Featured Research
The Department of Biology at the University of Rochester provides faculty, postdoctoral fellows, Ph.D. students, and undergraduates with advanced research opportunities in the biological sciences. The department is united by a common interest in genetic processes which has created a continuum of research interests among the different laboratories. Areas of special focus are cellular biology, developmental biology, molecular biology and ecology and evolutionary biology.
Faculty Position in Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology
Faculty Position in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
**Please note that the UPBM Office has been moved to Hutchison Hall Room 487/488. The Biology Business Office has moved to Hutchison Hall Room 402E/F.
Department News
- Superbugs May Have a Soft Spot, After All -- Gloria Culver & Keith Connelly have identified a weakness in at least one superbug that scientists may be able to medically exploit.
- Researchers Discover How Rodent Wards Off Cancer—
University biologists have determined how blind mole rats fight off cancer—and the mechanism differs from what they discovered three years ago in another long-lived and cancer-resistant mole rat species, the naked mole rat. - Welte Lab Rethinks Toxic Proteins on the Cellular Level
- Seluanov & Gorbunova Labs Find a Protein That Helps DNA Repair in Aging Cells
- John Jaenike Receives Grand Challenges Explorations Grant
- Congratulations to David Loehlin for winning the School of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Dissertation Award in the Natural Sciences. David received his PhD in October 2011 under the supervision of John Werren.
- Biology Professor John H. Werren Named to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- John (Jack) Werren, professor of biology and a leading expert in evolutionary genetics, has been named the first recipient of the Nathaniel and Helen Wisch Professorship in Biology.
- Jack Werren & Lab Find a Key to Growth Differences Between Species
- EUREKA!!: The Werren Lab has been awarded a EUREKA grant from NIH to explore the function and evolution of parasitoid venoms!! Eureka is a prestigious NIH grant to fund "exceptionally innovative research" and folks in the Werren lab will be investigating function, evolution, and drug discovery potential of venoms in parasitoid insects. This represents a vast untapped set of species with potential for new drug discovery.
- Presgraves lab makes discoveries about regulation of the X chromosome in the Drosophila male germline
- Jasper Lab Unlocks One Mystery of Tissue Regeneration
- Dr. Rich Glor's Research Shows that Environmental Factors Limit Species Diversity
- Professor John Jaenike Documents a Novel Form of Adaptation through Natural Selection in the Journal 'Science'
- Two Biology Professors receive Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging. Prof.'s Jasper and Gorbunova will be the recipients of unsolicited funds from the The Glenn Foundation for Medical Research. The award will benefit the professors' research with the promise of transformational discoveries in the fundamental biology of aging.
- Prof. John Jaenike Receives Gates Foundation Grant to Study River Blindness
- Culver lab publishes paper in PNAS "Appropriate maturation and folding of 16S rRNA during 30S subunit biogenesis are critical for translational fidelity." This work was critical in revealing the importance of appropriate 30S subunit maturation to the functional status of the translating population."
- Prof. Vera Gorbunova wins Cozzarelli Prize, an annual award established by PNAS, for her article "Hypersensitivity to contact inhibition provides a clue to cancer resistance of naked mole-rat"
- Prof. Justin Ramsey wins prestigious NSF CAREER Award
- Prof. John Werren leads Nasonia genome project, paper published in Science. The laboratory also published 7 companion papers, including the first cloning of an interspecies quantitative trait in the system (Loehlin et al 2010 PloS Genetics). In total, 28 companion papers are published with the Nasonia genome. See here for more information about the lab.
- Reuters Selects Jack Werren's Nasonia Genome paper as a "Hot Paper"
- South Campus Woodlands featured in article in Campus Times
- Professor David Goldfarb Receives Plaque for Outstanding Research
- Gorbunova Lab Discovers Gene that 'Cancer-Proofs' Rodent's Cells
- Prof. Rich Glor Kicks Off 'Science Cafe' Series at Barnes & Noble
- Professor Cheeptip Benyajati receives The University Dean's Award for Meritorious Service in Ph.D. Defenses
- Professor Alan Dietsche receives the Professor of the Year award for Natural Sciences from the University of Rochester Students' Association. This is the third time Prof. Dietsche has received this award!
- Professor Daven Presgraves receives 2009 Sloan Research Fellowship
- Professor Allen Orr accepts rare Darwin-Wallace Medal
- Professor Jasper wins $900,000 Senior Fellow Award from the Ellison Medical Foundation for his work showing how stress affects stem cell function, leading to symptoms of aging.
- Tang and Presgraves paper identifies new speciation gene
NY Times Article - Gorbunova team designs a gene that selectively targets cancer cells
- Professor Michael Welte Modifies Theory of Cells' Engines
- Undergraduates use clay to model cellular machines in BIO210
- NSF Grant Puts Talented Undergraduates into Research Laboratories
- Evolutionary Biologist Professor Daven Presgraves, Wins $875,000 Packard Fellowship to Study Speciation
- Jasper lab identifies mechanism causing degeneration of aging stem cells
- Gorbunova lab finds novel anti-cancer mechanism in long-lived rodents
- Professor H. Allen Orr Named 'University Professor' for Diverse Body of Achievements
- Congratulations to Grad student Julienne Ng who won the Henri Seibert Award for best student presentation at the Joint Ichthyology and Herpetology Meetings in Montreal
- Werren Lab Wolbachia lateral gene transfer paper included in Discover Magazines Top 100 Science stories of 2007
- Presgraves study confirms large effect of X chromosome in speciation
- Werren Lab discovers One Species' Genome Inside Another's
- Prof. Terry Platt awarded "Natural Science Professor of the Year" by the Students' Association.
- UR Biology scientist, Bob Minckley, speaks out on why honeybee colonies are dying.
- H. Allen Orr Named Shirley Cox Kearns Professor.
- UR Bio research cited as part of Science magazine's Top 10 breakthroughs of 2006.
- Jaenike lab shows new way that bacteria influence animal evolution.
Upcoming Events
NEXT SEMINAR:
Friday, May 3, 3:00 PM
Hutchison 316
"Host-parasite coevolution between sigma virus and Drosophila"
Save the date for the Ninth Annual Aging Research Day!
Friday, May 3rd, 2013
Keynote speaker: Dr. Jan van Deursen, Mayo Clinic
Register for the next Howard Bryant Memorial Golf Tournament!
Howard Bryant Memorial Golf Tournament 2012 Photos