Biology News Major Alex Horn, PhD’21 | USAF C-17 Pilot By Alex Horn I joined the Air Force as an 18-year-old cadet. I came to... Read More OUR DNA, Spring 2022 Issue THE SCHOOL OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES MAGAZINE OUR DNA magazine is a dynamic 360-degree snapshot of... Read More Juneteenth Day of Freedom Summit Juneteenth is a nationally recognized holiday that commemorates the ending of slavery in the U.S.... Read More Tiffany Do, Undergraduate Research Scholar “My hero is my brother,” says Tiffany Do of her brother Anthony. “He’s the first... Read More College Merger College of Mines and Earth Sciences to merge with College of Science. The University of... Read More Metabarcoding for characterizing wild animal diets DNA metabarcoding is the large-scale taxonomic identification of complex environmental samples via analysis of DNA... Read More What gives mammals a tolerance to poisonous compounds? In a new study, a SBS research team has learned that direct ecological exposure to... Read More Toto Gets Stamped! Distinguished Professor Baldomero Olivera is featured in the Filipino Postal Office’s “Living Legends” commemorative stamp... Read More Remembering a Distinguished Alumnus: Loren Jensen 1937-2022 Loren D. Jensen, BS’60, MS’62, PhD ’65, a retired scientist who studied the Chesapeake Bay... Read More Wildfire, Drought & Insects Threats impacting forests are increasing nationwide. by Paul Gabrielsen Planting a tree seems like a... Read More What We’re Still Learning About How Trees Grow FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS REMAIN ABOUT WHAT FACTORS LIMIT TREE GROWTH. A NEW SBS STUDY MAY HOLD... Read More 2022 Rosenblatt Prize: Thure Cerling Thure E. Cerling, Distinguished Professor of Biology, is the 2022 recipient of the Rosenblatt Prize... Read More That’s a Wrap. Footnotes from a Young Scientist Letters from the Galápagos Islands Our South American correspondent Sonora “Nora” Clayton happily embarked on an excursion... Read More Erik Jorgensen elected to the NAS When explaining his work, Erik Jorgensen, a geneticist who studies the synapse, can transport you... Read More Outstanding Post-Doc Award Julie Jung has received an Outstanding Post-Doctoral Fellow Award from the College of Science. Julie... Read More Social Distancing in Urban Wildlife When visiting cities, coyotes seem to prefer the nightlife while deer and squirrels would rather... Read More SBS Ranked #13 in the Nation COLLEGE RANKINGS U.S. News & World Report has released their 2022-2022National University Rankings. The... Read More Patrick Newman As a boy in growing up in Bountiful, Patrick Newman, BA’03, took a bite of... Read More Letters from Galápagos Islands #10 To whom it may concern, I don’t want to leave the Galápagos yet. March 18,... Read More ‘Solidarity’ is theme for Pride Week 3/28-4/1 Pride Week at the U is an annual event honoring LGBTQIA+ histories, cultures, and lives!... Read More Johanna Varner’s 3D-Print Double Some of the most significant scientific breakthroughs in history—including the research that led to mRNA... Read More The Leonardo Award to Nalini Nadkarni The Leonardo Museum of Creativity & Innovation awards the innovation and dedication of a distinguished... Read More 2022 Distinguished Alumni Awards One of the largest academic units on campus, SBS is fortunate to have an alumni... Read More Letters from Galápagos Islands #9 To whom It may concern, It’s becoming evident to me that despite the length of... Read More Effective 3/14, Masking Suspended at U As we enter the third year of the coronavirus pandemic, we are optimistic about the... Read More Letters from Galápagos Islands #8 To whom It may concern, It’s a small world after all. March 7, 2022, Week... Read More Audrey Brown “One of the biggest things that helped me was connecting with my loved ones.” When... Read More April Christofferson “I love the process of writing,” April Christofferson, BS’73, says in a 2007 U profile,... Read More #UGivingDay, Mar. 1-2 In celebration of the University of Utah’s birthday in 1850, you have 1850 minutes (March... Read More Letters from Galápagos Islands #7 To whom It may concern, Philornis downsi may as well be from Mars. February 28,... Read More Charles Sorenson “My best trait is the ability to hang out with people who are far more... Read More Sarmishta Kannan For Sarmishta Diraviam Kannan, HBS’17, the journey to her “dream school” – the University’s School... Read More Letters from Galápagos Islands #6 To whom It may concern, This week, I thought I’d change things up a little... Read More Meet Savannah Romney, Freshman in Biology Today, February 17, 2022, Savannah Romney, a double-major in biology and math at the University... Read More Letters from Galápagos Islands #5 To whom It may concern, Readers should note that biologists, grad students, and intrigued 13-year-olds... Read More Decline of vultures and rise of dogs carries disease risks In the yards behind the slaughterhouses—also called abattoirs—of Ethiopia, an ecological shift is unfolding that... Read More Ed Esplin “I anticipate the vaccine strategy for COVID-19, supported by the tremendous advances in vaccine technology... Read More Letters from Galápagos Islands #4 To whom It may concern, “Nothing could be less inviting than the first appearance [of... Read More Forests on Forests, Nadkarni on Radiolab For much of history, tree canopies were pretty much completely ignored by science. It was... Read More Two New Plant Biologists Arrive at SBS SBS and the University of Utah welcome SBS’s newest faculty, Assistant Professors Chan Yul Yoo and Heejin Yoo. Their... Read More George Seifert The Winningest Coach in San Francisco 49ers History George Seifert, BS’63, began his professional coaching... Read More Debriefing of UofU’s MLK Week Becoming the Beloved Community. The University of Utah celebrated its 2022 Dr. Martin Luther King... Read More Letters from Galápagos Islands #3 To whom It may concern, No, avian vampire flies do not parasitize vampires. January 31,... Read More Robert Berman It was an auspicious time to graduate with a diploma in microbiology at the University... Read More 2021 AAAS Fellows Announced Four University of Utah scientists have been selected as 2021 fellows of the American Association... Read More Letters from Galápagos #2 To whom it may concern, I think the only person who is happy at 5:00... Read More Letters from Galápagos #1 To whom it may concern, Packing is an adventure. January 17, 2022, Week 00 –... Read More Action against racism on campus January 14, 2022–From U of U Leadership: Dear campus community, We have an urgent vision... Read More New Gene-editing Tools Detailed in Cover Article The expanding CRISPER-Cas universe continues to provide new tools for manipulating genomes in animals. James... Read More California mice eat monarch butterflies This newly discovered mouse-butterfly interaction suggests that western monarch decline could disrupt ecosystems in unanticipated... Read More Beans-to-Genes Microbiology in the time of Covid Last semester, Professor Colin Dale’s Biol 5275, Microbial Diversity, Genomics and Evolution (MDGE) lab/class was... Read More Ferocious fungus In new paper, co-authored by SBS Professor, engineers discover what makes a tree-killing fungus so... Read More Remembering Naomi Franklin, 1929-2021 SBS Professor Emerita Naomi Franklin passed away on December 24, 2021 in Salt Lake City.... Read More Desert shrubs cranked up water use efficiency to survive a megadrought It may not be enough. Shrubs in the desert Southwest have increased their water use... Read More 2021 Year-End Message from the Co-Directors Moving Ahead with Biological Sciences Research programs carried out by Biology faculty have always been... Read More The Science of Biological Data: Fred Adler In an age when cross-disciplinary collaboration has become essential, especially in academia, Fred Adler puts... Read More SRI Year-End Campaign: $50K match We invite you to help biology students be part of the Science Research Initiative. We... Read More “The 28 Day Cycle” Art Installation “I made an impractical decision that I do not regret,” says Danielle Okelberry who goes... Read More #GivingTuesday Today, November 30, 2021, is the national day of giving in the United States. Across... Read More 2007 Nobel laureate Mario Capecchi on this year’s award Each year thousands of professors, members of national committees, Nobel laureates, and parliamentary assemblies lobby... Read More Early Riser: George Riser, Distinguished Alumnus In 2017 George R. Riser, BS’47, received the first Distinguished Alumni Award from the School... Read More Bill Gray Awarded Ty Harrison Service Award 2021 Three years ago after Ty Harrison passed away, the board of directors of the Utah... Read More Woodrat microbiomes: It’s who you are that matters most More than diet or geography, evolutionary history has the strongest influence on bacterial gut communities... Read More Cottam’s Gulch One of the most tranquil spots at the University is Cottam’s Gulch, the small gully... Read More Nalini Nadkarni: A tree goes around the world 7 times a year In October 2021, SBS’s Nalini Nadkarni, Professor Emerita, came to Barcelona to collect the NAT... Read More The science of the sandworms of ‘Dune’ The giant creatures in Frank Herbert’s novel have an Earthly counterpart in the numerous nematodes.... Read More Rivers become bird corridors In a dry year in the West, when the world turns crispy and cracked, rivers... Read More Ilham Batar: Creating the unimaginable In the office of the UofU President, now, currently occupied by Taylor Randall, Presidential Interns... Read More Can Fungi Save the World? Just below the surface of our world lies the vast, unexplored world of fungi. There... Read More Featured Art in SBS The School of Biological Sciences has many feet of wall space to decorate, and occasionally... Read More Inflight Blood Meals on a Starry Night SBS’s Neil Vickers could tell you a great deal about turbulence–in his lab and in... Read More Student Veteran of the Year The Student Veteran of the Year (SVOY) award is open for nominations. The award is... Read More Crystal Cory: SBS Career Coach Career coaching is a little bit of hand-holding and a whole lot of at-your-fingertips resources.... Read More Nerd with a passion for the outdoors Growing up on a hobby farm in the Pacific Northwest, Shelley Reich developed a keen... Read More SBS opens search for 2 new faculty members in plant bio Assistant Professor – School of Biological Sciences University of Utah [pictured above, Talia Karasov, SBS... Read More Darwin’s short-beak enigma solved Mutation in the ROR2 gene is linked to beak length in domestic pigeons, has a... Read More Austin Green I began my research career in 2013 as an undergraduate in the Şekercioğlu Lab at... Read More Kathleen Treseder For Kathleen Treseder, HBS’94, the launching pad for her career in science and research was... Read More An “Ig Nobel” Peace Prize for study of beards as punch protection U researchers receive Ig Nobel Peace Prize for study of beards as punch protection In... Read More The Concrete Jungle’s impact on mammal biodiversity City dwellers seldom experience the near-reverence of watching deer walk through their yards, both for... Read More Mario Capecchi We’re sure you’ve heard of Mario Capecchi Drive on campus, but do you know why... Read More Elmera Azadpour Following graduation with honors in 2019 from the SBS, Elmera Azadpour, accepted the Arnhold Environmental... Read More Food claiming to have ‘wild mushrooms’ rarely does DNA barcoding revealed products mostly contain cultivated fungi, and a few poisonous mushrooms Harvesting wild... Read More Be The Light: AIS PREP at the U On July 14-16, 2021, students of the American Indian Services (AIS) Pre-Freshman Engineering Program (AIS... Read More David Almanzar David Almanzar came to the University of Utah in 2016 to pursue his PhD following... Read More This Scientist Discovered an Ant Species in His Own Backyard Biologist Jack Longino has spent most of his career hunting for ants in the rainforests... Read More Birds at risk of extinction The lush forests and more than 7,000 islands of the Philippines hold a rich diversity... Read More Scientific Discovery Illustrated Biology Under Cover is a permanent exhibit in the lobby of the Aline W. Skaggs... Read More Bucking Groove Formation Nalini Nadkarni Retires Dr. Nalini Nadkarni has a busy brain. I should know; I’ve been... Read More Caralyn Flack For some, doing scientific research is the be-all and end-all. To be “at the bench”... Read More Pan-Amphibian Viral Vectors Ayako Yamaguchi and a team of amphibian neuroscientists have been awarded a one-million-dollar prestigious National... Read More Kyle Kittelberger For graduate students, getting research published in a peer-reviewed journal is arguably the gold standard... Read More Todd Alder Todd B. Alder (BS’92; PhD’00) contracted COVID-19 early on in the pandemic and today still... Read More Nikhil Bhayani “Every time I come to the U with my kids,” says Nikhil K. Bhayani, MD,... Read More Rachel Jones While Rachel Jones has wanted to do medical research since 3rd grade, it wasn’t until high... Read More COVID-19: Just a Seasonal Nuisance? University of Utah scientists model possible COVID-19 futures. March 20, 2021 – Within the next... Read More Diana Montgomery “Perhaps my favorite experience at the University of Utah is when I started working in... Read More Alli Hoffman For a scientist it might seem counter-intuitive to value the notion that there is never... Read More Sahar Kanishka, Undergrad Research Award Sahar Kanishka, recipient of the 2021 Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award, remembers daily where her family... Read More T. Mitchell Aide, PhD’89 Distinguished Alumnus Following his graduation with a bachelor’s from University of Texas – San... Read More