Aliaya Williams wins SUNY award
10/6/19
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.
BIO-319 helps get bees buzzin’ at UB
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.

New Space for New Ideas
2/18/19

Major renovations are underway within the Cooke-Hochstetter Halls. After more than a year of construction, the Department of Biological Sciences began the spring semester on a newly redesigned floor. See more.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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Events

  • Fall 2019 Seminar Series
    10/11/19

    205 Natural Sciences, 4:00 p.m.

    October 17, Dr. Ruben Gonzalez
    Professor of Chemistry, Columbia

    November 7, Dr. Mamadi Yilla
    Distinguished Alumni
    Deputy Coordinator
    US Department of State
    “Health and Diplomacy: A surprising approach to U.S. international interests”

    November 14, Dr. Sofia Origanti
     Assistant Professor, St. Louis University
    “Translating Under Stress: Context-Dependent Regulation of the Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 6”

    December 5, Dr. Fernando Estrada, Assistant Professor, UB
    “Structural and functional regulation of the mycobacterial enzyme CYP121; a drug target in the fight on Tuberculosis”

Department News

Spotlight

  • Open House
    9/30/19
    Join us on Saturday, November 2, 2019, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. A round table lunch will be served at noon,  where you can meet our current students and faculty to ask any questions you may have about graduate school. 
  • Victor Albert featured on NBC News MACH "How science is helping save the avocado from climate change."
    8/29/19

    Excerpt from national news report:  "Can science save the avocado? Like many commonly cultivated fruits and vegetables, avocados are under threat from climate change. One recent report predicts that by 2050, high temperatures and reduced precipitation in California will dramatically slash yields of the popular fruit, which thrives in moderate temperatures and humidity." Read more.

  • Soo-Kyung Lee, PhD
    8/30/19

    Fall 2019: The Department of Biological Sciences is pleased to welcome a new member of our faculty. Soo-Kyung Lee is engaged in studying gene regulation that directs cell fate determination during development of the central nervous system. Lee's major research models are developing spinal cord and cortex. In collaboration with Jae Lee’s group, she recently initiated a new venture with a neurodevelopmental disorder named FoxG1 syndrome, which is characterized by severe congenital brain anomalies. Lee's major experimental approach involves mouse genetics and genome-wide studies such as single cell RNA-seq and ChIP-seq. The Lee lab is recruiting at all levels and anyone interested in her lab should contact Professor Lee directly. See faculty profile.

  • Jae W. Lee, PhD
    8/30/19

    Fall 2019: The Department of Biological Sciences is pleased to welcome a new member of our faculty. Jae W. Lee studies gene regulation that directs cell fate specification during development of neurons in the hypothalamus arcuate nucleus, which controls growth, metabolism and reproduction. Lee also studies a neurodevelopmental disorder named FoxG1 syndrome, which is characterized by severe congenital brain anomalies, in close collaboration with Soo-Kyung Lee’s group. Experimentally, Lee mainly utilizes mouse genetics and genome-wide approaches such as single cell RNA-seq and ChIP-seq. Lee’s lab is recruiting at all levels and anyone interested in his lab should contact Professor Lee directly. See faculty profile.

  • Rupkatha Banerjee wins UB Student Excellence Award
    4/29/19

    Congratulations to Rupkatha Banerjee, a PhD student in Dr. Shermali Gunawardena’s lab, for receiving the 2019 UB Student Excellence Award, as an honoree of the College of Arts and Sciences. Rupkatha will be presenting her work and receiving the award at
    the Celebration of Student Academic Excellence, April 25, 2019

    The Awards for Excellence in Research, Scholarship and Creativity recognize outstanding contributions from each decanal area that achieve superiority in presentation, content, and scope, and which therefore merit acknowledgement as efforts worthy of university-wide distinction. The awards recognize student projects that exhibit the highest characteristics of achievement among this select group.

  • Izzy Starr wins Microsoft Research fellowship
    1/22/19
    Starr uses computational modeling to investigate how microbes that live on the skin influence how a person’s genes are expressed, and how that in turn affects immunity. As Starr explains, human skin and the microbes that inhabit it evolved together, and the makeup of the microbiome on skin — and changes to this microbiome — can influence a person’s immune response. The focus of Starr’s current work is psoriasis, a chronic autoimmune condition that can cause symptoms such as cracked skin, which can lead to increased exposure to microbes. Down the line, this work could open opportunities for customized treatments for people with psoriasis or other diseases.

Research Areas

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Student & Alumni Keylight

  • Rupkatha Banerjee wins best talk at Neuroscience Research Day sponsored by the Buffalo Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience
    10/16/19

    Congratulations to Rupkatha Banerjee, a PhD student in Dr. Shermali Gunawardena’s lab, for receiving the award for best talk at the Neuroscience Research Day, October 11, 2019, sponsored by the Buffalo Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience. The title of her award-winning talk is "GSK3β phosphorylation disrupts kinesin function during axonal transport."

  • Vijyendra Ramesh
    3/19/18

    "The UB Biological Sciences department is a great place to grow as a student and a future communicator of science. Established scientists are really friendly and willing to mentor you, let you work in their labs and even let you be teaching assistants for their classes. I thoroughly enjoyed my time here!"

    Current Activities: Ph.D. Student in Molecular & Cellular Biology at Duke University School of Medicine, currently doing lab rotations.

  • Sampurna Chakrabarti
    5/8/18

    "I loved that the Bio department offered a variety of introductory and specialized courses. I felt the Neurobiology courses and Honors research methodology course prepared me well for graduate school. I am also grateful to the department for awarding me the Knobloch fellowship that helped me pursue my research in the lab of Professor Malcolm Slaughter."
    Current Activities:     Gates Cambridge Scholar pursuing a PhD in Pharmacology in University of Cambridge, UK, researching arthritic pain to develop novel drug targets. 

  • Sara Fox wins $500. UB CURCA Student Research Award, 2017
    3/19/18

    Sara Fox has received the 2017 Undergraduate Research Award through CURCA, which includes a grant of $500. supported by the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. Congratulations Sara and keep up the great work! We look forward to all your future achievements!

  • Timothy Hansen
    3/19/18

    "As an undergraduate in the department of biological sciences at UB, I was truly able to receive a unique education with the ability to customize and individualize my experience. Over the course of three years I was able to develop a research project of my own, and receive close mentorship from many faculty members. I developed skills in basic science research, as well as grant writing and public speaking. This led to a summer research internship at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, and a trip to San Diego to present my work at a national genetics conference."

    Current Activity: UB Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Class of 2019

  • Gary
    3/21/18

    "My work in Dr. Gunawardena’s lab focused on developing a methodology to advance our understanding of how proteins and other vital cargos are trafficked across the long distances in neurons. Our new system allowed us to visualize and directly measure the movement of these cargoes over a period of neural development. My success thus far has been the direct result of the opportunities and support I have received during my undergraduate research. These early experiences have helped to make my ambitions of becoming a scientific investigator on the forefront of human knowledge a possibility."

    Current Activity: Continuing to develop my ability to explore fundamental problems in nature by pursuing my PhD in Biochemistry at UB.

  • Six fellowships are awarded to select students each year.
    9/4/18

    Generous alumni and friends of the Department of Biological Sciences have provided funds to underwrite a number of scholarships and fellowships to provide support for our students. As a result, our faculty selects six undergraduate students to receive annual fellowships.

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