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Biology
at
The University of Miami
Integrating Research Cultures
Kathryn Tosney
Excerpted from the upcoming Biologue, 2008 |
Figure
Biology Department pyramidal organization
viewed from above |
It has been a banner year for Biology.
From major gifs to faculty recruiting, from infrastructure to educational initiatives, this year has initiated an exciting transition: Biology is building a robust research community designed to successfully integrate distinctly disparate research cultures. This unique community will rest on a foundational tripod of three disciplines, Developmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution (see figure). These foundations will be bridged by researchers who embody exciting intersections among disciplines: “Evo-Devo” (the intersect of evolution and development), “Eco-Evo” (the intersect of ecology and evolution) and “Eco-Devo” (the intersect of ecology and development). At the pinnacle, Genomics intersects with all the disciplines. This community structure supports an exciting interactive and collaborative department, and also fosters strong undergraduate education and strong links within the UM community. For instance, Biology researchers interact with faculty on all three UM campuses and with interdisciplinary programs such as the ABESS Center, ITME, MSC, ESC and Neuroscience, thereby building an integrative network of research and teaching interactions that is University-wide.
A key resource in forwarding this vision is the generous bestowal of, The Aresty Chair in Tropical Ecology which is a crucial foundation for attaining eminence in Tropical Ecology. It is also significant for undergraduate education, as it assures that undergraduates can study with a renowned scientist in the tropics, a potentially life-changing experience. Pat and Jeff Aresty graduated from UM in the mid 1970s with BS degrees in biology. They met in the spring of 1974 at UM's tropical biology field station, which was sandwiched between the towns of Quevedo and Santo Domingo de los Colorados in Ecuador. After graduation, Pat worked in biochemistry labs at UM while Jeff worked for Everglades National Park on an alligator tagging project. Pat and Jeff graduated with Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the University of Nebraska in Omaha in the early 1980s. They now live in Big Sky country, north of Missoula Montana, but still cherish their Biology training, with its weekly ornithology field trips with Bud Owre, hanging out at the bird range, and visiting the Dry Tortugas and Trips to Ecuador. They say that they are able to use their science education from UM every day of their lives.
This vision of an Integrated Biology is also being made manifest this year by a faculty recruiting success that was nothing short of phenomenal. We hired four tenure track faculty in Development, including two prominent senior people. All four use non-mammalian model genetic systems that are renowned for their efficiency in revealing stunning new discoveries. Professor Akira Chiba uses the fruit fly to study the molecular and cellular biology of brain development. Associate Professor Athula Wikramanayake is our first Evo-Devo researcher: he uses the sea urchin to understand control of a first major step in development, the emergence of a body axis; he uses the sea anemone to study how this axis evolves. Assistant Professor Julia Dallman uses zebrafish to study development of neuronal circuitry and homeostasis in the nervous system. Assistant Professor Isaac Skromne, who will join us next year, uses zebrafish to study molecular events that distinguish the early spinal cord from the brain in development. These faculty form a highly interactive core that crosses disciplinary boundaries, both within the department and within the larger scientific community.
Further enhancing our expanding research culture is the successful hiring of three additional researchers. Dr. James Baker, who manages our Imaging Core Facility, uses the fruit fly to understand the molecular regulation of cilia development. Dr. Carla Hurt, who manages our Molecular Core Facility, is a molecular ecologist who uses aquatic systems, particular shrimp species who are comensual with sea anemones, to understand ecological adaptation and evolution. Dr. Patricia Buendia, a Visiting Assistant Professor, uses genomics and bioinformatics to study comensual evolution of HIV drug resistance and mechanisms of molecular evolution.
To refresh and expand their own research enterprises, several faculty have taken sabbaticals this year. Associate Professor John Lu, who has quite successfully used the goby fish to elucidate the neurophysiology of hearing, is moving into a new system, zebrafish, to understand how hearing is regulated molecularly. Professor Carol Horvitz spent a year at Stanford working with colleagues on new mathematical models for ecological processes. Smathers Professor Guillermo Goldstein pursed ecological research on an international scale, from Argentina to Brazil and China. Professor Ted Fleming used his sabbatical to work on two books and to do research on West Indian Bat evolution. Associate Professor Kathleen Sealy-Sullivan was on leave for conservation-related research and to serve as Dean in the College of the Bahamas.
Renewal in Biology extends to the Cox Science Center itself. One signal element of modern research is the use of cutting edge - and quite expensive - equipment. To make such equipment available to all, from professor to undergraduate, Biology is constructing “CORE FACILITIES ”, dedicated to particular technological functions: Histology, Confocal Microscopy, Electron Microscopy, Elemental Mass Spectroscopy and Tissue Culture. New state-of-the-art equipment in these facilities includes a Leica Confocal microscope and a JOEL transmission electron microscope. In addition, new labs are being renovated for new faculty. Indeed, renovated labs for Professor Kathryn Tosney and Assistant Professor Alex Wilson are now complete.
For undergraduates, the benefit of being at a superb research university is that both students and professors are engaged in the same activity: intellectual inquiry. Our undergraduate teaching mission is already being augmented by Biology’s new initiatives. We have many new undergraduate research opportunities, including two new HHMI lab courses, as well as new courses such as Concepts in Cell Biology, Developmental Neuroscience, and Evolution of the Brain. In addition, a new pedagogy action committee has fully revised the introductory Biology laboratories, transforming them from cook-book-biology into adventures in hypothesis testing. These adventures drew the support of UM’s Provost Tom LeBlanc who supplied funds to stock these courses with modern scientific equipment. It is truly an exciting time to be in Biology at Miami!7
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