Biology Seminars happen in the RKC auditorium every Thursday at noon. The schedule for Fall 2018:

Sep 13: Scott Chimeleski, Harvard University. Imaging Microbial Activity through a Macro Lens
Sep 20: Alexandra Purdy, Amherst College. Bacterial regulatory networks controlling both host and microbe metabolism: a tale in two Vibrios
Sep 27: Lucija Peterlin Masic, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. New DNA Gyrase B inhibitors effective again ESCAPE pathogens
Oct 4: Jason Breves, Skidmore College. Salt and water balance in fishes: endocrine mechanisms of environmental adaptation
Oct 11: no seminar, fall break
Oct 18: Liza Comita, Yale School of Forestry. Who are the species in your neighborhood? Density-dependent interactions in a tropical tree community
Oct 25: Steve Franks, Fordham. Evolutionary Responses to Climate Change Revealed by the Resurrection Approach
Nov 1: Gabriel Perron, Bard College (title tba)
Nov 8: Vanisha Lakhina, Princeton University. Identifying genes that enhance neuronal health with age
Nov 15: Grace Barber, Pine Barrens. Ants, art, science education, and environmental conservation: A Bardian’s story
Nov 22: no seminar, Thanksgiving
Nov 29: Felicia Keesing, Bard College. How to have a meaningful summer
Dec 6: no seminar, Advising week in Biology program
Dec 13: Senior projects (names and titles will be known later)

Five biology students brought their senior project posters to the Hudson Valley Life Science Group (HVLSG) Spring Research Symposium, which was held at Vassar college this year. The conference was a blast, with about 30 students participating, and a great keynote lecture about frogs and owls (by Vassar professor Megan Gall).

• 2/1 – Introduction and orientation
• 2/8 – Chris Vecsey – Skidmore College – Sleeping on the Fly: Studying Fruit Flies to Learn About Mechanisms of Sleep Regulation
• 2/15 – Kerri-Ann Norton – Bard College – The Influence of the Host Microenvironment on Breast Cancer Progression: Investigations Using a Computational Biology Approach
• 2/22 – Susan Elbin – Audubon
• 3/1 – Olorunseun Ogunwobi – Hunter College – MicroRNA-1207-3p in Prostate Cancer
• 3/8 – Steven Franks – Fordham University – Evolutionary Responses to Climate Change Revealed by the Resurrection Approach
• 3/15 – Carmen Melendez-Vasquez – Hunter College – Myelinating Glia Differentiation is Regulated by the Mechanical Properties of the Extracellular Matrix
• 3/29 – Matteo Farinella – Columbia University – Comics and Science
• 4/5 – Robyn Smyth – Bard Center for Environmental Policy
• 4/12 – Bruce Robertson – Bard College
• 4/19 – Felicia Keesing – Bard College – The Tick Project: Testing environmental interventions to prevent tick-borne diseases
• 4/26 – Arseny Khakhalin – Bard College – Neural network connectivity in the brain of tadpoles that helps them detect impeding collisions
• 5/3 – Student talks

The Biology Seminars (biosem) happen every Thursday at noon, in RKC 103 (large auditorium). The list of speakers and talks this semester:

• 9/7 INFORMATION SESSION
• 9/14 Krishna Veeramah,  SUNY Stony Brook. Ancient European Dog Genomes Reveal Continuity Since the Early Neolithic
• 9/21 Ilyas Washington, Columbia University.
• 9/28 Wilfredo Colon, RPI. Degradation-resistant proteins: Biological, Disease, and Biotechnology Implications
• 10/5 Helen Alexander, Kansas University. Effects of Viruses on Plant Fitness: A Plant Ecologist’s Foray into Plant Virus Ecology
• 10/12 Dave Alexander, Kansas University. The Evolution of Animal Flight From a Biomechanics Perspective
• 10/19 NO SEMINAR
• 10/26 Pia-Kelsey O’Neill, Columbia University.
• 11/2 Jessica Hua, SUNY Binghamton. Poisons, Predators, and Parasites: Integrating Ecological and Evolutionary Complexity into Toxicology
• 11/9 Sarah Dunphy-Lelii, Bard College. The Chimpanzees of Ngogo
• 11/16 Felicia Keesing, Bard College. Integrating Livestock and Wildlife in an African Savanna
• 11/23 THANKSGIVING RECESS
• 11/30 Felicia Keesing. How to Plan a Meaningful Summer
• 12/7 Student talks
• 12/14 Student talks

14 students from Bard presented their posters at the yearly local science conference named “Hudson Valley Life Sciences Group Spring Research Symposium”, in SUNY New Paltz on April 28. Other schools that presented their work included SUNY New Paltz, Vassar College, and Marist College. The conference was clearly very productive (big thanks to the organizers!), and helped Bard seniors to hone their presentation skills, and practice their senior project elevator speeches!

The bio seminars happen every Thursday at noon, in RKC 103 (large auditorium). The list of speakers and talks this semester:

• • 2-Feb: Information session
  • 9-Feb: Cancelled because of a snowstorm
  • 16-Feb: Emma Rosi; Cary Institute; Our Rivers on Drugs
  • 23-Feb: Kirk Haltaufderhyde; University of RI; Characterization of Human T cell Response to Dengue
  • 2-Mar: Paolo Forni; SUNY Albany; Terminal differentiation of vomeronasal sensory neurons and GnRH-1 neuronal migration, from new models to new stories
  • 9-Mar: Jordan Ruybal; U Scranton; The influence of climate change and evolution on mosquito life history traits and pathogen transmission
  • 16-Mar: Cathy Collins, on the ecology of plant-fungal interactions
  • 23-Mar: Spring Recess
  • 30-Mar: Sarita Lagalwar; Skidmore; Ataxin1-pS776: Single site phosphorylation and its impact on neurodegenerative disease
  • 6-Apr: Chris Elphick; U Connecticut; Canaries in the saltmarsh: tidal marsh conservation in the face of sea level rise
  • 13-Apr: Cancelled
  • 20-Apr: Sarah Bowden; Cary Institute; The ecology of West Nile virus in the United States
  • 27-Apr: Charvann Bailey; Vassar; Molecular mechanisms of SLUG-induced chemotherapeutic resistance in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)
  • 4-May: Alexander Petroff; Rockefeller; tbc (mathematical dynamics of microbial cooperation)
  • 11-May: Michelle Hersh; Sarah Lawrence; tbc (ecology of fungal-plant interactions)
  • 18-May: Student talks:
    • Abiba Salahou: A Novel Approach for Exploring the Effects of Fluoxetine on Xenopus laevis tadpole Feeding Behavior.
    • Virginia Caponera: The Insectivore’s Dilemma: An assessment of the potential role of red-backed salamander predation on tick populations.
    • Biz Osborne-Schwartz: Attachment affinity of Vibrio cholerae to resistant starches: testing the benefit of adding resistant starches to an oral rehydration therapy.

Illustration: Scholars at an Abbasid library, House of Wisdom, Baghdad. A miniature by Yahyá al-Wasiti, 1237, from the Maqamat of al-Hariri manuscript.

The bio seminars happen every Thursday at noon, in RKC 103 (large auditorium). The list of speakers and talks this semester:

• 1-Sep; Information session
• 8-Sep: Alexandra Bettina; Univesity of Virginia. Macrophage-colony stimulating factor promotes the survival of mononuclear phagocytes and controls secondary liver damage during Klebsiella pneumonia
• 15-Sep: Peter Lipke; CUNY Brooklyn. Using the Force with Amyloids for Good and Evil: Ale, Biofilms, Commensalism, and Disease
• 22-Sep: Chris Solomon; Cary Institute. Why We Turned a Lake Brown and What We Learned
• 29-Sep: Jozsef Meszaros; Columbia. Two Diverging Roads Differing in Risk and Reward
• 6-Oct: Paul Turner; Yale. Virus Adaptation (or not) to Environmental Change
• 13-Oct: Arseny Khakhalin, Bard
• 20-Oct: Petko Bogdanov; SUNY Albany. Mining processes in biological networks
• 27-Oct: Ayse Aydemir; BHSEC Manhattan. Remodeling Under Pressure: Bone cell differentiation in response to mechanical stimulation
• 3-Nov: Heather Bennett; Philadelphia Children’s Hospital. Using C. elegans to Investigate How Animals Survive in Low Oxygen Conditions
• 10-Nov: Wendy E. Nack-Lawlor; Taconic Biosciences. Title to be confirmed (industry, biotechnology)
• 17-Nov: Ludmilla Aristilde; Cornell. Using Molecular Biology Tools to Understand Molecular Environmental Chemistry: My Interdisciplinary Journey in Academia
• 24-Nov: Thanksgiving, no seminar
• 1-Dec: Annalisa Scimemi; SUNY Albany. A novel role for astrocytes in hemorrhagic brain stroke
• 8-Dec: Student talks

Biology seminar schedule

Spring 2016

• 2/4 Information Session
• 2/11 Nsikan Akpan; NPR newshour
• 2/18 Mirkka Sarparanta; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• 2/25 Rahul Satija; NYU
• 3/3 Dorothy Peteet; Lamont-Doherty Observatory
• 3/10 Christine Brown; NCSU
• 3/17 Paul Turner; Yale
• 3/24 spring recess
• 3/31 Gautam Sethi; Bard
• 4/7 Jean-Sebastien Moore; Université Laval
• 4/14 Moderation Day, no seminar
• 4/21 Sarah Dunphy-Lelii; Bard
• 4/28 Jane Carlton; NYU
• 5/5 Student Talk I
• 5/12 Betul Kacar; Harvard
• 5/19 Student Talk II

It’s that time of year when we welcome 8th graders from Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook to spend a day at Bard taking science courses. Kids go through a sequence of 40-minute classes in computer science, math, chemistry, physics, and biology.

Bard biology students led an activity with microbial fuel cell batteries developed by Professor Brooke Jude. In the photo: Alessia Zabrano and Annie Kissel help to troubleshoot the wiring for the batteries.