Seminar Series

The Biology Department Seminar Series invites guest speakers from research institutions around the country to share their research results several times each semester.

Biology thesis students also present their work through the Biology Seminar Series.

Dr. John Quinn, Furman

Where to Save Biodiversity: Supporting Conservation Decision Making Beyond Protected Areas



Dr. Devyn Gillette, Duke

Put Your Dukes up: Ineffective Innate Immune Responses to Infection

Dr. Debbie Thurtle-Schmidt, USCF

What Regulates the Regulators? Investigating How Genomic Organization Contributes to Transcriptional Regulation

Chicka Fujii '17, 食色官网

Thesis Presentation: Modeling CD4 gene regulation with short-lived EGFP

Jon Lim '17, 食色官网

Thesis Presentation: Investigating Roles of Testis-Specific Subunits in Mediating ATP Synthase Interactions and Nebenkern Shaping in Drosophila

Zachary Zapatero '17, 食色官网

Thesis Presentation: Deciding To Be A Helper: Exploring The In Vivo Function Of The Cd4 Enhancer NCE

Dr. Terry Fry, NIH

Immunotherapy for Pediatric Leukemia: At the Intersection of Science and Clinical Medicine

Dr. Beth Destasio, Lawrence University

Investigating the Complexity of Neuronal Gene Expression

Dr. Kevin Saunders '05, Duke

Progress Towards Developing a Protective HIV-1 Vaccine

Dr. Jim Oliver, UNCC

Topic Pathogenesis of Vibrio vulnificus

Chika Fujii '17, Jon Lim '17, Zachary Zapatero '17, Davidson

Thesis Previews

Dr. Susan Sloan, Visterra

From Bench to Clinic: Designing Antiviral Monoclonal Antibody Therapeutics

Dr. Amy Cheng Vollmer, Swarthmore

The Importance of Mentoring and Networking

Zach Carico '10, Duke

How to Assemble a Diverse Pool of T Cell Receptors: Modern Technologies Help Answer an Old Question

Morgan Shannon '16, 食色官网

Thesis Presentation: Investigating the Role of Slitrk1 in Zebrafish Spinal Cord Development

Hannah Itell '16, 食色官网

Thesis Presentation: Characterizing Paper-Based Genetic Networks as a Low-Pathogen Detection Technique

Elizabeth Brunner '16, 食色官网

Thesis Presentation: Exploring Unique Mitochondrial Membrane Shaping in Drosophila

Brian Johnson '16, 食色官网

Thesis Presentation: Characterizing the Rold of nmd in Drosophila Spermatogenesis

Caroline Naso '16, 食色官网

Thesis Presentation: The Effects of BPA on the Developing Tadpole Brain

Emily Keator '16, 食色官网

Thesis Presentation: Analysis of Antiviral Compounds

Phoebe Parrish '16, 食色官网

Thesis Presentation: The Multifactorial Role of the Phytotoxin Coronatine in Plant Disease in Nicotiana benthamiana

Annalee Tutterow '17, 食色官网

Thesis Presentation: Few and Far Between: Evaluating the Status of NC Bog Turtle Populations

Adi Dubash, Ph.D., Furman University

Cardiac Disease Gene Regulation by Cell-Cell Contact

Adam Reitzel, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Charlotte 

Molecular Pathways For Environment- Organism Interactions in "Simple" Animals: A View From an Estuarine Cnidarian

Leslie Vosshall, Ph.D., Rockefeller University

Smith Lecture: Mosquitoes: Understanding and Controlling the World's Most Dangerous Animal

Nic Kooyers, Ph.D.,  University of Virginia

Yogis of the Plant World? Understanding Rampant Local Adaptation in a Widespread Annual Plant, Mimulus guttatus

Phoebe Parrish '16, 食色官网

Thesis Preview: The Role of the Bacterial Phytotozin Coronatine in Plant Disease

Caroline Naso '16, 食色官网

Thesis Preview: The Effects of BPA on Tadpole Brain and Behavior

Morgan Shannon '16, 食色官网

Thesis Preview: Investigating the Role of Slitrk1 in Nervous System Development

Hannah Itell '16, 食色官网

Thesis Preview: Low Tech Pathogen Detection to Improve Public Health

Brian Johnson '16, 食色官网

Thesis Preview: Characterizing the Role of Nmd in Drosophilia Spermatogenesis

Elizabeth Brunner '16, 食色官网

Thesis Preview: Exploring Unique Mitochondrial Membrane Shaping in Drosophilia

Emily Keator '16, 食色官网

Thesis Preview: Characterizing New Antiviral Compounds

Annalee Tutterow '17, 食色官网

Thesis Preview: The Conservation Status of North Carolina Bog Turtle Populations

Gerald Siu, M.D., Ph.D.

Modern Biology in Drug Discovery

Michael Beuhler, Ph.D., Carolinas Poison Control Center

North Carolina Snake Envenomations

Sabrice Guerrier, Ph.D., Millsaps College

Understanding the Molecular Mechanisms of Membrane Trafficking During Tetrahymena Conjugation

Kaki Bennett '15

Thesis Presentation: Do the ENDS Justify the Means? Characterizing the Effects of Electronic Cigarette Vapor on Rat Alveolar Type II Cells

Hannah McMillan '15

Thesis Presentation: Helping Plants Fight Back: Calcium's Nuclear Role in Plant Immunity

Devon Harris '15

Thesis Presentation: Proteins Involved in Interactions Between Mitochondria and the Cytoskeleton in Developing Fruit Fly Sperm

Thomas Pederson '15

Thesis Presentation: Invasive Species in Temporary Ponds: a Case Study in Drought as a Method for Restoration

Sophie Zebell, Duke University

To Be or Not to Be, Questions in Plant Defense

Matthew Surdel '10, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Novel Strategies to Fight Infection: Target Identification of a Small Molecule Activator of Heme Biosynthesis

Dennis Tarasi, UNC Chapel Hill

Invaders in Our Midst: Exotic Plant Species Dominance and Its Impacts in NC Forests

Marty Chalfie, Ph.D., Columbia University

Touching Worms: Using C. elegans Genetics to Examine Sensory Neuron Development and Function

Marty Chalfie, Ph.D., Columbia University

GFP: Lighting Up Life

Kyle Summers, Ph.D., East Carolina University

Life History Tradeoffs and the Evolution of Cancer

Kyle Summers, Ph.D., East Carolina University

Mimicry and Monogamy in Peruvian Poison Frogs

Lauren Woods, Ph.D., 食色官网

Influence of Landscape Context and Disturbance on the Biodiversity of Aquatic Ecosystems

Shannon Pittman '08, Ph.D., 食色官网

Importance of Movement Ecology in Species Conservation

Angela Bauer, Ph.D., High Point University

Endocrine Disruption and Human Health

Jeremy Hyman, Ph.D., Western Carolina

Aggression, Personality, and Urbanization in Song Sparrows

Sue McRae, Ph.D., East Carolina

Royal Flush: Behavior and Ecology of the King Rail, a Threatened Species in North Carolina's Coastal Marshes

Chris Peek '15, 食色官网

Thesis Presentation: Investigation of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Attachment and Replication

Sally Permar '97, M.D., Ph.D., Duke University

Can We Achieve an AIDS-free Generation?

Jonathan Mein, Ph.D., Monsanto Center for Food and Nutrition, North Carolina Research Campus

Vegetable Innovation for Consumer Appeal: Providing Consumers with New, Nutritious Vegetable Options

Patrick Zollner, Ph.D., Purdue University

Over Simulated or Valuable Insight: The Use of Individual Based Models in Ecology

Richard Peek '84, M.D., Vanderbilt University

The Interplay Between Ulcer Bacteria and Cancer

Catherine Doyle '14, 食色官网

Converting Aptamers to Riboswitches is Essential for Modular Programmed Evolution of Bacteria for Optimization of Theophylline Biosynthesis

Eric Sawyer '14, 食色官网

Thesis Presentation: Roles for ATP Synthase in Drosophila Spermatogenesis

Nathan Tublitz, Ph.D., University of Oregon

A Spineless Tale: Those Amazing Cephalopods

Birgit Scharf, Ph.D., Virginia Tech

Motility and Chemotaxis of the Symbiotic Soil Bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti

David Pfennig, Ph.D., University of North Carolina

The Flexible Organism

Melissa Srougi, Ph.D., North Carolina State University

Rho GTPases in the DNA Damage Response

Elene Clemens '13, 食色官网

Characterization of Ammonium Chloride Resistance and Viral Entry in Reovirus Mutants

Raye Alford '86, Ph.D., Baylor School of Medicine

Down the Rabbit Hole: The Human Genome & Electronic Medical Records

Max Kern '13, 食色官网

Thesis Presentation: Factors Causing Deviation from Optimal Egg Size Theory in the Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin)

Kelli Carroll '09, Harvard University

The Role of Estrogen on Blood Stem Cell Formation

Susanne Brander, Ph.D., UNC Wilmington

From Molecules to Metapopulations: Assessing Endocrine Disruption in Aquatic Life