Category: Biology

Texas A&M biology graduate Mary-Catherine Clark '20 has been selected as the 2020 recipient of the Robert Gates-Muller Family Outstanding Student Award, one of Texas A&M’s top senior awards annually presented during commencement ceremonies.

Congratulations to Texas A&M biologist Asha Rao, who has been named a 2020 Presidential Professor for Teaching Excellence — the eighth recipient in Texas A&M College of Science history of the university's highest recognition for classroom performance.

Senior biology and statistics double major Johnathan Lo '21 is one of two students 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.

Texas A&M seniors Mary-Catherine Clark '20 and Oscar Gonzalez '20 have been selected as 2020 recipients of the John B. Beckham Award in Science, the College of Science's highest mark of distinction recognizing students who best exemplify characteristics of academic achievement, character, leadership and extracurricular activities.

Sophomore biology students Allison Baker '23 and Emily Chapa '23 have been selected as 2020-21 Texas A&M Beckman Scholars, a prestigious national award intended to recognize and support outstanding undergraduate researchers in chemistry and the biological sciences.

Texas A&M Science remembers Clint Crampton '99, an academic advisor within the Texas A&M Biology Undergraduate Program since 2004 who was revered for his humor, warmth and generosity, as well as his empathy for and understanding of Texas A&M students and their families.

New research by a multi-institution team featuring several Texas A&M biologists has identified the genetic cause of the skin cancer melanoma in the hybrid offspring of two species of swordtail fish, leading to possible new therapies for treating cancer in humans.

Texas A&M biologists have discovered a fundamental mechanism conserved from fungi to humans that contributes to how the circadian clock regulates rhythms in protein production and protein abundance — critical factors in properly timing the administration of protein-targeting drugs to ensure efficacy and avoid toxicity.

Texas A&M biologist Wayne Versaw has been selected by the Student Government Association to receive the 2020 SGA Open Education Champion Award for his efforts to implement open source textbooks for freshman biology courses — a move that has helped Texas A&M students save thousands of dollars each year since 2018.

Texas A&M biologist Gil Rosenthal has been appointed as associate dean for international programs in the College of Science, where he will work to strengthen and expand the international experiences of undergraduate students and faculty members across all departments and the broader Texas A&M campus.

A new study co-authored by Texas A&M biologist Charles Criscione in collaboration with colleagues in Canada provides rare genetic evidence to support a role for kin selection in the evolution of host-manipulating behaviors in lancet liver flukes — insight that suggests such altruistic traits can evolve simply because they improve the chances of survival and reproduction of genetically related family members.

Twelve years after earning her bachelor's in biochemistry at Texas A&M, biologist Jennifer Dulin '05 got the full-circle chance to return to Texas A&M, where she's pursuing her life's work of making the best of one of the worst situations currently affecting the lives of more than 300,000 people in the United States alone — spinal cord injury.

'Tis the season to celebrate for Texas A&M biologists Richard Gomer and Darrell Pilling, whose biotechnology company Promedior Inc. sold in mid-November to Swiss drug maker Roche for $1.4 billion dedicated to the global life-saving fight against fibrotic disease.

In research reported in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences," Texas A&M biologists have found genetic evidence linking circadian clock genes and clock-regulated molecular pathways to the Monarch butterfly's uncanny ability to sense changes in day length that trigger their annual migration and the reproductive dormancy they exhibit during it — a clock-controlled seasonal response the biologists prove is clearly connected to the vitamin A pathway in the iconic insect's brain.

In a recent paper published in the September issue of the "Journal of Microscopy," Texas A&M biologist Lawrence Griffing makes the case for an unidentified gentleman in a circa-1680s painting by one of England’s first successful female artists, Mary Beale, actually being the long-sought portrait of 17th century scientist Robert Hooke.