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Christian A. Johnson Professor of Biology Ernest Williams recently presented a talk at the 6th International Conference on the Biology of Butterflies, held at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta.

In the brain of every insect embryo, budding neurons grow and develop, in the same way as in the human brain. The protein tyramene beta hydroxelase (TBh) has been found in the budding neurons in insect embryos, as well as its relative TBhR (R is for “related”). Sumithra Nair ’12, working with Professor of Biology Herman Lehman, will try to shed some light on this common, essential yet enigmatic protein.

In a small lab on the second floor of the Science Center, two identical-looking vials of specimens sit side by side, waiting to be processed. But although the samples may appear to be the same, they were collected from almost opposite sides of the Earth: Green Lake in Fayetteville, N.Y., and Antarctica’s Hughes Bay. Working under Associate Professor of Biology Michael McCormick, Libby Pendery ’10 and Agne Jakubauskaite ’13 are using similar methods of analysis on samples from two very different locations to  detect and classify the species of microbes that are present at different depths.

Fever, coughing, vomiting, diarrhea: all of these are symptoms of parasite infestation. Nematodes are one of the most common types of human, animal and plant parasites. Not all nematodes are parasitic and not all parasites are nematodes, but these microscopic creatures are part of one of the most diverse phyla on the planet. Suman Sarker ’11, Barsha Baral ’13 and Shahin Islam ’12 working under Assistant Professor of Biology Wei-Jen Chang and Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Ashleigh Smythe, are looking at genetics to more thoroughly categorize nematodes.

In the DNA of every cell in your body, segments of DNA are constantly jumping and shifting locations. These jumping segments are called transposons and they usually contain the building blocks for genes, but do not provide your body with blueprints like regular genes. But in a group of microorganisms called ciliated protists, some types of transposons (called Telomere-Bearing Element, or TBE, transposons) do contain genes, and they are sometimes even expressed. Working under Assistant Professor of Biology Wei-Jen Chang, Joseph Lobel ’13 is spending his summer trying to detect and sequence these elusive, mobile genes.

Located less than an hour away from Hamilton’s campus, Green Lakes State Park can provide a relaxing day of sun and swimming for the casual tourist. But for many scientists who visit Green Lake, the trip is full of investigation and sampling; the lake is meromictic, meaning that the layers in the lake do not mix with one another.

The Frosted Elfin is not much to look at. It is a small, brownish butterfly whose unspectacular markings help it blend in against the backdrop of bark and dead leaves and grasses in its natural habitat in the Rome Sand Plains. The elfin, however, is an essential part of a fragile ecosystem and its numbers, recently, are decreasing. Five Hamilton students—Dan Bruzzese ’12, Eddie Williams ’12, Jonathan Pinney ’11, Chloe Von Ancken ‘11 and Mary Lehner ’12—along with Associate Professor of Biology Bill Pfitsch, are spending the summer doing field work for a project called “Restoration Ecology of Common Blue Lupine in the Rome Sand Plains” to find out why the frosted elfin is disappearing and how to get it back.

Clad in pseudo-space-age garb, Sarah Andrus ’12 looks somewhat out of place striding through a grassy field and not bounding over lunar craters. Despite her more mundane surroundings, Andrus’ quest still leads to an exploration of sorts: she is collecting samples of honeybees and fruit flies for her research with Associate Professor of Biology Herman Lehman. These samples may help to dispel some of the mystery surrounding the effects of a little-understood compound called octopamine.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Ashleigh Smythe is spending two weeks in June at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s Bocas del Toro field station on the Caribbean coast of Panama. She is one of 11 experts who are leading a workshop titled "Meiofauna Diversity and Taxonomy."

Sue Ann Miller, professor of biology, gave a paper at the annual meeting of the American Association of Anatomists held with the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology [FASEB] April 24-28 in Anaheim, Calif. Her presentation was titled "Exercises to encourage analytical skills and enrich understanding in a pre-baccalaureate anatomy course.”