2021 News Articles - Biological Sciences - Carnegie Mellon University

Monday, December 20, 2021

Memory Storage and Synaptic Plasticity Can Occur Without an Engram in the Sensory Cortex

Memories may not be stored in the brain’s somatosensory cortex in the same way they are stored in other areas of the brain according to a study published by Carnegie Mellon University neuroscientists in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Wednesday, December 15, 2021

Carnegie Mellon Biologists Awarded Grants from Pittsburgh Foundation’s Kaufman Fund

Three Carnegie Mellon Department of Biological Sciences faculty members have received grants from The Charles E. Kaufman Foundation, part of The Pittsburgh Foundation, which today announced $2.1 million in funding to support scientific research at institutions across Pennsylvania.

Tuesday, December 07, 2021

Bruchez Named National Academy of Inventors Fellow

Marcel Bruchez, professor in the Departments of Biological Sciences and Chemistry and director of the Molecular Biosensor and Imaging Center at Carnegie Mellon University’s Mellon College of Science has been elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.

Friday, November 12, 2021

Carnegie Mellon Mourns Glen de Vries

The Carnegie Mellon University community is mourning the loss of alumnus and Trustee Glen de Vries, who died tragically on Nov. 11 in an airplane crash in New Jersey.

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Students and Science Flourish at ComSciCon

MCS graduate students, postdocs, faculty and staff participate in flagship science communication workshop.

Thursday, October 07, 2021

Research Shows Promising Results for Parkinson's Disease Treatment

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have found a way to make deep brain stimulation (DBS) more precise, resulting in therapeutic effects that outlast what is currently available. The work, led by Aryn Gittis and colleagues in CMU’s Gittis Lab and published in Science, will significantly advance the study of Parkinson’s disease.

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Machine Learning Algorithm Revolutionizes How Scientists Study Behavior

A new unsupervised machine learning algorithm developed by Eric Yttri and Alex Hsu makes studying behavior much easier and more accurate. The researchers published a paper on the new tool, B-SOiD (Behavioral segmentation of open field in DeepLabCut), in Nature Communications.

Monday, August 30, 2021

Carnegie Mellon University and Emerald Cloud Lab to Build World’s First University Cloud Lab

Carnegie Mellon University and Emerald Cloud Lab (ECL) have entered into a partnership to build the world’s first cloud lab in an academic setting. The remote-controlled lab will provide a universal platform for artificial intelligence-driven experimentation and revolutionize how academic laboratory research and education are done, accelerating the pace of discovery as part of Carnegie Mellon’s $250 million investment in state-of-the art science facilities. .

Friday, August 27, 2021

Introducing Assistant Professors En Cai and Zheng Kuang

Two new professors opened up their labs in the department this spring. We are excited to introduce you to assistant professors En Cai and Zheng Kuang.

Friday, August 13, 2021

Karina Mueller Brown Wins De Vries Fellowship

Biological Sciences Ph.D. student Karina Mueller Brown has received the Glen de Vries Fellowship. The fellowship, made possible by the generosity of MCS alumnus, Carnegie Mellon trustee and founder of Medidata Solutions, Glen de Vries, recognizes outstanding research achievement and potential among Ph.D. students in biological sciences.

Monday, July 26, 2021

Pneumococcal Extracellular Vesicles Modulate the Immune Response

Small vesicles secreted by bacterial cells play a role in recruiting immune cells but surprisingly also might help to protect the pathogens, according to a new study from Carnegie Mellon University researchers published in mBio. The study is one of the first studies to look at the role of extracellular vesicles released by the pathogen pneumococcus in vivo and may provide a new avenue for vaccine development.

Monday, June 14, 2021

The Wonder of Biology

The past year reminded Mellon College of Science alumnus Amit Srivastava of an earlier period in his life, during which he also worked unceasingly on the task in front of him. But this time, instead of working on a Carnegie Mellon University Ph.D. in biological sciences, his sleepless nights and rushed meals contributed to the efforts to give the world a light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel.

Tuesday, June 08, 2021

New Course Bridges Divide Between Art and Science

A new class taught by Rich Pell, an associate professor in the School of Art, and William Hatleberg, a postdoctoral researcher in biological sciences, aims to dispel the false dichotomy between art and science and show students how these two disciplines can work together.

Friday, May 21, 2021

DJ Brasier Receives Julius Ashkin Teaching Award

Associate Teaching Professor of Biological Sciences Daniel "DJ" Brasier has received the college’s 2021 Julius Ashkin Teaching Award for his engaging and accessible teaching.

Thursday, May 20, 2021

Carnegie Mellon, Richard King Mellon Foundation Announce Historic Partnership to Accelerate CMU’s Science and Technology Leadership and the Transformation of Hazelwood Green

Carnegie Mellon University and the Richard King Mellon Foundation today announced that the two longtime partners will together make a transformational investment in science and technology leadership at the university; in a more vibrant future for the Hazelwood neighborhood; and in Pittsburgh’s ongoing economic renaissance.

Thursday, May 06, 2021

Biology in Your Basement

This spring, Lynley Doonan offered the newly designed course Biology in Your Basement as a seven-week mini elective.

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Senior Grace Wolczanski Receives Carnegie Mellon Women’s Association Scholarship

Grace Wolczanski was honored, along with six of her peers from each of the university's colleges, at the CMWA’s Spring Awards Reception with a $2,000 scholarship.

Friday, April 16, 2021

Tarantula’s Ubiquity Traced Back to the Cretaceous

Tarantulas are among the most notorious spiders, due in part to their size, vibrant colors and prevalence throughout the world. But one thing most people don’t know is that tarantulas are homebodies. Females and their young rarely leave their burrows and only mature males will wander to seek out a mate. How then did such a sedentary spider come to inhabit six out of seven continents? An international team of researchers, including Carnegie Mellon University’s Saoirse Foley, set out on an ancestry.com-like investigation to find the answer to this question.

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

How pathogenic bacteria weather the slings and arrows of infection

Infectious diseases are a leading cause of global mortality. During an infection, bacteria experience many different stresses — some from the host itself, some from co-colonizing microbes and others from therapies employed to treat the infection. In this arms race to outwit their competition, bacteria have evolved mechanisms to stay alive in the face of adversities. One such mechanism is the stringent response pathway. Understanding how the activation of the stringent response pathway is controlled can provide clues to treat infection.

Friday, March 12, 2021

A Tartan Team Effort

Jon Minden, professor of biological sciences, worked closely with the Tartan Testing Program to help put testing processes and protocols in place during the creation of the facility.

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Strengthening the Chain

First, it was PPE. Then hand sanitizer. Now, it’s a vaccine that must be kept under extreme refrigeration. Whatever the material needs are for a global pandemic or other health care challenge, alumna Nicolette Louissaint finds a way to connect supplies with those who need them.

Monday, February 15, 2021

A Driving Force

Alumna’s push to advance equity and inclusion has been with her since her time as an undergrad

Tuesday, February 02, 2021

Scoring a Goal with STEM

In the Fall 2020, Soccer and Science launched in the greater Pittsburgh community, bringing fun, easy, interactive science experiments to children of refugees and immigrants.

Friday, January 29, 2021

Switches and Kernels Allow for Novelty in Early Development

To understand how changes, or novelty, is incorporated into early development without impacting viability, Veronica Hinman’s lab assembled the gene regulatory network of the sea urchin and compared it to the previously described gene regulatory network of the sea star.