CST Biology Update Winter 2014

College of Science and Technology

LOOK INSIDE: Biology Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Biology UPDATE MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

Zebrafish Researcher . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Ocean Acidification in Antarctica . . 2 The Race to Understand a Devastating Wildlife Disease . . . . . 3 Undergraduate Profile . . . . . . . . . . 3 New Faculty: Rachel Spigler . . . . . 4 New Center for Computational Genetics and Genomics . . . . . . . . .4

Winter 2014

Biotechnology master’s degree launched

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Biology Update, the annual newsletter of the Department of Biology. This is an exciting time for the department. Within the last five years we have hired 10 faculty members who have established cutting-edge research and teaching programs in cell and developmental biology, genomics, evolution, biomechanics and biodesign, virology and ecology. Our two most recent hires, Professor Jody Hey and Assistant Professor Rachel Spigler, are profiled in this issue.

Now in its second year, the two-year Professional Science Master’s in Biotechnology program prepares students for careers that focus on solving real-world problems in health and environmental sciences. From drug discovery to remediation to reduce contaminants in air and water, the PSM Biotech program is designed to prepare tomorrow’s research, regulatory and business leaders.

Hey’s Center for Computational Genetics and Genomics will provide an important base for programs in computational biology. Spigler will establish a program in plant evolutionary genetics and ecology that will utilize the new state-of-the-art plant-growth facility in the Bio-Life Building. Also in this issue is Assistant Professor Brent Sewall’s research on white-nose syndrome, which is devastating North American bat populations.

The program trains students across a variety of disciplines through evening classes, an original research project and, during the second year, paid internships. Several students have been placed with pharmaceutical companies, such as GlaxoSmithKline. Courses include analytical and microbial biotechnology; genomics and bioinformatics; and ethics, policy and regulation.

Many of our undergraduate biology majors, as well as our exceptional graduate students, are engaged in research projects with either faculty from our department or from departments across CST and Temple; three of them are profiled in this newsletter.

With more than 10 students currently enrolled, the first year of the Professional Science Master’s Program in Biotechnology is a success.

The program enables productive collaborative research and educational ties with the private and public sectors, and is a key contributor to much-needed workforce training for the biotech industry.

In order to provide advanced facilities for optimal hands-on learning experiences, we are gradually renovating all undergraduate teaching laboratories. Currently, the microbiology laboratory is undergoing important upgrades, and we hope to have all the renovations completed by the end of the decade. Modern research laboratories and classrooms in Bio-Life, combined with new biology spaces in the Science Education and Research Center, will provide an outstanding environment for teaching, research and scholarly activities for years to come.

I invite you to visit our department—online or in person—and see the excitement of research and teaching in action.

Sincerely,

Allen Nicholson

Its broad, multidisciplinary nature is unique, according to Mark Feitelson, program director and professor of biology. “In this economic environment, it’s harder for narrowly trained people to be competitive,” Feitelson says. “This program allows our students to look at problems from different perspectives and gives them new skill sets to assume leadership positions in different biotechnology areas.”

Rachel A. Chiaverelli, BS ’12, Bio, who—after she graduates from the program this May—hopes to pursue her PhD and ultimately run her own research laboratory, agrees: “The program gives you a nice view of research but it’s also so broad that you could easily one day become a project manager.”

For more information, go to: bio.cst.temple.edu/biotech/

Biology Award Winners

Zebrafish researcher now working in computational biology at Penn Pegah Safabakhsh, BS ’13, Biochem, who worked in Assistant Professor Darius Balciunas’ zebrafish facility, is now a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania’s graduate program in genomics and computational biology.

During the fall of 2010, Safabakhsh began working with Balciunas through CST’s Undergraduate Research Program (URP). The Balciunas laboratory uses mobile DNA elements called transposons to induce mutations in zebrafish genes. Depending on the engineering features built into the transposons, researchers can observe where and when the gene they mutated is active and can regulate the mutated genes’ activities.

With support from URP and the Temple’s Creative Arts, Research and Scholarship Program, Safabakhsh continued her research through the end of her senior year. In 2012, she was awarded a scholarship from the Genetics Society of America to present her work at the 10th International Meeting on Zebrafish Development and Genetics in Madison, Wisc.

Dean Michael Klein presented the 2013 Dean's Distinguished Teaching Award to Assistant Professor Rhonda Nicholson.

CST Distinguished Faculty Award Winners THE ITALIA-EIRE FOUNDATION DISTINGUISHED TEACHER OF THE YEAR AWARD Jacqueline C. Tanaka, Associate Professor THE DEAN’S DISTINGUISHED TEACHING AWARD Rhonda Nicholson, Assistant Professor (Instructional) THE WILLIAM CALDWELL MEMORIAL DISTINGUISHED MENTORING AWARD Brent Sewall, Assistant Professor (Research)

“We have some of the very best undergraduate students here at Temple and particularly in my lab,” says Balciunas. “But even among that exceptional group, Pegah’s dedication and ability really stand out.”

Doctoral recipient Lunden focusing on ocean acidification in Antarctica Jay Lunden, BS ’07, PhD ’13, Bio, completed his PhD in Assistant Professor Erik Cordes’ deep-sea ecology laboratory. He studied the effects of ocean acidification, in particular on the deep-water coral Lophelia pertusa in the Gulf of Mexico. This coral appears to be able to survive under the most adverse conditions of any known reef-building coral.

During his doctoral program, Lunden participated in eight research cruises, including acting as the chief scientist on the cruise that discovered the deepest record for Lophelia in the Gulf of Mexico—800 meters below sea level—a discovery that was featured in Science.

Last September, Lunden became a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Professor Gretchen Hofmann, an eco-physiologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he now is studying ocean acidification in another extreme habitat: Antarctica.

The race to understand a devastating wildlife disease

By Brent Sewall, Assistant Professor (Research) In 2007, when biologists observed a strange white fuzz on the snouts, ears and wings of several bats in a cave in New York State, they had little idea it was the first sign of a major new wildlife epidemic that poses a critical threat to several bat species. The white growth appears innocuous, but is a visible symptom of an emerging disease known as white-nose syndrome. The cause of this disease was recently determined to be a new invasive fungal pathogen, Pseudogymnoascus destructans.

To understand the consequences of this emerging disease, I have been evaluating long-term changes in bat populations.

My collaborators and I have determined, based on a new analysis we conducted of monitoring data at 163 sites in four states over 13 years, that in the eastern U.S. little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) populations have declined by an alarming 71 percent. Further, populations of the three other bat species we studied have each declined by at least 30 percent. These results suggest white-nose syndrome poses a grave risk to the long-term persistence of hibernating bat species.

Supported by a Pennsylvania Game Commission grant, my ongoing research deepens this exploration of population changes in bats, evaluates factors correlated with bat susceptibility to the disease and investigates potential management strategies that could limit disease spread or minimize its effects. While there is currently no cure, I am hopeful that this work, combined with that of other researchers and land managers, will result in improved understanding and new approaches that ultimately will slow the devastating effects of the disease and support bat recovery. Given the rapid spread of the disease, however, we are in a race against time to retain bat populations and the valuable services they provide to ecosystems and people.

What is white-nose syndrome?

White-nose syndrome most likely originated in Europe and was transported unintentionally to North America. Here, the fungus encountered immunologically naïve bats that proved highly susceptible. The fungus colonizes the skin of hibernating bats, invading and damaging their wing membranes. The wing damage causes dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, energy loss and, ultimately, a reduced ability to survive the several-months-long winter hibernation period. In some cases, entire bat colonies have perished, and in only six years the disease has spread from a single known site in New York to several hundred caves and mines across 22 states and five Canadian provinces.

This disease is particularly worrisome because bats play key roles in many ecosystems. As important predators of nocturnal insects, they control insect populations and indirectly limit the effects of those insects on plant populations. They are also central in maintaining the cave ecosystems that harbor diverse suites of unique species. In addition, bats provide numerous benefits to people by reducing vectors of several human diseases and controlling insect pests that would otherwise cause several billion dollars’ worth of agricultural losses each year in North America alone.

To see our recent publication, go to http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0065907

Undergraduate profile: Holly Fowle Temple Faculty Senate Outstanding Service Faculty Award Joel Sheffield, Professor

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Holly Fowle, a senior biology major in the Honors Program, has been conducting research in Assistant Professor Erik Cordes’ laboratory on the physiology and genetics of deep-sea corals.

In her sophomore year, Fowle received the Hollings Scholarship from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The scholarship supported an internship at a NOAA facility in South Carolina. Working with Cordes and Dr. Peter Etnoyer of NOAA, she helped establish a new deep-sea aquarium facility and contributed to NOAA’s database of deepsea coral distribution. This semester, Holly returned to Temple and the Cordes lab, to complete her studies.

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Spigler focuses on evolution of plant reproduction The research of Assistant Professor Rachel Spigler focuses on plant evolutionary ecology—particularly on how plants reproduce and why some flowering plants are declining. Among the species she is studying is the squarestemmed rose pink (Sabatia angularis) an uncommon gentian that grows in the harsh soils of the rocky serpentine barrens along the Pennsylvania-Maryland border.

Spigler, who received her PhD in 2007 from the University of Georgia, previously worked as a research assistant professor and postdoctoral associate at the University of Pittsburgh.

Since 2009 she has also participated in the National Science Foundation’s FIRST (Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching) IV program. She joined the Biology Department in fall 2013.

Spigler’s work integrates the fields of quantitative genetics, population genetics, population ecology, pollination biology and evolutionary demography to explore how ecological, demographic and genetic factors influence plant-mating patterns and shape the evolution of reproductive traits.

“I am particularly interested in studying how plants adapt when fewer pollinators are available,” says Spigler. “This might involve the evolution of floral traits that decrease reliance on pollinators by enabling plants to self-pollinate or traits that increase attractiveness to pollinators, such as large flower size.”

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Hey heads new Center for Computational Genetics and Genomics Professor Jody Hey joined the Biology Department in August 2013, moving from Rutgers University. His primary research includes developing new ways to use genome sequence data to study the divergence of populations and studying the evolutionary history of human populations in Africa.

Hey has established the Center for Computational Genetics and Genomics, which includes Assistant Professor Rob Kulathinal; postdoctoral fellows Yujin Chung, Matthew Hansen, Meganathan Ramakodi, and Arun Sethuraman; and doctoral student Craig Stanley. In addition to postdocs and graduate students, CCGG will include new faculty hires in the Biology Department; a senior faculty search is currently underway.

The goal of CCGG is to foster education and research on questions that draw upon the vast amount of data available in genome sequences. “From basic research questions on evolution to critically important questions on human health, much of modern life science research involves the development and application of advanced computing technologies,” says Hey.