University of Puget Sound Biology Department

Congratulations to the Biology class of 2024, who graduated on May 5, and welcome to the Puget Sound alumni family!

Dr. Mark Martin and his wife Dr. Jenny Quinn (from University of Washington Tacoma) were asked to do a video for Harvard University's Microbial Sciences Initiative in April. The result is a fun YouTube video where Mark and Jenny chat about : painting using luminous bacteria as "pigment" on a Petri dish "canvas."

2024 MSI Symposium Sci-Art Feature: Jennifer Quinn and Mark O. Martin Video produced by Jennifer Berglund

Congratulations Class of 2024! We are so proud of you. Please click through the images to help celebrate all their accomplishments!

The Outstanding IA award is presented to a student who has demonstrated outstanding dedication and talent for helping other students to learn and appreciate the science of biology during their service as an instructor assistant.

Congratulations to our winners Ruby Gunter and Abi Jeskey!

This award is given in recognition of an outstanding oral presentation describing excellent biological research at this year’s Phi Sigma Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Congratulations to our winner Andrew Saddler and Honorable Mention to Myah Stauffer!

The Phi Sigma Junior Research Award is presented to two juniors who are active members of the Phi Sigma Biological Honors society, are currently conducting research, and have plans to continue pursuing research opportunities over the summer or next academic year. Recipients have also demonstrated a dedication to service to the biology department, university campus, or broader community.

Congratulations to our 2024 Biology Seniors! Thank you for all the memories, and good luck on all your future endeavors!

BIOL 472 Animal Behavior students presented their class research projects to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium staff on Tuesday, April 30th. One lab group collaboratively studied two of the zoo's clouded leopards and the other lab group focused on the aquarium's hammerhead sharks.

Join us this Saturday, May 4th from 9:30am - 11:30am on the 2nd Floor of Harned Hall to celebrate our graduates and meet their families!

The Thompson Hall Science and Math Seminar speaker is Drew Kerkoff, who is the current Provost at the University of Puget Sound. Drew’s talk is titled, “Continental-scale patterns of plant biodiversity: from basic questions to applied macroecology”. You won’t want to miss it!

See the linktree link in our bio for the full Thompson Hall Science and Mathematics Seminar series calendar.

Professor Stacey Weiss is highlighted in a two-part blog post interview about her work remotely mentoring high school students doing research in Arizona through a program called STAR Lab (Students Taking Advantage of Research), developed by an organization named SARSEF (Southern Arizona Research, Science, and Engineering Foundation).

Professor Weiss began mentoring with STAR Lab in 2021, and remotely works with one to two students per year. You’ll definitely want to check this out to find out how a professor from the University of Puget Sound got involved with a program mentoring high school students in Arizona, and the amazing work, and personal growth that comes out of the collaborations.

You can read the two-part interview here:

Part one: https://sarsef.org/reaching-for-the-stars/

Part two: https://sarsef.org/stacey-part-two/

Living The Best Version Of Yourself…While Reaching For The Stars – Stacey Weiss Every child. Thinking critically. Solving problems.

Dr. Mark Martin interviewed Dr. Danielle Campbell (Puget Sound, 2012) on his podcast, . Danielle is now a postdoctoral scholar of the Baldridge group at Washington University in St. Louis and shares her research into the relationship between bacteriophage and the gut microbiome, as well as chat about her path in science.

You can watch the podcast here:
https://youtu.be/uGtXYBEZaNg?si=ACmlpljqK8n4GX0x

Matters Microbial #25: Gut feelings about phage and the gut microbiome Today, Dr. Danielle Campbell (and former !), a postdoctoral scholar of the Baldridge group at Washington University in St. Louis, will share her r...

The Department of Biology is excited to invite you to attend an Honors senior biology thesis presentation presented by Tristenne Cranford.

“Examining the Effect of Temperature on Metabolic Rate in Ice Worms”

The presentation will take place Friday, February 23rd at 4:00pm in Thompson 175

Refreshments Provided!

Faculty members Stacey Weiss and Kena Fox-Dobbs, along with staff member, Marie Bunker, had a publication come out in January with alumni, Alexi Ebersole, as lead author! The work was part of his senior thesis, conducted during the summers of 2020 and 2021.

Find out more about Alexi’s work here:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-023-05496-6

Inter- and intrapopulation resource use variation of marine subsidized western fence lizards - Oecologia Marine resource subsidies alter consumer dynamics of recipient populations in coastal systems. The response to these subsidies by generalist consumers is often not uniform, creating inter- and intrapopulation diet variation and niche diversification that may be intensified across heterogeneous lands...

The Thompson Hall Science and Math Seminar speaker is Kelsey Crutchfield-Peters, who is a 2014 graduate of Puget Sound (BS Biology). Following graduation, Kelsey traveled as a Watson fellow. Her project, "It Takes a Village: Placing Biodiversity Conservation in the Context of Native and Indigenous Communities,” took her to Chile, Madagascar, Borneo, and New Zealand. Kelsey then completed her PhD at Berkeley's Integrative Biology program. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow at LBNL - Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Energy Geosciences.

See the linktree link in our bio for the full Thompson Hall Science and Mathematics Seminar series calendar.

Courtney Fitzpatrick, Assistant Professor of Biology at Texas A&M University, will be speaking this week at the Thompson Hall Science and Mathematics Seminar series. Courtney's research combines field-based empirical methods with mathematical modeling to understand how social environments shape the evolution of animal traits, with a special focus on female sexual signals. Much of her work has focused on the exaggerated sexual swellings of female baboons in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Her modeling work considers the role of male mate choice on the evolution of female ornaments, as well as other related questions.

Find out more about Courtney's research here: https://fitzpatrickresearch.com/

See the linktree link in our bio for the full Thompson Hall Science and Mathematics Seminar series calendar.

Kelli L. Hvorency, a Senior Fellow from the University of Washington School of Medicine, will be speaking this week at the Thompson Hall Science and Mathematics Seminar series.

See the link in our bio for the Thompson Hall Science and Mathematics Seminar series calendar.

Professor Stacey Weiss, associate chair of biology and William L. McCormick Professor of Natural Sciences at the University of Puget Sound, has been honored with the prestigious 2023 Lynwood W. Swanson Scientific Research Award by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, presented at the Murdock College Science Research Conference in Vancouver, Washington, on Nov. 10.

Weiss is well-known for her research in the fields of behavioral and microbial ecology. Her work focuses on the function and regulation of microbiomes in wild animals, reproductive behavior, and animal communication signals. Weiss’ research into the communication signals of female striped plateau lizards was published in the Journal of Animal Ecology in 2011, garnering international attention from publications such as Smithsonian Magazine, Natural History Magazine, and the U.S. News & World Report.

https://bit.ly/47cphgN . .

On Nov 10 Puget Sound students and faculty attended the Murdock College Science Research Conference in Vancouver, Washington. There are several well-deserved shout outs for those in attendance:

Undergraduate Mariah Canton from Associate Professor Dr. Bryan Thines’ lab won a poster presentation award.

Professor Dr. Rachel Pepper, William D. and Flora McCormick Chair in Biophysics, received a Swanson Award Honorable Mention.

Professor Dr. Stacey Weiss, associate chair of biology and William L. McCormick Professor of Natural Sciences, was honored with the prestigious 2023 Lynwood W. Swanson Scientific Research Award by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust.

Congrats to everyone who attended and presented!

Brandon Montemuro will be speaking this week at the Thompson Hall Science and Mathematics Seminar series.

See the link in our bio for the Thompson Hall Science and Mathematics Seminar series calendar.

Students in Marine Biology (Biol 477) learn about food webs and the importance of estuaries and how freshwater from the glaciers of Mount Rainier and surrounding watershed influence water quality and diversity and abundance of plankton in Puget Sound. Then, in lab, students collect data on plankton and the water quality of Puget Sound (temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH, etc.) by deploying instruments from the UPS boat, starting at the mouth of the Puyallup River and doing a transect out to Browns Point and into Quartermaster Harbor.

Originally trained as an evolutionary biologist and plant scientist, Subramaniam’s pioneering research in Feminist Science Studies has made her a leader in the field. Her work explores the philosophy, history, and culture of the natural sciences and medicine as they relate to gender, race, ethnicity, and caste. Her latest research rethinks the field and practice of botany in relation to histories of colonialism and xenophobia and explores the wide travels of scientific theories, ideas, and concepts as they relate to migration and invasive species.

See the link in our bio for the full Thompson Hall Science and Mathematics Seminar series calendar.

Lathiena Nervo will be speaking this week at the Thompson Hall Science and Mathematics Seminar series about her work as a developmental biologist on cell shape changes and adhesion. She was recently named one of the 1,000 most inspiring Black scientists in America!

See the link in our bio for the Thompson Hall Science and Mathematics Seminar series calendar.

Biophysics minor info session Wednesday 10/25 12-1pm in TH153.

2023-2024 Biology Department

From top/Left to right: Mark Martin, Joel Elliott, Oscar Sosa, Bryan Thines, Katherine Crocker, Greg Johnson, Marie Bunker, Leslie Saucedo, Laura Doepker, Stacey Weiss, David Sultemeier, Siddharth Ramakrishnan, Sue Hannaford, Sabine Angier, Emma St. Jon, Peter Hodum, Amy Replogle.

Not Pictured: Alexa Tullis, Andreas Madlung, Carrie Woods, Gary Shugart, Michal Morrison-Kerr, Rachel Pepper (Physics).

Ruth Isenberg ‘16 just earned her PhD in Microbial Sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, congratulations! As an undergraduate at the University of Puget Sound Ruth was a research student in Dr. Mark O. Martin’s lab, and was recently interviewed on his podcast, . Ruth is great example of what our students can accomplish after leaving Puget Sound.

Link to interview: https://youtu.be/oovPHVFH0ZY?si=w4nMmZFhzya_lGtX

Last week the Biology Department had a Fall Social that was a huge success! Faculty, Staff, and Students showed up to socialize, enjoy drinks and snacks, and learn about biology-related activities beyond the classroom.

Amanda Gunn will be speaking this week at the Thompson Hall Science and Mathematics Seminar series about her recent work that she completed as a staff scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Amanda is a talented teacher and communicator, and so the talk to be accessible even if one isn't a cell biologist!

Link for the Thompson Hall Science and Mathematics Seminar series calendar: https://sites.google.com/pugetsound.edu/thsm-seminar/home

This is based on the work of Elise Philips ’18 and Jacob Shaffer ‘19. They are both currently PhD students in the Microbiology Department at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. While they were at the University of Puget Sound, they helped Dr. Mark O. Martin isolate many agarase producing marine bacteria (forming pits in the agar!), isolated genomic DNA, and worked to analyze the genomes of four candidates with Dr. Thrash's lab at the University of Southern California.

Link to paper: https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/mra.00667-23?af=R&