Florida International University
Department of Biological Sciences
Seminar Series 2007-08

Unless otherwise noted, seminars are on Tuesday afternoons at 3:45 p.m. in the Wertheim Conservatory (WC 130) at the University Park campus.  Light refreshments are served beginning at 3:30 p.m.  Please follow the hyperlinks (underlined), when available, for additional information.

Date

Speaker

Title
August 28, 2007 Sylvia Smith, Biological Sciences, FIU Immunological Perspective: The Nurse Shark and Its Secrets
September 4 Michael Heithaus, Biological Sciences, FIU Non-lethal and Indirect Effects of Tiger Sharks in a Pristine Seagrass Ecosystem
September 11 Brad Bennett, Biological Sciences, FIU Medicinal Plant Selection and the Doctrine of Signatures: Does Efficacy Matter?
September 18 Alan Wilson, Fisheries and Allied Aquaculture Research, Auburn University Community Genetics of Cyanobacteria-Grazer Interactions: Consequences for Harmful Algal Blooms
September 25 MBRS Symposium  
October 2 Maureen Donnelly, Biological Sciences, FIU Biodiversity Conservation in Rajaji National Park: Gujjars, Tigers, Elephants, and Training Programs
October 9 Paul Linser, Whitney Laboratory, College of Medicine, University of Florida The Molecular Physiology of Larval Mosquitoes
October 16 Gustavo Blanco, Molecular and Integrative Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Kansas, Kansas City The Na,K-ATPase and Its Isozymes: What We Have Learned Using the Baculovirus Expression System
October 23 Olivier Caille, Department of Molecular Biology of Plants, University of Geneva, Switzerland Trace Metal Exposure Induces Antibiotic Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
October 30 Christoph Hengartner, School of Natural and Health Sciences, Biology, Barry University Bringing Pseudorabies Virus (PRV) into the Genomic Era
November 6 Joy Lincoln, Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami Molecular Regulation of Heart Valve Development
November 13 Yoichi Kato, Dept. of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Florida State University The Downstream Mechanism of Notch Signaling Pathway in Xenopus Radial Glia Development
November 20 No seminar (week of Thanksgiving)  
November 27
in GC 140		 Nancy Knowlton, Sant Chair in Marine Science, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC Life on Planet Ocean: Present, Past and Future (Glaser Lecture)
December 4 Jesús G. Valenzuela, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, NIAID, National Institutes of Health A Multidisciplinary Approach to Understand the Role of Vector Proteins in Pathogen Transmission
January 8, 2008 Hannah Stewart, Friday Harbor Laboratories, University of Washington The Role of Spatial and Ontogenetic Morphological Variation in the Range Expansion of a Tropical Alga
Monday,
January 14		 Bradley Cooke, Dept. of Neurobiology & Physiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL Constancy and Change in the Sexually Dimorphic Brain: Structure, Function and Behavior
January 15 Antonio De Maio, Dept. of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego Extracellular HSP70: A Nonconventional Mechanism for Protein Export
Thursday,
January 17		 Andrew Altieri, Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI Agents of Environmental Change: Ecological Interactions Along Stress Gradients
Thursday,
January 24		 Deron Burkepile, Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT Consumer vs. Resource Control of Coral Reef Primary Producers:  The Role of Herbivore Richness
Thursday,
January 31		 Rusty Feagin, Dept. of Ecosystem Science & Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX Two Surprising Results for Wetland Ecologists
Monday,
February 4		 Lisa Rodrigues, Dept. of Geography and the Environment, Villanova University, Villanova, PA Coral Strategies for Bleaching Resilience
February 5 Yoshimi Shibata, Dept. of Biomedical Science, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton Heterogeneity of COX-2+ activated Macrophages Induced by Mycobacterium bovis BCG
Monday,
February 18		 James Heffernan, Water Institute and School of Forest Resources & Conservation, University of Florida Wetlands as an Alternative Stable State in Desert Streams
Thursday,
February 21		 Steve Davis, Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX Wetland Ecosystem Function in Dynamic Settings: Traversing Scales of Time and Space to Address Human Impacts
February 26 Sandra Lemmon, Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami Dynamics of Endocytosis
March 4 Carolina Reisenman, Division of Neurobiology, University of Arizona Oviposition in the Giant Sphinx Moth Manduca sexta: From Chemical Signals, to Neurons, to Behavior
Thursday,
March 6		 Rebecca Vega Thurber, Biology Department, San Diego State University, CA Metagenomic Investigations of Coral-Associated Viruses and Microbes
Monday,
March 10		 Brian Geiss, Dept. of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins Antiviral Drugs and Insect RNAi: Controlling and Understanding Arboviral Diseases
March 11 Mark Hay, School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology Consumer-Prey Interactions in Marine vs. Terrestrial Systems:  Why Small Consumers Eat Toxic Prey
Thursday,
March 13		 Kenneth Murray, Dept. of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School Investigations into the Translation Initiation and Host Shut-off Strategies Utilized by Mammalian Orthoreovirus
March 18 No seminar (Spring Break)  
Monday,
March 24		 Mitchell McGlaughlin, Dept. of Biology, University of South Dakota, Vermillion Population and Conservation Genetic Studies with Island Plants
March 25 François Rouzaud, Pigment Cell Biology Section, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD The Alternative (Splicing) Story of the Melanocortin-1 Receptor Gene: A Quest for Isoforms
April 1 Xin-Sheng Hu, Dept. of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada Characterizing the Structure of Population Genomic Diversity
April 8 Biology Undergraduate Honors Presentations
Jennifer Richards, FIU (host)

Nabil M. Abou Baker  (Mentor: Dr. Kalai Mathee)
“Presumptive characterization of the fungal communities in cystic fibrosis patients’ sputum using amplicon length heterogeneity polymerase chain reaction”

Denisse Diaz  (Mentor: Dr. Lidia Kos)
“Transgenic expression of endothelin receptor-B rescues the aganglionosis phenotype of piebald lethal mice.”  

Natalie Maricic  (Mentor: Dr. Kalai Mathee)
“Investigating an alternative treatment to cystic fibrosis:  Testing the effect of Panax ginseng extracts on Pseudomonas aeruginosa.”

Walter Zagarra  (Mentor: Dr. Ophelia Weeks)
“Understanding the effect of protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor type o on mammalian neurodevelopment:  Behavioral studies on PTPRO knockout mice.”
April 15 Angélica Cibrián Jaramillo, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY From Population Genetics to Conservation: Orchids, Palms and Cycads