BIOLOGY TODAY AT HUNTER The success of contemporary biology has posed new heritable characteristics of the organism. The structural problems for departments of biology throughout the configuration of this molecule was unknown until country. At Hunter, one of the most pressing prob­ studies were made utilizing X-ray crystallography, a lems being dealt with is the achievement of a realistic physico-chemical technique. Studies have indicated that balance between classical and contemporary biology another nucleic acid, ribonucleic acid (RN A) , is in an up-to-date undergraduate and graduate curricu­ produced in the nucleus in close association with DNA lum. A second and equally important problem is a and acts as a messenger carrying the DNA code from re-definition of the role of research as a function of the nucleus into the cytoplasm of the cell. Messenger the Department. One thing is certain: chemistry and RNA first becomes located on the ribosomes of the physics are regarded as allies, not foreign disciplines cytoplasm, then associated with an unordered array of to be looked upon as a nemesis to the biologist. amino acids and then, depending upon its coded infor­ During the past two decades tremendous strides have mation, the amino acids are arranged into a specific been made in the ever-broadening field of biology. sequence. Chemical bonds are formed between the Fundamental problems that seemed unapproachable ordered adjacent amino acids with the resultant for­ in the early part of the twentieth century are now mation of long-chained compounds called proteins. being solved at a rapid rate. The application of newly­ The amazing thing is that there are approximately developed techniques of physics and chemistry to the twenty naturally-occurring amino acids; thus the pos­ study of living things is, in large part, responsible for sible ways of constructing a long-chain protein mole­ this success. For instance, the characterization of cellu­ cule of, say, one hundred amino acids are enomlOUS. lar ultrastructure was virtually impossible until the Yet, the cell, through the mechanism described above. advent of the electron microscope. almost invariably produces specific proteins, always The story of the role of deoxyribonucleic acid consisting of the same number of amino acids, always (DNA) in biological systems is well-known and has in the same sequence! been told on several levels of sophistication. Neverthe­ Many areas of the scheme proposed above remain less, a brief review might be of value here in illustrat­ to be worked out, but it appears that the beginning of ing the great strides made through the application of a solution to one of the great mysteries of life-how these physical and chemical techniques. specific proteins are made-is not far away. Recently DNA carries in its chemical structure a code which developed biophysical and biochemical techniques have contains the information necessary to specify the in- made possible this and other discoveries and have 4 HUNTER ALUMNI QUARTERLY Dr. Balboni alld Tamara Sa lumaa, graduale sluden.t, preparing slock sO IUliofls jor plant physiology 'aboralory therefore become basic to the study of biological sci­ equipment has been made available through grants to ences today. individual Department members, assuring excellent The impact of these concepts and techniques has facilities for conducting research and teaching. made necessary significant changes in the undergradu­ Not only must this Department be concerned with ate curriculum. Efforts have been made to reduce the changes of curriculum, equipment, etc., but, even more descriptive courses and to introduce such courses as cell important, it must re-examine the basic definition of physiology, plant and animal metabolism, and radiation biology: the study of life. biology. The Departmental Honors Program in biology Since nucleic acid is a chemical substance, can life will serve as an important adjunct to the formal curricu­ be reduced to the chemistry of nucleic acids and their lum, and for qualified undergraduates the Honors Pro­ molecular progeny? Will there be a progressive isolation gram will be the first opportunity to do carefully of ecology, morphology, taxonomy and other classical directed original work. disciplines in biology for the more exciting and timely Under the Graduate Program, the Department of fields of biophysics, molecular biology or cybernetics? Biological Sciences and the Department of Physiology, What will be the fate of future biology students-will Health and Hygiene combine in offering the M. A. they all be mating DNA strands instead of mating fruit and the Ph. D. in biological sciences. Work leading to flies? Will the utilization of purely physical, chemical, the Ph. D. is now offered in the fields of genetics, bio­ or mathematical studies of living organisms run out of physics (including radiation and photobiology) , and momentum and need to be rejuvenated by a return to cellular, animal, and plant physiology. the study of living organisms as a whole? Since September, 1961, the Department has added The biologists' answer to these questions might well ten new full time faculty members to fill vacancies be that life is certainly unique, and at the present time caused by retirement and to take care of the expanding it still remains difficult to reduce this uniqueness to a undergraduate and graduate programs. In the past eight single substance or a system of lesser integration and years the number of majors in biological sciences complexity than a single living cell. In any event, the has doubled. task of the biological sciences is clear-to increase our In line with this expansion, the Department has un­ knowledge and understanding of what is embodied in dertaken the conversion of various rooms to up-to-date the concept "living. " laboratories. Coupled with this, a large amount ot Edward R. Balboni OCTOBER, 1963 5 Professor Brody, Chairman Dr. Grob and undergraduate A nnelle Schimenti, conferring on a microscopic preparation fo r work 011 ca lcification of tissue BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES FACULTY active in vocational guidance and student-faculty relations. She is Chairman of the Faculty Science Club. Marcia Brody (B.A. , Hunter College, 1951 ; Ph.D ., University Morris Green (Ph.D., University of Rochester) Assistant of Illinois) Assi tant Professor and Chairman of the Depart­ Professor. Professor Green received a grant from the Atomic ment. Professor Brody's research interest is in the primary Energy Commission for the purchase of equipment which is photophysical step in photosynthesis. Her current. work ?~al s currently being used for teaching and research in radiation with in vivo states of chlorophyll and photochemIcal acllvlty. biology at Hunter. He has conducted research on the role of This work is supported by a grant from the N ational Science formate in the biosynthesis of chlorophyll a; protein metab­ Foundation. She is a member of the Graduate AdvIsory Com­ olism in tumor tissues and the metaboli sm of J13Linsulin in mittee on the Biological Sciences of the Ci ty University, and is normal and diabetic rat livers. also chairman of the University Subcommittee on Biophysics. H oward Grob (Ph.D., New York University) Instructor. Edward R . Balboni (Ph.D., University of Massachusetts) Grants-in-aid from both the City University and the Lalor Instructor. An entomologist, D r. Balboni's research has been Foundation have enabled Dr. Grob to continue his research in c.:J ncerned with the mechanical and energetic aspects of honey­ three clo ely-related areas of endocrinology-the maturation bee flight. This work is supported by a grant-in-aid from the City of ovarian follicle, soft tissue calcification, and hormonal ef­ University. For this work he maintains a colony of honeybees at fects on cell differentiation and specialization. Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research in Yonkers. He is preparing articles on Annelida and Amphioxous to be pub­ lished in the revision of the American Peopl es Encyclopedia. H yman Guthwin (Ph.D ., New York University) Instructor. Cellular physiology is Dr. Guthwin's principal research interest and his past research has been concerned with the isolation Gily E. Bard (B.A., Hunter College, 1945; Ph.D., Rutgers of subcellular organelles, the fractionation of human gyneco­ University) Instructor. Dr. Bard has collected and identified logical tumors and other closely-related areas. At present, he over one hundred species of mosses and liverworts toward is conducting preliminary experiments concerning the proteo­ the preparation of a check-list of the bryophytes of northern lytic enzymes of starfish hepatopancreas. New Jersey and southern New York. This collection is in two identical parts, one of which is used at Hunter in General Botany and the Lower Plants, and will be donated to the De­ Dorothy Hammond (Ph.D., Columbia University) Asso­ partment when its herbarium is activated. ciate Professor. With a special intere t in genetics, Professor Hammond has done research on the genetics of leaf shape and worked on the use of colchicine in plants for doubling chromo­ Olive Cross (M.A., Columbia University) Assistant Professor. some number. She makes extensive use of the greenhouse at Professor Cross's special interests are botany and microbiology. Hunter for plant propagation and ge netics research. Her research is on respiration in Laminaria. She is active in student gu idance and in Departmental and inter-departmental committee work. Irwin H . Herskowitz (Ph.D., Columbia University) Pro­ fessor. Professor Herskowitz joined the Department in Sep­ tember, 1963. He received a substantial four-year grant from the Alice G. Elftman (Ph.D ., Cornell University) Professor and United States Public Health Service, which provides funds for Department Chairman, 1956-1962. Professor Elftman's research research in genetics. During his career Professor Herskowitz has interests are in histology, with particular reference to the published more than one hundred papers in the field of genetics.