BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Each year at graduation the Biology Department awards prizes to several
outstanding majors. This year’s recipients were Susan Levin and Terri O’Brien,
who received the Benedict Prize in Biology, Sierra Colavito, the Conant-Harrington
Prize for exemplary performance in the biology major, and Steve Biller, the
Grant Prize for the student demonstrating excellence in a broad range of
areas in biology. Twelve seniors were nominated for induction into Sigma
Xi, the national scientific research society. Terri O’Brien is completing
the second summer of her Beckman Foundation Scholarship. Elizabeth Hambleton
and Emily Ludwig were chosen to work at the Whitehead Institute this summer
as Whitehead Scholars.
The Biology Department continued to participate in the Biology Class
of 1960 Scholars Program and the BIMO Class of 1960 Scholars Program. Several
distinguished scientists were invited to meet with students and faculty.
Among those invited were Dr. Andrew Bass, Cornell University; Dr. John Dowling
from Harvard; Dr. Robert Sauer from MIT; and Dr. JoAnn Burkholder from North
Carolina State University. Seventeen students were selected to be Class
of 1960 Scholars for spring/fall 2002.
Class of 1960 Scholars in
Biology
Abby Davidson
|
Erica Dwyer
|
Laurel Hensley
|
Kevin Hsueh
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Katherine McGrath
|
Jessie O’Brien
|
Emily Siegel
|
Caty Sumner
|
Jessica Tierney
|
Brigitte Teissedre
|
Ken-ichi Ueda
|
David Arnolds
|
Daniel Calnan
|
Shauna Dineen
|
Lindsay Ewan
|
Jacqueline Hom
|
Michelle Kron
|
|
This past year Professor Adler, assisted by Yang Wang ’01 and Caitlin
Stashwick ’02, continued her research on long term regulation of molecules
important to synaptic transmission and neuronal communication, using PC12
cells, a secondary cell line that's a model for sympathetic neurons, as an
experimental system.
Yang Wang worked in the Adler lab over the summer on a research project
concerning the role of neuronal activity, and the subsequent influx of calcium
into the neuron, on regulation of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase. He investigated
the effects of calcium influx through different classes of channels on overall
cellular activity and release of acetylcholinesterase, determined spectrophotometrically.
Caitlin Stashwick continued the project during the fall semester, looking
at the effects of calcium entry through different classes of channels on
subcellular localization of the enzyme, determined histochemically with TEM.
Yang and Caitlin were both coauthors on a poster presented at the November
2001 meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego, together with
Sara Grote ’01, Becky Semble ’01, Paul Schwartz, Kevin Stevens ’00, and Leah
Sharpe ’02. Adler also reviewed a neuroscience textbook for Quarterly
Review of Biology.
Professor Hank Art spent this past year on a sabbatical leave, staying
in town to write and conduct a multi-media project on the disappearance of
farms in Williamstown through a grant from the Williams College Center for
Technology in the Arts and Humanities (CeTAH). This project has involved
conducting oral history interviews of farmers and agriculturists (past and
present) to determine the causes for the dramatic disappearance of farms
in the region. As part of the CeTAH project Art taught a Winter Study course
called
Drawing to a Close in conjunction with Mary Natalizia, a local
artist and art teacher.
BIOL 202 Genetics Lab
During the summer of 2001, Art taught a weeklong module as the field
ecology portion of the Summer High School Program funded through the Hughes
Medical Research Institute grant to Williams. He also collaborated with
Dave Richardson in supervising Joel Schmid ’03 in his summer field and lab
research on the allelopathic effects of hay-scented fern.
Visiting Associate Professor Lois Banta continued her research on the
plant pathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens, which is best known for
its unique ability to deliver DNA to host plant cells, thus stably altering
the genetic makeup of the plant. The work in the Banta lab focuses on the
assembly and functioning of the multi-protein complex responsible for the
DNA delivery. Because this transport complex also has homologs in a variety
of other bacteria including those that cause whooping cough, Legionnaire's
disease, and chronic stomach inflammation, Banta's research has relevance
to mammalian pathogenesis as well. Independent study student Danielle Torin
’02 and honors thesis students Maywa Montenegro ’02, Susan Levin ’02, and
Jessica Bauman ’02 participated in this project. They were joined over Winter
Study by Aidan Finley ’04. Both Aidan Finley and Maywa Montenegro spent
the summer of 2001 in the lab. Post-doctoral fellow Bronwyn Butcher arrived
in September 2001 from Stellenbosch University in South Africa, where she
had pursued her Ph.D. in microbiology. Banta's research is supported by
a grant from the National Science Foundation.
One new project in the Banta lab this year involved the characterization
of a putative promoter sequence embedded within the DNA encoding the DNA
transport apparatus. The existence of such an internal promoter is highly
unusual, although not unheard of. Susan Levin ’02 successfully demonstrated
that the sequence in question does indeed function as a promoter - a sequence
of DNA that signals the bacterial cell's transcriptional machinery to produce
mRNA, and hence protein. Using site-directed mutagenesis, she confirmed
that the particular sequence of this stretch of DNA is critical to its promoter
function. Susan's generation and characterization of additional mutants led
her to hypothesize that a repressor also binds at this promoter sequence
and regulates the level of transcription. Her data provided important insights
into the identity of this repressor. Since the promoter was originally identified
by virtue of its homology to other promoters that are active under specific
conditions in other bacterial species, Susan was able to formulate a series
of hypotheses about the conditions that would activate transcription from
this promoter, and she performed experiments to test several of these hypotheses.
Jessica Bauman’s thesis work, part of an ongoing project characterizing the
interactions among components of the DNA transport apparatus, contributed
to two manuscripts now in revision. In her work, she tested several previously
isolated mutants to determine whether the failure to deliver DNA was attributable
to aberrant interactions among constituents of the transport machinery.
Maywa Montenegro's thesis work paved the way for a new study on the protein
VirD4, which is believed to mediate interactions between the transport apparatus
and the DNA substrates that pass through the pore.
In November, the entire Banta lab attended the 22nd Annual
Crown Gall Conference in Atlanta, GA. Aidan Finley ’02 and Bronwyn Butcher
presented a poster entitled “Effect of plasmid RSF1010 on transcription from
the vir promoter,” which was also co-authored by recent graduate Aimee Vasse
’01. Banta gave a talk at the Atlanta conference and also presented a poster
at the European Research Conference on Biology of Type IV Secretion Processes
in Pisa, Italy in September. Coauthors included Erin Troy ’01 and collaborators
Tonny Regensburg-Tuink and Paul Hooykaas from the Institute of Molecular
Plant Sciences at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
This year, Banta taught BIOL 306, Advanced Molecular Genetics
in the fall and Microbiology: BIOL 315, Diversity, Cellular Physiology,
and Interactions in the spring. The lab portion of the latter course
included a collaborative project, on microbial communities in pond sludge,
with the 5th grade class at Pine Cobble School. During this academic
year, Banta served as an external reviewer for the National Science Foundation,
the Consortium for Plant Biotechnology, and the journal Molecular Plant-Microbe
Interactions. She also reviewed the textbook Genomes for the Wiley-Liss
publishing company and several on-line microbiology tutorials for Sinauer
Publishers.
On campus, Banta organized a Gaudino Forum on "Providing Health Care
for Migrant Farm Workers." She was a guest speaker at the Center for Development
Economics, and mentored an independent study by Katherine Foo ’02 on the “Impact
of Genetically Engineered Jasmine Rice on Agricultural Economics in Thailand.”
Professor Banta also served on the Biochemistry/Molecular Biology advisory
committee and the Campus Environmental Advisory Committee (CEAC).
During this past year Prof. Joan Edwards taught BIOL 134, Biology
and Social Issues of the Tropics and BIOL 220, Field Botany, a
course that uses the local flora to study plant systematics. She continues
her research on Arctic-Alpine disjunct plants at Isle Royale Wilderness National
Park. These plants represent some of the southernmost populations for their
species. Edwards is interested in the genetic structure of their populations
and also their long-term survival in the face of global warming (cold-loving
species are most likely to go locally extinct under a warming climate).
On campus, Edwards continues as the College Marshal and also served this
past year on the Faculty Interview Panel.
Assistant Professor Marta Laskowski taught BIOL 101, The Cell
in the fall, and BIOL 412, Biochemical Regulatory Mechanisms in the
spring. She continued her research on understanding the mechanisms by which
auxin affects the architecture of the Arabidopsis root system. Laskowski
supervised the honors thesis projects of Steve Biller ’02 and Christine Palmer
’02. Laskowski also published an article in Plant Physiology. Laskowski
has accepted a position at Oberlin College next year.
During this past year Professor Dan Lynch taught BIOL 101, The Cell,
and BIOL 322, Biochemistry II: Metabolism. During Winter Study, he
offered a lab intensive course introducing four students (three first-year
and one sophomore) to sphingolipid biochemistry. He also continued his research
on plant sphingolipid biochemistry, funded by a grant from the NSF. He supervised
the honors thesis projects of Matt Luedke ’02 and Terri O’Brien ’02. Last
summer, Terri O’Brien worked in the lab supported by a Beckman Foundation
Scholarship and Caty Sumner ’03 worked in the lab as a Merck Scholar. Lynch
also hosted four high school students in his lab for a week under the auspices
of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Award to the Biology Department at
Williams and participated in the Summer Science Program for pre-freshmen.
Brooke Wright, ’01 and Professor Lynch attended the American Society of
Plant Biologists annual meetings in Providence, RI where Brooke presented
a poster on her thesis research titled, “Sphinganine Hydroxylase Activity
in Corn: In Vitro Characterization and In Vivo Stimulation by Fumonisin.”
In September Lynch traveled to Goteburg, Sweden and served as an “opponent”
(external reviewer) at the Ph.D. thesis defense by Anna Berglund at Goteburg
University. Professor Lynch also served as an ad hoc reviewer for the National
Science Foundation and the USDA, and reviewed manuscripts for the journals,
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, Journal of Biological Chemistry and
Plant Physiology.
Assistant Professor Manuel Morales joined the department this past fall,
coming to us from the University of Maryland. Morales taught BIOL 207,Biology
of Conservation and Extinction, and BIOL 402T, Current Topics
in Ecology. He also team taught (with Birgit Koehler and Heather Stohl)
the environmental studies course ENVI 102, Introduction to Environmental
Science. Morales continued his research on ant-plant mutualism. He
supervised the honors thesis project of Brooke-Ray Smith ’02. Morales received
an NSF Research Opportunity Award to collaborate with David Inouye at the
Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory exploring how seed predation and nutrient
availability interact in an ant-plant mutualism.
Professor Wendy Raymond spent the fall on sabbatical in her laboratory
at Williams pursuing a project on which she collaborated with Professor Joe
Chihade in the Chemistry Department. She discovered a new gene in baker's
yeast that interacts with PUS4, which is an enzyme that modifies all
transfer RNAs and is highly conserved in all eubacteria and eukaryotes.
In the spring, Raymond taught Immunology, a 300-level laboratory and
lecture course. She also organized the weekly Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology Journal Club, in which students, faculty and staff learn about new
research studies. She advised Le Paliulis ’97, a current Duke University
graduate student, who returned to Raymond's lab to clone several genes essential
for chromosome separation. Throughout the year, Professor Raymond served
as one of three faculty advisors in the Williams’ Project for Effective Teaching,
an endeavor designed to help new Williams faculty members become excellent
teachers.
Raymond gave a seminar at the Massachusetts College of the Liberal Arts.
She also reviewed chapters for the new edition of Kuby Immunology
and for a first-edition of Ben Pierce's Genetics: A Conceptual Approach,
to be published by W. H. Freeman Co., Inc. She attended the 2002 Cell Cycle
meeting in Cold Spring Harbor, New York.
This past year Robert Savage taught BIOL 301, Developmental Biology
and BIOL 102, The Organism with David Smith. Professor Savage continued
his research on the development and evolution of segmentation in annelids
currently supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Last
summer Williams College students Andrew McKinstry ’03, Sierra Colavito ’02
and Meghana Gadgil ’02 focused their research efforts on identifying annelid
homologues to important segmentation genes first identified in flies. Continuing
as an independent study student this past fall, Meghana cloned a number of
PCR-generated fragments of annelid Hox genes. As part of her honors project,
Sierra identified and then characterized the hunchbackhomologue in
a closely related leech species. Both research projects have provided an
important foundation for future experiments.
Savage gave seminars at Middlebury College, Albertus Magnus College,
and at Williams this past spring. He also served as a reviewer for the journal
Developmental Biology and NSF.
Visiting Assistant Professor Ken Schmidt taught BIOL 203, Ecology
in the fall, and BIOL 302, Communities and Ecosystems in the spring.
Schmidt continued working on two ongoing research projects (both in collaboration
with Dr. Richard Ostfeld of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook,
NY). The first project on avian-rodent interactions in oak forest continues
to monitor population abundance and reproductive success of four songbird
species: Wood Thrush, Veery, Red-eyed Vireo, and Ovenbird at the Cary Arboretum
in Millbrook, NY. Over 150 nests were found and monitored throughout the
grounds in 2001, representing our best summer yet for all four species. These
results have been used as a preliminary dataset for a proposal submitted to
NSF in Jan. 2002 to investigate these interactions.
The second research project on incidental nest predation by small rodents
is currently funded by NSF and was used to hire four summer research assistants
in 2001: Nathan Briggs ’03 (Williams College), Chris Anderson, Andrea Kudrez,
and Vivian Genovese. The focus of this research is to measure heterogeneity
in white-footed mouse activity and examine its implication for nest predation
in songbirds. In 2001, the lab monitored mouse foraging activity in two
different ways. Mouse density was found to be neither a predictor of patterns
of space use nor of predation rates on nests. These results highlight the
importance of understanding predator foraging behavior (rather than a focus
strictly on predator density) to determine the impacts predators may have
on their prey, at least within any given year (see above).
Prof. Schmidt has accepted a position at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
During this past year Prof. David C. Smith taught BIOL 305,Evolution
and BIOL 102, The Organism. He served as honors student advisor to
Jessica Purcell who worked on the boreal chorus frog and Michelle Ruby who
worked on aquatic insect populations in the Hopkins Forest streams. He continues
his long-term study of boreal chorus frogs at Isle Royale Wilderness National
Park. The summer of 2001 was his 24th year of study, one of the longest
studies of an anuran population. Smith also gave a Bronfman Bag lunch talk
on this research.
Assistant Professor Steve Swoap taught a course for non-majors, BIOL
133,The Biology of Exercise and Nutrition in the fall of 2001 followed
in the spring by BIOL 309, Mammalian Molecular Physiology. Swoap
attended three national meetings this past year, including Experimental Biology
’02 (joined by Jennifer Barone ’03 and Graham Garber ’97), the American College
of Sports Medicine Meeting in Providence, RI, and The Nutritional Control
of Gene Expression. Swoap also served as a reviewer for numerous journals
over the past year, including the American Journal of Physiology, Physiological
Genomics, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, and theJournal
of Applied Physiology. He was also an active reviewer of grants for
both the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation.
Swoap spoke with several Williams alumni groups, including those in Toledo,
Cleveland, St. Louis and Washington D.C., addressing the use of illegal supplements
by Olympic athletes. Swoap holds active research grants with the National
Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation.
Professor Heather Williams taught a new course BIOL 303, Sensory Biology
in the fall. This course examined how biological systems act as transducers
of physical energy that contains information about the environment and so
generate biological signals that can be used by the nervous system to regulate
behavior. In the spring, she offered BIOL 204, Animal Behavior; returning
this course to its traditional season allowed the resumption of early-morning
(6:00 AM) red-winged blackbird labs.
Professor Williams served as a reviewer for the National Science Foundation's
Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement Program, and reviewed
manuscripts for several journals.
In her lab, Prof. Williams continued her investigations of questions
related to song learning and behavioral and neural plasticity. During the
summer of 2001, Dan DeMoss ’03 and Nick Lafave ’03 worked on developing microsatellite
analyses for determining genetic relationships among local populations of
house finches, and Walther Chen ’02 used playback experiments to investigate
the question of whether and how female zebra finches distinguish among the
songs of males reared in different situations.
Professor Steven Zottoli taught BIOL 411, Plasticity in the Nervous
System, in the fall and BIOL 205, Animal Physiology in the spring.
He served as honors thesis advisor for Nicholas Hiza and Jennifer Nierman.
Research in his laboratory focuses on the neural basis of behavior and responses
of the nervous system to injury. Zottoli is the Director of the Howard Hughes
Medical Institute (HHMI) grant to Williams College, chair of the Institutional
Animal Care and Use Committee and acted as chair of the Neuroscience program
in the fall. He continues as President of the Grass Foundation, a small not-for-profit
foundation chartered to support research and education in neuroscience.
He served on the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) Science Council Nominating
Committee and the MBL Taskforce to Ensure Continued Excellence in Teaching.
He is an external advisory board member for the Biomedical Research Infrastructure
Network (BRIN) program for the state of New Mexico.
Zottoli directed a Williams College summer research program at the Marine
Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA during July and August 2001. This
program is supported in part by the HHMI, Howard and Nan Schow and the Essel
grant to Williams College. David Arnolds ’04, Nikiya Asamoah ’03, Caryoln
Chevez ’02,
Shakierah Fuller ’03, Nick Hiza ’02, Jen Nierman ’02, and Luis Taboada
’02 participated in the program. The program included reading papers of
various scientists in residence at the MBL, meeting with each scientist to
discuss the papers and career path issues and then conducting a laboratory
exercise that related to the scientist’s area of interest. In addition,
students had the opportunity to attend course lectures and evening seminars.
Finally, students were able to conduct original research on identified neurons
in fish. The results were presented at the MBL General Meetings and were
published as a short note in the Biological Bulletin in October.
BIOLOGY COLLOQUIA
Dr. Andrew Bass, 1960 Scholar, Cornell University
“Singing Fish: Blending the Sexes from Brains to Behavior”
Dr. JoAnn Burkholder, 1960 Scholar, North Carolina State University
“Impacts of Toxic Pfiesteria on Fish & Human Health: Research
at the Science/Policy Border”
Dr. John Dowling, 1960 Scholar, Harvard
“Fishing for Novel Genes”
Dr. Brian Farrell, Harvard
“Diversification at the Insect/Plant Interface”
Dr. Gerry Fink, BIMO 1960 Scholar, Whitehead Institute
“When Worlds Collide--Microbes vs. Immune System”
Dr. Leslie Leinwand, University of Colorado
“Lessons Learned from Genetic Manipulation of Muscle”
Dr. Diane Mathis, Harvard
“A Mouse Model of Rheumatoid Arthritis--The Joys of Serendipity”
Dr. Robert Sauer, MIT
“Energy-Dependent Protein Unfolding and Degradation”
Dr. Robert Savage, Williams College
“Flies, Worms and Hunchback: Insights into the Evolution of Segmental
Pattern Formation”
Dr. Jerry Thomsen, SUNY
“TGF-β Signaling and Ubiquitin Ligase Regulation of Xenopus Pattern
Formation”
OFF-CAMPUS COLLOQUIA
Elizabeth Adler
“Zinc Regulation of Neuropeptide Y in PC12 Cells”
Zinc Signals 2002 Conference in Grand Cayman (
http://www.cellzinc.com/)
“VirF Promotes DNA Export from Agrobacterium tumefaciens”
22nd Annual Crown Gall Conference, Atlanta, GA.
Wendy Raymond
“Regulation of the Cell Division Cycle”
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
Robert Savage
“Flies, Worms and Hunchback: Insights into the Evolution of Segmentation”
Middlebury College
“Developmental Insights into the Evolution of Segmentation in Metazoans”
Albertus Magnus College
Ken Schmidt
“Using Giving-up Densities as an Indicator of Ecological Scales and Processes”
International Theriological Congress VIII, Sun City, South Africa
Steve Swoap
“The use of Molecular Biology in Skeletal Muscle”
New England American College of Sports Medicine.
“Caloric Restriction and Blood Pressure: Genes and Mechanisms”
University of Missouri
Heather Williams
“Coordination of Song and Dance in Zebra Finch Courtship”
Sixth Annual Bird Song Workshop at The Rockefeller University Field Research
Center.
POSTGRADUATE PLANS OF BIOLOGY
MAJORS
Name
|
Plans
|
Kate Alexander
|
Coordinator for International Relations, Japan Exchange and Teaching
(JET) Program, Japan
|
Jessica Bauman
|
Working for Teach for America in NYC for 2 years, then medical
school
|
Steven Biller
|
Research assistant at the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole,
MA then going on to graduate school.
|
Laura Bothwell
|
Case Western Reserve University Medical School
|
Sebastien Bradley
|
Undecided
|
Rachel Brodie
|
Undecided
|
Benjamin Chaffee
|
Undecided
|
Hong-wen Chen
|
Undecided
|
Michael Chiorazzi
|
Undecided
|
Lani Clinton
|
Pursuing Ph.D. in Neurobiology & Behavior at University of
California, Irvine
|
Sierra Colavito
|
Research Technician in Cancer Genomics, The Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute, Whitehead Institute for one year. Then to graduate school for
Ph.D. in Biology.
|
David Cooperman
|
Undecided
|
Laura Crum
|
Undecided
|
Meghana Gadgil
|
Working at a health center in Seattle through Americorps next
year, and applying to/interviewing with medical schools simultaneously.
|
Sarah Hart
|
MD/PhD Program, Duke University
|
Britta Hult
|
Lab. Tech. at Harvard Partners Genomics Center in Cambridge, MA.
Then to graduate school
|
Vickie Jo
|
UVA medical school
|
Jan Kaczmarek
|
Undecided
|
Katherine Kohler
|
Applying for internships at a variety of zoos and wildlife centers,
then vet school.
|
Susan Levin
|
University of California, San Francisco - Ph.D. Program in Biomedical
Science
|
Matthew Luedke
|
Working for a year then medical school
|
Heather Matthews
|
Clinical Assistant in Orthopedic Oncology at Mass. General Hospital
- Boston
|
Asha Mehta
|
Attending Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University
and will
be applying to medical school this year.
|
Caroline Messmer
|
Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences under the auspices
of the U.S. Navy. M.D. program.
|
Maywa Montenegro
|
Science Writing Master’s Program (MS) at MIT, Cambridge, MA
|
Amber Moore
|
Research Analyst at Health Economics Research, Waltham MA, then
plan on going for an MD/MPh.
|
Michael Nazarian
|
MD University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas
|
Jennifer Nierman
|
Research Assistant, University of Pennsylvania
|
Theresa O’Brien
|
University of California, San Francisco - Ph.D. Biochemistry &
Molecular Biology
|
Jason Pack
|
Undecided
|
Christine Palmer
|
Research Assistant, Arizona State University, Phoenix.
|
Malcolm Perry
|
Undecided
|
Jessica Purcell
|
Undecided
|
Janna Rearick
|
Undecided
|
Brendan Reid
|
Undecided
|
Steven Rettke
|
NYU Medical School
|
Abigail Rosenthal
|
Undecided
|
Michelle Ruby
|
Teaching ecology and leading ropes course/adventure activities
at Boston University Sargent Center for the next year.
|
Katie Sharff
|
University of Chicago Biological Sciences Undergraduate Department
Laboratory TA/Technician. Chicago, IL.
|
Leah Sharpe
|
Undecided
|
Adam Sischy
|
Research Coordinator Williams Project on Higher Education, Williamstown
MA for 1 year, then New York Medical College for M.D
|
Brooke Ray Smith
|
July-November: Research assistant to Richard Connor from UMass
Dartmouth, studying bottlenose dolphins, in Shark Bay, western Australia.
Then start searching for grad schools, possibly in conservation biology/
environmental planning.
|
Caitlin Stashwick
|
Undecided
|
Luis Taboada
|
Undecided
|
Xiao Tan
|
Herschel Smith Fellow to study in Cambridge
|
Danielle Torin
|
Taking a year off, then hopefully attending Vet school.
|
Jennifer Veraldi
|
Undecided
|
Jennifer Wetzel
|
Undecided
|