DEPARTMENT

of

BIOLOGY

New Mexico Tech Biology

801 Leroy Place

Jones Annex

Socorro, NM 87801

Tel: 575-835-5612

Email: biology.dept@npe.nmt.edu

www.facebook.com/NmtBiologyDept

About Us:

Faculty: 6

Undergraduates: 109

Graduate Students: 11

Degrees Awarded:

B.S. in Biology

B.S. in Biomedical Sciences

M.S. in Biology

5-year BS/MS in Biology

Ph.D. in Biotechnology

People in the Department:

Snezna Rogelj, PhD, Professor: Drug discovery, can-

cer, pathogens, biosensors, anti-microbial materials

Benjamin Duval, PhD, Asst. Professor: Plant ecology,

climate change, soil science, applied ecology

Thomas Kieft, PhD, Professor: Deep subsurface bio-

sphere, Animal-microbe interactions

Linda DeVeaux, PhD, Assoc. Professor: Radiation

microbiology, extreme survival mechanisms, and surface

water pathogenicity

Siobhan Watkins, PhD, Asst. Professor: Cannabis sp.

microbiome, algal biofuels, algal viruses, bacteriophages,

genomics

Lindsay Waldrop, PhD, Asst. Professor: Comparative

biomechanics and animal physiology

Kaarin Goncz, PhD, Lab Associate, Adjunct Professor,

MST Program

Dean Wilkinson, DMV, Adjunct Professor, Instructor

Megha Khandelwal, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher,

Instructor

Vanessa Quiñones, Department administrator

Les Edwards, Research Assistant

Faculty in the Biology Department at New Mexico Tech have secured research funding in recent years from multi-ple sources including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Office of Naval Research, the New Mexico Waste Management Education and Research Consortium, the US Department of Energy, New Mexico Environment Department , INBRE and the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute. This extracurricular funding is also critical for providing support for our graduate students. Students conduct research on topics that span a wide range of medically and environmen-tally related areas, frequently in collaboration with other departments, such as Chemistry, Mathematics, Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering and E&ES. Students who receive degrees in the Biology Department go on to a variety of careers from medical school to veterinary school to distinguished academic careers in Biotechnology and

Public Health.

New at NMT: PhD in Biotechnology

New Mexico Tech has a long tradition of research in applied biology, starting in the 1960’s and 1970’s with bioleaching of metals, continuing in the 1980s with the highly successful nico-tine skin patch, and currently with the development of novel anti-cancer and anti-infectious agent drugs as well as innovative drug delivery systems. In keeping with this tradition, New Mexico Tech has initiated an inter-disciplinary Ph.D. program in Biotech-nology, with the involvement of eleven academic departments. Students in the program are not only enrolled in a comprehen-sive academic schedule but are required to participate in a re-

search project that combines science and engineering disciplines. Entrepreneurship is also emphasized, with New Mexico Tech’s Management Department provid-ing guidance and workshops. The pro-gram is anticipated to benefit New Mex-ico’s burgeoning biotechnology industry by generating a new workforce that can readily enter biotechnology firms with the potential for patenting and spin-off

industries and, by graduating potential faculty members who will continue the tradition of teaching and conducting research in applied biology. The Biotechnology Program has already ac-cepted its first student, Roswell native Danielle Turner (pictured), and anticipates approximately two new students per year (total enrollment: ten) who will be conducting research in

wide-ranging biotechnology areas.

Biology Teaching Labs: Hands-on training for all Students

One of the strengths of the NMT Biology Department has been the commitment to providing research and lab experience to all of students. This year, the Department welcomes a new Lab Manager, Kaarin Goncz, who brings a plethora of experience in both science and education. Dr. Goncz received a Ph.D. in Bio-physics from UC Berkeley and a M.Ed. from the University of Vermont. She has since been involved in genetics research, K-12 science education and outreach and, small business ventures. Kaarin will be working with the new faculty in the Department to renovate existing lab courses and create new and exciting experiences for our students from classical experiments in mi-crobiology to cutting edge research in metagenomics. The new Biomedical Sciences undergraduate and the current 5-year Mas-ters in Biology degree program require students to participate in research projects. With the increase in undergraduate research projects, Kaarin will be developing curriculum for training in research methodology. Kaarin is also an enthusiastic advocate for STEM education and will be involved with the Masters in Science for Teachers (MST) program as an Adjunct Professor. This sum-mer she is teaching a 2-week course in microscopy for teachers

enrolled in the program.

New Mexico Tech Biology Department Research sequencing to thoroughly characterize the microbes within the

biofilms. Information gained through this study should help the Park

Service to preserve the beautiful cavern features in a pristine state.

Booster Shots for Old Antibiotics

Antibiotics have been saving lives for the past 60 years, but their

widespread use has resulted in evolution of highly drug-resistant

bacteria. Multi-drug resistant bacteria are now a global threat as

fatality rates in some cases approach 50%. For example, about

30,000 people a year in the US die from infections with Methicillin-

resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) while MRSA hospitalization

stays double. Dr. Snezna Rogelj , Chemistry research professor Liliya

Frolova and their team at New Mexico Tech invented a set of drugs

that re-invigorate standard antibiotics. Their drugs restore the activ-

ity of seven diverse classes of antibiot-

ics against a wide variety of drug-

resistant and drug-sensitive bacteria,

including MRSA, VRE and CRE. In

combination, such drug-resistant bacte-

ria are once again susceptible to low

doses of well tested, clinically proven

and widely prescribed antibiotics.

As illustrated in the photograph, a related compound directly kills

MRSA when activated by light (center of plate); this reduces

100,000,000 MRSA cells to 0 within two minutes of irradiation with

plain white light. Analogous effect can be achieved on cancer cells.

Variation in tiny tubes

The heart is the first organ in the body to function during embry-

onic development and its function is key to normal development of

most other organs in the body. Hearts start out as very small tubes

that drive fluid by sending waves of compression down its length

before growing in to the large, multi-chambered organ of an adult.

Understanding how these tiny tubes drive fluid flow is important to

understanding many aspects of embryonic development, as well as

how large, multi-chambered hearts could have evolved.

Although tiny, these tubular hearts have many features that control

fluid-flow performance, which makes assessing which aspects are

critical to development and evolution tricky. Dr. Lindsay Waldrop

studies the performance of pumping by tiny tubes using two comple-

mentary approaches: an experimental animal model (sea squirts) that

have hearts similar to those in developing embryos, and a computa-

Climate Change Hits Belowground

Heavy traffic and smoke

billowing from factories

is what most people

associate with carbon

gases and climate

change, but soils hold

more carbon than all

plant life on Earth. Dr.

Ben Duval, pictured, is

hoping to understand how plant roots and microbes in the

soil help store that carbon belowground. Along with gradu-

ate students, Duval is studying what triggers native New

Mexican piñon and juniper trees to make seeds in our dry

ecosystems, a process that requires plants to put some of

their carbon into roots. Soil bacteria and fungi chemically

change the carbon, and play an important role in keeping it

in the ground. Duval is also working on a Department of

Energy funded project that will measure how much carbon

gets into the soil from crop roots, and if the amount of

carbon that stays belowground depends on a farmer’s deci-

sions about how and when to use fertilizer and irrigation.

Illuminating Lampenflora

New Mexico Tech microbiologist Dr. Tom Kieft, his gradu-

ate students, and staff from the National Cave and Karst

Research Institute (NCKRI) have begun a research project

to help the National Park Service solve a problem at Carls-

bad Cavern. Artificial lightning, which is essential for visitors

to enjoy the natural wonders of the cave, has the unin-

tended consequence of promoting the growth of algae and

cyanobacteria, termed “lampenflora.” The Park Service has

recently installed new LED lights

to save energy and to lessen the

algal problem by using wavelengths

of light that are less favorable to

algae. Working under a grant

from the Park Service, Kieft is

monitoring the formation of pho-

tosynthetic biofilms for two years

at multiple sites in the famous Big

Room at the Cavern. They are

also using high-throughput DNA

tional model that solves fluid

flow equations during simu-

lated pumping. Through a

collaboration with Yanyan He

(assistant professor, NMT

Mathematics), these models

can be used to test how big of

an impact small changes in

these tubes have on fluid-flow

performance, which is key to

understanding how small

changes can lead to large

changes during development

and evolution.

Cannabis' Little Helpers

Dr. Siobhan “Siv” Watkins is an environmental microbiolo-

gist/geneticist, and is the project’s go-to expert for charac-

terizing soil microbes. Mutually beneficial plant-microbe

symbioses play a key role in sustainable crop production,

and, for many plants, we understand something about how

these relationships are developed, maintained, and how they

may contribute to crop health

and productivity. However,

for Cannabis sp., little is under-

stood with regard to how

these interactions are formed

and how they progress over

the natural life of the plant.

Headed by Dr. Siv Watkins, a

research program is under

development to comprehen-

sively examine the bacterial,

viral and fungal communities

associated with a range

of Cannabis cultivars grown under varied controlled condi-

tions. In collaboration with a local organic marijuana farm

and several other scientists at NMT, our aim is to examine

the microbial processes which are of undeniable importance

to sustainable production. In addition, through education

and discussion, we hope that our research will contribute to

global discussion regarding the benefits of medical marijuana,

and become an asset to our community at large. This work

is supported by a pilot grant from the National Center for

Genome Resources.