BU Biology

BU Society for Underrepresented Genders in Marine Science is thrilled to kick off their new chapter with a panel on Marine Policy Careers! Join for a discussion, Q&A, and pizza on Monday, 5/13, at 2pm in BRB 113.

PhD candidate Brandon A. Güell’s treefrog photographs featured in BBC’s ‘Planet Earth 3’ and on the cover of Behavioral Ecology

Photographs taken by Brandon A. Güell showcase several male gliding treefrogs scrambling over one another and recently laid eggs in pursuit of mates and reproductive opportunities during a massive explosive breeding aggregation on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. These captivating images were featured in the publicity for BBC’s landmark series ‘Planet Earth 3.’ Notably, one of these images was selected as the cover image for Behavioral Ecology, where his first dissertation chapter on explosive breeding in this species was recently published, with Biology Professor Karen Warkentin: Phenology and environmental determinants of explosive breeding in gliding treefrogs: diel timing of rainfall matters.

happy holidays!

Majo Salazar-Nicholls of the Warkentin Lab will be presenting a seminar titled “Neural mechanisms underlying hatching plasticity in red-eyed treefrogs” on Wednesday, November 15 at 12:20pm in BRB 113.

The arboreal embryos of red-eyed treefrogs, Agalychnis callidryas, can hatch in seconds to escape from egg predators and other threats. However, key mechanisms underlying hatching plasticity – from cue sensing to capsule exit – are unknown and the focus of my research. Majo studies how hypoxia-cued hatching works (cue sensing) and how acute hatching enzyme release is regulated (capsule exit) by combining fieldwork, behavioral experiments, and molecular analysis.

We will be hosting a research information session this Wednesday, 11/15 from 4-5pm via zoom.

We will discuss how to get involved in research.

zoom link:

https://bostonu.zoom.us/j/93623252205?pwd=dDJYLzl6RlBzcGVYZmVkamRLN2dSdz09

Meeting ID: 936 2325 2205
Passcode: 771474

Dylan Mankel will be giving a seminar titled "Linking Microbial Identity, Activity, and Microgeography within Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Chimneys" on Wednesday, November 8th at 12:20pm in BRB 113.

Hydrothermal vents here on Earth and the life therein provide a window into the origin of life and potential life elsewhere in our solar system. However, how microbial life comes to inhabit, derive energy from, and modify hydrothermal systems are still open questions in deep-sea microbiology research. Dylan is currently studying hydrothermal vents along the Mid-Cayman Rise and working to disentangle the impacts of temperature, nutrient availability, and mineralogy on the microbial communities within these unique rock substrates.

Join us at the CAS Major Fair to learn more about the different College of Arts and Sciences academic departments.

The event will be held Oct. 30 from 5-6 pm at the Yawkey Center, 6th floor.

Meet with representatives from the Education Resource Center, the Center for Career Development (), Study Abroad (), and all other schools and colleges to learn about opportunities across campus.

Rhushikesh Phadke of the Cruz-Martín Lab, will give a talk titled: “C4 overexpression induces pathological synaptic loss in neurons by impairing AMPAR trafficking.” The regularly scheduled Neuro graduate student seminar will take place Tuesday, October 24th from 12:30pm – 1:20pm in BRB 113.

Overexpression of Complement 4 (C4), a risk gene for schizophrenia, reduces synaptic connectivity. His work elucidates a novel, non-canonical mechanism of C4 action.

Melissa Inge of the Siggers Lab will give a talk titled: “Profiling the interactions of epigenetic regulators and their control of cell states” on Friday, October 13th from 12:20pm – 1:15pm in LSE B01.

Her work involves systematically determining the interactions between transcription factor and chromatin modifying cofactor complexes to better understand how these complexes may regulate gene expression in a cell type or cell state specific way. She does this by performing a high-throughput, protein-binding microarray (PBM)-based approach called CoRec (Cofactor Recruitment) in various cell types and cell states.

Emma Conrad-Rooney of the Templer Lab will be presenting a seminar tomorrow titled, Interacting effects of growing season and winter climate change on forest carbon sequestration” at 12:20pm in BRB 113.

With climate change, the Northeastern U.S. will experience both increasing air temperatures and decreasing snowpack. However, the combined effect of this year-round climate change on the forest carbon sink is not known. During their Chalk Talk, they will be discussing their research on the interacting effects of growing season and winter climate change on forest carbon sequestration from the Templer Lab's Climate Change Across Seasons Experiment (CCASE).

Jaice Rottenberg of the Fuxman Bass Lab will give a talk titled: “Identifying viral regulators of host cell signaling and transcription” on Friday, October 6th from 12:20pm – 1:15pm in LSE B01.

His work involves the identification and characterization of viral proteins which regulate host cell growth, death, and gene expression. This was achieved through both pooled phenotypic screening and multiplexed transcriptomic methods.

We want to invite you to our Fall event next Wednesday, October 11 from 5pm to 6pm in BRB 113 (5 Cummington Mall). We'll have some snacks and drinks (it's rumored that they're fall themed), and some space to hang out and catch up, so please come by to check in, ask registration questions, and say hi!

Looking forward to seeing you soon!