Eric GershonPhilip Bolton, professor of chemistry, has published “Complexes of mismatched and complementary DNA with minor groove binders: Structures at nucleotide resolution via an improved hydroxyl radical cleavage methodology” in Mutation Research, 2011. The article is online here.
David PesciJennifer Rose, research associate professor of psychology, received a grant worth $450,000 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The grant will fund research on the use of Integrative Data Analysis to inform the development of nicotine dependence symptoms among novice smokers.
Olivia Drake(more…)
There's something fishy about one of Connecticut's minnows, and the topic hooked researchers in the Department of Biology. During the last ice age, Connecticut was covered by layers of snow and ice, forcing organisms to seek refuge elsewhere. After the glaciers retreated, recolonization of the fauna and flora resulted in the diversity of native species that inhabit the state today. "But where did they come from? How did they come back to the Northeast to give us all the organisms we see today?" asks biology graduate student Michelle Tipton. "These questions are of particular interest to the ichthyologists at Wesleyan with…
Professor Laura Grabel has received a $750,000 grant from The State of Connecticut Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee for her study titled "Angiogenesis of Embryonic Stem Cell Derived Hippocampus Transplants." It is her third grant from the Committee since Connecticut began its state-funded human stem cell research program in 2006, and second where she is the principal investigator (P.I); she was co-P.I. on the other. Grabel, professor of biology and Lauren B. Dachs Professor of Science in Society, is also a co-director of Connecticut’s Human Embryonic Core Facility, a research center in Farmington, Conn. that houses some human stem cell…
This issue, we ask "5 Questions" of Scott Holmes, associate professor of molecular biology and biochemistry. He received a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support his research on epigenetic silencing of gene expression. Gene expression refers to the observable characteristics generated on a molecular level by a particular sequence of DNA or gene; epigenetic controls are essential in maintaining the specific patterns of gene expression that distinguish hundreds of distinct cell types in skin, muscles and other types of tissue. Epigenetic mechanisms also explain how humans can have more than 200 distinct cell types. Q: Professor Holmes,…
David Beveridge, the Joshua Boger University Professor of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, professor of chemistry, was on sabbatical last spring at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi, India. He was visiting and working on research projects with Professor B. Jayaram, director of the Supercomputer Center for Bioinformatics, SCFBIO. Beveridge's former student, Becky Lee '10, was spending a year doing research in Jayaram's SCFBIO research group on a project in computational biophysics. Beveridge presented one of the thematic lectures on "Dynamic Allosterism" in a lecture series celebrating the 50th anniversary of IIT-Delhi.
Papers, articles and book chapters by Fred Cohan, professor of biology, are published in several publications including: "Community ecology of hot spring cyanobacterial mats: predominant populations and their functional potential," published in ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology, 2011; "Influence of molecular resolution on sequence-based discovery of ecological diversity among Synechococcus populations in an alkaline siliceous hot spring microbial mat," published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology 77:1359-1367, 2011; "Are species cohesive?—A view from bacteriology," published in Bacterial Population Genetics: A Tribute to Thomas S. Whittam, American Society for Microbiology Press, Washington, pages 43-65, 2011; "Species," a chapter published in…
Articles by Masami Imai, director of the Freeman Center for East Asian Studies, chair and associate professor of east asian studies, associate professor of economics, were published in two economic publications: "Elections and Political Risk: New Evidence from Political Prediction Markets in Taiwan," with Cameron Shelton, appeared in the Journal of Public Economics, 95 (7-8), August 2011. "Transmission of Liquidity Shock to Bank Credit: Evidence from Deposit Insurance Reform in Japan," with Seitaro Takarabe, appeared in the Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, June 2011.
Ron Jenkins, professor of theater, was interviewed about his prison theater project for a Radio Australia program on June 24. The broadcast was aired on their pacific network in Australia, Indonesia, Cambodia and East Timor. A transcript of the interview is below: Theatre program with a difference in Bali, Indonesia The Kerobokanprison has become synonymous with the trials and convictions of Australian drug traffickers Schapelle Corby, and members of the Bali 9. But now a professor of theatre from the United States is running a theater program as part of efforts to change the atmosphere of the jail. Presenter Nasya…
Four Wesleyan women faculty members are featured in the June 30 Women in Academia Report. According to the article, "Wesleyan University, the highly regarded liberal arts institution in Middletown, Connecticut, has promoted three women to full professor. Another woman was granted tenure and promoted to associate professor." Lori Gruen, who has taught at Wesleyan since 2000, was promoted to full professor of philosophy. Her research focuses on the ethical treatment of animals. Professor Gruen holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. Magda Teter was promoted to full professor of history and named the Jeremy Zwelling Professor…
An article by Brian Glenn, visiting assistant professor of government, was published on salon.com July 4. In the piece, titled "What is a 'constitutional conservative' anyway?," Glenn writes, "For conservative politicians, the name signals that they are identifying as Tea Party members, which means limiting government, balancing the federal budget, lowering taxes, ending redistribution from the wealthier to the poor, assigning a central position for God in the lives of Americans, even in courthouses and public schools, and asserting the right to bear arms. While God will always be given top billing, one gets the sense that lowering taxes and…