seminars for Fall 2008 will be announced in August
Previous
Seminars
2008
Dr. Fiona Watson (Davidson)
Down Syndrome Cell Adhesion Molecule (DSCAM): A Highly Variable Protein that Wires the Fly Nervous System
Dr. Bill Rebeck (Georgetown)
Molecular Analysis of Alzheimer’s Disease
Dr. Cece Hillard (Medical College of Wisconsin)
Cannabinoid Receptors: From Weed to Worries
Rachel McCord, '04 (Harvard)
Dr. Doug Price (NIH)
Molecular Approaches to the Study of Prostate Cancer
Erin Zwack, '08
Development of Ligand Controlled Post-transcriptional Regulators in E. coli
Andrew Martens, '08
A New E. coli Computer: Demonstrating the Use of Anti-Terminators and their Potential for Solving Larger Burnt-Pancake Problems
Emma Garren, '08
The role of neural activity in Xenopus laevis retinal ganglion cell dendrite morphogenesis in vivo
Shannon Pittman, '08
Ecology of a declining bog turtle population
Kelli Carroll, '09
Zebrafish Neurogenesis is Compromised by Early Exposure to the Pesticide Malathion
2007
Dr. Larry Mimms, '76 (Gen-Probe)
Blood wars: The role of viral nucleic acid testing in blood safety
Matt Talbert, '05 (Wake Forest)
Unravelling the genetics of the human obesity epidemic
Dr. Beth Hiltbold (Wake Forest)
Topic: Dendritic cells fighting intracellular pathogens
Dr. Julie Goodliffe (UNCC)
Genomics and Drosophila
Dr. Kent Vrana (Penn State)
Functional genomics & proteomics of substance abuse
Dr. Rik Myers (University of Miami)
Genetic redundancy and metabolic robustness
Dr. Bill Ranson (Furman)
Sustainability at Southeastern Colleges & Universities
Dr. Dave McClay (Duke)
Sea Urchin Developmental BIology
Dr. Darcy Kelley (Columbia)
The Vocal Synapse: Perception & Production
Dr. Jeffrey Kahn (Minnesota)
Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research: An Ethics & Policy Update
Creating a Stem Cell Donor: Ethics, Policy, & Emerging Biotechnologies
Dr. Paul Mayewski (Maine)
Earth Day Speaker
2006
Dr. Malcolm Campbell (Davidson)
Learning Genomics Through Student Research
Dr. Jim Gilliam (NC State)
Decisions under threat of death: Genes to ecosystems
Dr. Debora Spar (Harvard)
The Baby Business: How Money, Science, and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception
Dr. Ann Stevens (VA Tech)
Dr. Matina Kalcounis-Ruppell (UNC-Greensboro)
Singing in the Rainy Season: Regular Production of Ultrasound by Wild
Peromyscus Mice
Ms. Holly Peay (NIH/Johns Hopkins)
Changing Perspectives on Genetic Services: Learning from Psychiatric Genetic Counseling
Dr. Sandra M. Clinton (UNCC)
Cross-habitat fluxes of material and energy in a floodplain ecosystem: Tales from the Cosumnes River Preserve, California
Dr. Calvin Howell (Duke)
Tracking Substance Translocation in Plants Using Radioisotopes
Dr. Virgina Armbrust (Washington)
Genomics of Oceanography and the Acidification of our Oceans
Dr. Paul Farmer (Harvard/Partners in Health)
Infectious disease treatment in resource-limited settings
Dr. Robert Gottfried, '70 (Sewanee)
The Nature of Nature, and How to Manage It: An Economist Looks at Land
Dr. Ron Hoy (Cornell)
A neuroethologist's view of the model systems approach to
understanding brain, mind, and behavior
Hearing on the fly: Basic to translational research in auditory
neuroscience
Dr. Stephen Richter (E. Kentucky)
Use of Molecular Genetic Data to Address Ecological and Conservation-oriented Research Questions
Jackie Ryan, '06
Using DNA Microarrays as a Tool to Measure Genome Instability
Leslie Smith, '06
The Effects of a Top Predator Vary With Resources and Season in Aquatic
Treeholes
Julie Ruble, '06
Wiring the Brain: How Growth Factors Sculpt Neurons in the Developing Visual
System
Matt Gemberling , '06
Using RNA Molecules as Molecular Circuit Breakers to Regulate Protein
Production
Sarah Durnbaugh, '06
Localization of the no mitochondrial derivative Gene Product in Drosophila
melanogaster
2005
Dr. Sue Elrod (Cal Poly)
T-RFLP analysis of fungal communities in the environment
Dr. Rene Salinas (App State)
An individual based model that simulates the black bear population in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina
Dr. Rik Myers (Miami)
Unsafe sex: The rec(k)-less mechanisms of genetic exchange
Dr. Norman Myers (Duke)
The U.S. stake in the global environment
Dr. Melissa Pilgrim (UGA)
Trophic relationships among reptiles and amphibians
Dr. Drew Endy (MIT)
Designing biological systems
Synthetic biology: Life, invented
Dr. William Guilford (UVA)
Biomechanics of cell motility
Dr. Rudolph Tanzi (Harvard)
Genetic Basis of Alzheimer's Disease
Dr. Joe DeRisi (UCSF)
Malaria Genomics
Emerging Pathogens & Genomic Technology
John Burkhart, '05
Scirtid Beetles, Resources, & Insect Communities: Investigating Processing Chains & Food Webs in Treeholes
Sarah Davis, '05
Victims of the War on Insects: Exposure to the Pesticide Malathion Leads to Abnomal Development in Zebrafish
Dr. Fiona Watson (Harvard)
Connections and Circuits in the Nervous System
Dr. Philip Hockberger (Northwestern)
Time-lapse Video Microscopy of Neural Stem Cells In Situ
Dr. Karen Schlauch (George Mason)
Bioinformatics: Using Math to Answer Biological Questions
Dr. Samantha Kerry (Duke)
Studying innate immunity in Caenorhabditis elegans:
Are humans truly different than worms?
Dr. Peter Fields (Franklin & Marshall)
Structure and function in enzyme adaptation to extreme cold: Tales from Antarctic fishes
Darlene Campbell (Cornell)
What Can the Retina Tell Us About Color Vision of Anolis Lizards?
2004
Dr. Jeff Steinmetz (Queens)
Aquatic-Terrestrial Linkages: From the Rivers to the Sea
Dr. Wesley Burks (Duke)
Peanut Allergy: Development of a Peanut Vaccine
Dr. Chuck Peterson (Idaho State)
Spatial Distribution and the Conservation of Amphibians and Reptiles in the Intermountain West
Dr. James Trussell, ‘71 (Princeton)
Emergency Contraception: Still the Nation’s Best Kept Secret
7:30 – 900 Room
Dr. Sarah Webster (Davidson)
Open & Shut: Building a Biophysical Case for the Motions of Gating in a Voltage-Gated K+ Channel
Dr. Chris Korey (College of Charleston)
Flies 'R' Us: Drosophila and Human Disease
Dr. Clara Jones (Fayetteville State)
Developmental Plasticity in Adult Female Mantled Howler Monkeys
Dr. Shea
Tuberty (Appalacian State)
Conservation Physiology: The Role of Endocrinology in Protection
and Management of Animal Populations
Dr.
Inna Sokolova (UNCC)
Effects of heavy metals and temperature on bioenergetics of marine
poikilotherms
Dr.
Jonathan Beckwith (Harvard)
Smith Lecture
Adventures in the gene trade: A social activist in science
Dr.
Tyrone Hayes (UC Berkeley)
The
Common Groundsel, Hermaphroditic Frogs, and Premature Babies:
The Canary Speaks, But is Anybody Listening?
Sara Holmberg, '04 (Davidson Honors Thesis Defense)
Localization of nmd gene product in Drosophila melanogaster
spermatids
Sarah Baxley, '04 (Davidson Honors Thesis Defense)
Using rescue constructs to determine if CG5395 corresponds to
nmd in Drosophila melanogaster
Nicole Harlan, '04 (Davidson Honors Thesis Defense)
Habitat size modifies abiotic factors and communities in artificial
treeholes
Leslie
Cook, '04 (Davidson Honors Thesis Defense)
The Pesticide Malathion Reduces Growth and Survival in the Development
of Zebrafish, Danio rerio
2003
Dr.
Glenn White (Wingate)
Stress Response in the NematodeCaenorhabditis elegans:
A New Look at an
Old Way to Torture Worms
Dr.
Rick Thompson (Bowdoin)
The good, the bad, and the sexy: How brain neurochemistry affects
social
judgement.
Dr.
Traci Jesse (UNC)
Abl Tyrosine Kinase Regulates Cellular Adhesion and Actin Dynamics
Eric
Marlan (Appalachian State)
Dr.
Richard Kessin (Columbia)
A walk in the North Carolina woods, a Legionnaire’s disease
outbreak, and
how they are connected
Dr.
Rodney Mauricio (UGA)
Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics of Natural Populations
Gray
Lyons, '04 (Davidson Honors Thesis Defense)
Retargeting Recombinant Adenoviral Vectors Expressing Bone Morphogenic
Protein 2 (BMP2) to Improve the Efficacy of Bone Formation in
Mice with Applications in Spinal Fusion
Dr.
Kris Helmerson (NIST)
Optical Tweezers: An interdisciplinary tool of science
Dr.
Becky Sparks-Thissen (Wash U)
CD4 T cell control of murine gammaherpesvirus 68 latency
Dr.
Elizabeth Sztul (UAB)
Molecular Regulation of Secretion
Brenda Bondesen, '00 and Dr. Grace
Pavlath (Emory)
The effects of anti-inflammatory drugs on skeletal muscle regeneration
Kelly Carter, '00 (UNC)
Life on the outside: Medical school and research after Davidson.
Kristine
Grayson, '03 (Davidson Honors Thesis Defense)
Seasonal Body Temperature Variation in the Painted Turtle (Chrysemys
picta)
Emily Oldham, '03 (Davidson Genomics Major Research)
Exploring the limitations of DNA microarray technology: A case
study in quality control
2002
Dr. Simon
Tavare (USC)
Primates and Dinosaurs: Statistical Inference from the Fossil
Record
Dr.
Bill Conner (Wake Forest)
Sex, Drugs, & Videotape: Evoluation of Chemical Communication
in Tiger Moths
Lowell
Rayburn, '99 (UGA)
Amontillado, the Drosophila Homologue of the Prohormone Processing
Protease PC2, is Required During Embryogenesis and Early Larval
Development
Mark O'Donohue (Mecklenburg County Health Dept.)
West Nile Virus in Mecklenburg County in 2002
Dr.
William Schlesinger (Duke)
The Effects of Elevated Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide on Forest Ecosystems
Josh
Gross (Harvard)
Development of the Taste System: How the Nerves Find Their Way
Dr. Raul Cano (Cal
Poly)
Digging for Pathogens: What can Ancient DNA Teach us About Current
Human Diseases?
Dr.
Margarida Barroso (UVA)
FRET Measurements of Membrane Trafficing
Fall
2001
Dr.
Brooke McCartney (UNC)
Cytoskeletal Links: the Drosophila Gene Products APC2 and
Armadillo Participate in Tethering Mitotic Spindles to Cortical
Actin
Dr.
Mary Bunge (Miami)
Smith Lecture
From the Laboratory to Superman: Repairing the Damaged Spinal
Cord
Dr. Michael
Pierce (UGA)
Glycobiology in the Post-Genomic Era
Dr. Bill
Hopkins (SREL)
Use of Bioenergetics to Study Environmental Problems: A Conservationist's
Approach to Ecotoxicology
Dr. Wayne Silver (Wake
Forest)
Exploring the Chemical Senses: Taste & Smell
Meredith
Judy (Town of Davidson)
The Use of GIS in City Planning: Addressing Societal and Environmental
Concerns
Dr. Rick
Drake (Eastern Virgina)
Improving
Thymidine Kinase Suicide Gene Therapies for Cancer
Fall 2008 Biology Seminars