UCI School of Biological Sciences - 2015 Dean's Report
2015 Dean’s Report
Dear colleagues and friends,
I am delighted to present this inaugural edition of The Dean’s Annual Report, which describes the accomplishments of the School from January through December 2014.
My first year as dean has proven to be more exciting and personally rewarding than I could have anticipated. I have enjoyed the opportunity to meet many new students, alumni and supporters, most of whom have graciously shared their enthusiasm for the School. In the near future, I look forward to getting to know and meet even more BioAnteaters in Orange County and throughout the USA.
Two extraordinary and indeed landmark events occurred during my first year. First, the School of Biological Sciences was renamed in honor of Dr. Francisco J. Ayala, a pioneering evolutionary biologist and distinguished Bren and University professor. Students, faculty, alumni and distinguished guests came together at a celebratory event to mark the special occasion of the renaming as the Francisco J. Ayala School of Biological Sciences. Adding the Ayala name to our school forever associates us with one of the leading biologists of all time.
To celebrate UCI’s golden anniversary, President Barack Obama delivered the keynote address at the commencement ceremony at Angel Stadium. UCI and
Cover photo: Daniel A. Anderson
the Dean
the broader Orange County community were honored to host the President, and for the “zot, zot, zot” heard around the world. We’re not done celebrating yet, so please stay tuned for many other great events to help us commemorate our ‘bright past’ and prepare for a ‘brilliant future.’
The Ayala School continues to grow in both student and faculty numbers and our research and teaching programs are having a tremendous impact on a global scale. We are already a top destination for faculty and student recruitment, but we will continue to innovate and evolve until we achieve our goal of becoming the most preeminent school of life sciences in the world. Many of the problems facing our society today — health, food production, environmental, energy-related — have a biological-based solution. Hence, we need to partner with business and community leaders to ensure that the best solutions are enacted.
The Ayala School of Biological Sciences is proud to expand our engagement with the local community. The School is dedicated to playing a leading role in outreach and education to help unpackage the complexity of biological issues facing our society.
With warm regards,
Frank M. LaFerla, Ph.D.
Hana
and Francisco J. Ayala Dean
In Ayala’s Honor
On March 10, the eve of his 80th birthday, Francisco J. Ayala and his wife, Hana, were enjoying a small celebratory dinner at the home of UC Irvine Chancellor at the time, Michael Drake. As guests toasted the renowned evolutionary biologist and geneticist, the chancellor announced a birthday surprise: The School of Biological Sciences would be renamed in Dr. Ayala’s honor.
The name change recognizes Dr. Ayala’s impressive scientific achievements, his international stature and his decades of support for many areas of the campus.
“It was my honor to put forward the naming of the Francisco J. Ayala School of Biological Sciences,” Chancellor Drake said. “Francisco has demonstrated the highest levels of dedication to excellence in research and teaching. He is a true world ambassador for the sciences, and he has done as much as anyone in the world to elucidate the many intersections of science and religion. He and Hana have been extraordinarily generous and committed supporters and champions of our campus since joining the UCI community in 1987. This is a wonderful recognition for them and for us.”
Dr. Ayala’s research on parasitic protozoa could lead to cures for malaria and other diseases. He has written more than 1,000 articles and 40 books. In 2011, he pledged $10 million to the school that now bears his name, the largest gift ever by a UC Irvine faculty member. He also donated the entire $1.5 million award from his 2010 Templeton Prize, presented to a living person who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension.
Sowing Seeds
A lover of pinot noir and opera, onetime horse breeder and voracious reader, the “Renaissance man of evolutionary biology” – as he was described by The New York Times – began buying land in Central California in the 1980s and turning it into vineyards supplying grapes to the state’s major winemakers.
Born in Madrid in 1934, shortly before the Spanish Civil War unleashed its terror, Dr. Ayala grew up within the smothering restrictions of the Franco era. His family was involved in business and finance, but he showed an interest in science that was cultivated by the priests who taught him. In 1960, he too became a priest but soon decided to leave the priesthood – and the intellectual repression of Franco’s Spain. He moved to New York in 1961 to attend Columbia University. Under the tutelage of Theodosius Dobzhansky, one of the 20th century’s most distinguished geneticists and evolutionary biologists, Dr. Ayala earned a doctorate at Columbia in 1964. His thesis established that rates of evolution depend on the genetic variation of a species.
Fruits of his Research
It was the first of many discoveries that placed Dr. Ayala among the pioneers of genetic research in the second half of the 20th century, including his proof that the parasites responsible for Chagas’ disease –an often fatal malady afflicting millions of people living in the tropics – reproduced not sexually but by cloning. This led to similar findings about the parasites that cause malaria and other tropical diseases, opening up new approaches to potential vaccines.
“Naming the School of Biological Sciences after me is a greater honor than I would deserve or would ever have imagined. UCI has been a most wonderful institution for teaching and research. And now comes this exceptional recognition. The announcement by the chancellor came as an enormous surprise. For this honor and for the privilege of having served the university for 27 years, I am and will forever be, most grateful and have never been so happy, personally or professionally, as I have been at UC Irvine.” – Francisco J. Ayala
In 2009, he and colleagues determined that malaria was likely first transmitted from chimpanzees to humans as recently as 5,000 years ago, possibly through a single mosquito.
In 2010, Dr. Ayala co-authored a paper asserting that gorillas and chimps may now serve as reservoirs for malaria parasites, so that even if human malaria is eradicated, humans will remain vulnerable to reinfection.
Titles and Awards
Dr. Ayala is a University Professor, a
In 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed Dr. Ayala to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology. While president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science from 1993 to 1996, Dr. Ayala developed the AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics & Religion program. Among many other honors, he won the 2001 National Medal of Science and the 2010 Templeton Prize. He is a member of the National Academy
of Sciences and a foreign member of the scientific academies of Spain, Russia, Italy, Mexico and Serbia. He has received honorary degrees from more than 20 institutions worldwide.
In 2010, UC Irvine’s Science Library was renamed the Francisco J. Ayala Science Library in recognition of his achievements. Now, the School of Biological Sciences bears his name as well. “Adding the Ayala name to the School of Biological Sciences bestows the gold standard of scientific distinction and a shining model of selfless service on our school,” said Dr. Frank LaFerla, the Hana and Francisco J. Ayala Dean of the school. “I know I speak for our students, faculty and staff when I express heartfelt thanks to Francisco for his many years of dedication and generosity.”
A Presidential Visit
Hello, Anteaters! That’s something I never thought I’d say. “ ”
With those words, President Barack Obama greeted more than 6,000 members of UC Irvine’s class of 2014 and 30,000 family members and friends at a special commencement ceremony on June 14 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
In a nearly 30-minute talk that received three standing ovations, Obama gave a shout-out to the UCI baseball team playing in the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska; acknowledged the campus’s Guinness world record for largest water pistol fight; and noted the 65 veterans and four ROTC members among the assembled students. And he encouraged graduates to take on the challenges of climate change in the same way the nation answered the call to reach the moon in the 1960s. The President gave kudos to UCI for being “ahead of the curve” on the issue.
Success against climate change will take perseverance, he cautioned. “I’m here to tell you: Don’t believe the cynicism. Guard against it. Don’t buy into it... I want to show you how badly we need you – both your individual voices and your collective efforts – to give you the chance you seek to change the world and maybe even save it.”
The day’s brilliant weather, which prompted many in the crowd to use their event programs as sunshades, evoked the sunny day 50 years ago when President Lyndon B. Johnson dedicated the land for UCI.
The Anaheim event marked the kickoff of UCI’s 50th anniversary celebration, which will continue through June 2016.
Commencement 2014: Opportunity of a Lifetime
Ayala School doctoral student Jessica Pratt presented the graduate student address at the campus-wide ceremony attended by President Obama at Angel Stadium. Dr. Pratt, who defended her thesis in fall 2013, had no idea that she would ultimately be selected as the graduate student speaker for this prestigious event.
Dr. Pratt was pleasantly surprised to hear President Obama’s speech focus on environmental awareness and climate change, a perfect follow-up to her own address highlighting her research on the effects of pollution, declining rainfall and other environmental changes affecting local open spaces. Afterward, she said “Giving the graduate student speech and meeting President Obama at commencement was one of the greatest honors of my life. The fact that he followed my speech on environmental sustainability being the greatest challenge of our generation with his own speech on climate change policy – and remaining optimistic – was icing on the cake! Given UCI’s commitment to sustainability and climate change research, I had hoped he would talk about these two issues and I’m so pleased that our messages overlapped”.
Joining Dr. Pratt in representing the Ayala School on stage were Hana and Francisco J. Ayala Dean Frank LaFerla and Professor James McGaugh. Dr. McGaugh had a special invitation to join the platform party after having attended President Johnson’s dedication of the UCI campus fifty years earlier to the day.
Dr. Jacqueline Dupont
Dr. Jacqueline Dupont Delivers Biological Sciences Commencement Address
On Monday, June 16, traditional commencement was held for students of the Francisco J. Ayala School of Biological Sciences. This marked the first time that an Ayala School Commencement was celebrated under its new name. Katherine Hills ’83, chair of the Ayala School Alumni Club, served as the Alumni Mace Marshall. Dr. Jacqueline Dupont, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Dupont Residential Care, Inc. and new member of the Dean’s Leadership Council was the commencement speaker. Dr. Dupont presented a moving address describing how she discovered a love of serving others, encouraging the graduates to make their professional and personal lives more meaningful by volunteering and having an impact on their local communities. In all, there were 878 members of the Ayala School’s Class of 2014, including 822 bachelor’s degrees, 21 master’s degrees and 35 doctorates.
Ayala School doctoral student
Jessica Pratt
Ms. Katherine Hills ‘83
New
Chancellor
Howard Gillman, Ph.D.
UCI Chancellor
Howard Gillman, Ph.D., became UC Irvine’s sixth chancellor on September 18, 2014. He had previously served as Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor since June 2013 and Interim Chancellor since July 1, 2014. An award-winning scholar and teacher, he has academic appointments in the departments of political science, history, law, and criminology, law and society. Prior to his arrival at UC Irvine, Dr. Gillman was a professor of political science, history, and law at the University of Southern California. From 2007 to 2012, he served as dean of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
Ayala School Leadership Transitions
David M. Gardiner, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Research and Academic Personnel
1989. Her research in neuroscience, as well as her nationallyrecognized work researching and improving science education, have earned her numerous honors including the highly prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Professor award. Dr. O’Dowd has served on the Academic Senate Committee on Committees and on the Academic Planning Group, and as chair of the Senate’s Council on Student Experience.
Dr. David Gardiner, Professor of Developmental and Cell Biology and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, was named Associate Dean for Research and Academic Personnel on February 1, 2014. He is an active researcher in regeneration, specializing in the study of limb replacement in vertebrates. A researcher since 1982 and a faculty member since 2008, Dr. Gardiner most recently served as the Ayala School’s Equity Advisor.
Thomas F. Schilling, Ph.D. Chair of Developmental and Cell Biology
Dr. Thomas Schilling assumed the role of Chair of the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology on September 1, 2014. A faculty member in the department since 1998, Dr. Schilling is an active participant in a number of Ayala School centers and professional associations, including the Society for Developmental Biology and the Society for Craniofacial Genetics and Developmental Biology. His research examines the early embryonic development of the vertebrate nervous system and skeleton. To address these interests he uses zebrafish, small teleost fish that have emerged as a powerful genetic system for studying how genes control early development.
Institute/Center Leadership Transitions
Marcelo A. Wood, Ph.D.
Chair of Neurobiology and Behavior
Dr. Marcelo Wood is the new Chair of the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior as of January 2, 2014, replacing Dr. Frank M. LaFerla who became Dean. Dr. Wood’s research program focuses on understanding the role of epigenetics in long-term memory and drug-seeking behavior. He previously served as director of the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program in the Ayala School and was recently named a Chancellor’s Fellow and Professor of the Year. He has been a member of the faculty since 2006.
Georg F. Striedter, Ph.D.
Equity Advisor
Dr. Georg Striedter of the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior accepted the position of Equity Advisor effective March 1, 2014. In this role, Dr. Striedter actively participates in the recruitment process, organizes Faculty Development Programs and promotes faculty equity and diversity. A faculty member since 1995, he researches Evolutionary Developmental Neurobiology and Neuroethology.
Faculty Retirements
Rudi C. Berkelhamer, Ph.D.
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Michael T. Clegg, Ph.D.
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Herbert P. Killackey, Ph.D. Neurobiology and Behavior
Ronald L. Meyer, Ph.D. Developmental and Cell Biology
Andrea J. Tenner, Ph.D.
Director, UCI MIND
Dr. Andrea Tenner was appointed as the Director of the Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND), effective August 1, 2014. She took over the directorship from Dr. Frank M. LaFerla who assumed the Ayala School deanship earlier in the year. Dr. Tenner, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, is a prolific researcher in the field of immunology. A major focus of her laboratory is on the fundamental processes associated with the immune response and subsequent inflammation in Alzheimer’s Disease. Professor Tenner previously held the position of Associate Dean for Research in the Ayala School.
John F. Guzowski, Ph.D. Director, Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
Dr. John Guzowski began serving as Director of the CNLM on July 1, 2014. An Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior, Dr. Guzowski holds the James L. McGaugh Chair in the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. He previously served as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. His laboratory focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in cognition and memory storage in the mammalian brain, including research into the role that certain genes play in stabilizing neural networks that encode long-term memories.
New Faculty
Bruce McNaughton, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor, Neurobiology and Behavior
Dr. McNaughton, one of the foremost experts on the brain mechanisms underlying memory storage and cognition, joined the Ayala School as a Distinguished Professor of neurobiology and behavior. He joins three other Ayala School faculty members with the Distinguished Professor title.
Dr. McNaughton’s work integrates theory, computational modeling and technological development to decode the neural mechanisms of learning and memory. Much of his research program is founded on the idea that to truly fathom cognition, one needs to study neural “population codes” that can only be understood by recording the activity of many neurons simultaneously. He has been a pioneer in the development of technologies to enable the study of these neural codes for memory.
Dr. McNaughton comes from the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, where he was a professor of neuroscience. While there, he was the first recipient of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research’s Polaris Award which came with $20 million over 10 years. Before his appointment at Lethbridge, he was on the faculty at the University of Arizona. He holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Biology from Carleton University and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Dalhousie University.
Matthew Bracken, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Dr. Bracken is a marine ecologist who researches the causes and consequences of biodiversity changes in ecosystems. His work demonstrates how nutrients, consumers, and stress modify diversity in marine communities and how species diversity and identity affect key biogeochemical processes. Dr. Bracken has worked in many different marine ecosystems around the world. He holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of Puget Sound and a Ph.D. in Zoology from Oregon State University. His postdoctoral research at UC Davis was conducted at the Bodega Marine Laboratory and in the Section of Evolution and Ecology.
Timothy Bredy, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Neurobiology and Behavior
The main aim of Dr. Bredy’s research is to understand how epigenetic mechanisms (modifications of gene functions) can affect the formation and maintenance of long-term memories. He works within the context of psychiatric disorders such as phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and addictions to analyze how the genome is connected to the environment.
Dr. Bredy completed his B.S. in Experimental Psychology at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia and his Ph.D. in Neurological Sciences from McGill University. He pursued postdoctoral training at UCLA before becoming a senior research fellow at the Queensland Brain Institute in Brisbane, Australia.
Christie Fowler, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Neurobiology and Behavior
Dr. Fowler earned her Ph.D. from Florida State University, taught at Florida Atlantic University and then obtained postdoctoral training at the Scripps Research Institute. Her research explores how drugs of abuse can modulate the circuitry of the brain and how epigenetic mechanisms can lead to addictive behaviors. She recently made a discovery involving the addictive properties of nicotine, and a genetic variation that may make some humans more vulnerable to tobacco dependence. Her work examines the neurobiological mechanisms behind nicotine dependence and has the potential to identify therapeutic solutions.
Julia Massimelli, Ph.D.
Lecturer PSOE, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Dr. Massimelli majored in Microbiology and then obtained her Ph.D. in Biology at National University of Rio Cuarto, Argentina. Upon completion of her doctorate, she moved to the United States and joined a virology and RNA biology laboratory at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Massimelli most recently served as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Keck Science Department serving Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, and Scripps Colleges. She also participated as an instructor for the Scripps College Academy’s Math and Science Scholars program, designed to address the academic needs of young women who attend Los Angeles urban high schools.
Jessica Pratt, Ph.D.
Lecturer PSOE, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Dr. Pratt is a community ecologist interested in conservation biology and restoration ecology. She has conducted research on animal behavior, tropical bird foraging ecology, butterfly species range shifts in response to climate change, and most recently for her Ph.D., the effects of plant species responses to environmental change on animal communities. She received a B.S. in Biology from Grand Valley State University, a Master’s in Zoology from North Carolina State University, and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from UCI. While completing her doctorate she worked as the Education and Outreach Coordinator for UCI’s Center for Environmental Biology.
Cascade Sorte, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Dr. Sorte is a marine ecologist who studies the impacts of climate change across scales, from individual physiology up to species ranges. She is best known for work showing that climate change can favor invasive species, leading to increased impacts on native species. Her research interests include “coping mechanisms” that could allow species to persist in a changing climate and using field experiments to predict impacts of climate change on intact communities. Dr. Sorte earned her bachelor of science at Whitman College, master of science at UC Santa Barbara, and Ph.D.at UC Davis before conducting postdoctoral work at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Katrine Whiteson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Dr. Whiteson is a biochemist interested in human-associated microbial and viral communities. She uses metagenomics, metabolomics, microbiology and ecological statistics to answer questions about how microbes and viruses affect human health. She studied biochemistry as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley and received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. She has been involved with the Human Microbiome Project from its earliest days, including work on the oral microbial communities of healthy Europeans and malnourished children in Niger. Combining information on the genetic potential of a microbial community through DNA sequencing with the activity of the community by metabolite profiling is a powerful approach that Dr. Whiteson plans to employ in future projects at UCI.
Michael Yassa,
Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Neurobiology and Behavior
Dr. Yassa is a systems and cognitive neurobiologist who researches how the brain learns and remembers information. He hopes to uncover the brain mechanisms underlying learning and memory deficits in aging and Alzheimer’s disease as well as other clinical disorders ranging from depression to traumatic brain injury. Dr. Yassa uses experimental psychology techniques and high-resolution neuroimaging approaches in humans and animal models to address these questions. Prior to joining UCI, he was an Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Yassa holds a bachelor’s in Neuroscience and a master’s in Psychological and Brain Sciences from Johns Hopkins University. He earned his Ph.D.in neurobiology at UCI with Dr. Craig Stark.
Faculty Accolades
Academic Senate Distinguished Faculty Awards for 2014
Distinguished Service: Andrea Tenner, Ph.D.
Distinguished Assistant Professor/ Research: Ali Mortazavi, Ph.D.
Celebration of Teaching Awards for 2014
Professor of the Year: Marcelo Wood, Ph.D.
T.A. Development Award:
Debra Mauzy-Melitz, Ph.D.
Golden Apple Award
Aimee Edinger, Ph.D.
Thompson-Reuters
Highly-Cited Researchers:
Charles Glabe, Ph.D.
Bradford Hawkins, Ph.D.
Frank M. LaFerla, Ph.D.
American Psychological Association
W.G. Marquis Award: Michael Leon, Ph.D.
Gordon Hammes ACS
Biochemistry Lectureship: Thomas Poulos, Ph.D.
Inaugural Hall of Excellence Awardee, American Fisheries Society: John Avise, Ph.D.
Dr. James L. McGaugh, whose research has vastly contributed to knowledge of the brain’s learning and memory abilities, won the 2015 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology
New Case Scholar
Justin Shaffer, Ph.D.
Breast Cancer Research Program
Breakthrough Award Congressionally
Directed Medical Research Program
Aimee Edinger, Ph.D.
Fulbright Senior Specialist Award
Diane Campbell, Ph.D.
60 Minutes Features Three Faculty
Ayala School faculty are regularly interviewed for news segments and quoted in print media. In 2014 alone, three faculty were interviewed and featured on the CBS news show
60 Minutes. Dr. James L. McGaugh, who has appeared regularly on the program, appeared on the show again in January to discuss his groundbreaking work with people who have Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, or “Super Memory”. In February, Dr. Larry F. Cahill was also interviewed for a 60 Minutes segment on the importance of sex influences for research and medicine, including neuroscience. The 90+ Study was featured on May 4, 2014 with interviews with Dr. Claudia H. Kawas. All of these segments may be viewed by searching www.cbsnews.com.
Bringing Research to Life
Our 21st century society faces many challenges, which include improving human health, protecting our environment, and developing biofuels and alternative energy. Biological research is the solution to many of these issues and has paid rich dividends for our community. The Ayala School is a world leader in research and innovation in the life sciences. Faculty and students participate in cutting-edge research on a wide variety of subjects:
• Health-related issues like Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease, cancer, autism and obesity
• Stem cell and regenerative biology
• Developmental biology
• Immunology and autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis
• Learning and memory; addiction
• Environmental and sustainability issues
• Evolutionary biology
• Exercise science
• Genetics and epigenetics
• Biofuels and sustainability
• Systems biology
• Structure and function of nucleic acids and proteins
• Science teacher education
Extramural Research Funding
Includes contracts and grants from federal, state and private sources.
Special Research Programs, Organized Research Units, Centers and Institutes with affiliated Ayala School Faculty:
Campus and Regional Field Sites open for Research:
Battling Deadly Diseases
According to the World Health Organization, more than 40 percent of the world’s population lives in areas where there is a risk of contracting malaria. As many as 300 million cases of malaria occur each year, and nearly 1 million people die of the disease annually. These victims are usually infants, young children and pregnant women, and most of them are in Africa.
Dr. Anthony A. James, Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, is working to solve this problem by researching vector-parasite interactions, mosquito molecular biology, and other problems in insect developmental biology. He and his colleagues are working to curb the public health problem of vector-borne disease by breeding mosquitoes that are unable to infect people with the malaria parasite. Along with colleagues at UCI and the Pasteur Institute in Paris, he engineered resistance to the most deadly form of human malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, into the Anopheles stephensi mosquito, a major source of malaria in India and the Middle East.
This year, Professor James received a $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation’s medical research program to test evolutionary models for controlling malaria transmission and to understand the long-term impact on the evolutionary pattern of these engineered mosquitoes. He is also the principal investigator on multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health and, in 2005, received an award from the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative to develop genetic strategies for control of dengue virus transmission. His research also has been supported by the Burroughs-Wellcome Fund and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Sex Matters
In 2013, the Food and Drug Administration ordered the makers of the sleep aid Ambien to cut the recommended dose in half – but only for women. In essence, the FDA was acknowledging that, despite extensive testing prior to the drug coming to market, millions of women had been overdosing on the drug for 20 years. In February of 2014 the show 60 Minutes highlighted this fact, and sex differences in general, powerfully asking why did this happen, and are men and women being treated equally in research and medicine? In response to this attention, the Director of the National Institute of Health, Francis Collins, published in May of 2014 a game-changing article stating that all NIH funded research – for the first time ever – will soon be required to actively consider sex influences.
What lies behind these remarkable developments?
The answer is the ever-burgeoning weight of research, much of it by forward-thinking investigators in the Ayala School, showing that “sex matters,” often in surprising ways. For example, Professor Carl Cotman, long one of the school’s leading investigators of brain aging, has found strikingly different patterns of gene activation in the brains of men and women as they age, effects so large that many of his colleagues who had been ignoring potential sex effects had difficulty believing them.
Similarly, the research of Professor Lawrence Cahill (above) has uncovered sex differences in how the brains of men and women on average store memories of emotionally stressful events. And more recently, Professor Dana Aswad uncovered surprising, but still large and reliable sex differences in the molecular underpinnings of brain damage.
The research spans senior to junior investigators. Professor Francisco Ayala himself – who appreciates more than most why evolution produced all these sex differences in brain and body – found sex differences in human brain regions involved with appreciating beauty. And one of the school’s newest faculty members, Professor Timothy Bredy, has already established himself as a leader on
the issue of sex differences in brain mechanisms of learning and memory in rat models.
Each of these research programs has profound, and relatively immediate clinical implications, because in the clinic, sex differences are common experience, yet remain only dismally understood.
Victor Hugo famously said, “There is one thing more powerful than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.” Led by Ayala School investigators, the idea that “sex matters” for research and medicine is an idea whose time has come. And the best is yet to come.
Professor Lawrence Cahill
Beyond Diet: Exploring how Environmental Factors Affect Your Weight
Obesity and metabolic syndrome diseases have exploded into an epidemic of global proportions, particularly in the United States where they add more than $200 billion annually to health care costs. The generally accepted cause of obesity is overconsumption of calorie-dense food and diminished physical activity (the “calories in - calories out” model). However, obesity is much more complex than balancing one’s caloric checkbook; emerging evidence demonstrates that environmental factors can predispose individuals to gain weight, irrespective of diet and exercise.
In 2006, Professor Bruce Blumberg and colleagues proposed the existence of chemical ‘obesogens’, or endocrine-disrupting chemicals that could influence the development of fat cells and cause obesity in animals and humans. Their environmental obesogen model proposes that obesogen exposure during critical stages in development (e.g., in the womb, childhood and adolescence) can predispose exposed individuals to become obese and develop metabolic syndrome diseases such as type 2 diabetes later in life. This was an entirely new concept in obesity research and, like all new ideas, this research was initially viewed with skepticism. However, the Blumberg laboratory and other laboratories around the world have identified more than 20 chemical obesogens and identified some of the molecular pathways targeted by obesogen action.
As an example of a key obesogen target, specific receptor proteins in cell nuclei regulate whether certain connective tissue cells become fat cells.
Some obesogens such as tributyltin (TBT), exert transgenerational effects. This means that if a mouse is exposed to TBT throughout pregnancy, her offspring (children), their offspring (grandchildren) and the next generation (great-grandchildren) will all exhibit obesity and their connective tissue cells will be predisposed to become fat cells. This is an example of a maternal programming event that permanently alters the physiology of exposed animals and their descendents. Nothing is currently known about how obesogen exposure causes transgenerational changes in physiology and how stem cells are essentially re-wired to become fat cells. The Blumberg lab continues to identify new chemicals that promote obesity, many of which could have lasting effects across generations.
The work of the Blumberg lab has placed UCI at the leading edge of research into the mechanism of transgenerational effects of environmental exposures, has broadreaching applications in the study of gene-environment interactions and may help to provide better treatments for obesity.
DNA – A New Key to Controlling Fear
Dr. Timothy Bredy, Assistant Professor of Neurobiology, led a new study that sheds light on the process involved in decreasing the impact of fear-related memories, particularly those implicated in conditions such as phobia and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The UCI neuroscientist and his team, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Queensland and Harvard University, have discovered a new way to modify genes associated with fear extinction, an inhibitory learning process thought to be critical for controlling fear when the response is no longer required.
“This is the first comprehensive analysis of how fear extinction is influenced by modifying DNA and we have shown that, through a unique epigenetic mechanism, our DNA has the innate capacity to respond and adapt in an experience-dependent manner,” said Professor Bredy, also a Fellow at UCI’s Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory.
Professor Bredy also shared that because these genes are involved in such an important behavioral adaptation, an understanding of how epigenetic processes regulate their function could lead to the development of targets for therapeutic intervention in fear-related anxiety disorders.
The emerging field of neuroepigenetics is bringing to light the concept that experiences throughout life can change the way our genes function, without altering the DNA sequence itself. This involves chemical reactions that activate and deactivate various parts of the genome at intervals and locations in a specific and highly coordinated manner. Research at UCI is revealing how the epigenome responds to impacting factors such as diet, behavior, stress, and other factors that contribute to the development of neuropsychiatric disorders. A core of faculty in the Ayala School working on epigenetics in neuroscience includes Professor Bredy and Professors Christie Fowler, Leslie Thompson and Marcelo Wood.
Professor Bredy’s study was published on April 21, 2014 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
Body-on-a-Chip
Faculty Profile
It now costs over a billion dollars to bring a new drug to market, and remarkably, as little as a 5% decrease in death rate is considered successful for new anti-cancer drugs. With cancer claiming over 500,000 lives a year in the U.S., it is clear that a new strategy for identifying anti-cancer drugs is desperately needed.
Dr. Christopher C.W. Hughes, Professor and Chair of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, is looking to solve this problem by re-creating the body’s organs, and the diseases that affect them, on a hand-held device. The body is inherently 3-dimensional, organs are made of many different cell types, and all of the cells of the body receive nutrients through blood vessels. Professor Hughes and his team believe that only by recreating this complexity in the lab will we be able to identify new drugs that work well in the complex environment of the body. Along with his collaborators at UCI and Washington University, his team members are working toward a body-on-a-chip. They have now created the first beating heart muscle, bone marrow and brain tissue on a chip that is kept alive by nutrients delivered through living blood vessels. They are also growing tumors in these chips and using these to screen for new, and hopefully, more effective anti-cancer drugs.
Professor Hughes and his collaborators are supported by multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health, including two “Provocative Questions” awards, and two U-type consortium grants. Professor Hughes is a Program Co-Director in the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and is the Interim Director of the Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technologies.
How Does Coordinated Behavior of Stem Cells Impact Our Bodies?
Dr. Maksim Plikus, Assistant Professor of Developmental and Cell Biology, is actively studying the mechanisms of regeneration and stem cell control. This includes researching aspects of how complex tissues and organs regenerate under normal conditions and in response to injury or disease.
Professor Plikus’ work aims to understand the nature of stem cell regulatory networks. Periodic activities of tissue-specific stem cells are fundamental for proper function of many organs, with past research in the field focusing on how individual stem cells respond to signals from their immediate micro-environment. However, it has been previously unclear if and how thousands of stem cells could coordinate such activities with one another.
Professor Plikus and his colleagues study the collective behavior of adult stem cells using the model of hair regeneration. Each hair has a prominent cluster of stem cells. Since there are thousands of hairs on the surface of the skin and skin is flat, together all hair stem cells form a two-dimensional network of clusters. Within this network, each stem cell cluster listens to competing activating and inhibitory signals and decides between remaining quiescent and becoming activated based on the combined signaling message that it receives. Because the decision-making rules are similar for every stem cell cluster, scaling of this behavior across the entire network results in striking patterns of hair regeneration. To this end, the team developed a mathematical approach that enables predictive modeling of the hair regeneration patterns. Using predictive power of the model, they showed how key signaling pathways from the stem cell micro-environment become reused to mediate long-range communication between neighboring hair stem cell clusters.
This work is leading to numerous additional projects, including the use of predictive computational modeling and the possibility of large-scale coordination in tissues other than skin. In addition to possibly providing solutions to hair loss, Professor Plikus and his colleagues are also examining stem cell behavior in response to organ injury, including aspects of cell lineage plasticity and complex regeneration during wound healing.
For Caterpillars, Having a Well-rounded Diet can be Fraught with Peril.
Dr. Kailen Mooney, Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, along with colleagues at Wesleyan University, learned that caterpillars that feed on one or two plant species are better able to hide from predatory birds than caterpillars that consume a wide variety of plants. This is probably because the color patterns and hiding behaviors of the caterpillar “specialists” have evolved to allow them to blend into the background flora more effectively than caterpillars that eat many different plant species. Moving among these diverse plant types, the nonspecialists are not as camouflaged, making them easier for hungry birds to spot.
“It’s a classic example of risk vs. reward,” said Professor Mooney. “Evolutionarily speaking, a caterpillar must choose between having a broad array of plants to feed upon but facing increased risk of being nabbed by a bird and having a very limited menu but being less exposed to predators.”
Professor Mooney and Michael Singer, associate professor of biology at Wesleyan, led the study, which appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in June 2014. Furthermore, the researchers found that all of this matters a lot to the plants. A plant species consumed by caterpillars more vulnerable to birds (those with varied diets) benefits from birds removing those caterpillars. In contrast, a plant species fed upon by caterpillars better able to hide from birds (those with highly restricted diets) doesn’t benefit as much from birds and must instead defend itself. Professor Mooney noted that this insight into the secret lives of caterpillars reveals not only the processes driving the evolution of insect diets but also the broad significance of caterpillar feeding for associated plants and birds.
Isaac Lichter-Marck and Timothy Farkas of Wesleyan, Eric Aaron of Vassar College and Kenneth Whitney of the University of New Mexico contributed to the study, which received support from the National Science Foundation.
A tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) caterpillar feeds on black cherry (Prunus serotina), which was the only plant consumed by this species at the research field site. Photo: Mike Singer
Ayala School Field Research Sites, from Campus to Across California
Ayala School faculty and students have access to 41 UC Natural Reserves for basic and applied field research. These sites are complimented by environmental facilities on campus and across the state. In addition to sites managed by UC Irvine and the UC System, students have access to other opportunities through special agreements with research and education partners such as the Crystal Cove State Park/Crystal Cove Alliance, the Irvine Ranch Conservancy and the Nature Reserve of Orange County.
Arboretum and Herbarium
The UCI Arboretum is a 12.5-acre demonstration garden and research facility administered by the Ayala School. The Arboretum hosts a diversity of research projects conducted by undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral scholars and faculty members.
The UCI Herbarium was established in 1965 and is one of seven herbaria located on UC campuses. The Herbarium holds over 35,000 vascular plant collections from the western United States, especially southern California and Baja California, Mexico. The Herbarium is a member of the Consortium of California Herbaria and is a participant in the Consortium’s Digital Herbarium project.
Greenhouse
The Greenhouse is a 9,000-square-foot growth facility that supports teaching and research needs for the Ayala School. The Greenhouse is divided into 15 growth areas that are individually programmable for temperature. Greenhouse Staff provides watering, pest management, and basic maintenance for plants used in research and teaching. Additional facilities include commonuse lab space, a lath house adjacent to the Greenhouse for plants requiring ambient conditions, an autoclave for soil sterilization, and storage space for greenhouse supplies. Environmental growth chamber space is also available.
UC Irvine Ecological Preserve
Set aside to conserve important biodiversity in coastal sage scrub and grassland habitats, the UCI Ecological Preserve is a 60-acre site on the southern edge of the Main Campus that is an important component of the Nature Reserve of Orange County. The Preserve is managed cooperatively by the Office of Research and the Ayala School, used for research and education, while also supporting seven nesting pairs of the threatened California gnatcatcher and four pairs of the coastal cactus wren.
UC Natural Reserve System
The UC Natural Reserve System is a network of protected natural areas throughout California. Its 39 sites include more than 750,000 acres, making it the largest university-operated reserve system in the world. Founded in 1965 to provide undisturbed environments for research, education, and public service, the Natural Reserve System contributes to the understanding and wise stewardship of the earth. The San Joaquin Marsh Reserve, Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center, and Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve are administered by the Ayala School and are part of the UC Natural Reserve system.
San Joaquin Marsh Reserve
The San Joaquin Marsh Reserve is on the UCI campus and walking distance from classrooms and laboratories, making it convenient for day use by faculty and students. It is one of the last remnants of wetlands that once covered much of Orange County’s flood plain and more than 200 bird species (20 nesting) have been sighted in the reserve, including two resident endangered bird species.
Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve
Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve is located in San Bernardino County, 1.2 miles north of Yucca Valley. Field courses regularly conducted on site include desert ecology, field zoology methods, natural history, biology of deserts, field ecology, botany, environmental ethics, freshwater biology and others.
Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center
The newly-renovated Steele/Burnand AnzaBorrego Research Center is located in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the largest state park in California and one of the largest desert protected areas in the western United States. The Center offers exceptional research and education opportunities surrounding challenges of ecological, economic, and community sustainability in an extreme environment.
A Desert Renaissance
After extensive renovations, the Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center has reopened its doors to classes and researchers studying the lower Colorado Desert.
Two rounds of construction transformed the former country club into a working field station. The facility is now able to provide accommodations to dozens of students and researchers, as well as provide space for public lectures and conferences. The reserve joined the UC Natural Reserve System in 2011.
Philanthropist Audrey Steele Burnand provided for the purchase of the former Desert Club building, initial and secondary renovations, and an endowment for the reserve. Proposition 84 provided additional funds toward the most recent renovation.
The reserve is poised to be a locus for exciting UC-led sustainability programs, many of which are carried out in partnership with Borrego Springs, the community surrounding the reserve.
These include the Salton Sea Initiative, which aims to bring the scientific, planning, and engineering expertise of UCI to bear on the environmental problems of this evaporating inland body of water, the Water UCI Initiative, which will examine long term impacts of climate and human use on groundwater in Borrego Springs, and UCI Sustainability Initiative, which employs a community-engaged approach to issues of economic development, education, land planning, and ecological conservation in the Anza-Borrego region.
Professors Timothy J. Bradley and Travis E. Huxman (left), who also serves as faculty director of the reserve, have been instrumental in bringing these projects to the area. Dr. Huxman has also helped establish a council of Borrego Springs community organizations, including the Anza-Borrego Foundation, to tackle other challenges in the region.
Another long-term project at the reserve will be facilitated by a set of nearby climate monitoring stations. A grant from the National Science Foundation will enable the reserve to install eight stations along Montezuma Grade, the highway route leading from the Montezuma Hills into the town of Borrego Springs. The stations span an elevational gradient that shifts from oak and pine woodland at the top of the grade to ocotillo and cactus on the desert floor–all within 15 minutes of driving. The data will be housed online and freely available to augment studies of how climate change will affect the desert.
Desert studies conferences are also expected to flock to the reserve. Already the 2014 Colorado Desert Natural History Research Symposium, co-hosted by UC Irvine and the Anza-Borrego Foundation, was held at the reserve Nov. 7-9, in addition to a meeting of the Desert Bighorn Council in spring.
The Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center honors reserve donor Steele Burnand’s parents, Harry and Grace Steele, along with her father-inlaw, A.A. Burnand Jr., who commissioned the original Desert Club building. Steele Burnand credits all three for giving her a love of the southern California desert.
includes
a
The reserve
74 acres of land around the facility, enabling students to conduct field work just
few feet from the reserve compound, as well as the 630,000-plus acres of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
The Montezuma Grade spans an elevational gradient of more than 3,600 feet over a distance of 15 miles. Image credit: Kailen Mooney
Exercise Medicine and Sport Sciences
Enhancing human health and wellness through education and multidisciplinary studies in exercise, sports and rehabilitation medicine.
Virtually every organism is dependent on movement in one form or another. With respect to humans, physical activity imposes unique stresses on a broad spectrum of cell types, tissues, and organ systems. In light of these impacts, physical activity plays a key role in shaping fundamental biological processes and is necessary for maintaining health and preventing disease. While the idea that “exercise is good for health” sounds axiomatic, translating this notion into specific, biological mechanisms that are used to prevent disease and promote health has proved to be difficult.
The potential role of exercise as therapy, particularly as a preventative or rehabilitative supplement to standard medical approaches, is gaining steady acceptance among health care professionals and the general public. But a fundamental, mechanistic understanding of how exercise works in specific diseases and conditions is still lacking. Motivating individuals to engage in regular exercise remains a challenge that requires
systematic research and identification of evidencebased strategies for successful behavior change. In addition, technological discovery will be needed to truly harness the potential benefits of activity to those who suffer from physical constraints. Individuals who suffer from physical limitations due to stroke, traumatic brain injury or loss of limbs could benefit greatly from new innovations.
Without knowledge at these levels, rational and appropriate uses of exercise as medicine and therapy will remain imprecise, and the effectiveness of physical activity as a means to benefit human health may be lost.
From discoveries of fundamental biological/ physiological processes to development of innovative approaches in rehabilitation medicine, the Exercise Medicine and Sport Sciences Initiative is comprised
of a community of scholars led by Professor James W. Hicks, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Associate Vice Chancellor of Research. Faculty participants represent six UCI schools (Arts, Biological Sciences, Engineering, Medicine, Social Ecology, and Social Sciences) who are integrating studies of physical activity into five thematic areas:
• Exercise and Brain Health
• Healthy Aging
• Activity, Development and Children
• Innovative Technologies and Movement
• Integrative Medicine
In addition, the initiative has launched a new bachelor’s degree in Exercise Sciences and oversees a postdoctoral training program funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Mission of the Exercise Medicine and Sport Sciences Initiative (EMSSI)
The mission of the Exercise Medicine and Sport Sciences Initiative is to promote and expand scholarly activities and innovative discoveries in all fields associated with all forms of movement, exercise, and sport sciences and rehabilitation. The mission of the Initiative will enhance human health and wellness through undergraduate and graduate teaching, basic and translational research, development of innovative technologies, service to the community, and clinical activities.
Professor James W. Hicks
Seasons and the Sea
The “plants” of the ocean are single-celled, microbes that, like plants, convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into organic matter using sunlight. These organisms form the base of the food chain upon which all other marine life –from zooplankton to whales – depends.
Researchers only recently discovered that viruses are also incredibly abundant in the ocean. A liter of surface seawater contains over a billion viruses, and the vast majority of those infect marine microbes. Viruses are therefore a major source of mortality in the ocean. By killing organisms like cyanobacteria, viruses alter the quantity and quality of pools of nutrients in the ocean
To understand the role of viruses in ocean nutrient cycling, Dr. Jennifer Martiny, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and her colleagues study the diversity of viruses that infect marine cyanobacteria, a major component of the food chain base. Work is underway to discover “who-infects-whom.”
For instance, marine viruses could be generalists, infecting most bacteria they come into contact with, or specialists, infecting only a very few particular bacterial hosts. Viruses that infect cyanobacteria off the coast of southern California change with the seasons; there are winter and summer viruses that reappear every year at the same time. Southern California viruses are also different from those found off of Washington State or along the coast of New England.
Using genome sequencing and other methods, Professor Martiny has identified some of the genes involved in cyanobacteria-virus interactions. She is currently investigating how these genes vary in viruses off the local coast, and whether this genetic diversity can be used to predict which cyanobacteria they can infect.
Professor Jennifer Martiny
Fall 2014 Facts & Statistics
Ayala School students typically comprise 20 percent of the overall UC Irvine student population. Our rigorous academic program is designed to prepare students for a wide variety of careers, including the health sciences, environmental sustainability and conservation, research, K-12 education and many more areas. Research and active participation are hallmarks of our curriculum, with faculty providing students with knowledge and scientific skills in a wide array of cuttingedge subjects.
776
seven seventy six New first-year students, Fall 2014 47% Percentage who are the first in their family to attend college
156
New Transfers, Fall 2014 3142
31
New Doctoral Students
42 New Master’s Students
Students each quarter conducting experimental research with a professor in laboratory, clinical and field settings.
822
55
222
Total graduate students Graduate Degrees, awarded in 2013-14 Doctoral Doctoral Masters Masters
Undergraduate Degrees, awarded in 2013-14
21
35 Total undergraduates
UCI is a Top Ten Best School by Salary Potential for Physical and Life Sciences Majors according to Payscale.com’s most recent university rankings. of Ayala School Graduates pursue careers in the health professions 69%
25
Number of Biological Sciences and Health-related student organizations
Bachelor of Science Degrees Offered:
• Biological Sciences
• Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Biology/Education
• Developmental and Cell Biology
• Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
• Exercise Sciences
• Genetics
• Human Biology
• Microbiology
• Immunology
• Neurobiology
Minors Offered:
• Biological Sciences
• Global Sustainability
Graduate Degrees Offered:
• Doctorate in Biological Sciences
• Master of Science in Biotechnology
• Master of Science in Biotechnology Management
• Master of Science in Biological Sciences and Educational Media Design
Inaugural School Picnic
On June 27, 2014, Dean LaFerla hosted the Ayala School’s faculty, staff and graduate students for the first annual School Picnic.
Enjoyed in the plaza behind Natural Sciences II, the event featured lunch provided by the In-NOut Truck. Over 300 people attended the picnic, with all four departments, the Office of the Dean, and many centers and laboratories represented.
Annual Thanksgiving Feast for International Students hosted by the Office of Student Affairs and Dean LaFerla.
Empowering Excellence: Minority Science Programs
The Ayala School is recognized as a national leader in the development of programs to increase the participation of underrepresented (UR) students in biomedical sciences. The Minority Science Programs (MSP) is an orchestrated effort by the National Institutes of Health and the Ayala School to increase the number of underrepresented groups in biomedical research careers.
Students benefit from a series of research training programs and a campus-wide, national and international network of committed faculty to facilitate the transition from community college, baccalaureate and master’s degrees to excel in Ph.D. careers in biomedical research. Participants have access to year-round research internships, faculty mentoring to develop independent research projects, seminar series, workshops and presentation of research projects at national conferences.
The leaders and students of the MSP have received top national awards. One of the most notable of these is the 2005 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. Another mark of excellence is the consistent performance of our students at national conferences; in 2014, twenty one MSP students received awards for their research presentations at national conferences, including four awards at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Chicago, IL, three awards at the Sigma Xi Annual Meeting and International Research Conference in Glendale AZ, twelve awards at the NIH-sponsored Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in San Antonio TX and two awards at the National Conference of the Society for Advancement of Hispanics/Chicanos and Native Americans in Science in Los Angeles.
2014 ABRCMS Presenters
Dr. Ayala lecturing to students.
Dr. Luis Mota-Bravo (center) with 2014 ABRCMS Winners
The MSP programs include:
• Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (MBRS-IMSD) that prepares UR undergraduates to initiate their research training and for graduate students to excel in Ph.D. programs.
2014 Research Presentation Award Winners
Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS)
Christina M. Michael and Dr. Marcelo Wood (PI)
Research Title: The Effects of Exercise Priming on Object Location Memory
Poster category: Neurosciences
Christopher Salazar and Dr. Carles Ubeda (PI from FISABIO Valencia)
Research Title: The Characterization and Isolation of Commensal Bacteria from Murine Intestinal Samples
Josselyn Peña, Dr. Andrey Tatarenkov, and Dr. Luis Mota-Bravo (PI)
Research Title: Characterization of Integrons from Aeromonas Bacteria Collected from Streams and Beaches
Poster category: Developmental Biology and Genetics
Kevin Trejo and Dr. Luis Mota-Bravo (PI)
• Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) is an honors program that supports UR junior and senior students in their preparation for graduate training in the biomedical and behavioral sciences.
• Minority Health and Health Disparities International Research Training provides research training to UR undergraduates and graduate students at King’s College London, UK and at FISABIO, Valencia, Spain.
• Bridges to Baccalaureate, a comprehensive research training program with financial compensation that advances the careers of UR students from four partner community colleges.
Poster category: Microbiology
Cyril Soliman and Dr. Luis Mota-Bravo (PI)
Research Title: The Antibiotic Resistance Profile of Proteus spp. Isolated from the Environment
Poster category: Social and Behavioral Sciences and Public Health
Erick Maglalang, Dr. Lili Mesak, and Dr. Luis Mota-Bravo (PI)
Research Title: Antibiotics Produced by Streptomyces clavifer Inhibit Growth against ß-lactam Resistant Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus
Poster category: Chemistry
Jonathan Abebe, Claudia Weihe, and Dr. Jennifer B.H. Martiny (PI)
Research Title: Comparison of Decay Rates of Different Pacific Ocean Cyanophages Measured by Flow Cytometry and Plaque Assay
Poster category: Microbiology
Joshua Arias, Dr. Lili Mesak, and Dr. Luis Mota-Bravo (PI)
Research Title: Antibiotics Produced by Streptomyces zaomyceticus Inhibit Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Poster category: Physiology
Research Title: The Antibiotic Resistance Profiles of Citrobacter freundii Isolated from Environmental Waters
Poster category: Physiology
Kyle Kisor and Dr. Luis Mota-Bravo (PI)
Research Title: Klebsiella pneumoniae Beta-lactam Resistance in Environmental Surface Waters
Poster category: Social and Behavioral Sciences and Public Health
Leovi Espitia, Ariel Beroukhim, and Dr. James C. Earthman (PI)
Research Title: Development of Percussion Response System for Titanium Femur Implants
Poster category: Engineering
Orangel Gutierrez Fugon, Dr. Lili Mesak, and Dr. Luis Mota-Bravo (PI)
Research Title: Butyrophenone Antipsychotics Reverse Ciprofloxacin Resistance in Staphylococcus aureus by Inhibiting the NorA Efflux Pump
Poster category: Social and Behavioral Sciences and Public Health
Priscilla San Juan, Dr. Andrey Tatarenkov, and Dr. Luis Mota-Bravo (PI)
Research Title: Characterization of Integrons Present in Environmental Enterobacteriaceae Isolates
Poster category: Molecular and Computational Biology
Student Spotlight
Prachi Shah, senior biological sciences major, was named the 2014-15 Dean’s Leadership Scholar. Shah was selected from a pool of top Ayala School students entering their senior year.
“I would thank the Dean’s Leadership Council for awarding such a prestigious scholarship to me and investing in my future,” said Shah. “Their belief in my potential is very encouraging and will continue to motivate me to work harder to pursue my dreams and bring me a step closer to becoming a physician in the future.”
Shah’s career aspiration to become a physician started during her senior year in high school when she held an internship at UCI Medical Center. She worked in the Labor and Delivery Department where she shadowed OB/GYNs, resident doctors, and observed procedures. Shah shared that she enjoyed working on a team and serving others, an experience that affirmed her interest in pursuing medicine as a career, particularly obstetrics/ gynecology, and motivated her to study biology at UCI.
The Dean’s Leadership Scholarship will help Shah tremendously, reducing her loan burden and helping with medical school applications. “The scholarship will allow me to focus on my classes and participate more in undergraduate research and other volunteer activities, which I am very grateful for,” added Shah.
Expanding Career Horizons
Dr. David Fruman, Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and Director of the Cellular and Molecular Biosciences Ph.D. program, was recently awarded a $1.71 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to help graduate students and postdoctoral fellows develop their knowledge and skills in preparation for a multitude of science-related careers. As part of the campus-wide UC Irvine Graduate Professional Success program (UCI-GPS), the grant will focus on graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in the Ayala School as well as the schools of Physical Sciences, Medicine and the Samueli School of Engineering.
“Trainees in the program will gain professional skills and hands-on experience in workforce sectors where they can leverage their scientific knowledge and analytical skills in a variety of fulfilling careers within and outside academia,” Professor Fruman said. “Graduate programs at UCI will benefit through improved job placement of graduates, strengthening of alumni networks, and better recruiting of talented applicants.”
UCI-GPS aims to transform the culture of graduate education and postdoctoral training. This grant will ensure that trainees acquire the skills they need to become both outstanding scientists and multi-skilled professionals who are able to work in academic research laboratories or non-academic science-related careers, whichever path they choose. The program partners across 10 Ph.D. programs and the Graduate Division and will offer training to more than 700 pre-doctoral and 200 post-doctoral fellows in supported disciplines in the four schools mentioned above.
UCI-GPS offers the potential not only to expand students’ career options, but also to revitalize work on campus by increasing collaborations with local industry partners and strengthening the recruitment of high-level graduate students and postdocs. The program evolved in response to requests from UCI graduate and postdoctoral associations to help students develop the knowledge and skill set to better prepare them for a multitude of science related careers.
Fall 2014 Welcome Week included a mixer for students in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program.
Making Connections
The Dean’s
Distinguished
Lecture Series
The Ayala School hosts many events and lectures that welcome our friends from the surrounding community as well as from the campus.
The Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series was created in early 2014 to disseminate knowledge about the cutting-edge research being performed by Ayala School faculty. Sponsored quarterly by the Hana and Francisco J. Ayala Dean, the lectures are open to the campus community and the public. Selected faculty speakers represent the wide range of expertise found throughout the Ayala School’s departments.
Francisco J. Ayala, Ph.D.
“Evolution and God: Conflict and Concert”
March 7, 2014
James L. McGaugh, Ph.D.
“Making Memories Last”
May 16, 2014
Anthony A. James, Ph.D.
“Malaria Eradication: The Goal of a Century”
October 17, 2014
The Allergan Foundation Lecture Series in Modern Biology
The Ayala School has been pleased to present the Allergan Lecture Series in Modern Biology to the public for the past 13 years. Made possible by a generous annual grant from The Allergan Foundation, distinguished speakers present timely topics related to the biology of disease and health, the environment and sustainability, evolution and energy production. Presenters address the medical, societal and institutional implications of modern advances in biology and how they affect our lives. The Ayala School is grateful for the longtime support from our friends at Allergan and The Allergan Foundation who continue to make this popular series possible.
Connie Kasari, Ph.D., UCLA
“Social-Communication School-Based Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder”
April 9, 2014
David A. Relman, M.D., Stanford University
“Explorations of Self: The Human Microbiome in Health and Disease”
May 20, 2014
Claudia H. Kawas, M.D., UC Irvine
“Longevity: Tales from the Oldest Old”
October 30, 2014
Anthony Christopher Productions: The Arctic Expedition
Documentary Film Premiere
December 5, 2014
The Howard A. Schneiderman Memorial Bioethics Lecture
The Howard A. Schneiderman Memorial Bioethics Lecture Series began in 1990 with a generous endowment from Dr. Schneiderman, the third dean of the School of Biological Sciences. The series brings outstanding speakers to campus each year to discuss important social and ethical implications of advances in biology and medicine. The lectures are open to faculty, students and community friends.
The 2014 Schneiderman Lecture, entitled “Pregnant Women and the Medical-Legal Divide,” was presented on April 30, 2014 by Michele Bratcher Goodwin, J.D., LL.M., Everett Fraser Chair in Law and Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Minnesota. Professor Goodwin has since joined the UCI School of Law as a Chancellor’s Professor of Law and is Director of the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy.
Connie Kasari, Ph.D.
Anthony Christopher
David A. Relman, M.D.
Claudia H. Kawas, M.D.
Dean’s Leadership Council
The Ayala School Dean’s Leadership Council is the main community and industry link to the Hana and Francisco J. Ayala Dean. The board consists of alumni, industry leaders and other community friends.
Brian Atwood ’74 Versant Ventures
Mitchell Brin, M.D. Allergan, Inc.
Ed Chang ’85 Caymus Medical
Jacqueline Dupont, Ph.D. Dupont Residential Care, Inc.
Jill Fabricant, Ph.D. Vasix Corporation
David Hanson ‘87 Abbott Cardiovascular Systems
Diana Hendel ‘85, PharmD. Long Beach Memorial and Children’s Hospital
William Loudon, Ph.D., M.D. CHOC Children’s
Maria Minon, M.D. ’72 ‘76 CHOC Children’s
Michael O’Connell Irvine Ranch Conservancy
David J. Perry, Esq.
K&L Gates
Get Involved
The Ayala School warmly welcomes the active involvement of alumni and community friends!
AYALA SCHOOL ALUMNI CLUB
Ayala School Alumni Club was formed by 6 alumni in 2009 to bring together fellow Bio graduates to foster community, establish traditions and offer a way for former students to reconnect with the Ayala School. Now over 350 members strong and an official partner with the UC Irvine Alumni Association, the Alumni Club welcomes additional members to network, reconnect with old friends, build new traditions and support the Ayala School.
The Ayala School Mentor Program provides an invaluable opportunity for undergraduate students to enhance their understanding of various careers. Activities with students and their mentors build a strong community of undergraduates and alumni that extends beyond the campus. Alumni and community professionals share their knowledge and experiences to provide students with an insight of the working world. Students have the ability to gain professional development and support networks for successful careers upon graduating with a Biological Sciences degree. Now in its 14th year, the Mentor Program is larger than ever with 155 active mentors and 262 undergraduate mentees participating.
Supporting the Ayala School
You have the power to support the Ayala School and provide meaningful benefits to yourself and our society. Please take the time to learn about how you can help further our mission of education and research excellence.
Ayala School Dean’s Society
The Ayala School of Biological Sciences is at the forefront of a new biological frontier, one that is multi-disciplinary in approach and engages faculty, students, and our local community to seek solutions for our world’s most pressing biological problems.
Dean’s society members support world-class faculty and young scholars through annual contributions and are instrumental in our school’s evolution.
Benefactor Support
Community Spotlight: Mrs. Audrey Schneiderman
Mrs. Audrey Schneiderman has been actively involved with the Ayala School ever since she and her husband, the late Dr. Howard Schneiderman, came to UCI in 1970 for his appointment as the third dean of the School of Biological Sciences. Audrey’s philanthropic spirit has impacted multiple areas of the school and campus. Her generosity has established a scholarship, a fellowship, helped to build the Center for Neurobiology of Learning and Memory and endowed the Schneiderman Lecture Series in Bioethics. She has also made plans for a future Dr. Howard A. Schneiderman Chair in Biological Sciences.
Audrey is a regular attendee at many campus events and has never missed the opportunity to meet and celebrate with the recipients of her various student awards. The Ayala School is fortunate and honored to have such an esteemed, generous, and dedicated benefactor.
Ayala School Leadership and Staff
Frank M. LaFerla, Ph.D.
Hana and Francisco J. Ayala Dean
Benedicte Shipley Assistant Dean
David M. Gardiner, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of Research and Academic Affairs
Andrew DiNuzzo Senior Director of Development
Michael Leon, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies
Bryan Carlson Senior Director of External Relations and Communications
R. Michael Mulligan, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of Graduate Studies
Andrea Burgess Director of Communications
Georg Striedter, PH.D. Equity Advisor
Alyssa Sanchez
Director of Special Events
Developmental and Cell Biology
Thomas F. Schilling, Ph.D. Chair
Christopher C. Hughes, Ph.D. Chair
Andrea M. Wiley Department Administrator
Bessy J. Varela Department Administrator
Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Laurence D. Mueller, Ph.D. Chair
Marcelo A. Wood, Ph.D. Chair
Marissa R. Reyes
Department Administrator
Sally F. Dabiri
Department Administrator
Neurobiology and Behavior
Dean’s Advisory Council
Francisco J. Ayala, Ph.D.
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Anthony A. James, Ph.D.
Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Timothy J. Bradley, Ph.D. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Arthur D. Lander, M.D., Ph.D.
Developmental and Cell Biology
Susan V. Bryant, Ph.D. Developmental and Cell Biology
James L. McGaugh, Ph.D. Neurobiology and Behavior
Peter J. Donovan, Ph.D. Developmental and Cell Biology
Andrea J. Tenner, Ph.D.
Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Brandon S. Gaut, Ph.D.
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Norman M. Weinberger, Ph.D.
Neurobiology and Behavior
Evanescent Viewpoint
Dr. Ian Parker, Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior, has research interests spanning from cellular calcium signaling to development of novel microscopy techniques to immunology. He is a Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the Royal Society, the world’s oldest scientific society whose members have included Newton, Darwin and Einstein.
Professor Parker has a passion for landscape photography, through which he aims to capture the spirit of wild and remote places. He particularly enjoys the deserts and canyons of California and Utah, and looks for images that embody what he calls “the wonderful, but often frustratingly fleeting, quality of light in those regions”.
His photographs from around the world may be viewed at http://parkerlab.bio.uci.edu (see Evanescent Light link).
