April 2007

DEPARTMENTAL SEMINARS

Cary Pirone (Major Advisor: David Lee) presented her dissertation proposal seminar entitled “Pigments in the Strelitziaceae” on 10 April 2007 at 9:00 am in PCA 135.

Karen Laubengayer (Major Advisor: Javier Francisco-Ortega) presented her Master's Thesis Proposal Seminar entitled "Aiphanes (Arecaceae) in the Lesser Antilles: One or More Species?" on 11 April 2007 at 10:00 am in WC 130.

Pamela M. Bachman (Major Advisor: Evelyn Gaiser) presented her dissertation proposal seminar entitled “Physiological Performance Measures and Tolerance limits of Estuarine Indicator Species in South Florida” at 1:30 pm in MSB 130 on 11 April 2007.

Daniel Gomez (Major Advisor: Steve Oberbauer) presented his dissertation proposal seminar entitled “ Arboreal structure and functioning and hydrology of Everglades tree islands” at 2:00 pm in WC 130 on 24 April 2007 .

GRANTS & AWARDS

Amy Arent (Major Advisor: Walter Goldberg) received a grant from the PADI Foundation for $3150.00 to support her research project entitled “Growth Rate Dynamics and Symbiotic Relationships within the Gian Barrel Sponge Xestospongia muta”. Congratulations Amy!

CLUB ACTIVITIES

The MCB Club hosted a bowling night on 4 April at the Bird Bowl.

The BGSA hosted a Gradskeller on 12 April 2007.

The BGSA and the Graduate Student Association co-hostsed an International Food Festival on 13 April 2007.

The MCB Club hosted a lunch party on 18 April 2007.

The BGSA and the FCE-LTER hosted an end-of-the-semester BBQ and softball match at Crandon Park on 28 April 2007.

PRESENTATIONS

Several students presented their research at the Undergraduate Symposium held at St. Thomas University on 14 April 2007:

Adriana Galvis and Christine Hunker (Major Advisor: Alejandro Barbieri) were authors on a joint paper presented at the Cell Science Undergraduate Symposium held at St. Thomas University on 14 April 2007: A. Galvis, H. Giambini, A. Conde, J. Rodriguez, Christine Hunker, M.A. Barbieri. Regulation of the endocytic activity of Ras Interernce 1 (Rin1) by Ras and Rab5 proteins.

OUTREACH

Samantha Whitcraft (Major Advisor: Craig Layman) The Connectivity Project
and Adopt-a-Fish/Adopt-a-School partnered with the Loxahatchee River District to bring an education-outreach display to RiverFest 2007 at Jonathan Dickinson State Park on March 25.

PUBLICATIONS

Amita Quadros and Nik Patel (Major Advisor: Ophelia Weeks) published a co-authored paper: Paris, D., N. Patel, A. Quadros, M. Linan, P. Bakshi, G. Ait-Ghezala, M Mullan. 2007. Inhibition of Abeta production by NF-kappB inhibitors. Neuroscience Letters 415:11-16.

Amita Quadros (Major Advisor: Ophelia Weeks) published a co-authored paper: Quadros, A., O. Weeks. and G. Ait-Ghezala. 2007. Role of Tau in Alzheimer’s Dementia an dother neurodegenerative diseases: Review. J. Applied Biomedicine 5:1-12.

Claude Volmar (Major Advisor: Ophelia Weeks) recently published a paper: Ait-Ghezala G, C.H. Volmar, J. Frieling, D. Paris, M. Tweed, P. Bakshi, and M. Mullan. 2007. CD40 promotion of amyloid beta occurs via the NF-kB pathway. European Journal of Neuroscience 25:1685-1695.

Steven Whitfield and former student Kristen Bell (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly) recently published a paper online in PNAS: Whitfield, S.M., K.E. Bell, T. Philippi, M. Sasa, F. Bolaños, G. Chaves, J.M. Savage, M.A. Donnelly. 2007. Amphibian and reptile declines over 35 years at La Selva, Costa Rica. PNAS, published online 20 April 2007. Congratulations Steven and Kirsten!

Rudolf von May (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly) recently published a co-authored paper:E. Lehr, M. Lundberg, C. Aguilar, and R. von May. New Species of Eleutherodactylus (Anura: Leptodactylidae) from the Eastern Andes of Central Peru with Comments on Central Peruvian Eleutherodactylus. Herpetological Monographs 20:105-128. Congratulations Rudi!

FORMER STUDENTS

Julissa Roncal (Major Advisor: David Lee) recently published a chapter from her dissertation: Roncal, J., J. Francisco-Ortega, and C.E. Lewis. 2007. An evaluation of the taxonomic distinctness of two Geonoma macrostacys(Arecaceae) varieties based on intersimple sequence repeat (ISSR) variaton. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 153:381-392. Congratulations Julissa!

Lawrence Lopez (Major Advisor: Joel Trexler) recently published a paper: L. Lopez and J. Terborgh. 2007. Seed predation and seedling herbivory as factors in tree recruitment failure on predator-free forested islands. Journal of Tropical Ecology 23:129-138.

James Watling (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly) recently published a paper online: Watling, J.I. and M.A. Donnelly. 2007. Multivariate correlates to extinction proneness of amphibians and reptiles in northeastern Bolivia. Diversity and Distributions early online edition.

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