The Department of Biology
The Biology Department is housed in the Cox Science Center on the beautiful Coral Gables campus of the University of Miami in southern Florida, the gateway to the tropics. Our diverse internationally community, with its strong research focii ranging from Tropical Biology to Neuroscience, interacts with both medical and marine campuses, and exploits resources such as the Everglades, the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, the Organization for Tropical Studies and our own on-campus Gifford Arboretum. Our undergraduate curriculum serves the largest Arts and Science major, Biology, as well as Marine Science and Neuroscience majors, and emphasizes experiential learning and research opportunities.

News
New laboratories Renovations are complete for the laboratories of Alexandra Wilson and Kathryn Tosney and for three new core facilities: a tissue culture facility on the second floor and histology and imaging facilities in the basement which house a JOEL transmission electron microscope and a new Leica SP5 confocal microscope. Renovations for a new zebrafish facility and laboratories for Akira Chiba and Athula Wikramanayake are currently underway.

People news: Recent searches have successfully attracted seven new researchers: two senior faculty, Akira Chiba and Athula Wikramanayake, two junior faculty, Julia Dallman and Isaac Skromne, two core facility manager/researchers Carla Hurt and James Baker, and most recently Bill Browne, who will join us as an assistant professor in July 2009.

Search for an endowed chair in tropical ecology The Biology department seeks to add a distinguished scientist whose work focuses on the tropics. The generous gift of the Aresty Chair in Tropical Ecology is a crucial foundation for attaining eminence in Tropical Ecology; moreover it assures that undergraduates can study with a renowned scientist in the tropics, a potentially life-changing experience. As a major university in Miami, the gateway to the tropics, we have a strong commitment to excellence in tropical Biology.

The Department of Biology featured in the news media:
Grad Student Nathan Muchala's discovery
New department chair builds bridges
Leo Sternberg's research of ancient tree rings has been highlighted in the prestigious journal Nature.  The UM Biology professor, along with colleague Hope Jahren of Johns Hopkins University, has studied the carbon, oxygen and hydrogen isotopes within the tree rings of a “fossil forest” located in the far northwest Canadian Arctic.  Study of the isotopes revealed changes in seasonal humidity that affected forest growth during the Eocene period, about 45 million years ago. For a pdf, click "Tree Ring Tales.
Dr. Barbara Whitlock was named a Digital Library Fellow; she will lead a project to create The Swingle Plant Anatomy Reference Collection. This project will digitalize a historic collection of plant anatomical microscope slices made in the early 20th century by W.T. Swinge, a close connection of UM who was a foremost authority on citrus plants. One element of this project will create 3-dimensional representations of the physical specimens.
The Akira Chiba group has published a new paper in the prestigious journal Science describing a new way to see where proteins are active in living animals. Daichi Kamiyama et al. (2009) created an “in vivo bioprobe imaging technology” to reveal protein activation within the intact nervous system of fruit fly embryos. This work is particularly important because proteins can be present in a cell but inactive.  Until now, it has been difficult to see when and where individual proteins are activated within live animals. Chiba’s research is funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute of Mental Health. Chiba said: “The idea of watching life at the molecular level within a cell in an intact organism is really fascinating.”

Events
Tropical botany Check the Gifford Arboretum Calendar for talks, the yearly picnic (Dec 1) and plant sales.

Seminars Please come to faculty seminars on Mondays and informal seminars on Fridays during the regular academic year; All seminars are at 12:20 in Cox 166. To talk with a speaker, please contact the person who is acting as host.

Resources
Undergraduate advising
Graduate program information and applications; Due Jan 1, 2008!
Lisa Anness Graduate Fellowship in Tropical Botany application
College magazine article about Lisa Anness
Database on invasive species

South Florida Ecosystem
View South Florida ecosystems, from entire environments to component plants and animals, in extraordinary photographs on the website of Vladimir Dinets, graduate student in Biology whose research focuses on crocodiles and aligators.