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BioScienceNews for Alumni and Friends of the Department of Integrative Biology NowSPRING 2021 ALL WAYS FORWARD: BEING RESILIENT AND INNOVATIVE Read more on page 3. ZOO 430 TEACHING ASSISTANTS PREPARE FOR VIRTUAL INSTRUCTION IMAGE BY SCOTT HARTMAN From the Chair Much has happened The past year also brought a new in the Department of sense of urgency regarding issues of UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS Integrative Biology racial and social justice in our country. since we last wrote! This important momentum is magni- Like you, we have fying systemic disparity and inequity experienced immense that calls for just and significant change. challenges related to Our graduate students and our Climate the COVID-19 and Diversity committee (with repre- pandemic. The rapid sentatives from all of our department adaptations our members) have been crucial voices instructors made in March 2020 to in our discussions and efforts. This remote instruction were simply remark- important work is essential to create a able. Our staff were equally impressive as climate that is welcoming and inclusive most moved to working remotely from for all students, staff, and faculty. their homes, while others continued to In these challenging times we want work on-campus providing essential to express our gratitude to you. We services vital to daily functions. Our simply cannot fulfill our mission without researchers adapted in many ways, too, a strong team behind us. Thank you for as field research plans were modified or your continued support. canceled and lab bench time was greatly reduced. Through it all, the resilience Best wishes, and dedication of the iBio community to maintain our teaching, research, advis- Jeff Hardin ing, and administrative services have Raymond E. Keller Professor and Chair A bee gathers pollen from the blossoms of a cherry tree in been nothing less than inspirational. the Longenecker Horticultural Gardens at the UW–Madison Arboretum during spring. Message from Dean Wilcots In June, I was honored to assume the an “R1” (preeminent) research institu- role of Dean of the College of Letters & tion, and much of this ground-breaking Science, during one of the most challeng- work happens right here in L&S. I intend ing times in my 25 years at UW–Madi- to support and elevate research oppor- son. As we wrestle with a global pandem- tunities for faculty, graduate students, ic, social unrest, and economic turmoil all and undergraduates. The knowledge BioScience Now at once, I am reminded of what makes a that we take for granted today is based is the alumni newsletter of the Letters & Science education so timelessly on curiosity-driven scholarship and Department of Integrative Biology important. The values we teach—com- creativity that started decades ago. We at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. passion, intellectual curiosity, tolerance, need those big-picture thinkers to help us and resilience—prepare our students not solve complex problems and expand the Lowell E. Noland Hall only to flourish in good times, but to horizons of what we know. 250 North Mills Street learn, grow, and change during periods of By the time you read this, spring Madison, WI 53706 USA challenge and hardship. semester will be underway with a mix of Hard times—particularly times of remote learning and in-person courses, Department Chair protest—often bring about change. as well as comprehensive protocols for Jeff Hardin That’s overdue here at UW–Madison, keeping everyone safe. This academic [email protected] where many of our students of color year will not be easy, but we will not lose have, for far too long, experienced a heart. We will dig in—because that’s what Department Administrator UW that feels less welcoming to them. Badgers do. Julie Lindsey We pride ourselves on the world-class Thank you for all you do to support [email protected] experience offered to our students, L&S. It means the world to us. preparing them for positions of leadership Design and illuminating their path forward. A On, Wisconsin! University Marketing key leadership priority for me is creating an inclusive environment where all Eric M. Wilcots, Dean, students can feel at home and thrive. College of Letters & Science Another priority is research. We are Mary C. Jacoby Professor of Astronomy 2 | BioScience Now All Ways Forward: Adjusting during COVID-19 Pandemic 1 3 2 6 5 4 7 1. Zoo 430 Comparative Anatomy Teaching Assistants Jacki Whisenant and Aaron Kufner use a document camera to capture the structure of a specimen. 2. For her Scientific Writing Limnology Seminar, Professor Emily Stanley and her students choose to meet at a different Madison park each week. 3. Faculty and staff discussing virtual teaching strategies via Zoom. 4. Faculty Associate Gale Oakes’ blue hands on display as she prepares a dissecting video for Zoo 102 Animal Biology lab. 5. Student Diana Tapia shows off her zooplankton samples collected using an integrated tow of the water column in Lake Mendota for Zoo 316 Conservation of Aquatic Resources lab. 6. Home offices were set up to maintain remote academic advising and administrative services. 7. Teaching Assistant Adam Rexroade demonstrates how to use a Van Dorn, a common limnological tool for water collection at discrete depths. integrativebiology.wisc.edu | 3 Songbirds sing—like humans flock—for opioid reward hat do songbirds and About six years ago, a researcher in humans have in common? Riters’ lab found a way to reduce the WWe crave social interac- response of the Mu opioid receptors in tion, and the chemical rewards that European Starlings, a type of songbird. flood our brain when we get it. This receptor, a protein on the surface In a study recently published in of a nerve cell, controls responses to Scientific Reports, University of endogenous opioids, and they wanted Wisconsin–Madison researchers led by to figure out if it might regulate what Lauren Riters, professor of integrative sounded like playful song in birds. biology, found that when songbirds To put this to the test, they had sing during non-mating seasons, it’s to develop a method in starlings because singing releases an opioid to measure reward associated with naturally produced in their brain— singing. Riters’ team used a method that’s right, a compound with the called CPP, a conditioned place Lauren Riters, same biological makeup of the highly preference test, where they trained the professor of integrative biology addictive painkillers. birds to associate a certain cage with People have naturally-produced— singing. Later, when given a choice or endogenous—opioids in our brain between two cages, birds showed released in certain situations, like social a preference for the cage that they situations, that make us feel good. learned to associate with their own That’s why we like hanging out with singing behavior. This shows that birds friends, Riters says. think of singing in flocks as a positive These naturally produced, feel-good experience, Riters says. compounds are also why many songbirds “How do you ask a bird if it’s feel- like to sing in large flocks, says Riters, ing good?” Riters says. “This method after years of careful study. is really important to studies that we’ve “Animals—including birds, in- been running. It comes from studies cluding humans—we produce our in psychology, and is commonly used own endogenous opioids, and to study reward associated with drug they reward behaviors naturally, use. We adapted it to ask questions like sexual behavior or feeding about reward associated with singing behavior,” Riters says. “Studies behavior.” show that endogenous opioids Once they could recognize what also make play rewarding. the birds looked like in the reward Songbirds learn their songs, state, they administered tiny doses and must practice. When we of fentanyl, a type of opioid that also listened to birds practicing in binds to the Mu receptor, and found flocks, it almost sounded as if the drug made the birds “sing like they were playing around with the crazy.” Then they reduced the notes. Darwin even suggested that response of the opioid receptors and birds in flocks may be singing for ‘their found that starlings no longer showed own amusement.’ So, we thought if a CPP for song. This shows, Riters singing is a playful behavior, it should says, that endogenous opioids regulate involve opioids.” intrinsically-rewarding bird song. Riters’ team ran tests over two years. They set up the experiment in an outdoor aviary where they’d observe the birds. Sometimes, Riters says, it 4 | BioScience Now ISTOCK BAHADIR-YENICERI ISTOCK Endogenous opioid release underlies singing behavior in ISTOCK BAZILFOTO flocks of European starlings. Image by Dr. Jeremy Spool, former PhD student in Riters Lab. proved challenging, since so many “When the birds are singing they might have negative interactions. other factors contributed to the birds they’re also practicing motor patterns By studying birds, Riters says, maybe singing or not. Riters says her team that they will later use in more serious they can find ways to promote positive had to make the environment as wel- adult contexts,” Riters says. “They’re social interactions. coming and relaxing as possible for the also learning how to produce a “We think that studying this kind birds. For example, if a hawk landed vocalization that gets a social response, of gregarious positive social play in near the aviary, the songbirds wouldn’t and they also learn how to attract a songbirds is providing a unique way to sing because they’d get stressed out. female, for example.” come up with new ideas for treatments The results stood out amongst Riters thinks the release of opioids that might promote positive interac- other research, because most studies might also encourage sociable behavior tions in humans,” Riters says.

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