Department of Biological Sciences

10/3/19

Our Genetics course (BIO-319) inspires the study of 240,000 bees buzzing in six hives on the North Campus, thanks to the persistence of a bee-loving undergradute student and faculty members. Read UB Now.

CRISPR lab exercise proves successful with students

11/30/18

Our students know if they’ve employed CRISPR successfully because they can literally see the results. Read more.

Listen to news report: WBFO 88.7, Buffalo's NPR News Station

Grand Opening: New Space for New Ideas

12/10/19

Gerald Koudelka (left), professor and former chair of the Department of Biological Sciences, cuts the ribbon to mark the grand opening of our new space for new ideas. Looking on are CAS Dean Robin Schulze and Joe Helfer, senior assistant to the chair.

8/4/20 Department News

Our alumni shape the future

5/8/18

We take great pride in the achievements and success of our alumni, many of whom enjoy distinguished careers in the Biological, Biomedical and related fields.

11/13/19 Learn more about our alumni

Our faculty 'lead with the lab'

5/4/18

The instructional philosophy, 'lead with the lab', allows our students to develop critical thinking skills while providing broad, deep, state-of-the art training in all life science disciplines.

Our students learn by doing

3/19/18

Our curriculum provides students broad and deep training at the cutting edge of modern biology through a learn-by-doing philosophy. Our approach to teaching cross-disciplinary life sciences prepares students for today's accelerating pace of discovery in biological sciences.

2/26/20 We invite you to apply to the program

We cultivate an active community of inquiry

5/4/18

Faculty teaching and research connects academic programs and experiential labs to cultivate an active community of results-oriented inquiry.

10/4/19 Learn more about our research

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Updated 7/22/2020

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Spotlight

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Gunawardena's research devoted to understanding HTT’s role in cell biology and health
7/17/20
“When it comes to finding therapies for neurological diseases, a lot of the research focuses on the pathology and aggregation of proteins, but that may not be the actual cause,” says Shermali Gunawardena, PhD, associate professor of biological sciences in the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences. “We want to try to figure out what might be going on earlier. We want to come in from a different angle and say, ‘OK, are huntingtin and Rab4 normally present together in healthy neurons? And then, what are they doing in the context of a disease state?’ ” Read the news article by Charlotte Hsu
Yuna’s world, and the world of FOXG1 research
5/5/20
When doctors diagnosed 2-year-old Yuna Lee with FOXG1 syndrome, her parents recognized the disease immediately. Yuna’s mother and father, Soo-Kyung Lee and Jae W. Lee, are biologists at UB. By chance, Soo-Kyung had studied the FOX family of genes, including FOXG1, for years before Yuna was born. Only about 650 people in the world are known to have FOXG1 syndrome. That Yuna, the daughter of a biologist who had researched the gene, would be one of them: What were the odds? Read the news article by Charlotte Hsu.
Krabbenhoft co-curates the Fish and Climate Change Database (FiCli)
5/11/20
“The Fish and Climate Change Database pulls information together in a way that people can meaningfully use it,” says Trevor Krabbenhoft. “The idea is not just to document how fish have been affected by climate change, but to also provide information on management options that can help mitigate some of those effects.” Researchers, fisheries managers, conservationists, journalists and others can use FiCli to find scientific articles based on factors such as fish species, habitat type, location and type of climate change impact (such as a change in temperature or precipitation). Read the full article by Charlotte Hsu.
PLOS Genetics publishes research by Vincent Lynch
4/27/20
The journal, PLOS Genetics has published the research article by Vincent Lynch and Mirna Marinić, Relaxed constraint and functional divergence of the progesterone receptor (PGR) in the human stem-lineage. Lynch is currently assistant professor, UB Department of Biological Sciences. About their study, the co-authors summarize, “We resurrected ancestral forms of the progesterone receptor and tested their ability to regulate a target gene. We found that the human progesterone receptor forms have changed in function, suggesting the actions regulated by progesterone may also be different in humans. Our results suggest caution in attempting to apply findings from animal models to progesterone biology of humans.” The research was funded by the March of Dimes and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Preterm Birth Initiative. Read the news article by Charlotte Hsu.
Zhen Wang publishes work detailing cardiac glycosides in two foxglove species grown for medicinal purposes
4/14/20
Zhen Wang's lab is investigating the chemical processes the plants use to create cardiac glycosides: what steps are taken, what genes are turned on and what enzymes are deployed. Wang’s team can figure out, step by step, how foxgloves make cardiac glycosides, scientists could leverage that information to explore a variety of improvements.
Genetics publishes paper by Taskent and Gokcumen on Haplotypic Variation & Deletion Polymorphisms
10/18/17
Genetics, published by the Genetics Society of America, contains a paper co-authored by UB alum Ozgur Taskent, a recent PhD graduate, and Omer Gokcumen,Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences. The work presents a comprehensive analysis of the unusually divergent haplotypes in the Eurasian genomes and showed that they can be traced back to multiple introgression events. Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the research reinforces the concept that Neanderthal DNA has been woven into the modern human genome on multiple occasions as our ancestors met Neanderthals time and again in different parts of the world. Read the news article by Charlotte Hsu.
Vincent Lynch studies genes of Wrangel Island woolly mammoth
2/10/20
"Beyond suggesting that the last mammoths were probably an unhealthy population, it’s a cautionary tale for living species threatened with extinction: If their populations stay small, they too may accumulate deleterious mutations that can contribute to their extinction.” —Vincent Lynch, PhD, assistant professor, UB Department of Biological Sciences
NBC News Buffalo interviews Trevor Krabbenhoft about the effects of climate change in our region
2/16/20
WGRZ-TV's news story on the science of climate change features Trevor Krabbenhoft and other UB faculty who are researching "specifically" what climate change means in our region. Krabbenhoft discusses the delicate balance of Lake Erie's fresh water and how aquatic life respond to environmental change. He states, "We don't realize how rare this kind of environment is globally." Using functional genomics and bioinformatics to test hypotheses related to mechanisms underlying how fish respond to their environment, we can better predict outcomes for future scenarios of environmental change. Krabbenhoft's research has important management and conservation implications both locally for the Great Lakes and more broadly for aquatic ecosystems worldwide. (Krabbenhoft's interview begins at 3:43/5:35)
3/19/18 See faculty profile
Gunawardena's research devoted to understanding HTT’s role in cell biology and health
7/17/20
“When it comes to finding therapies for neurological diseases, a lot of the research focuses on the pathology and aggregation of proteins, but that may not be the actual cause,” says Shermali Gunawardena, PhD, associate professor of biological sciences in the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences. “We want to try to figure out what might be going on earlier. We want to come in from a different angle and say, ‘OK, are huntingtin and Rab4 normally present together in healthy neurons? And then, what are they doing in the context of a disease state?’ ” Read the news article by Charlotte Hsu

Department News

Rusche, Walker, Cullen Labs

Why do scientists use baker’s yeast in the lab?

Why do scientists use baker’s yeast in the lab? Researchers harness baker’s yeast to study a variety of biological processes. Laura Rusche’s lab uses S. cerevisiae to learn more about how certain genes get switched on or off in response to stress. Sarah Walker’s team uses the organism to probe the intricacies of mRNA translation, which causes cells to produce proteins. Paul Cullen's lab explores cellular mechanisms that cause certain changes in yeast growth patterns. Read the news article by Charlotte Hsu.

Student & Alumni Keylight

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Convocation 2020
7/13/20
Congratulations to our Class of 2020 from the faculty and staff of Biological Sciences. This webpage contains a listing of our recent udergraduates in tribute to their achievement. Also see our listing of Graduate Student Graduates, here.
Nicole Wong wins UB Graduate School’s Excellence in Teaching Award
5/18/20
The Department of Biological Sciences is pleased to announce that Nicole Wong has won the University at Buffalo Graduate School's 2020 Excellence in Teaching Award for Graduate Teaching Assistants. Wong is currently a PhD candidate based in the lab of Dr. Matthew Xu-Friedman, who serves as her mentor. Wong was sponsored for the award by Dr. Lara D. Hutson, Clinical Associate Professor Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Biological Sciences majors win 2020 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence
4/22/20
Congratulations to Megan Dwyer, Katherine Eaton, and Kathleen Ohma. Our Biological Sciences majors are among the winners of the 2020 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence, the highest honor the State University of New York bestows upon its students. The annual award recognizes and honors students who have best demonstrated and been recognized for integrating academic excellence with accomplishments in the areas of leadership, athletics, community service, creative and performing arts, campus involvement or career achievement.
Long Shen, PhD (2003), works on tools to increase COVID-19 testing capacity and afford better patient management, and yield critical data to aid in the recovery from the pandemic
4/14/20
UB Biological Sciences Alum Long Shen, PhD (2003), is a founding partner of KSL Biomedical. Drawing upon scientific and medical training in Xiamen University, China and the University at Buffalo, USA, he has performed as translational biomedical research innovative scientific program leader for over 15 years in academic programs and private industry. Dr. Shen has made significant contributions to the identification of novel biomarkers for the early diagnosis of autoimmune disease and associated B-cell lymphomas. Dr. Shen has authored more than 25 peer-reviewed publications in high impact research journals and is co-inventor on a number patents in this field. Read the research news article by Charlotte Hsu.
Aliaya Williams wins SUNY award
3/5/20
Congratulations to Aliaya Williams. The senior biological sciences student has won the SUNY-wide Norman R. McConney Jr. Award. The award honors a student who demonstrates determination, success, perseverance and leadership. UB Campus News features Williams' remarkable achievement.
Kathleen Ohman wins ASA Award for Undergraduate Student Research in Acoustics
11/8/19
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) has named Kathleen Ohman the winner of the Robert W. Young Award for Undergraduate Research in Acoustics. The ASA is the premiere international scientific society in acoustics, dedicated to increasing and diffusing the knowledge of acoustics and promoting its practical application. Ohman, a Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors student, studies the effects of blast-induced traumatic brain injury on mouse vocalizations.

Research Areas

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Ecology and Evolution
5/4/18
Our research concerns plant evolutionary biology; molecular phylogenetics and population genomics; chromatin and gene expression; genome stability; and the genetics of aquatic invertebrates.
Animal Models
6/6/18
Faculty study essential biological processes with particular relevance to the understanding of animal life.
Genetics
5/4/18
Geneticists investigate biological processes by examining the phenotypic consequences of altering genes. Our faculty study how information encoded in DNA is interpreted to produce functional proteins.
Microbiology
6/6/18
Microbiology faculty study microorganisms including viruses, bacteria, and protozoans.
Fungal Biology
5/4/18
Our faculty study cell biology and signalling pathways that are used by filamentous fungi and budding yeast to adapt to their environments. Our research uses yeast as a model organism to study the mechanisms of gene expression.
Signaling
5/4/18
Signaling faculty study cellular communication and the intracellular pathways that regulate activity. These faculty use a wide range of model organisms and techniques to examine a diverse array of signalling pathways involved in hormonal regulation, sensory transduction, and cell growth and metabolism.
Neuroscience
5/4/18
Our faculty study a variety of model systems using electrophysiology and imaging techniques to understand sensory signalling and the cellular processes underlying important neuronal disorders.
Genomics
5/4/18
Faculty study evolutionary change using a variety of techniques capitalizing on recent advances in genomics methodology and the evolution of viruses, plants, fish, and humans.
Cell and Molecular
5/4/18
Cell and Molecular faculty study the regulation of protein expression, from transcription to translation to post-translational modification.
Plant Science
5/4/18
Faculty research focuses on photosynthesis, plant evolution, plant genomics, gene regulation, environmental remediation, and the metabolic engineering of pharmaceutical compounds.

See All

Spotlight

Rusche, Walker, Cullen Labs

Student & Alumni Keylight

Research Areas

UB Biological Sciences In-the-News

Department of Biological Sciences