Waldorf Biology

08/26/2026

08/19/2026

Reels have been scheduled to upload (1 per day) of this year's general biology students engaged in the first lab of the semester. This lab is designed to foster scientific method practice. Students design behavioral studies of mice using quadrant boxes, a maze, an elevated plus maze, different handling techniques, different foods, marbles, bedding, and their own creativity. They typically use timers and stopwatches on their phones to gather quantitative data.

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07/17/2026

Waldorf Biology senior Zackary Bender’s research into mechanisms of proteasome addiction in soft tissue sarcomas has just been accepted for publication in a special issue entitled “Solid Tumors: From Molecular Mechanisms to Targeted Therapies” in International Journal of Molecular Sciences. This research was submitted in response to an invitation from guest editor Dr. Sylvia Pomello. Dr. Gary Coombs served as principal investigator for this work, and significant contributions were made by Dr. Peter Larsen, Director of Education and Research at MercyOne Iowa Hospitals, and Dr. Hannah Beird, Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Genomic Medicine at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. This research analyzes patient gene expression data curated by The Cancer Genome Atlas for 259 individuals with soft tissue sarcomas to interrogate in detail the mechanisms underlying proteasome addiction in these sarcomas by evaluating the impact on survival of each of the 277 E3 ubiquitin ligases that target proteins in cells for destruction by the proteasome. Six E3 ligases are specifically implicated in proteasome addiction, opening a door to research into alternative drug targets with potentially reduced adverse side effects.