Biology News Thliveris ANDY THLIVERIS: ‘REMEMBER THE UNDERGRADS’ In December 2022, Andrew Thliveris BS’83 made a special... Read More Rowntree Right Whales DOING RIGHT BY RIGHT WHALES More than 50 years ago, Victoria Rowntree, research professor... Read More CLENCHED FISTS AND FULL BEARDS CLENCHED FISTS AND FULL BEARDS Humans have not evolved to do any one thing. We... Read More Spider mite toxin evolution HOW SPIDER MITES QUICKLY EVOLVE RESISTANCE TO TOXINS Although mites are arthropod-like insects, they have... Read More MATHEMATICAL BIOLOGY ADDS UP MATHEMATICAL BIOLOGY ADDS UP The intersection between biology and math may seem like a large... Read More Stark Message from Maui A STARK MESSAGE FROM MAUI Earth’s rapidly changing climate is taking an increasingly heavy toll... Read More Tree-top Barbie Nadkarni WHAT THE INSPIRATION FOR ‘TREETOP BARBIE’ THOUGHT OF THE ‘BARBIE’ MOVIE The canopy scientist (a.k.a.... Read More Shared Resistance in Breast Cancer “Cancer cells are often thought of as maverick cells that break the rules and by... Read More Zundel Admin HERE COMES TROUBLE SHOOTING That portion of the foliage of trees forming the uppermost layer... Read More Nadkarni-Bright Red Arrow WHEN THE ‘BRIGHT RED ARROW” TURNS EARTHWARD “[P]retty much all my adult life I’ve been... Read More Nature for Everyone BRINGING NATURE TO EVERYONE A walk in the woods, in the desert, or even a... Read More GADUSOL: A MORE “E-FISH-ENT” SUNSCREEN As temperatures rise, and outside activities become more popular, many people are thinking about protecting... Read More Nobel Winner Capecchi Discovers New Brain Mechanism The pandemic and its aftermath have raised anxiety to new levels. But the roots of... Read More Lissy Coley National Academy “I first stepped foot in a tropical rainforest in 1975 and have been back every... Read More Jon Wang Vulnerable forests and the carbon budget Jon Wang is an Earth systems scientist and... Read More Rog Undergrad Mentor Award 2023 OUTSTANDING UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH MENTORS The Office of Undergraduate Research has created a faculty award to honor... Read More Anderegg Allergy Article If you’ve been itchy, congested, and sneezy for months, you’re not alone. This year’s spring allergy... Read More Jesus Aguayo Jesus Eduardo Aguayo’s interest in Biology was fueled during his high school experience. He recalls... Read More Humans @ the U: Jessica Venegas “I was born prematurely at the University of Utah Hospital. My parents would tell me... Read More Bailey Young “A lot of people assume that pigeons are garbage birds and look at them with... Read More Seeing the forest for the trees SBS’s “Highly-Cited” researchers spur collaboration in forest science Banner Photo Credit: Rob DeGraff via Flickr... Read More Remembering K. Gordon Lark SBS gathered December 15, 2022 to remember the life and legacy of the late K.... Read More Anatomy Education Relies on Body Donor Program I sat down in a fluorescent plastic chair in an ice cold, windowless room. I... Read More Paying it Forward: Clarissa Henry It’s generally not a good idea (or even allowed) to take biochemistry as your first... Read More A Serendipitous Path to Pharmacology A RETROSPECTIVE VIEW by Baldomero Olivera I have no formal academic training in pharmacology. It’s... Read More OUR DNA Fall 2022 Hot off the press! Fall 2022 issue. Read the full issue of OUR DNA, the... Read More Haylee Mathews “Many people who [do] not have previous experience with plant biology,” says Haylee Mathews, “don’t... Read More Ty Mellor: Taking the Leap A few more than 2,000 people currently live in Salina, Utah just north of Interstate... Read More Mario Capecchi Endowed Chair: Ofer Rog The School of Biological Sciences has appointed Ofer Rog, assistant professor of biology, as the... Read More A Tale of “Terroir”: Porcini Mushrooms Evolved The Dentinger Lab at the Natural History Museum of Utah has published a provocative new... Read More The BioKids ethic Earlier this year, when BioKids was awarded a half-million-dollar stabilization grant, where those monies were... Read More Meet your new anatomy professor “I took two years off following my bachelor’s in education,” says Jon Groot, PhD. “All... Read More Veteran Appreciation Lunch All veterans in the College of Science and the College of Mines and Earth Sciences... Read More Stolen Ivory Isotope data strengthens suspicions of ivory stockpile theft | Science shows the ivory dates to... Read More A best case scenario that wasn’t planned A cracker jack team of U of U undergrads works with principal investigator Ben Myers... Read More Why Bio Majors Love Chem: Meet the TAs It’s de rigeur these days to talk about cross-over science. And to do it. Physicists... Read More Remembering Norman Curtiss Negus (1926-2022) Norman Negus passed away just shy of his 96th birthday, after a busy and productive... Read More Visualizing what to the human eye is infinitesimal … Nature is what we know – Yet have no art to say – So... Read More Wilkes at Center of U’s Climate Action Plan A Message from University of Utah’s President Taylor Randall: Salt Lake City, September 20, 2022–I... Read More Golden Goose Award: Olivera lab These scientific breakthroughs led to the development of a bladeless LASIK procedure, paper microscopes, and... Read More ‘Indigenous imagination’ can be found in all of us On July 28, 58 junior high and high school students participated in the Summit Youth... Read More Global analysis identifies at-risk forests Forests are engaged in a delicate, deadly dance with climate change, hosting abundant biodiversity and... Read More What is the Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy? The geography that makes Utah unique—red rock deserts, greatest snow on Earth, cities amidst natural... Read More Bill Anderegg, Inaugural Director, Climate Center Backed by $20 million gift, U launches the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy... Read More Synthetic insect-bacterial symbiosis A new paper in Current Biology authored by Crystal Su (Dale lab) and other collaborators... Read More Denise Dearing, New Division Head, NSF The National Science Foundation has announced a 2-to-4-year appointment of the University of Utah’s M.... Read More A Great-Grandson’s Tribute to Utah’s “First Dentist” Remembering George R. Riser … and his tribute to Utah’s “First Dentist.” Salt Lake City,... Read More Zach Allred: A TA Recalls His Experience with Nielsen’s Anatomy Lab by Zachary Allred, DO former teaching assistant/mentor, SBS Anatomy Lab above: Zach Allred (left) and... Read More Stephanie VanBeuge Lockdowns are something that Stephanie VanBeuge BS’17 knows something about . . . even before... Read More Elaine Tan The difference between the flora and fauna of Malaysia and that of the Great Basin... Read More Seeing the world through ants Ants are among the most numerous insects in the world, numbering from 10-100,000 trillion individuals... Read More Remembering Bob Vickery Emeritus Faculty Dr. Robert Kingston Vickery Jr, 99, passed away July 20, 2022 in Salt... Read More You are STEM! One of the best ways to engage in science, technology, engineering and math is through... Read More Structural Signatures in E. Coli Motile bacteria are capable of swimming efficiently toward favorable chemical environments and away from inhospitable... Read More Payton Utzman Most people wouldn’t see a direct line between working on tractors in rural Washington State... Read More 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
