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Biology Club News                                                 May/June 2008

Happy Retirement, Dr. Hight!

    The Department of Biological Sciences wishes the best to Dr. Mary Etta Hight, who begins her well-earned retirement this August.  Dr. Hight has been a wide-ranging contributor to the Department, originally hired to teach Human Anatomy, but also teaching Introductory Biology, Histology, Mammalogy, and Biosystematics, among her many other involvements.  As the Department’s mammalogist, Dr. Hight has overseen the official repository for WV mammal specimens, and supervised the theses of several masters students.

     Dr. Hight’s many leisure interests include The Nature Conservancy, The Charleston Chamber Music Society, her garden, and her husband.  We wish her much enjoyment of those pursuits, and thank her for her numerous contributions to the Department and BSC students throughout her years here.  We’ll miss her! 

Congratulations to Former BSC Majors Who Are New M.D.s

     The Department is pleased to congratulate the following former BSC majors who have just earned their M.D.s from the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University: Christopher Adams, Hassan Barazi, Bryan Burk, Amanda Butcher, Steven Conley, Anthony Duba, Robert Gabordi, Robert Lambert, Amanda Pauley, Danny Pizzino, Erica Shaver, Erica Smith, Andrew Stack, and Matt Morris.  We wish you each a successful and happy career! 

Fall 2008 Undergraduate Tuition Waivers Available to WV Residents

     BSC has four undergraduate research tuition waivers available for the 2008 Fall Semester.  These awards are competitive, and there must be an independent research (BSC 485-488) or capstone (BSC 491) plan endorsed by your faculty mentor.  You must also be a West Virginia resident, a full-time BSC major, have a good GPA, and be involved (or about to be involved) in a research project.

     The deadline for application is Friday, May 2.  The form is available on the BSC webpage at http://www.marshall.edu/biology/forms.asp or from Mary Jo Smith in the BSC main office, room 350.  Questions?  Contact Dr. Hight at hight@marshall.edu.  

What’s New in Biological Science:

     Human Skin Cells Reprogrammed Into Embryonic Stem Cells UCLA scientists have reprogrammed human skin cells into cells with the same unlimited properties as embryonic stem cells without using embryos or eggs.  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080211172631.htm 

Stuffed Cells™ by Zedmalia Wolfe

     The scientifically-correct adventures of an archaean, a plant cell, and an animal cell.

Brag Box - an abbreviated list of recent BSC student and faculty accomplishment. Names marked with an asterisk (*) in Pauley publications are former Pauley graduate students.

·      *Berry, D., T.K. Pauley, and J. Maerz. 2008. Amphibian use of man-made ponds on forest clear-cuts in the Allegheny Mountains.  Applied Herpetology (In press)

·      Pauley, T. K. 2008. The Appalachian Inferno: A possible reason for the disjunct distribution of a federally protected salamander species, Plethodon nettingi (Cheat Mountain Salamander). Northeastern Naturalist (In Press)

·      *Pauley B.A. and T.K. Pauley. 2007 Survey of Abandoned Coals Mines for Amphibians and Reptiles in New River Gorge National River, West Virginia. Proceedings of the West Virginia Academy of Science (In Press)

·      Pauley, T. K. 2007. Revised notes on the range of the Cheat Mountain Salamander, Plethodon nettingi, (Amphibia: Caudata).  Proceedings of the West Virginia Academy of Science (In Press)

·      *Wooten, J. and T.K. Pauley.  2007. Sexual Size Dimorphism in Five Species of Dusky Salamanders (Caudata: Plethodontidae: Desmognathus) from West Virginia.  Proceedings of the West Virginia Academy of Science (In Press)

·      *Wooten, J. and T.K. Pauley. 2007.  Amphibians of the upland habitats within the New River Gorge National River, West Virginia. Proceedings of the West Virginia Academy of Science.  (In Press)

·      *Waldron, J.L. and T. K. Pauley. 2007. Green Salamander (Aneides aeneus) Growth and Age at Reproductive Maturity. Journal of Herpetology 41(4):637-643.

·      Kristy Doyle, Justin Hogan, Meagan Lester, and Simon Collier. “The Frizzled Planar Cell Polarity signaling pathway controls Drosophila wing topography”.  Dev Biol. 2008 Mar 5; [Epub ahead of print]

·      Dr. Simon Collier made a Platform Presentation at the 49th Annual Drosophila Conference in San Diego entitled “The Frizzled and Fat/Dachsous pathways control wing topography”, authors: Simon Collier, Kristy Doyle, Justin Hogan, and Eric Aten.

·       Kristy Doyle presented a poster at the 49th Annual Drosophila Conference in San Diego entitled “Wing membrane topography is determined by the dorsal wing epithelium”, authors: Kristy Doyle and Simon Collier.

What Are They Doing Now?  An update on BSC alumni

     William “Rob” Vickers grew up in Wayne County, WV, and went to the now closed Buffalo High School.  He received his BS (2002) in Biological Sciences, then attended WVU’s medical school, graduating in 2006.  Rob is now at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina, in his second year of residency in Ophthalmology.  He met his wife, Jean, in medical school at WVU, and she is an internal medicine resident also at MUSC.  Rob and Jean don’t have kids yet – as he says, “Just a basset hound named Sophie and a fishing boat.”

     Although Scott Evans (BSC 1994-95) did not finish his degree here, his positive research experiences with Drs. Mallory and Kahle encouraged him to enroll at Coastal Carolina University, where he graduated with a BS in Biology and a double major in Chemistry and Psychology. Scott then was accepted into the Masters program for Marine Science and Wetland Studies at CCU.  At this time, Scott serves as a GS 9 series 401 professional Biological Scientist with the US Forest Service in Arizona. 

     Amy Shah (BSC BS, 2003) wrote to thank the faculty for letters of recommendation.  After completing her degree at Marshall, she was admitted to the University of Louisville (Kentucky) School of Medicine.  Amy is now graduating from Louisville, and will start her Psychiatry residency at the  University of Cincinnati in June.

     Kristen Polacik, from  New Martinsville, WV (BSC BS in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, May 2008), has been accepted into the Biological Sciences masters program at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas.  She will be studying in  Dr. Brian R. Maricle’s  physiological plant ecology research program and looks forward to doing field studies in a prairie habitat.