Professor Jonathan Poulton of the Department of Biology has been named an "Outstanding Honors Teacher" for 2007-2008 . Professor Poulton was chosen by the students of the University Honors Program for this award. The award is in recognition of Professor Poulton's tireless efforts on behalf of the honors students, the Department of Biology and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to assist and teach honors students, keep them on track for graduation and problem solve if necessary.

UI Biologist Helps Discover Novel Organism Adding to "Tree of Life"

What can a tiny marine alga that resembles a little brown ball tell scientists about how different types of organisms are related on the family tree of all life on Earth?

Quite a bit, it turns out, when it stands at a critical junction where one form of life can provide a clear evolutionary connection between otherwise distant cousins, according to John Logsdon (left), associate professor of biology in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

In the Feb. 21 issue of the journal Nature, Logsdon and his colleagues announced the discovery of a new type of eukaryotic algae that provides just such a bridge between two previously thought-to-be separate branches on the tree of life. Called Chromera velia, the organism is now the closest-known photosynthetic relative to apicomplexan parasites (like the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum) -- much closer than their distant algal relatives called dinoflagellates (some of which cause harmful "red-tides"). Together, these unicellular organisms, along with ciliates (like Paramecium), are called "alveolates."

Logsdon said the find sheds light on a formerly dark corner of the evolution of photosynthesis and indicates that further, similar discoveries lie ahead. Also, this new organism will be a powerful model for studying parasitism and disease in Apicomplexa. "Chromera opens new chapters in the evolutionary history of eukaryotic cells and will provide important clues to understand the biology of apicomplexan parasites and how they have evolved. In turn, this basic knowledge will be crucial in developing new therapeutics for the treatment of widespread diseases such as malaria and toxoplasmosis," said Logsdon.

Logsdon, who also directs the UI Roy J. Carver Center for Comparative Genomics, said the discovery is one more piece of a larger puzzle that seeks to fill in the picture of how all life on earth is interrelated. He currently serves with UI biology professor Debashish Bhattacharya as co-principal investigator on a $1.6 million National Science Foundation (NSF) project "Assembling the Tree of Eukaryotic Diversity" that seeks to decipher the evolutionary relationships primarily among microbial eukaryotes. The collaborative project is part of a larger NSF-funded effort to construct a comprehensive family tree of life on Earth called "Assembling the Tree of Life."

Logsdon noted: "it's not often that we find an organism that fits on the tree of life as a major "missing link" of sorts. Quite often we are looking at relatives that, while sharing a clear common ancestor, have diverged into separate, distinct lineages. This was previously the case for Apicomplexa, which derive from photosynthetic ancestors, but are very distant from their formerly closest photosynthetic cousins, the dinoflagellates. Our study provides a clear demonstration that there is much left to discover and learn about the diversity of life on earth, especially in the microscopic world."

Logsdon's colleagues on the project include lead authors Robert B. Moore of the University of Sydney, Australia, where he did the initial work with senior author Dee A. Carter; and Miroslav Obornik of the Biology Center of the Academy of Sciences and the University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic. Moore is formerly of the UI Roy J. Carver Center for Comparative Genomics where he worked on this project in Logsdon's laboratory.

STORY SOURCE: University of Iowa News Services, 300 Plaza Centre One, Suite 371, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-2500. MEDIA CONTACT: Gary Galluzzo, 319-384-0009, gary-galluzzo@uiowa.edu

Professor Joseph Frankel was chosen by a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Teaching Awards Committee to receive a 2008 Collegiate Teaching Award. This award recognizes Professor Frankel's exemplary performance as a teacher and reflects the high esteem with which colleagues and students regard the quality of his teaching. Professor Frankel has been director of undergraduate studies in the Biology department since 1999, where he has had a major role in the design of the curriculum and tracks within the major. He directs and teaches the General Education course Principles of Biology II. Colleagues praise him for his insightful analysis of how students learn science - through principles and concepts, stories about these concepts, and hypothesis testing. Students praise his energy, enthusiasm about Biology, attentiveness to their learning, and accessibility. A developmental biologist with a highly productive research record, he also teaches advanced undergraduate courses in cell and developmental biology. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will recognize the award at the annual Faculty Honors Celebration this spring and at the 2008 University of Iowa convocation. Congratulations Professor Frankel!

Professor Robert Malone in the Dept. of Biology at the University of Iowa has received a $450,000, 3 year grant from the National Science Foundation. This grant focuses on the behavior of chromosomes during the biological process called meiosis, those special cell divisions which occur during the formation of gametes (e.g., sperm or eggs). This unique process is highly conserved and the events which occur are very similar in organisms varying from maize to man to simple single cells like yeast. The work investigates a new mechanism by which two steps of chromosome behavior unique to meiosis are coordinated and regulated so that they both occur at the proper time to insure the proper number of chromosomes in each gamete.

Three University of Iowa biologists are among some 100 scientists who contributed to a study, published in the Nov. 8 issue of the Journal Nature, that is one of the most comprehensive genomic studies of its kind and will greatly aid scientists conducting basic research in disease, genetics and many other fields. The study involved a comparative analysis of the genomes of 12 species of Drosophila (fruit flies) and illustrated how the rates and patterns of genetic change can vary significantly among closely related species, thereby indicating mechanisms of evolutionary change, according to assistant professors Bryant McAllister and Josep Comeron and assistant research scientist Ana Llopart, all in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences' Department of Biological Sciences. "The study's genome sequences will add to the formidable genetic tools that have made the fruit fly a pre-eminent model for animal genetics and help drive fundamental research on mechanisms of development, cell biology, genetics, disease, neurobiology, behavior, physiology, and evolution," McAllister said. "The Drosophila species chosen for sequencing represent a small subset of the diversity among flies, yet we identified many genetic changes that may underlie differences in the ecology and behavior of the various species." Said Comeron, "This paper summarizes years of collaborative work among many laboratories interested in understanding how genes and genomes evolve. The analysis of complete genomes of 12 related species of fruit flies allows us to investigate a wide variety of evolutionary processes with an unprecedented level of detail. Ultimately, these '12 genomes' will provide an exceptional insight into the relative contribution of natural selection on protein evolution, gene gain/loss, the evolution of 'junk' DNA, etc." Of the 12 Drosophila species involved in the study, the genomes of 10 were presented for the first time, perhaps reflective of the fact that the study represents a four-year effort of so many individuals. "Although the actual sequencing of these 10 genomes took less than one year thanks to modern DNA sequencing technologies, three additional years were required to give meaning to this massive amount of genetic information through the development of new analytical and theoretical tools," Llopart said. "Future studies involving non-Drosophila genomes will benefit from having these new tools." In their paper, the researchers note that the study has provided a powerful means for answering questions -- not only about evolution, but also about the function of Drosophila genome features -- and that it has raised more questions than it has answered. "Because much of this rich and extraordinary comparative genomic dataset remains to be explored, we believe that these 12 Drosophila genome sequences will serve as a powerful tool for gleaning further insight into genetic, developmental, regulatory and evolutionary processes," they conclude. The complete Nature article, "Evolution of genes and genomes on the Drosophila phylogeny," can be found at http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v450/n7167/full/nature06341.html STORY SOURCE: University of Iowa News Services, 300 Plaza Centre One, Suite371, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-2500 MEDIA CONTACT: Josep Comeron, Department of Biological Sciences, 319-335-0628, josep-comeron@uiowa.edu; Bryant McAllister, Department of Biological Sciences, 319-335-2604, bryant-mcallister@uiowa.edu; Gary Galluzzo, University News Services, 319-384-0009, gary-galluzzo@uiowa.edu

A University of Iowa biologist has received a five-year, $1.47 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to study how neurons in the brain are wired together. Joshua Weiner, assistant professor and Presidential Biological Scholar in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Science Department of Biological Sciences, says he will use the grant to study defects in nerve cell connecting points, called synapses, that are believed to underlie a wide range of debilitating neurological and psychiatric disorders, including autism, Alzheimer's disease, mental retardation, and schizophrenia. "What my lab would really like to understand is how, during brain development, nerve cells, called neurons, establish connections with each other," he says. "In particular, we're fascinated by the exquisite specificity with which these cells form synapses. Neurons 'know' how to wire up with each other in the correct patterns needed for the brain to process information." He adds that researchers have long understood that proteins on the surface of neurons act as a kind of "molecular Velcro" to hold synapses together. He notes also that a particular family of proteins, called gamma-protocadherin, is a great candidate for mediating such synaptic adhesion in a specific way because the proteins are so diverse, with different neurons having various arrangements of some 22 proteins. "We had already shown that gamma-protocadherins are critical for the development of the nervous system," he says. "In our new, NIH-funded work, we will determine their function in a number of identified circuits, which will help us get a handle on their possible role in synaptic specificity." His UI colleagues on the project are: Andrew Garrett, neuroscience doctoral student; Tuhina Prasad, biology doctoral student; and Leah Fuller, research assistant. Weiner, who received his doctorate from the University of California in 1999 and joined the UI faculty in 2004, says he hopes that their work will advance public health by contributing to the basic science foundation needed for the development of new therapeutic approaches to neurological and psychiatric disorders. STORY SOURCE: University of Iowa News Services, 300 Plaza Centre One, Suite 371, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-2500 MEDIA CONTACTS: Joshua Weiner, assistant professor of biological sciences, 319-335-0091, joshua-weiner@uiowa.edu; Gary Galluzzo, University News Services, 319-384-0009, gary-galluzzo@uiowa.edu

Is a particular type of microscopic animal -- one thought to have reproduced asexually for at least 35-40 million years -- actually capable of having sex? A University of Iowa biologist hopes that his answer to that question will help solve a long-standing mystery in evolutionary biology: Why do organisms reproduce by means of sex at all? John Logsdon, associate professor in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Department of Biological Sciences and director of the Roy J. Carver Center for Comparative Genomics, has received a five-year, $1,128,500 research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study sex and meiosis in asexual rotifers.

The Department of Biology faculty member, Debashish Bhattacharya has been awarded the distinction of the 2007 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A Professor in Biology, Bhattacharya is also a faculty member of the Roy J. Carver Center for Comparative Genomics and director or the UI Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in genetics. Professor Bhattacharya was given the fellowship "for fundamental studies of the origin and spread of photosynthetic organelles through endosymbiosis, genome evolution and phylogeny of microbial eukaryotes, and group I intron evolution". Bhattacharya, who received his doctorate in 1989 from Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada, joined the UI faculty in 1997. He currently has a two-year, $2 million National Science foundation (NSF) grant to research how early plant cells developed the ability to make use of sunlight through photosynthesis.

The Department of Biological Sciences would like to welcome 3 new graduate students, Erin Bailey, Stephen Butcher, Sarah Derry. Erin Bailey is a former University of Iowa Biology major that graduated in May 2005 with a BS in Biological Sciences. Since graduating, Erin was employed at Tyson Foods in the Quality Control Laboratory as a Lab Chemist/Microbiologist. Stephen Butcher graduated from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse in May 2007 with a BS in Biology. While at UW, he worked on several independent research projects, one under the guidance of a former doctoral student of ours who is now an Associate Professor of Biology at UW-La Crosse: Anne Galbraith. Sarah Derry graduated from Iowa State University in May 2004 with a BS in Genetics. She also received training for a teaching certificate at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX. Until coming to the The University of Iowa, Sarah worked as a high school science teacher in the Houston Independent School District. Before a student is selected to join our program, their previous academic history is checked by a committee of departmental professors and graduate program advisors. The new students are chosen from among hundreds of other applicants to come for a campus visit. After the campus visit, they are invited to join our program. Welcome to all of our new graduate students!

The laboratory of Christopher Stipp, assistant professor in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Department of Biological Sciences, recently received two grants totaling more than $800,000 to study how tumor cells migrate. The first grant is a four-year, $703,000 grant from the American Cancer Society, while the second is an 18-month, $110,610 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense.

The unique laboratory of Dr. David Soll at the University of Iowa, Department of Biological Sciences is making a big footprint in the field of cancer research, thanks to a new agreement reached between Soll and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The NCI and its $104 million Clinical Protoemics Technologies Inititiative for Cancer (http://proteomics.cancer.gov) recently selected the Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank (DSHB) as the worldwide distributor of cancer-fighting proteins, called monoclonal antibodies, and the specialized cells, called hybridoms, that produce them. The DSHB was moved in 1995 from Johns Hopkins University to the laboratory of Dr. David Soll, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver/Emil Witschi Professor in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Department of Biological Sciences.

The Roy J. Carver Center for Comparative Genomics, located within the Department of Biological Sciences, has purchased a Flow Cytometer. After testing several machines, the Cell Lab Quanta SC manufactured by Beckman Coulter was chosen. It is equipped with a blue laser (488nm) and a UV light source optimized for excitation at 366, 405, 435nm. It is also equipped with a Multi-Platform Loader which will allow the use of vials and 96-well plates. With this set-up we will be capable of detecting cell staining of labeled markers as well as measuring DNA content and ploidy level.

Professor Barbara Stay will be giving a Saturday Scholars talk on Saturday, September 1, 10:00am in room 40 Schaeffer Hall. Her presentation will discuss Termites and their social interaction. Termites, like bees, ants and humans, are social creatures. We, and they, depend on interactions of individuals within families and colonies for continued existence. Not only we humans, but these social insects have enormous impact on our habitat, the Earth. How do these insects, one millionth of our size do this? It is by enormous numbers of individuals who sacrifice reproduction for the benefit of the colony. In termites, a queen and her king, the primary reproductives, produce enormous numbers of offspring that develop into different castes. Workers provide food and care, not only for the king and queen, but also for the soldiers, defenders of the colony. Chemical communication between caste members maintains the composition of the colony for the benefit of the whole. The termites studied in the Stay laboratory is the local subterranean termite Reticulitermes flavipes in which developmental pathways are very flexible; workers, if need be, can develop into soldiers or into supplementary reproductives. Our interest is in how the social environment is communicated through the brain to the endocrine system that regulates developmental pathways and reproductive ability.

Joshua Weiner, assistant professor in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, has received a three-year, $309, 510 grant from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust to study the role of glial cells in neuro-transmission and various brain disorders. In particular, he and his colleagues will study the function of glial cells - cells that provide nutrition, protection and other support to neuronal cells and participate in signal transmission in the nervous system.

The research laboratory of Christopher Stipp, assistant professor in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, has received a three-year, $349,825 grant from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust to study an aspect of cell behavior that plays important roles both in normal cell development and in tumor cell progression.