Department of Biological Sciences

Our alumni shape the future

5/26/21

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. Pictured at the UB CAS graduate commencement, May 15, 2021 (left to right): Haniam Maria (PhD graduate), Laura Rusche (faculty), Paul Cullen (faculty), Aditi Prabhakar (PhD graduate), Rupkatha Banerjee (PhD graduate), Shermali Gunawardena (faculty).

11/13/19 Learn more about our alumni

Our students learn by doing

3/4/21

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.

2/23/21 We invite you to apply to the program

Our faculty are global leaders in FoxG1 research

11/2/20

Two UB scientists work to find a cure for daughter's rare disease. These neurobiologists and parents are now global leaders in FoxG1 research.

WGRZ-TV News Broadcast

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.

4/12/21 Learn more about our research

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.

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Faculty News

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Jae W. Lee wins NIH $2.6M grant to study development of the hypothalamus
7/30/21
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a $2.6M grant to Professor Jae W. Lee, PhD, to study the gene regulatory network that directs the development of various types of neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. These neurons regulate crucial processes such as feeding, reproduction, and growth. Dr. Lee's innovative study aims to radically improve our understanding of how neuronal lineage is determined in the arcuate nucleus, leading to the balanced production of diverse neuronal types during development. Learn more about Dr. Lee's project, Transcription factors governing the development of GHRH-neuron, here.
MacGuigan wins NSF postdoctoral fellowship
7/6/21
Dr. Dan MacGuigan, a postdoctoral fellow in the Krabbenhoft Fish Genomics Laboratory, was awarded an NSF fellowship to support his work examining how parallel genomic changes drive parallel morphological divergence both within and across species. MacGuigan's research focuses on parallel evolution in the fish fauna of the Carolina bays, an understudied series of freshwater lakes along the Atlantic coastal plain. These young lakes harbor several unique species plus replicate populations of the same species, providing a natural experiment to compare parallel evolution among versus within species.
Zhao and Rusche study how Sir2 may facilitate shape-shifting in C. albicans
5/5/21
In a study published on May 5 in the journal mSphere, Guolei Zhao, PhD candidate, and Laura Rusche, associate professor, report that a protein called Sir2 may facilitate C. albicans’ transition from ovoid yeast to thread-like hypha. C. albicans cells that were missing the Sir2 gene were less likely to form true hyphae in lab experiments than cells of the same species that had that gene. Read more here.
Cullen, Gokcumen, Medler, and Yu win grants from NSF and NIH
4/20/21
The National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health have awarded significant grants to support the research of four faculty members, Drs Paul Cullen, Omer Gokcumen, Kathryn Medler, and Michael C. Yu. These awards help the Department to continue its long-standing emphasis on strong research productivity. See the list of research funding and grants awarded to our faculty, here.
A daughter's rare disease brings mother-father researchers to Buffalo for answers
4/12/21
Maybe Yuna Lee was built to be in Buffalo. The 11-year-old – whose name means “snow girl” in a Korean dialect – was born during a rare January snowstorm in Houston, where her parents worked as medical researchers at Baylor College of Medicine. Yuna seemed a typical newborn, but things changed in months that followed. Her head didn’t grow quickly enough. Seizures became common. She missed developmental milestones. Read the article in the Buffalo News.
American Academy of Microbiology has elected Gerald Koudelka into its 2021 Fellowship Class
3/5/21
The American Academy of Microbiology has elected Professor Gerald Koudelka, PhD, into its 2021 Fellowship Class. The Academy is the honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), one of the largest life science societies in the world. Learn more.
Vincent Lynch publishes a study to show how a gene called HAND2 may impact timing of labor
3/4/21
The journal eLife, published a study that illuminates how a gene called HAND2 may have a hand in the timing of human labor. Vincent Lynch, assistant professor of biological sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, led the study with first author Mirna Marinić, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Chicago Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy. Co-authors included Katelyn Mika and Sravanthi Chigurupati AbbVie, both from the University of Chicago. The research news story was featured in the UB Alumni magazine, AtBuffalo.

Department News

Research Areas

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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.
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.
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.
Animal Models
6/6/18
Faculty study essential biological processes with particular relevance to the understanding of animal life.
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.
Microbiology
6/6/18
Microbiology faculty study microorganisms including viruses, bacteria, and protozoans.
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.

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Student and Alumni Highlights

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Savannah Sojka wins UB Graduate School’s 2021 Excellence in Teaching Award
5/25/21
The Department of Biological Sciences is pleased to announce that Savannah Sojka has won the University at Buffalo Graduate School's 2021 Excellence in Teaching Award for Graduate Teaching Assistants. Savannah is currently a PhD candidate in Dr. Denise Ferkey’s lab and has worked as a teaching assistant in the Genetics and Developmental Biology lab courses.
2021 fellowships awarded to four undergraduate students
5/10/21
The Department of Biological Sciences at the University at Buffalo is pleased to announce that Ryan Swick, Alaina Bailey, Sydney Brongo, and Emily Bouffard are each recipients of our 2021 undergraduate fellowships. The fellowships are made possible by the generous support of our donors. The awards recognize each undergraduate student's outstanding academic achievements and services at UB.
PhD student TJ Krzystek wins 2021 Niciszewska Mucha Dissertation Fellowship
5/4/21
The Department of Biological Sciences is pleased to announce that PhD student Thomas 'TJ' Kryzstek was awarded the Stephanie T. Niciszewska Mucha Dissertation Completion Fellowship for his work in the laboratory of Dr. Shermali Gunawardena. The fellowship award of $9,000. is made possible by the generous bequest of Stephanie Niciszewska Mucha. The award recognizes Kryzstek's Polish heritage, outstanding academic record and promise of productive scholarship. As part of the fellowship, TJ traced the Krzystek family’s roots back to Spytkowice, Poland, in the 1800's.
Two recent alumnae recognized by the 2020 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
3/31/21
The Department of Biological Sciences is pleased to announce that two recent alumnae have received recognition from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships Program. During their time at UB, both were part of our Honors Program run by Dr. Jessica Poulin.
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
1/5/21
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.
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.
Biological Sciences majors win 2020 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence
1/5/21
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.

2021 COMMENCEMENT

Congratulations to the Class of 2021

SEE THE FULL LIST OF OUR 2021 GRADUATES. You’ve strived, persevered and succeeded. You’ve made friends and memories to last a lifetime. You’ve come so far. It's your time to celebrate yourself, your classmates.

CEREMONY STREAMING

Faculty News

Research Areas

Student and Alumni Highlights

2021 COMMENCEMENT

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