Category: Biology

Biologist Deborah Bell-Pedersen and statistician Valen Johnson are among seven Texas A&M University faculty members recognized as 2021 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for their efforts to advance science or its applications.

Texas A&M biology postdoctoral research associate Elizabeth Brown has been selected as one of 32 inaugural Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers (MOSAIC) K99 Fellows in recognition of her research promise and compelling commitment to diversity in the biomedical sciences.

While microbe-produced secondary bile acids have long been viewed as a key protector in preventing C. difficile infection, new research led by Texas A&M biologist Joseph Sorg shows that treatments instead should focus on the microbes that compete with C. diff for the nutrients which fuel the deadly bacterium’s growth.

Beyond being the most abundant type of immune cell found in human blood, neutrophils are believed to be among the first lines of defense at sites of infection and tissue damage. Texas A&M biologist and TIRR Foundation Fellow Dylan McCreedy is exploring their role in spinal cord injuries in order to develop targeted technologies and therapeutic strategies to aid in the long-term neurological recovery of damaged spinal cords and also treat inflammation observed in other central nervous system afflictions or disorders.

Texas A&M biologist Jennifer Dulin '05 has been selected by the TIRR Foundation to receive the 2021 Jerry Johnston Andrew Award for Spinal Cord Research recognizing related excellence and potential progress for the nearly 300,000 Americans currently afflicted with spinal cord injury.

Three academic programs in the Texas A&M College of Science are among the world's top 50 in the Shanghai Ranking 2021 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS), an annual survey of more than 4,000 international universities in a total of 54 subjects across the natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, medical sciences and social sciences.

Congratulations to 2021 Texas A&M biology graduate and first-year medical student Chloe Todd, one of six recipients of the $20,000 Marcus L. Urann Fellowship who finished among the top eight scorers in this year's Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi's annual graduate fellowship competition aimed at supporting promising first-year graduate students across all academic disciplines.

Texas A&M Science takes great pride in celebrating three of its finest — Kathy Ensor '86, Brig. Gen. (Ret) James Mobley '69 and Robert Williams III '79 — as the college's most recent inductees into its Academy of Distinguished Former Students.

First-generation students are front and center as the cover story for the most recent issue of the Texas A&M Foundation's "Spirit" magazine, which features first-person perspective from Science Leadership Scholars Program academic advisor Victor Castillo '13 and Texas A&M biologist and Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and Student Success Dr. Tim Scott '89, as well as a profile on Texas A&M neuroscience major and Science Leadership Scholar Jaden Borders '22.

Alex Keene, a leading neuroscientist, geneticist and evolutionary biologist and professor of biological sciences at Florida Atlantic University since 2015, has been appointed as head of the Texas A&M Department of Biology, effective August 1, 2021.

Senior applied math and statistics major Cosmas Kravaris '22 and senior biology major Ryan Rahman '22 have been selected as Texas A&M's latest recipients of $10,000 scholarships from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, which seeks to strengthen U.S. leadership in science and technology by supporting the nation's best undergraduate students pursuing STEM majors.

Congratulations to Jennifer Bradford, graduate program coordinator in the Department of Biology, who has been selected to receive the 2021 Excellence in Graduate Advising Award as only the third such honoree in Texas A&M University history.

Texas A&M sophomore chemistry major Brianna Bishop '23 and junior biology major Ryan Rahman ’22 have been named 2021 Goldwater Scholars by the Goldwater Scholarship Foundation in recognition of outstanding academic achievement and research potential. Bishop and Rahman are among 52 Texas A&M students selected to date for the prestigious honor since the initial scholarship was issued in 1989.

Texas A&M marine biology graduate student Maureen Hayden '21 has always had her sights set on a career as a scientist, one of the few things she was able to see clearly prior to being gifted a pair of Acesight electronic glasses that have helped bring her research on plastic pollution — along with her goal of being an example to others with disabilities — into full focus.

Texas A&M biologist Dylan McCreedy has been named a Scialog Fellow along with Texas A&M biomedical engineer Alexandra Walsh for a new bioimaging initiative involving more than 50 promising early-career scientists set to take on the challenges involved in enhancing high-resolution imaging of tissues to support basic science and disease treatment.