2019-20 • Volume 12, Issue 1 Department News Contents Chair’s Corner Student Greetings from the Biology research symposium at Lasalle- exhibit was on display in our Brent Profiles Department! This has been a year Bogota in Colombia this March. and Jean Wadsworth Family Gallery of “firsts” for our department. This was the first time an institution and was well attended by the 01 from the United States participated. community. The Biology Department is now Alumni part of the new College of Aviation, Sophomore Krystian Brzek To all the alumni and current Updates Science, and Technology at Lewis was selected for the Trends in students who are helping in the University. Same campus location. Immunology Undergraduate fight against COVID-19, the 01 Same faculty. Poster Award at the 48th Annual Biology Department appreciates Student Autumn Immunology Conference all you do. In this pandemic, the department Research in Chicago. This is awarded to the had to transition all classes online Don’t forget the Biology three best posters. 02 after Spring Break, which will Department wants to hear from continue through the summer. This Our graduates and alumni continue you! Please share updates about Department is the first time that the department to be successful in pursuing post- your latest adventures and Updates has offered online lab experiences. graduate studies at professional accomplishments. For both students and faculty, it schools and in graduate programs Best wishes, 03 has been a learning experience. across the nation, with a 90% Student Everyone looks forward to a return acceptance rate this year. Great job! to normal. Sustainability The Biology Transition Scholars Juniors Mateo Diaz, Shelby coordinated the Smithsonian’s Jerry H. Kavouras, Ph.D., 03 Gertson, and Nicholas Pawlica Outbreak: Epidemics in a Professor and Chair of Biology SURE News presented at an undergraduate Connected World. The traveling 03 Student Profiles Class of 2019 Benjamin Esquivel, a current last several weeks of the semester 04 senior in the Biology Department working in an Intensive Care Unit and member of the US Army in Bronx, NY. Lewis University Reserves, was called to help with and the Biology Department are the treatment and control of very proud of Benjamin and all of COVID-19. Benjamin was notified his service. at the end of March and spent the In Memory The Biology Department has wildlife biology. Students learned that Professor Emeritus appreciated the field trips that he Dr. Robert Farrell passed away. He coordinated as part of the taught at Lewis University from curriculum. He will be missed by 1968-1996. He was known for his many! passion teaching ecology and lewisu.edu/academics/biology Page 01 Faculty/Staff Student Research Dr. Jerry Kavouras Department Chair Dr. Jerry Kavouras, Professor of Biology, and Biology undergraduates Mateo Diaz ‘21, Shelby Gertson Environmental ‘20, and Nicholas Pawlica ‘21 presented at Lasalle University in Bogota, Colombia at the 8th Institutional Science Director and 2nd International Meeting of Emerging Research in March 2020. Dr. Kavouras gave an opening plenary [email protected] presentation on the significance of undergraduate research. The students presented their research, identifying Dr. Jennifer Roberts novel chemicals from soil bacteria as potential antimicrobials and examining microbial communities to Pre-Professional Director monitor the effects of glyphosate on soil. This was the first time a Lasallian institution from the United States [email protected] participated at this meeting. Dr. Erin Zimmer Dr. Sarah Powers attended the 48th Annual Autumn Krystian’s project Allied Health Director Immunology Conference, convened in Chicago, was titled “Cyclin [email protected] Illinois, November 22-25, 2019 with students Steven D3 and Conserved Dr. James Rago Zeko and Krystian Brzek, who each gave a poster Sequences Within [email protected] presentation. They both represented Lewis well, Modified Genes.” Dr. Elizabeth Kozak but it is especially exciting to share that Krystian Brzek Dental Hygiene was selected for the Trends in Immunology Director Steven Zeko Undergraduate Poster Award, awarded to the three [email protected] also presented a best undergraduate poster presentations. Dr. Marne Bailey poster, “Ulterior [email protected] The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural Functionality of Cyclin D3 in Gene Dr. William Chura History’s “Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected Regulation.” [email protected] World” exhibition was on display Lewis University’s main campus in Romeoville this year. Dr. Sarah Powers From left to right [email protected] The exhibition highlights how pathogens Stephanie Orozco, Dr. Cynthia Misischia can spread to people from wildlife and Mia Macias, Alyssa [email protected] livestock, why some outbreaks become Walsh, Dr. Marne Jeannette Pifer epidemics and how human, animal and Bailey, Jill Komives, Secondary environmental health are connected. Fatimah Jabali, Education Director Angelica Vega Lewis University students in the Biology [email protected] Transitions program added a panel to Dr. Mallory Havens the exhibit with information on the West [email protected] Nile virus including 3D models, printed in the Lewis University Maker Lab. Dr. Marne Bailey and Professor Dr. Holly Snyder Jeannette Pifer mentor the students in the Biology Transitions program. Lab Coordinator [email protected] The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History’s “Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World” Linda Snell exhibition traveled to the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy’s Girls IN2 STEM Conference. IMSA’s Administrative Assistant IN2 STEM program is a peer-mediated, mentoring opportunity, that focuses on the contributions and ideas [email protected] of women throughout the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. What’s New? We would like to hear from you! In the next installment, there will be an Alumni Update section. ✁ Please feel free to send in your current information using the following form or via email to [email protected] Name ________________________________________________________ Class of ___________________________________________ City ______________________________________________ State _________ Zip ____________________________________________ News (career, announcements, etc) _________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Lewis University, ATTN: Biology Department - Alumni Update, One University Parkway, Unit 298, Romeoville, IL 60446. Page 02 Department Updates Congratulations Dr. Kavouras was a co-author on “Indirect effects in a planktonic disease system” published in Theoretical Population Biology. Marne Bailey was chosen to receive an Above and Beyond This work was the result of a collaboration with Dr. Carla Award for your volunteerism in Outbreak! during fiscal year 2019 Caceres (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), which (October 1, 2018-Septermber 30, 2019). She will receive a special was supported by the National Science Foundation. certificate at the National Museum of Natural History’s Volunteer Dr. Kavouras, Dr. Marie Ben Othmen Recognition event. visiting scholar (Uni- Lasalle, France) and environmental science alumni – Brianna Morgan Christina Gibbons New Program for Dental Hygienists (August ’19) and (December ’19) published Sustainability in agriculture and local food systems: Lewis University is now offering a Bachelor of Science in a solution to a global crisis in the Encyclopedia of the UN Dental Health for Registered Dental Hygienists. This program Sustainable Development Goals. Zero Hunger. is designed for working adults with an accelerated format, reduced tuition, and a flexible schedule. Students will earn a SURE News Bachelor of Science in Dental Health once completed. For more information contact 2019 Summer Undergraduate Research Dr. Lisa Kozak, program Experience (SURE) Participants: director, at kozakel@lewis. “Efficiency of Hydrogels to Promote Human Dermal Fibroblast Anatomical Gift Association Chicago Tour Production” Presenter: Michael Anonuevo of Romeoville A group of biology students had the opportunity to visit the Anatomical Gift Association in Chicago for an in-depth tour of Faculty Mentor: Dr. William Chura the facility. Students were able to observe cadaver preparation “Creating a Methodology to Study C. elegans that Express the and embalming. This facility Human Amyloid Beta Protein Present in Alzheimer’s Disease” provides cadavers to medical schools and universities, Presenter: Karlie Cummins of Livonia, Mich. including Lewis University, Faculty Mentors: Dr. Daniel Kissel and Dr. Mallory Havens for the study of human remains in preparation for “Development of a Methodology to Monitor Biological various health careers. Productivity of Soils Treated with Glyphosate over Time” Presenter: Emily Bernhard of Channahon Faculty Updates Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jerry Kavouras Dr. Mallory Havens was accepted a PALM fellow. The Promoting Active Learning and Mentoring (PALM) Network was “Cyclin D3 and Conserved Sequences Within Modified Genes” established to increase the use of active learning in undergraduate Presenters: Krystian Brzek of Romeoville lecture courses. PALM guides instructors to put into practice effective methods of active learning under the sustained Faculty mentor: Dr. Sarah Powers mentorship of other instructors with experience in evidence-