. easterndeciduous forest? A crosslatitudeexperimentalnetwork.” was recentlyfunded. This study involvesexperiments on tree seedlingstrying to “invade” old fieldsacross a climate gradient,with study sites in <strong>Syracuse</strong>and Florida. Jason spent Juneconducting research in <strong>the</strong>United Kingdom and attendeda conference on vegetationresponse to climate change inLyon, France.James Hewett was electedto serve on <strong>the</strong> Council <strong>of</strong><strong>the</strong> American Society forNeurochemistry, and alongwith Sandra Hewett, wasrecently awarded a grant from<strong>the</strong> NIH titled: “Constructinga Conditional Slc7a11 (xCT)Null Mouse.”Sandra Hewett <strong>the</strong> newlyarrived inaugural BeverlyPetterson Bishop Pr<strong>of</strong>essor<strong>of</strong> Neuroscience traveledto Turkey in September tospeak at <strong>the</strong> first TurkishInternational Stroke Meeting“Novel Therapeutic Strategiesand Targets for <strong>the</strong> Treatment<strong>of</strong> Stroke” held September29-October 2, <strong>2011</strong> at AntalyaPapillon Ayscha Hotel andConvention Center. Thetitle <strong>of</strong> her presentation was“The Janus-faced effects <strong>of</strong>astrocyte IL-1beta signaling:system xc- at <strong>the</strong> crossroads <strong>of</strong>protection and injury.”Dean George M. Langford,research associate TorstenWollert, and MichaelCosgrove, along withcollaborators from DartmouthCollege, <strong>the</strong> Marine BiologicalLaboratory at Woods Hole,and <strong>the</strong> McLaughlin ResearchInstitute, report in <strong>the</strong> Journal<strong>of</strong> Biological Chemistry <strong>the</strong>discovery <strong>of</strong> a motor protein(Myo5a) associated with <strong>the</strong>transport <strong>of</strong> neuronal synapticvesicles. In conjunction withano<strong>the</strong>r protein called myosin-VA, Myo5a attaches to vesiclescontaining neurotransmittersand moves <strong>the</strong>m to <strong>the</strong> cellsynapse as part <strong>of</strong> a “motorcargo” system. The study hasimplications in understandingmalfunctioning transportationsystems and <strong>the</strong> action <strong>of</strong>neurotoxins that result ininsufficient or excessiverelease <strong>of</strong> neurotransmitters.Ka<strong>the</strong>rine Lewis gave a talkat a conference organized by<strong>the</strong> Belgium Society for Celland Developmental <strong>Biology</strong> inJuly in Rochehaut, Belgium,and also attended <strong>the</strong>International Brain ResearchOrganization Conference inFlorence.Melissa Pepling gave a talkat Utica College in Octobertitled “Estrogen signalingand regulation <strong>of</strong> primordialfollicle formation.” Shealso served on <strong>the</strong> Cellular,Molecular and IntegrativeReproduction NIH studysection in February. In Julyshe attended <strong>the</strong> annualSociety for <strong>the</strong> Study <strong>of</strong>Reproduction meeting, andchaired a session <strong>the</strong>re.Also attending and givingpresentations were hergraduate students RobinJones and Sudipta Dutta andundergrad Marta Dzyadyk.Scott Pitnick along withgraduate students andpostdoctoral fellows Outi Ala-Honkola, Dawn Higginson,Stefan Lüpold, and MollieManier gave research talks at<strong>the</strong> <strong>2011</strong> Society for <strong>the</strong> Study<strong>of</strong> Evolution Conference inPortland, Oregon, and will begiving talks at <strong>the</strong> <strong>Biology</strong> <strong>of</strong>Spermatozoa Conference inEngland.Scott Pitnick, John Belote,and Mollie Manier had <strong>the</strong>irresearch on fluorescentDrosophila sperm highlightedon NSF’s Science Nation inAugust, and were awardeda grant from <strong>the</strong> NationalScience Foundation “Geneticand functional analyses <strong>of</strong>sperm length evolution inDrosophila.”Ramesh Raina assumed<strong>the</strong> position <strong>of</strong> chair <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><strong>Department</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Biology</strong> in July.John Russell has steppeddown as chair <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><strong>Department</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Biology</strong> after12 remarkably successfulyears, but will continue as amember <strong>of</strong> our faculty. Hisclosing remarks as chairare included in this issue <strong>of</strong>BIO@SU (see page 2).Kari Segraves has beenpromoted to associatepr<strong>of</strong>essor with tenure.Tom Starmer notes that aftermany years <strong>of</strong> waiting foryeast taxonomists to get<strong>the</strong>ir “stuff” toge<strong>the</strong>r, <strong>the</strong>three-volume The Yeasts:A Taxonomic Study, 5th ed.Elsevier (Kurtzman, C.P., J.Fell and T. Boekhout, eds.) hasbeen published. Included inthis treatise is a review titled“Yeast Ecology” by Tom andhis long-time colleague AndréLachance.Jason Wiles presentedresults <strong>of</strong> a study on howevolution is viewed andtaught in predominantlyIslamic nations during <strong>the</strong><strong>2011</strong> annual meeting <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>American Association for<strong>the</strong> Advancement <strong>of</strong> Sciencein Washington, D.C., onFebruary 18. Jason notes thatthoughts about evolutionare just as diverse in <strong>the</strong>24 THE DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
Muslim world as in westernsocieties. Thus, <strong>the</strong> teaching<strong>of</strong> evolution varies by countryand cultural attitudes within<strong>the</strong>se countries. (Excerptedfrom Inside SU, February 18,<strong>2011</strong>)The <strong>Department</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Biology</strong>has welcomed several newfaculty colleagues in <strong>the</strong>past few months and morewill arrive in <strong>the</strong> comingsemester. These includeHea<strong>the</strong>r Coleman (plantbiotechnology), David Alth<strong>of</strong>f(evolutionary biology), JanniceFriedman (evolutionarybiology), Susan Parks(acoustic communicationin whales), Ka<strong>the</strong>rine Lewis(neurobiology), James Hewett(neurobiology), and SandraHewett as <strong>the</strong> inauguralBeverly Petterson BishopPr<strong>of</strong>essor <strong>of</strong> Neuroscience.More information is availableon our new colleagues inJohn Russell’s remarksand we hope to provide anextended introduction <strong>of</strong><strong>the</strong>se new faculty membersin <strong>the</strong> 2012 edition <strong>of</strong> BIO@SU.Graduate Activities and AchievementsThe following students have defended <strong>the</strong>ir master’s<strong>the</strong>ses since <strong>the</strong> last edition <strong>of</strong> BIO@SU:Xi Chen Thesis: Controlling bacterial persister cells usingantimicrobial peptides with Trp and Arg repeats. Advisor: Dr.Dacheng Ren (Biomedical and Chemical Engineering)Current position: Ph.D. student attending New York <strong>University</strong>.Zhongan Chen Thesis: Effects <strong>of</strong> white-tailed deer on forests on anitrogen-poor soil in Minnesota. Advisor: Mark RitchieChristopher Duke Thesis: Potential reproductive benefits <strong>of</strong> analternative reproductive tactic in <strong>the</strong> yellow dung fly Scathophagastercoraria. Advisor: Al UyGrant W. Gephardt Thesis: Effects <strong>of</strong> prenatal exogenous estrogenexposure on male germ cell development and embryonic survival.Advisor: Melissa PeplingCurrent position: sales representative, Life Technologies, Inc.Rebecca A. Ruppel Thesis: Using patterns <strong>of</strong> chromosomeinheritance to test <strong>the</strong> mode <strong>of</strong> polyploid formation in Heucheracylindrical. Advisor: Kari SegravesThe following students have defended <strong>the</strong>ir doctoraldissertations since <strong>the</strong> last edition <strong>of</strong> BIO@SU:Aditya Dutta Dissertation: Molecular characterization <strong>of</strong> geneticcomponents <strong>of</strong> pathogen defense in Arabidopsis. Advisor:Ramesh RainaCurrent position: Postdoctoral research scientist, Columbia<strong>University</strong>A pr<strong>of</strong>ile <strong>of</strong> Aditya and his research was included in <strong>the</strong> 2010edition <strong>of</strong> BIO@SU.Dawn M. Higginson Dissertation: Evolution <strong>of</strong> sperm conjugation indiving beetles. Advisor: Scott PitnickCurrent position: Postdoctoral Excellence in Research andTeaching Fellow at <strong>the</strong> Center for Insect Science, which is aresearch division within <strong>the</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> ArizonaA pr<strong>of</strong>ile <strong>of</strong> Dawn and her research is included in this issue <strong>of</strong>BIO@SU (see page 14).Ellen M. Wisner Dissertation: The consequences <strong>of</strong> anthropogenicdisturbance on communication and <strong>the</strong> operation <strong>of</strong> sexual selectionin <strong>the</strong> eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis). Advisor: Al UyCurrent position: <strong>University</strong> Lecturer, New Jersey Institute <strong>of</strong>TechnologyJorge Hurtado-Gonzales Dissertation: The maintenance <strong>of</strong> malecolor polymorphism in Poecilia parae. Advisor: Al UyA pr<strong>of</strong>ile <strong>of</strong> Jorge and his research was included in <strong>the</strong> 2009edition <strong>of</strong> BIO@SU.GRADUATE STUDENT AWARDSAND ACHIEVEMENTS:Liz Droge-Young was awarded a Rosemary Grant Award forGraduate Student Research from <strong>the</strong> Society for <strong>the</strong> Study <strong>of</strong>Evolution, and also a Direct Travel Grant by <strong>the</strong> Journal <strong>of</strong> CellScience and <strong>the</strong> Journal <strong>of</strong> Experimental <strong>Biology</strong> to attend <strong>the</strong><strong>Biology</strong> <strong>of</strong> Spermatozoa Conference in England this autumn.Dawn Higginson was awarded a three-year NIH/PERTPostdoctoral Fellowship at <strong>the</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> Arizona.FALL <strong>2011</strong>25