BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT

After a year’s hiatus, the Biology Department returned to the renovated Thompson Biology Laboratory in late June. The renovated building complements the new lab space and facilities in the Morley Science Center, and will benefit faculty and students in Biology for years to come.

Each year at graduation, the Biology Department awards prizes to five outstanding majors. We are pleased to announce that this year’s recipients were Andrew Werbrock, who received the Conant-Harrington Prize for exemplary performance in the biology major; Erin Davies and Randall Lindquist, who were awarded the First and Second Benedict Prize, respectively for excellence in biology; Aya Reiss, who received the Dwight Prize as the ranking student in botany; and Josh Goldstein, who was awarded the Grant Prize for the student demonstrating excellence in a broad range of areas in biology. Fifteen seniors were nominated for induction into Sigma Xi, the national research society. Veena Mandava and Erin Davies received Beckman Foundation Scholarships during their senior year. Jillian Pesin received a Fulbright award to study in Russia, and an NSF pre-doctoral fellowship to support her graduate studies after her year abroad.

Several changes in the faculty ranks are in progress. Associate Professor Nancy Roseman will serve as Dean of the College beginning in July of 2000. Two visiting faculty will be joining the department. Lois Banta, currently in Leiden on a Fulbright Fellowship, will be starting as a visiting associate professor, and Ken Schmidt from the University of Memphis will be starting as a visiting assistant professor. We are pleased to welcome them to Williams. Jennifer Pogoriler ’99 served as a part-time instructor during the fall semester before moving on to begin her combined Ph.D./MD studies. Jenna MacIntire joined the department as a part-time instructor in the spring semester and will continue in this position in 2000-2001.

This past year Professor Adler continued her research on long term regulation of molecules important to synaptic transmission and neuronal communication, using PC12 cells, a secondary cell line that's a model for sympathetic neurons. Last summer, assisted by Kevin Stephans ’00, Sara Grote ’01 and Paul Schwartz, she worked on two main projects. The first project demonstrated that Neuropeptide Y, a signaling molecule that's been postulated to play a role as an endogenous anticonvulsant, is susceptible to regulation by extracellular zinc (which reaches very high levels during seizures). This is the first indication that zinc might play such a role, and could have significant implications with regard to epilepsy. The second project was concerned with regulation of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, which terminates the action of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, by calcium influx through a specific class of calcium channels.

In the fall of 1999, Professor Adler, in conjunction with Professor Zimmerberg of the Psychology Department taught BIOL 212/NSCI 201/PSYC 212 Introduction to Neuroscience. Professor Adler put together a new website for the course (www.williams.edu/imput/home.html,), and Professor Zimmerberg presented wonderful animations developed through the NSF-supported Multimedia Neuroscience Education Project. In the spring, Professor Adler taught BIOL 304, Neurobiology, adding a research proposal component to both the synaptic physiology and cellular neurobiology sections of the laboratory. For the first time in four years, Professor Adler brought back the Stained Glass Workshop for Winter Study. The students’ work was displayed throughout the month of February in the new Morley Science Laboratory lobby.

In between teaching and working in the lab, Professor Adler continued work on her book on non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and Hodgkin's Disease, Lymphoma, A Beginner's Guide.

The end of this academic year marks the end of Professor Dan Lynch’s term as Chair of the Department. During this past year, Professor Lynch also taught BIOL 101, The Cell and BIOL 322, Biochemistry II. He also continued his research on plant sphingolipid biochemistry, funded by grants from the NSF and the NIH, and supervised the Honors projects of Jillian Pesin ’00 and Carolin Spiegel ’00. Professor Lynch also published a chapter in Methods in Enzymology and an article (with others) in Journal of Nutrition. He also delivered a talk at the University of Texas in Austin in May. Professor Lynch also served as a reviewer for the NSF and a number of journals.

Liana Thompson '01, Zuzana Tothova '01, Jessica Bauman '02, and Susan Levin '02 at work in Professor Raymond’s Lab

Assistant Professor Raymond taught two large lecture and laboratory courses in the 1999-2000 academic year, Genetics (BIOL 202) in the fall and Immunology (BIOL 313) in the spring. With funding from Williams’ Mellon Project, Raymond and Paul Holt ’01 developed a website for Immunology (BIOL 313). As part of the month-long social responsibility initiative in May, Raymond hosted a Gaudino forum entitled “Entering the Clone Zone: Ethical and Social Dilemmas at the Dawn of Mammalian Cloning.” In May, Raymond was named Williams “Faculty of the Year” by College Council in its recognition of “one member
of the faculty...who has demonstrated an ability or effort to improve communications, relations, and interactions with students.”

Raymond’s research program continued to probe the molecular relationships between two particular genes important for the resolution of mitosis, SFP1 and CDC14. She gave a talk at Hamilton College entitled, “This Way Out: Exit from Mitosis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.” Thesis students Kate Ramsayer ’00, Dan Richter ’00, and Betsy Wells ’00 undertook a variety of projects to expand our understanding of how SFP1 controls multiple aspects of cell division. They were joined during Winter Study by Liana Thompson ’01 and Jessica Bauman ’02. Jessica and Susan Levin ’02, both Merck fellows, began collaborative projects under the guidance of Raymond with Chip Lovett and Joe Chihade, respectively. Aida Avdic ’00 did independent research in the lab in the spring, building on a discovery made by Liana Thompson ’01 during Winter Study.

In collaboration with a group in Germany, Raymond published a paper in Genes and Development, “Luc7p, a Novel Yeast U1 snRNP Protein with a Role in 5' Splice Recognition.” Raymond published an abstract of work done with two former thesis students, Le Paliulis ’97 and Meghan Byrne ’98. This work was presented by Le Paliulis ’97, currently a graduate student at Duke University, at the American Society for Cell Biology meeting in Washington, D.C. in December.

This past fall Professor Nancy Roseman shared her final BIOL 101 teaching duties for some time to come with Professor Dan Lynch. During Winter Study, she offered her popular Outbreak: Viruses and Culture class where discussions of smallpox and Ebola were galvanized by images of Dustin Hoffman in a level 4 spacesuit. In the spring, Professor Roseman discussed viruses in more depth in her Virology course. Research on the vaccinia virus encoded dUTPase continued in the Roseman lab due to the efforts of three honors students. Jeff Roizen ’00, a double major in biology and chemistry, was able to definitively demonstrate that dUTPase is a negatively cooperative enzyme. Erin Davies ’00 and Lauren Singer ’00 both worked on projects geared to identifying the specific amino acids that are phosphorylated in the protein; Erin analyzed protein extracts from infected cells and Lauren developed an in vitro system using kinases from various sources. Erin also established the pattern of dUTPase activity during a vaccinia virus infection and correlated that activity with dUTPase phosphorylation levels.

This spring it was announced that Professor Roseman would serve as the next Dean of the College, replacing Peter Murphy in that position. She plans to maintain an active research program during her time as Dean.

This past year, Robert Savage taught Developmental Biology and, with Heather Williams, team-taught the introductory biology course (BIOL 102). Professor Savage was an honors thesis advisor for Andrew Werbrock ’00, Steph Airoldi ’00, Kerice Pinkney ’00 and Boudhayan Sen ’00, who examined various aspects of segmental pattern formation in annelids. Andrew presented his thesis work at the annual Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting held in Atlanta this past January. Steph and Kerice continued to make progress on projects funded by Professor Savage’s NIH grant.

Professor Savage co-authored a paper with Janet Iwasa ’99 and Daniel Suver ’99 entitled “The Leech Hunchback Protein Is Expressed in the Epithelium and CNS, but not in the Segmental Precursor Lineages” which appeared in Development, Genes and Evolution. Professor Savage also served as a reviewer for the National Science Foundation and participated in the summer research program for local high school students funded by the HHMI grant.

Assistant professor Steve Swoap taught Biology of Exercise and Nutrition (BIOL 133) for non-majors in the fall of 1999. He was the honors thesis advisor for Patrick Burton ’00, Randall Lindquist ’00, and David Seward ’00. Previous independent study students, Heather Genovisi ’99 and Leigh Olmsted ’99 were co-authors on a poster presentation at the Experimental Biology meetings in San Diego, CA in April. Seward and David Adams ’00 were co-authors on two slide presentations at the American College of Sports Medicine meetings in Indianapolis, Indiana in May. Swoap served as a reviewer for the American Journal of Physiology, the Journal of Neuroendocrinology, and the Journal of Applied Physiology. Swoap gave two Sigma Xi lectures in the fall to the entire college community. The titles of these talks were “Muscle Adaptation: From Bench Press to Lab Bench”, and “IIB or Not IIB: The Generation of Fast-Twitch Muscles”. Swoap also served on the National Science Foundation panel for reviewing grants submitted to the collaborative RUI program. Professor Swoap continues to maintain an active research program as evidenced by his current grants (two NSF and one NIH.) Swoap was recently the recipient of the New Investigator Award for the American College of Sports Medicine.

Professor Zottoli taught BIOL 411, Plasticity in the Nervous System, in the fall and BIOL 205, Animal Physiology, in the spring. He served as Honors thesis advisor for Melissa Motta, Jason Langheier and David Walfish. Research in his laboratory focuses on the neural basis of behavior and responses of the nervous system to injury. Professor Zottoli continues as director of the Howard Hughes grant to Williams College.

Professor Zottoli directed a Williams College program at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA during July and August 1999. Fey Akanki ’01, Nick Hiza ’02, Melissa Motta ’00, Dwight Ho-Sang ’02, Xiao Tan ’02 and Kisha Watts ’02 participated in this program. The program included reading papers of various scientists in residence at the MBL, meeting with each scientist to discuss the papers and career path issues and then conducting a laboratory exercise that related to the scientist’s area of interest. In addition, students had the opportunity to attend course lectures and evening lectures. Finally, students were able to conduct original research on identified neurons in fish. All of the students co-authored a short note entitled: “Physiological Characterization of Supramedullary/Dorsal Neurons of the Cunner, Tautogolabrus adspersus” published in the Biological Bulletin

Robert Adamo	Margaret Cooley
Sara Grote	Duncan Meiklejohn
Matthew Kim	Caren Mintz
Liana Thompson	Yang Wang
Virginia Despard	Maghana Gadgil
Vickie Jo	Andrea Lee
Asha Mehta	Michael Nazarian
Adam Sischy	Danielle Torin

Dr. Wendy Boss

North Carolina State University

“Signal Transduction: Is There a Difference in Couch Potatoes and Potatoes?”

Dr. Priscilla Clarkson

University of Massachusetts

“Muscle Soreness: The Consequences of Overexertion Exercise”
“Nutritional and Pharmacological Agents for Weight Loss”

Dr. Richard Condit, 1960 Scholar

University of Florida

“Regulation of Transcription Elongation during Vaccinia Virus Infection”

George Q. Daley, Merck Scholar

Whitehead Institute

“Stem Cells in Disease; Stem Cells in Therapy”

Dr. Craig Hunter

Harvard University

“Translating Cellular Polarity into Embryonic Pattern”

Dr. Nipam Patel, 1960 Scholar

University of Chicago

“The Evolution of Body Patterning”

Dr. Bruce Stillman, BIMO 1960 Scholar

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

“Controlling Genome Duplicating during the Cell Cycle”

Steven Swoap

“Implications of Muscle Fiber Type for Performance: Myosin Type vs. Activation Properties”
Boston University in Conjunction with American College of Sports Medicine

“IIB or not IIB: The Regulation of Myosin Heavy Chain Gene Expression”
University of Massachusetts

Elizabeth Adler

“Can a Cold Remedy Affect Epilepsy and Anorexia? Zinc and Neuropeptide Y”
Invited talk on the Zinc/Neuropeptide Y project at the University of Connecticut, Department of Physiology and Neurobiology

Patrick Adair
David Adams
Stephanie Airoldi
Vanessa Alvarez	One year teaching English in China; one year teaching Biology in NYC Public High School; applying to medical school.
Andrew Arbesman
Aida Avdic
John Berry
Katherine Birnie
Ann Brophy
Lauren Buckley	Summer ecology research in Sierra Nevada; followed by a year working at the Ecology Center, Missoula, Montana; then graduate school in conservation biology
Patrick Burton	Boston University graduate school
Jason Busch	Working at Office of Information Technology, Williams College for the summer.
Sadruddin Chandani
Sheraz Choudhary	Working as a product manager at Exeter Educational Management Systems in Cambridge, MA.
Ellen Cook
Erin Davies	Working as a lab tech for 2 years at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, MA then Graduate school in molecular biology/biochemistry.
Jared Drake
Lily Filip
Paul Friedmann
Alexis Gilman	Boston University School of Public Health
Joshua Goldstein	Research Assistant at Ecosystems Center at Marine Biological Laboratories
Leigh Greenwood	Working as a tour guide in Costa Rica for 2 years.
Jessica Haffajee
Christopher Hale
Olivia Imoberdorf
Allison Jacobs	Teaching science in inner city Chicago with Teach for America.
Stephen Kim
Rebecca Kummer	University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Sophia Kuo	Working at a bakery and starting a non-profit with international philanthropists in Seattle.
Jason Langheier
Thomas LaRocca
Sara Levy
Randall Lindquist	Working at NIH as a Post-Baccalaureate IRTA Fellow, applying to grad programs.
Veena Mandava	Cornell Tri-Institutional MD-Ph.D. Program.
Sarah Mandle
Shannon Mark
Kimberly Massimiano
Erin Morrissette	Working as Associate Consultant with Bain & Co. in Boston, MA.
Melissa Motta
Charles Mynyon
Farah Musani
Toryn Nims	Working in biotech and other technology insurance for Chubb Group.
Ronald Parsons	Research Tech at Children’s Hospital in Boston, MA. Applying to med school.
Jillian Pesin	Fulbright Scholar in Russia for a year then attending a Ph.D. program at MIT.
Kerice Pinkney	Consulting for Bain & Co in New York.
Ethan Plunkett
Imelda Ramirez
Kate Ramsayer
Kathleen Reardon
Rebecca Rehm	Teaching life science/biology and coaching at Oldfields School in Glencoe, MD.
Aya Reiss	Teacher/environmental educator at environmental education center in the Catskills.
Daniel Richter	Working at Whitehead Institute in the functional genomics group.
Jeffrey Roizen
Cristina Santiestevan
Boudhayan Sen
David Seward
Jared Silverstein
Emily Simpson
Kathryn Simpson	University of Utah School of Medicine.
Lauren Singer
Christopher Spence	Working with Gardenworks Ltd. in Southborough, MA. Will pursue masters in landscape architecture in 2-3 years.
Carolin Spiegel
Jacklyn Stein	UC Berkeley
Nicole Steinmuller
Kevin Stephans	Medical School
Margaret Ting	NYU Medical School
David Walfish
Nicholas Weiss	Investment Banker with Barrington Associates in Los Angeles.
Elizabeth Wells
Andrew Werbrock	Duke University