A Decade of Progress: Continuing Notre Dame’s journey to grow as a preeminent Catholic research university
While the University of Notre Dame has continued its commitment to inquiry and endeavor over the entirety of its history, creating the circumstances for achievement has evolved over time. Upon inauguration, Father Jenkins set out to lead a great Catholic university for the 21st century, but also one of the pre-eminent research institutions in the world.
James Hentig Wins 2020 Notre Dame Graduate School Shaheen 3MT®
James Hentig, a Ph.D. student from the Department of Biological Sciences, won the 2020 Notre Dame Graduate School Shaheen Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT®) on Thursday, March 5 on the stage in Jordan Auditorium in the Mendoza College of Business. …
Jennifer Tank named a 2020 Society for Freshwater Science fellow
Each year, fellows are selected “based on sustained excellence in contributions to freshwater science research, policy, or management.”
University of Notre Dame among top 100 proposals for MacArthur $100 million grant
Notre Dame Professor Jason Rohr’s proposal—Disease, Food, Energy, and Water Solutions (DFEWS): Defusing a Global Crisis—offers a sustainable, local solution to reduce schistosomiasis while at the same time addressing food, energy, and water shortages afflicting marginalized populations throughout the developing world.
University of Notre Dame-developed home lead screening kits shown to be highly accurate
An inexpensive lead sample collection kit distributed to homes in St. Joseph County is comparable in accuracy and sensitivity to more costly in-home analysis, according to research published this month in the Journal of Environmental Research.
New study identifies potential path forward for brachial plexus injury recovery
The study has identified a strategy that may support the regeneration of nerves affected by the injury.
Notre Dame science alumnus inducted into the National Academy of Sciences
James Elser '81, who majored in biology at the University of Notre Dame, became a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2019.
Graduate student receives sustainable agriculture grant
Shannon Speir’s research focuses on how storms affect nitrogen concentrations in Indiana streams, but this nutrient build-up influences bodies of water as far away as the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico.
Study: Transmission of river blindness may be reduced when vegetation is removed
A University of Notre Dame research team used mathematical modeling, which showed combining mass drug distribution with removing vegetation may be the quickest way to curb transmission.
Strength in numbers: Crowdsourcing challenge seeks new methods to combat drug-resistant malaria
Three hundred and sixty participants from 31 countries participated in the Malaria DREAM Challenge, a crowdsourcing effort challenging anyone in the world to develop computational models for predicting emerging drug resistance to artemisinin, a widely used therapeutic considered the “last line of defense” against multi-drug-resistant malaria.
Fighting to Understand the Scientific Impact of Community
Playing in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro are 300 baboons that are the focus of one of the longest-running studies of wild primates. For more than 40 years, these Amboseli baboons and their ancestors have provided important data about questions in evolution, genetics, nutrition, hybridization and parasitology.…
Up Close with the Department Chair
Crislyn D’Souza-Schorey is Professor and Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences. She is the first woman to serve in the role. In addition to oversight of a department of over 80 faculty and one of the largest undergraduate majors and graduate programs on campus, she also runs her cancer research laboratory. She is married to Jeffrey Schorey, Professor of Biological Sciences; they have a son, who will be a freshman in high school in the fall.
Notre Dame biologist to study the role of woody vines in tropical forests
Tropical forests absorb more carbon than any other system, and therefore help regulate the earth’s climate. Lianas — woody vines — that surround trees in these forests have been shown to slow rates of tree growth, but their role hasn’t been fully studied.Tarzan may find lianas in the jungle useful, but David Medvigy, associate professor in the department of biological sciences, intends to find out what they add or take away from these ecosystems.
University names Lamberti as acting director of UNDERC
Gary A. Lamberti, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, has been named the Gillen Acting Director of the University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center (UNDERC). Lamberti will oversee the center’s two facilities: UNDERC-East, located between Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and UNDERC-West, located in western Montana on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Lamberti will be supported by Stuart E. Jones, associate professor in the Department of Biological sciences, in the role of associate director of research at UNDERC.
Notre Dame to host 2020 U.S. presidential debate
It will take place on Sept. 29, 2020, (Tuesday) in the Purcell Pavilion of the Joyce Center.
Environmental DNA to be used for monitoring endangered and invasive species in flowing waters
Researchers at the University of Notre Dame have received $1.5 million to develop models that will improve the monitoring of endangered or invasive species in flowing waters, like streams and rivers, using information from environmental DNA (eDNA) samples.
Introductory Biology: Asking Big Questions from Molecules to Ecosystems
For many, the phrase “Introductory Course” conjures up the image of a large classroom, dominated by lectures and intensive exams. Notably however, introductory courses are critical for both providing a foundation for subsequent courses, and planting the initial seed of excitement for one’s discipline. Introductory courses also link the educational past and future of students, and therefore, previous knowledge and experiences have to be considered while providing foundational content. But students may differ in both their knowledge and expectations for such courses. Add serving many hundreds of students each year, with a diversity of majors and career pathways, and you have the complex challenge of teaching Introductory Biology!…
Biology professor receives NIH New Innovator Award to study the nervous system
Cody Smith has been granted a highly competitive National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award that will allow him to perform bold research that has the potential to impact a broad area of science.
Research fellows tackle drug resistance, disease transmission and other global health issues
Nine graduate students from Notre Dame have joined the fellowship program at the University’s Eck Institute for Global Health. The program aims to support students across the University with an interest in topics that impact global health.
Scientists tackle potential drug resistance by using new single-cell genetic method
Using a new technique that can identify genetic profiles of individual cells, University of Notre Dame researchers modeled a breast cancer tumor’s potential resistance to a drug, and then identified a drug combination that reversed that resistance.