CommuniquéBiological Sciences

Winter 2015–16

Ruthie Angelovici joined the faculty as an assistant pro-fessor this fall. Angelovici

received her BS and MS degrees in plant sciences from Tel Aviv University and her PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. She was a postdoc-toral fellow at the Weizmann Insti-tute of Science from 2009 to 2010 and at Michigan State University from 2010 to 2015. Her research has focused on reg-ulatory mechanisms that control amino acid metabolism in seeds. “What I am looking to do is to unravel the ge-netic and metabolic mechanisms that are behind amino acids’ natural varia-tion in order to find genes that would al-low us to improve—genetically—our crop seeds,” she says. Starting next year, she will be teaching an undergraduate course on cell biology and hopes to offer a graduate-level course on seed me-tabolism in the future.

Tracie Gibson joined the fac-ulty as an assistant teaching profes-sor this fall. Gibson received her BA in biology from Cornell Col-lege in 1991 and her PhD in cell biology from Purdue University in 2000. She was the recipient of a National Institutes of Health post-doctoral fellowship to study the mechanism used by viruses to en-ter cells. She carried our her post-

doctoral research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. Following a visiting professorship at Purdue University and the State University of New York, Gibson joined the faculty at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UT–PB) as an assistant professor of biology in 2008. Her teaching and mentoring efforts have been recognized with

receipt of the UT-System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award (2013) as well as by the American Association of Immunologists and the American Society for Cell Bi-ology. At MU, she plans to use her experiences and passion for biology to promote inquiry-based learn-ing within courses and work to enhance diversity through recruit-ment and retention of underrepre-sented students in the Division of Biological Sciences. Gibson taught the introductory biology course for non-majors this fall and also will teach the introductory majors and cell biology courses in the spring.

She says her two goals are to help students develop a deeper under-standing and appreciation for the fundamental role of biology within society and to inspire the next gen-eration of scientists.

Amanda Durbak joined the fac-ulty as an assistant teaching pro-fessor this fall. Durbak received her BA degree in biology from the New College of Florida in 2004 and her PhD in plant sciences from

the University of Arizona in 2010. In 2011, she joined the lab of Associ-ate Professor Pau-la McSteen at the University of Mis-souri as a postdoc-toral fellow. Her research focuses on the genes in-volved in the initia-tion of new vegeta-tive and reproduc-

tive organs in maize. As a postdoc, Durbak guest lectured and then subsequently taught the division’s General Genetics course for un-dergraduates. She will continue to teach this course as well as in-troductory biology and cell biol-ogy courses as a faculty member. Her goal as a teacher, she says, is to have students leave her class “not only with a better understanding of how the natural world works, but also the ability to communi-cate that knowledge with other sci-entists and, more importantly, the world at large.”

New Faces of Biology

Angelovici DurbakGibson

Chair ChatChair Chat

Communiqué2

Dear Alumni, Friends, Colleagues,Greetings! The year’s end is a time

to think about home and family, and in that spirit I am happy to extend the warmest of greetings from your Divi-sion of Biological Sciences family.

Last May, 217 bachelor’s degrees in biological sciences were conferred. Fifty-seven students graduated with Latin honors and 36 graduated with departmental honors. We also con-ferred seven doctor of philosophy degrees and one master of science degree. This fall, we welcomed 360 freshman, 38 transfer students, and 12 graduate students.

Many of our majors earned pres-tigious awards and scholarships this year. Pari Jafari, BS ’15, was award-ed a Fulbright Fellowship to study in Brussels. Kevin Bird, a senior biology major, received an honorable mention from the Goldwater Scholarship pro-gram. Sixteen of our graduating se-niors and four of our juniors were initi-ated into Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and most prestigious academic honor-ary society in the nation.

Our faculty and staff also garnered impressive awards this year, includ-ing several nationally prestigious honors. Curators’ Professor James Birchler was elected a fellow in the National Academy of Inventors. Asso-ciate Teaching Professor Sarah Bush won the Ernest L. Boyer Internation-al Award for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Technology. Curators’ Professor Ray Semlitsch was award-ed the Distinguished Herpetologist Award. Nicholas Holladay, a profes-

sional adviser in our academic advis-ing office, received two well-deserved MU honors this year, the Inclusive Excellence Award and the Blue Chalk Award for Advising Excellence.

This year, seven of our faculty par-ticipated in MU’s voluntary separa-tion program and officially retired on August 31. Pat Willis, who served as the division’s business manager for 27 years, also retired. Unfortunately, we also lost Ray Semlitsch, who died unexpectedly in June. Ray was a tal-ented and accomplished scientist and a devoted student mentor and teacher who made enormous contributions to the division and MU as well as to his field of amphibian ecology and con-servation. Ray is sorely missed. We highlight his career and contributions inside this newsletter.

Fortunately, we recruited three new faculty members this year, Assistant Professor Ruthie Angelovici and Assis-tant Teaching Professors Amanda Dur-bak and Tracie Gibson. As highlighted in this issue, each brings diverse re-search and teaching experiences and talents to the division.

Last year, we established an alumni leadership board. Board members, who are alumni of the division, serve as a resources for ideas and input on ways to foster partnerships between the division and its expansive base of alumni. They also play a role in suggesting initiatives that further its growth and development. This past year, we welcomed two new mem-bers to the board: Sid Popejoy, BA ’74, and Darrell Latham, BA ’75. Board members began a conversation with Michael O’Brien, dean of the Col-lege of Arts and Science, about the division. Additionally, board member Martin Sanders, BA ’75, and his wife, Corsee, generously hosted a get-to-gether of biology alumni at their resi-dence in Hillsborough, California.

And, finally, I am grateful to report that we received three new endow-ments and a significant gift this year. The Richard F. & Sharon A. Keister Faculty Enhancement will be divided equally between the Division of Bio-logical Sciences and the Department of Mathematics to support, reward, and promote outstanding faculty. The

Mr. and Mrs. Shouson and Yunying-Kou Jen Junior Faculty Research Award in Biology will be used to pro-vide annual awards to an assistant or associate faculty member in the divi-sion in recognition of research excel-lence. The H. Carl Gerhardt and Dayna Glanz Graduate Student Travel Award Fund will be used to provide travel funds to biology graduate students to attend scientific conferences or meet-ings, training workshops or courses, specialized trainings, or to collect data. We also received a generous gift from Phillip S. Hartman to establish the Dr. Abraham Eisenstark Faculty Fellowship Award In Biological Sci-ences. If you would be interested in contributing to the Eisenstark Fellow-ship or the Gerhardt and Glanz fund, please contact me at WalkerJ@mis-souri.edu.

The division is proud of the ac-complishments of our alumni, and we would love to know about your achievements. If you have an interest-ing story or a career highlight that you would like to share, please send an email to biology@missouri.edu. We’d love to hear from you.

Warmest regards,

John C. Walker, PhDCurators’ Professor and Director

3Winter 2015–16

Michael Weiss, BA ’95 M Acc ’97, traded in his white lab coat for a green eyeshade early in his career. Now, he’s bringing back some of his business savvy to his alma mater as an inaugural member of the Di-vision of Biological Sciences Alum-ni Leadership Board.

Weiss admits accounting was not a career he originally envisioned for himself. Like many biology ma-jors, he first saw scrubs in his fu-ture. When he came to Mizzou, he was accepted into the highly com-petitive Conley Scholars Program, which gives qualifying participants pre-admittance into MU’s School of Medicine.

“I probably had utopian views of wanting to cure cancer and save the world type of stuff,” Weiss says.

However, once he declared biol-ogy as a major, Weiss says he re-ally became fascinated with science itself. “Whether it was genetics, physiology, animal science, etc., it all interested me throughout col-lege,” he says. He soon traded in his dreams of scrubs for a lab coat.

After he graduated with his bachelor’s degree in biological sci-ences in 1995, Weiss joined a re-search lab in Mizzou’s College of Veterinary Medicine, where he conducted research on a genet-ic link to hepatitis susceptibility in mice. He was still considering what type of career he wanted to pursue when he stumbled across some people in accounting whose careers, he recalls, “were moving a bit faster than my own.” His inter-est was piqued.

“I took a few accounting classes while still working as a biologist, and then I just decided to take a risk and switch,” he says.

The risk paid off. In two years, Weiss completed

his master’s of accounting degree at Mizzou. He immediately landed a job as a junior staff accountant with Ernst & Young in his hometown of

St. Louis and rose quickly through the ranks. Today, Weiss is execu-tive director of advisory services for Ernst & Young, where he leads the accounting firm’s outsourced inter-nal audit services for the central re-gion energy sector.

Although he did not pursue a ca-reer as a biologist, Weiss says his scientific training has definitely paid dividends in his career choice.

“To this day, my science founda-tion has unbelievable benefits to me in business,” he says. “A lot of people say that science and busi-ness are different, but business is a science.”

The same elements present in traditional scientific inquiry, Weiss says, are important to the world of business. Why did one business succeed? Why did another fail? Weiss believes those questions have answers that can be known through careful and rigorous analysis.

“For me, there is always a reason. Everything can be explained,” he says. “The diligence to sit down and diagnose a situation and find a cause like a scientist does is a skill that, to this day, is still useful to me.”

Weiss is quick to add that, though his scientific foundation has been important, he ultimately cred-its the support of his family for his success. “It’s not my accomplish-ment; it’s our family’s accomplish-ment. My wife’s support has been invaluable. We are a great team.”

Though he didn’t forget his training, Weiss admits that he did lose touch with his biological roots over the years. “I simply decided that I wanted to become an ac-countant and never really looked backed,” he says.

That is, until he got a letter last spring inviting him to be an in-augural member of the division’s Alumni Leadership Board.

“It was exactly Mike’s career choice that I value,” says John C. Walker, Curators’ Professor and director of the division. “We have a diverse alumni base, and I want our board to reflect that diversity.”

The division has many alumni who are doctors and research sci-entists. But, Walker says, they are also teachers, researchers, medical professionals, veterinarians, law-yers, business professionals, entre-preneurs, and more. Importantly, he adds, “many, like Mike, are lead-ers within their chosen fields and organizations.”

As for Weiss, he sees the Alumni Leadership Board as a great op-portunity to reconnect with the de-partment and help other alumni do so as well.

“I’m happy to be a part of that solution,” he says.

If he could offer advice to cur-rent undergraduate students, Weiss says he would encourage them to never close the door on opportuni-ties.

“All your life, be willing to try something new,” he says.

Alumnus Brings Business Savvy, Leadership, Back to Division

Mike Weiss, BA ’95, M Acc ’97, with his wife, Kristi, and their children, Car-son and Charlette.

Communiqué4

Amanda Prasuhn, BS ’12, has al-ways been passionate about ani-mals.

“If you look up my name in my fifth-grade yearbook, you’ll see I planned on trekking out into the bamboo forests of Asia to protect giant pandas from extinction,” she says.

Now, just months after complet-ing her JD from Stanford Law, the MU alumna has begun her career fighting for endangered and threat-ened animals.

Prasuhn landed a job as a legal fellow with the Center for Biologi-cal Diversity. Based out of Tucson, Arizona, the center litigates on be-half of endangered species and wild places. According to its website, “the center is the nation’s leader in preserving endangered species, having secured Endangered Spe-cies Act protection for hundreds of species and hundreds of millions of acres of land and water.”

The Kirkwood, Missouri, native’s legal career began, fittingly, in a lab that treks into forests in search of a giant animal—elephants. For three years of her undergraduate career at MU, Prasuhn conducted re-search in the lab of Associate Pro-fessor Lori Eggert, a conservation geneticist in the Division of Bio-logical Sciences. Prasuhn analyzed DNA, extracted from elephant dung samples, to resolve wheth-er savanna and forest elephants should be categorized as one or two species.

The research garnered Prasuhn a coveted Goldwater Scholarship her junior year. It also set her on a path in law.

“I enjoyed doing research, but over time I realized I was most interested in the elephants themselves and concerned about their preservation and how poaching affected them,” she recalls. “So I decided to do something more conservation-oriented, and I thought going to law school and becoming an at-torney would be a better way, for me, to have an impact.”

After graduating with her bachelor’s degree in biologi-cal sciences in 2012, Prasuhn was accepted into Stanford Law School. There, she focused on environmental law and partici-pated in Stanford’s Environmen-tal Law Clinic. She also interned at the Center for Biological Di-versity at their Oakland, Califor-nia, office.

“It is probably my favorite en-vironmental organization,” says Prasuhn. “It’s very progressive and believes in the intrinsic value of animals. They’re also not afraid to take things to court. I really like that.”

Prasuhn took the California bar exam in July and started full-time as a legal fellow with the center in September. She is currently work-ing on cases related to the recent Refugio oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara and a proposed free-way project in Riverside County that threatens wildlife preserves.

Prasuhn says she still puts her scientific training to use everyday.

“A lot of what I read is scientific information about what a project might do to the air quality or the numbers of specific species and

how it will effect them. My sci-ence background definitely makes it easier for me to search, read, and evaluate these documents. It’s also helpful when I’m writing some-thing about why a proposed ac-tion or project will have a negative impact on the environment. I can back up a lot of things I’m saying with scientific evidence,” she says.

She says her advice to current bi-ology students is to “explore your career paths and stick with what you’re passionate about.”

“A degree from Mizzou is helpful toward whatever you career you go on to,” she adds.

Alumna Lands Job at Leading Conservation Organization

Amanda Prasuhn, BS ’12, parlayed her degree in biology into a career in law.

5Winter 2015–16

Brittany Ousterhout, a fifth-year doc-toral candidate, is the recipient of the Ethel Sue Lumb Award for Excellence in Graduate Stud-ies. The Divi-

sion of Biological Sciences gives the award to a graduate student who has demonstrated exceptional promise in research and scholarly activities.

Ousterhout was recognized for her doctoral research on salamander populations, which examines both en-vironmental and physiological factors that influence the movement of ringed salamanders, a species of conserva-tion concern in Missouri. Her studies have documented substantial varia-tion in movement behavior among these salamanders and also that habi-tat quality can influence their move-ment behaviors. In laboratory studies, she also has been able to show that movement behavior is very consistent over time, a finding that points to a potential genetic predisposition. Oust-erhout’s findings have been published in the Journal of Animal Ecology, Her-petologica, and Animal Behavior.

Ousterhout carries out her research in the lab of Curators’ Professor Ray Semlitsch. She is a Life Sciences Fel-low and recipient of a National Sci-ence Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Ellee Cook, a second-year doctoral candi-date, was a win-ner of the Vic-tor Hutchinson Student Poster Competition during the an-nual meeting of the Society for

the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles in August. Her poster was honored in the Ecology, Natural History, Distribu-tion, and Behavior category.

For her doctoral research, Cook studies the behavior of female Anolis lizards. She is particularly interested in how females choose and keep qual-ity habitat, an understudied subject in biology. Among male anoles, terri-tory size is linked to body size. Gen-erally, the bigger you are, the bigger your territory. But is the same true for female anoles? This is the question tackled by Cook in her award-winning poster, “Is Bigger Always Better? Evaluating Individual Differences in Territorial Behavior Among Female Anolis gundlachi Lizards.”

Cook carries out her research in the lab of Associate Professor Manuel Leal.

Christopher Kassotis, PhD ’15, received the Presidential Poster Competi-tion Award from the Endocrine Society for his poster, titled “Endocrine Dis-

rupting Activity of Oil and Gas Opera-tion Chemicals and Health Outcomes Following Gestational Exposure in Mice,” presented at the 97th annual meeting of the Endocrine Society this past spring.

The poster presented preliminary results of Kassotis’s doctoral research on the effects of 23 chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing on the early de-velopment and maturation of mice. Exposure during pregnancy to a mix-ture of these chemicals, at concentra-tions likely relevant to environmen-tal levels, resulted in increased body weights; increased heart, spleen, and testes weights; and decreased sperm concentrations in male offspring. The effects on female offspring are still under review. When completed, the study may shed light on whether industry-related spills and leaks into ground and surface water sources pose potential health risks to humans.

Kassotis carried out his doctoral re-search in the lab of Associate Profes-

sor Susan C. Nagel. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Duke University.

Jacob Wash-burn, a fourth-year doctoral candidate, re-ceived a disser-tation research grant from the National Science Foundation to study the evolu-

tion of C4 photosynthesis in grasses.Approximately 3 percent of plants

use a biochemical pathway known as C4 to carry out photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert sunlight into chemical energy. These so-called C4 plants have evolved spe-cial cellular structures in their leaves that allow them to fix carbon dioxide from the air—an essential step in the photosynthetic process—more effi-ciently than plants that use the more-common C3 photosynthetic pathway. In the grass tribe Paniceae, the C4 photosynthetic pathway has evolved multiple times and in three slightly dif-ferent forms, or sub-types. Washburn is combining phylogenetic analyses, gene-expression studies, and compu-tational modeling to investigate the similarities and differences among these three sub-types within the tribe. He is particularly interested in tracing the evolutionary origins of this diversi-ty and pinpointing genes with impor-tance to each sub-type’s function. Ul-timately, his studies will inform efforts to improve current C4 plants, as well as breed or bioengineer C4 photosyn-thesis into agronomically important C3 plants, like rice.

Washburn carries out his research in the lab of Associate Professor J. Chris Pires. Washburn is a Life Sci-ences Fellow and recipient of Miz-zou Advantage and Research Board grants.

Award-winning Graduate Students

Communiqué6

It is with great sadness that the Di-vision of Biological Sciences shares the passing of Curators’ Professor Raymond D. Semlitsch, who died on June 10, 2015.

Semlitsch received his bachelor’s degree from SUNY College at Buf-falo, his master’s degree from the University of Maryland, and his doctorate from the University of Georgia. He held faculty positions at the Memphis State University and the University of Zurich, Swit-zerland, before joining the faculty as an associate professor at the Uni-versity of Missouri in 1993. He was promoted to professor in 1999 and appointed a Curators’ Professor in 2004. His teaching and research ac-tivities were in the area of amphib-ian ecology, especially on the eco-logical connection between aquatic and terrestrial environments of sal-amanders. By focusing attention on the functional value of the aquatic–terrestrial interface, he raised the awareness of state and federal agen-cies of the critical need to protect small wetlands and surrounding terrestrial habitat.

Semlitsch wrote or co-wrote more than 240 articles in the na-tion’s top scientific journals, in-cluding Science and The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science,

in addition to 14 book chapters, two whitepapers, and a number of public interest articles. His influ-ential and informative book Am-phibian Conservation, published by the Smithsonian Institution Press, takes on the myths and facts be-hind media accounts of disappear-ing and declin-ing populations of amphibians and provides ef-fective strategies for conservation. He also provided important ser-vice to his pro-fessional field, most recently as a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Wildlife Manage-ment and as a science resource member of the USGS Flatwoods Salamander Working Group. He was a member of the American As-sociation for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Ecological Society of America, the Society for Conservation Biology, the Ameri-

can Society of Ich-thyologists and Her-petologists (ASIH), and The Wildlife Society.

Semlitsch’s re-search accomplish-ments were continu-ously recognized and honored. He was re-cipient of the univer-sity’s 1999 Chancel-lor’s Award for Out-standing Research and Creative Activity, the 2008 National Wetlands Award for

Science Research from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the 2011 Fitch Award for Excellence in Herpetology from the ASIH. In 2009, he was elected

a fellow of the AAAS for “distin-guished contributions to the field of ecology, particularly the role of habitat modification on the ecology of amphibians.”

During his 22-year career at Mizzou, Semlitsch was a valuable contributor to the division and the university. He served as the co-di-rector of graduate studies for the division from 2001 to 2015 and was awarded an Outstanding Contribu-tion Award from the MU Gradu-ate School in 2010. He founded

and led MU’s conservation bi-ology program and established the curriculum for the gradu-ate certificate in conservation bi-ology. He served as administrative director of two U.S. Department of Education

training grants. Semlitsch was a beloved student

mentor and an exceptional teacher. He trained 29 doctoral students, 18 master’s students, and over 60 undergraduate students in his lab. Many of his former doctoral stu-dents are now in major academic and agency positions throughout the United States. As one of his colleagues shared in a letter, “Ray led by example and set high per-sonal goals for excellence as a sci-entist and integrity as a person. The quality of his students reflects this influence.” He taught courses on herpetology, design of ecologi-cal experiments, amphibian behav-ior, and conservation biology. As a teacher, he was well known for his dynamic and thoughtful lectures as well as for his use of real-life prob-lems to introduce concepts, sum-marize current knowledge, and de-sign research to solve the problems.

Semlitsch wrote the following personal statement for an award the division nominated him for in 2014. It speaks best to what moti-vated him scientifically.

Continues on Page11

In Memoriam: Raymond D. Semlitsch

Curators’ Professor Raymond D. Semlitsch

Semlitsch’s students. (Image courtesy of K. O’Donnell)

7Winter 2015–16

The Division of Biological Sci-ences had seven valuable mem-bers of its team retire this fall. Professors John R. Faaborg, H. Carl Gerhardt, Miriam Golomb, Joel Maruniak, George Smith, and Frederick vom Saal have en-joyed highly productive research and teaching careers at the uni-versity. Pat Willis also retired af-ter 27 years as business manager of the division. More than 150 faculty, family, and friends at-tended a reception on Sept. 1, honoring the careers and contri-butions of these individuals.

Thousands of individuals have been influenced by the efforts of these individuals. Are you one? Consider giving a tax-deductible gift in his or her honor at gift-giving.biology.missouri.edu.

Retirement Reception Honors Seven

The honorees: Pat Willis, Miriam Golomb, Joel Maruniak, John Faaborg, Carl Gerhardt, George Smith, and Frederick vom Saal.

The Division of Biological Scienc-es, in conjunction with MU’s Com-putational Neurobiology Center, is offering three training opportuni-ties in computational neuroscience this summer for all levels, from undergraduate to faculty. All three workshops emphasize the use of in-tegrative approaches to understand how the activity of individual neu-rons within neural circuits give rise to outputs ranging from movement to thought. The Computational Neurosci-ence: Models and Neurobiology Workshop will be held June 6–17. This intensive, two-week, proj-ects-based, interdisciplinary course (funded by the NIH) aims to give advanced students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty in neurosci-ence, biology, psychology, physics, electrical engineering, and com-puter science a rapid introduction on how to apply computational approaches to modern neurosci-ence research. The workshop is de-

signed to strengthen the quantita-tive skills of students with biologi-cal and medical backgrounds and increase the knowledge of neuro-science concepts for those students from quantitative backgrounds. The Hardware and Software Ex-periments to Teach Undergradu-ate Neuroscience: Curriculum Development Workshop will be held May 22–27, 2016. This six-day interdisciplinary workshop is focused on active learning in neu-roscience using virtual (software) labs. The workshop is intended for undergraduate faculty who teach in two- or four-year colleges and uni-versities and high school science teachers with an interest in teach-ing neuroscience using software-based instructional modules. The NSF-funded workshop introduces participants to neuroscience models and experiments that can be incor-porated into existing biology, psy-chology, or engineering curricula, or used to develop new courses.

The Neuroscience Summer Re-search Experiences for Under-graduates will run from June 1 to July 29, 2016. This nine-week summer research experience of-fers a wide range of very exciting interdisciplinary projects in neu-roscience, with both wet-lab and computational components. The projects are drawn from all levels in neuroscience—intracellular/cellu-lar, systems, behavioral—with par-ticipating faculty coming from the colleges of Arts and Science, Engi-neering, and Veterinary Medicine. Students will have the opportunity to carry out an independent neu-roscience research project and will present their projects to faculty and fellow participants at the conclu-sion of the workshop. To learn more about these oppor-tunities, visit biology.missouri.edu/computational-neuroscience-sum-mer-training-experiences

Computation Neuroscience Training Experiences

Communiqué8

Two Alpine Bees Lick Climate ChangeRising temperatures in alpine habi-tats worldwide have resulted in de-clines in flowering among indige-nous plants and contributed to dra-

matic declines in populations of several bum-blebee species prevalent in those regions. In a study pub-lished in the September is-sue of Science, the Galen and Holdo labs re-

port on two alpine bumblebee spe-cies that have responded to this de-cline in flowering due to warming temperatures by evolving shorter tongues. The results suggest that some bumblebee species may be able to adapt to environmen-tal challenges caused by climate

change.“We are not

saying climate change isn’t a problem for bumblebees. It is a major prob-lem. However, these findings indicate that some bumble-

bees may be able to adapt if provid-ed adequate habitat and are largely

shielded from other sources of anthropo-genic harm, like pes-ticide use and habitat destruc-tion,” says

Professor Candace Galen.The corresponding and lead au-

thor of the study is Nicole Miller-Struttmann, who completed the research as a postdoctoral fellow in the Galen lab. Miller-Struttman is now an assistant professor of biolo-gy at SUNY College at Old West-bury, New York. Oth-er MU-affiliated co-authors include Assistant Professor Ricardo Holdo, Jenni-fer Geib, PhD ’10; James D. Franklin, MA ’14; Austin M. Lynn; and Jessica Kettenbach, BS ’14.

New Tool Allows Scientists to Visualize Sugar Transport in VivoPlants move sugar from their leaves to the flowers, roots, and other or-

gans via the phloem. Understand-ing sugar transport is a significant aspect of plant biology that could have important applications to food and biofuel production. In a study published in PLOS One, Associate Professor David Braun and col-leagues report on a new radioactive tracer that allows scientists to visu-ally track sucrose as it moves into and through the phloem.

“There are very few places in the world where this type of interdis-ciplinary science can be done, and being at MU enables these scien-tific interactions and cutting-edge science,” says Braun.

Fracking Chemicals Tied to Reduced Sperm Count in MicePrenatal exposure to a mixture of chemicals used in the oil and natu-ral gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, at levels found in the environment lowered sperm counts in male mice when they reached adulthood, ac-cording to a new study from the lab of Associate Professor Susan Nagel and published in the journal Endocrinology. This study is the first to demonstrate that endocrine-dis-rupting chemicals commonly used in fracking, at levels realistic for human and animal exposure, can have an adverse effect on the re-productive health of mice.

“The implications of these find-ings are that there may be fertility issues for men living near and/or born near dense fracking opera-tions,” says Christopher D. Kas-sotis, PhD ’15.

Look at Me! Forest- dwelling Anoles “Glow” to Attract AttentionIn the elaborate game of seeking and attracting a mate, male anole lizards have a special trick—they grab attention by perching on a tree limb, bobbing their heads up and down, and extending a colorful throat fan, called a dewlap. Among anoles living in shaded habitats, the dewlap is often translucent. It

From the Lab

James Franklin, MA ’14

Jessica Kettenbach, BS ’14

Nicole Miller-Struttmann

Austin M. Lynn

9Winter 2015–16

passes as much or more light through it from the back as it reflects from the front. The dramatic “glowing” ef-fect, according to a new study published in

Functional Ecology, increases the ef-ficacy of the male lizard’s visual sig-nal, making them stand out better to females.

“Allowing light to pass through the dewlap makes the colors of the dewlap much easier to detect and to distinguish against other objects in the background, which means the signal is easier to see by poten-tial mates and rivals,” explains As-sociate Professor Manuel Leal, co-author of the new study.

Three Neurobiologists Awarded NSF Early Concept Grant to Build New Protein Switches for NeuronsA new technology is heating up the neuroscience world. Thermogenet-ics—the combination of regulated temperature and genetics—uses ge-netic engineering to deliver special temperature-activated proteins to specific neurons in brains of experi-mental animals. Then, researchers can apply a specific temperature to control these neurons, basical-ly turning them on or off at will. Three MU neurobiologists have been awarded an Early Concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) from the National Sci-ence Foundation to expand this technology, which could lead to a better understanding of brain dis-orders in humans.

“Thermogenetics is expanding the horizons of brain research by allowing us to precisely control specific neurons in the brain and measure behavioral changes,” says Associate Professor Troy Zars, who is principal investigator of the grant. “So far, there are a relatively small number of proteins that do

respond to temperature in a way that is useful for work in flies. Our goal is to identify more of these special proteins, so that the tech-nology can be used in other organ-isms.”

Assistant Professors Mirela Mi-lescu and Lorin Milescu are co-principal investigators on the new grant.

Genetic Study of Co-evolution Could Provide Clues to Better Food ProductionIn 1964, renowned biologists Peter Raven and Paul Erhlich published a landmark study that introduced the concept of co-evolution. Us-ing butterflies and plants as prima-ry examples, the team determined that two species can reciprocally drive each other’s evolution and de-velopment. In a recent study pub-lished in the Proceedings of the Na-tional Academy of Sciences, Associate Professor J. Chris Pires and Pat-

rick Edger, PhD ’12, report on re-sults from a cutting-edge genomics to analyze the co-evolution theory and identified the mecha-nisms re-sponsible for this phe-

nomenon. “Nearly 90 million years ago, the

shared ancestor of broccoli, cab-bage, and papaya plants developed a chemical defense called gluco-sinolates,” says Pires. “Glucosino-lates, or what humans enjoy as the sharp flavors of horseradish and mustard, which also are related to cabbage plants, is toxic to most in-sects. So, in this co-evolution ‘arms race,’ white cabbage butterflies and their relatives evolved the abil-ity to detoxify glucosinolates soon after these chemical defenses ap-peared in plants. According to the research, this back-and-forth dy-

namic was repeated, resulting in the formation of more new species than in other groups of plants and butterflies without glucosinolates and the corresponding detoxifica-tion genes.”

Edger is an assistant professor of horticulture at Michigan State University.

Thinking Beyond Deep RootsAs the prospect of more frequent drought looms, more research at-tention is being paid to the re-sponses of plants to soil moisture availability. Conventional wisdom says that plants with roots that pen-etrate deep below the surface of the soil have an advantage over plants with shallow root systems when moisture is scarce during drought, and therefore a large amount of at-tention has been devoted to quan-tifying maximum rooting depth. Assistant Professor Ricardo Holdo and colleagues question this funda-mental assumption in a new study of savanna and prairie plants pub-lished in Functional Ecology.

In the study, the authors show through dynamic models of water uptake that many other root at-tributes (specifically, the distribu-tion of roots along the soil profile, the ability of plants to actively re-spond to changing moisture con-ditions across depths, and the hy-draulic constraints of long roots) can affect patterns of water uptake to an equal or greater extent than maximum rooting depth. The re-sults suggest a need to think more broadly about root attributes when considering how plants respond to variability in rainfall.

A Close-up Look at Barred Owls’ EyesThe wide-eyed owl, blinking qui-etly in an oak tree, is often used to symbolize wisdom. Paradoxically, little is actually known about the structure of owl eyes, particularly their eyelids, due primarily to re-strictions placed on collection of tissues from these protected ani-

Patrick Edger, PhD ’12

Continues on Page 11

AccoladesCommuniqué10

Curators’ Professor James Birchler was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors for developing the first engineered synthetic plant chromosomes as well as for the invention of various chromosome painting and single gene localization protocols. He also was awarded the UM System President’s Award for Sustained Career Excellence and the Miz-zou Alumni Association’s Faculty–Alumni Award. Assistant Professor Pamela Brown received the 2015 Purple Chalk Teaching Award for teaching excel-lence. Associate Teaching Professor Sarah Bush received the Ernest L. Boyer International Award for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Tech-nology. The prestigious award iden-tifies a single, outstanding faculty member who expands the boundar-ies of teaching, learning, and tech-nology in higher education.

Professor Can-dace Galen was given an Excel-lence in Education Award in recog-nition of the op-portunities she has

created for MU students to bring scientific research directly into ele-mentary school classrooms through the Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology, ShowMe Nature, and BGreen projects.The Campus Writing Program selected Associate Professor Mir-iam Golomb as the recipient of the Win Horner Award for Innova-tive Writing In-tensive Teaching. Golomb was rec-ognized for two of her upper-level biology courses that explore the science and medi-cal significance of genetics and the microbiome in health and disease.J. Nicholas Holladay was selected for a 2015 Mizzou Inclusive Excel-lence Award in recognition of ex-

emplary contribu-tions to diversity. An academic ad-viser in the divi-sion, Holladay has designed programs and resources for international and

first-generation students. The Col-lege of Arts and Science Student Council also selected Holladay for its Blue Chalk Award for excellence in advising.The College of Arts and Science Staff Network, in cooperation with the dean of Arts and Science, awarded Carol Martin a Staff Ap-preciation Award for exceptional performance and attitude. Martin coordinates the division’s Office of Undergraduate Advising.Associate Professor Susan Nagel

was selected for the 2015 Barry Commoner Sci-ence in Environ-mental Service Award by the Mis-souri Coalition for the Environment.

Nagel received the award for her work identifying the hazards asso-ciated with hydraulic fracking.Curators’ Professor Emeritus Ray-mond Semlitsch was selected by the Board of Trustees of the inter-national Herpetologists League for the Distinguished Herpetologist Award at the 2015 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists.

Grant AwardsAssociate Professor D Cornelison received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how Ephrin-A3 specifies slow muscle fiber type.

Troy Zars, Mirela Milescu, and Lorin Milescu, faculty members in the division, were awarded an Ear-ly Concept Grant for Exploratory Research grant from the National Science Foundation to expand the use of thermogenetic technologies for studying neural networks.Professor Troy Sadler secured grants from the Institute of Edu-cation Sciences and the U.S. De-partment of Education in support of his research on game-based 3-D virtual learning environments for teaching science. Associate Professor John David and Professor Mannie Liscum se-cured a GAANN grant from the U.S. Department of Education to fund graduate fellowships in genet-ics, evolutionary biology, and neu-robiology.Postdoctoral fellow Diana Coats received a grant from the U.S. De-partment of Agriculture to support her research on drought tolerance in maize in the lab of Associate Professor Paula McSteen.Professor Andrew McClellan re-ceived a one-year $9,500 grant from the Research Council for a project to study calcium regulation of lamprey reticulospinal neurons following spinal cord injury. Curators’ Professor James Birchler received a five-year $500,000 grant from the NSF to study the functional genomics of maize centromeres.Associate Professor David Schulz received grants from the National Science Foundation and from the National Institutes of Health in support of his research on neural networks. Curators’ Professor John C. Walker and Associate Professor David Braun secured an EPSCoR grant from the National Science Foundation to establish a Plant Im-aging Consortium of investigators across the states of Missouri and Arkansas.

11Winter 2015–16

I owe a great deal to the free-dom I was given as a child to ex-plore every stream, bog, and bea-ver pond from my home in west-ern New York state to the Ad-irondack Mountains. Those early field experiences and first-hand lessons in nature have followed me during my entire career as an ecologist. It has defined me in many ways. It is something I frequently relate to my graduate students as they search for their passion. It has clearly driven my strong desire to protect wetland habitats, amphibian biodiversity, and to find conservation solu-tions. I have also been fortunate to have a series of academic men-tors that have given me life-long tools used to excel in research as well as instill in me a love for my study organisms. These assets have been cultivated even fur-ther by the stimulating academic environment I found at the Uni-versity of Missouri 21 years ago. I could not have achieved a frac-tion of what I have without the encouragement and support of the administrators, staff, and fac-ulty in the Division of Biological Sciences and on the MU campus.

I have also been afforded great opportunities to explore the bio-

logical diversity of numerous places in the world. My time ex-ploring the Carolina bay wet-lands in the southern U.S. Coast-al Plain or the Southern Appala-chian Mountains reinforced the need to protect the last remain-ing natural habitats for so many amphibians. My tenure in Swit-zerland and Europe also rein-forced the urgency in protecting our remaining biodiversity in the face of ever-increasing human sprawl. However, my years in Missouri have also taught me to step outside my comfort zone as a research ecologist and explore my role as an advocate for am-phibian conservation. That role has placed me at the intersection of policy, natural resource man-agement, and science. And, be-cause I was willing to meet the challenge of writing numerous papers and chapters in this ap-plied arena, including a book on amphibian conservation, I have been rewarded with tremendous feedback from state and federal agencies that are in great need of applied-research solutions. This feedback drives me to do more and to achieve all I can in my role as a Curators’ Professor at MU. I have tried to instill this

urgency and need to solve eco-logical problems in my gradu-ate students, and given them the tools they need to become lead-ers in academia and agency posi-tions.

I have been very fortunate to spend the majority of my life working in great academic envi-ronments, on the little amphib-ian critters I truly love, and to have found my life’s passion in those streams and ponds at a very early age. A service was held on June 19 at

The Crossing in Columbia. His family, friends, colleagues, and cur-rent and former students were in attendance.

Prior to his death, Semlitsch learned that he had been selected by the Board of Trustees of the in-ternational Herpetologists League to receive its Distinguished Her-petologist Award and was sched-uled to deliver a lecture at the 2015 Joint Meeting of Ichthyolo-gists and Herpetologists in August. Professor James Spotila of Drexel University gave the lecture in his stead and spoke about Semlitsch’s career and legacy. His son, John Semlitsch, accepted the award on his father’s behalf. A video of Spo-tila’s tribute lecture is available at https://youtu.be/b7DQtnuxBq8.

In Memoriam: SemlitschContinued from Page 6

mals. Now, in a new report pub-lished in PLOS One, Professor Tom Phillips and Brian Jochems, BS ’13, provide the first histologi-cal characterization of the barred owl’s eye.

The scientists received the eyes from six barred owls that were eu-thanized after suffering terminal injuries that prevented their hu-mane treatment or recovery. Fol-

lowing dissection and treatment with fluorescent dyes, the gross and fine cellular structures of the birds’ eyes were visualized using advanced imaging techniques. The research-ers paid particular attention to the third eyelid, the nictitating mem-brane that sweeps horizontally across the bird’s eye to keep it clean and healthy. According to the re-port, “[the] present study is the

From the LabContinued from Page 9

first histological and fine structure characterization of the upper and lower eyelids, as well as the third eyelid, of the barred owl.”

Jochems is currently pursuing his DVM at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine.

Welcome New Graduate Students

Communiqué is published annually by the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri.

Editorial OfficeDivision of Biological Sciences110 Tucker HallColumbia, MO 65211Phone: 573-882-6860E-mail: biology@missouri.eduWeb site: biology.missouri.edu

Mizzou-Biology

@MizzouBiology

Editorial BoardJohn C. WalkerMelody KrollMelody Galen

The division appreciates hearing from alumni and friends. Send announcements or milestones to the address listed above.

R. Shawn Abrahams

BS, University of

Florida

Kiristin BuddBS, Southern

Utah University

Deise Cruz Santos

BA & MA, Fed-eral University

of Bahia

Katherine Guthrie

BS, Northwest Missouri State

University

Devynn Hummel

BS, Southeast Missouri State

University

Rana KennedyBS, University of Northern

Colorado

Daniel KickBS, Truman

State University

Mackenzie MabryBS & MS, San

Diego State University

Aditi MishraBS, Indian Institute of

Science

Levi StorksBS, Michigan

State University

Michael Vierling

BS, Southern Ill. University– Edwardsville

Patricka Williams-Simon

BS, Medgar Evers

College