In The News
Congratulations to the 2021 MS Poster Session winners!
First place: Chibuike Ihewulezi; Second place: Amany Emam; Third place (tie): Tom Heaney, Maansi Jayade
Establishing social structure in ant colonies
The Desplan lab explored how “pseudoqueens” rapidly emerge after social structure is disrupted by the loss of queen.
Mutation in SARS-CoV-2 spike protein significantly increases transmissibility
The Sanjana lab and a team of researchers discover how D614G mutation, now ubiquitous, increases virus’ ability to infect human cells
How the parasite T. vaginalis may control its enormous transposable element burden
Carlton Lab researchers identified a possible small RNA pathway mechanism that the sexually transmitted parasite Trichomonas vaginalis may use to control gene expression, including its massively expanded transposable element burden.
A single cell atlas of the Drosophila optic lobe
Researchers in the Desplan lab have created a “developmental atlas” of gene expression in neurons, using gene sequencing and machine learning to categorize more than 250,000 neurons in the brains of fruit flies.
Identifying host factors for SARS-CoV-2 to infect human cells
To identify new potential therapeutic targets for SARS-CoV-2, the Sanjana lab and researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai performed a genome-scale, loss-of-function CRISPR screen to systematically knockout all genes in the human genome.
Esteban Mazzoni & Christine Vogel awarded CZI funding for novel approaches to tackle neurodegeneration
This team brings together complementary expertise from quantitative systems biology and stem cell biology to explore their novel hypothesis that membrane-localized proteasome may act as a neuroprotectant in disease-resistant motor neurons.
8 Biology faculty awarded NIGMS MIRA grants
Sevinc Ercan, Justin Blau, Kenneth Birnbaum, Carol Huang, Fei Li, Mark Siegal, Christine Vogel and Duncan Smith are awarded NIGMS MIRA grants. These grants will provide investigators with greater stability and flexibility in research, enhancing scientific productivity and the chances for important breakthroughs.
Claude Desplan wins Conklin Medal for outstanding research and mentoring in Developmental Biology
The Edwin G. Conklin Medal in Developmental Biology recognizes a developmental biologist who has made and is continuing to make extraordinary research contributions to the field, and is an excellent mentor who has helped train the next generation of outstanding scientists.
Carlos Carmona-Fontaine named 2020 Pew Scholar
Carmona-Fontaine will receive four years of funding to invest in foundational research to pursue scientific breakthroughs and advance human health.
Rahul Satija awarded NIH grant to fund a Center of Excellence in Genomic Science
The Centers of Excellence in Genomic Science (CEGS) program supports the formation of multi-investigator, interdisciplinary research teams to develop novel and innovative genomic research projects, using the data sets and technologies developed by the Human Genome Project.
Chris Rushlow wins the CAS Golden Dozen Teaching Award
Chris Rushlow is chosen as a recipient of the 2020 College of Arts and Science Golden Dozen Teaching award.
Biology PhD student Andrew Butler wins Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award
Andrew Butler, a Biology PhD student and member of Rahul Satija’s lab at NYU and the New York Genome Center, has received the 2020 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award. This prestigious honor recognizes outstanding achievement during graduate studies in the biological sciences.
How interactions control plant's response to nitrogen
The Coruzzi lab captured highly transient interactions between transcription factors—proteins that control gene expression—and target genes in the genome and showed that these typically missed interactions have important practical implications.
Reading the basmati genome provides clues for growing drought-tolerant and bacteria-resistant rice
Using an innovative genome sequencing technology, the Purugganan lab assembled the complete genetic blueprint of two basmati rice varieties, including one that is drought-tolerant and resistant to bacterial disease.
Carlton Lab shows that malaria has gone underground in India
The Carlton Lab in partnership with colleagues at several institutes in India, combined traditional microscopy and rapid diagnostic testing with molecular methods to show that a large burden of malaria infections in India are now below the threshold of detection of the usual methods of diagnosis. These infections represent a hidden reservoir that pose a threat to the elimination of the disease.
NYU iGEM Team wins silver medal in international biological engineering competition
NYU iGEM is the university's first and only student-led bioengineering research team. They competed at the International Genetically Engineered Machines competition - the world's largest biological engineering competition, drawing about 350 teams and 5,000+ people globally - and won a silver medal for their project, Optogenetic Biosynthesis of Flavonoids!
Sewage! Carlton lab uses metagenomics to characterize the protists in New York City wastewater
With over 8 million people, New York City (NYC) is the most populous city in US, and a ~7400-mile combined sewer system maintained and operated by the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) handles ~1.3 billion gallons of wastewater daily from its occupants. We used high-throughput sequencing of sewage collected over 12 months from the five boroughs of NYC using a combination of 18S rRNA gene amplicon and shotgun metagenomic sequencing to characterize the diversity of protists and parasites in New Yorkers, highlighting the utility of sewage as a valuable biomarker for monitoring urban microbes.
Biology major Taylor Chen publishes on link between fungi and cancer in Nature
Ruonan (Taylor) Chen graduated with Honors in Biology in 2019. Her work in the lab of George Miller at NYU School of Medicine, on how fungi promote pancreatic cancer, was published in Nature.
Carlos Carmona-Fontaine wins NIH Director's New Innovator Award
Through this $1.5 million, five-year grant, Carmona-Fontaine will study the cellular, molecular, and environmental factors that affect the emergence of malignant cells and accelerate their evolution into aggressive tumors.
Michael Rampino helps discover a "new" major mass extinction of life
Mike Rampino and his colleague Shu-zhong Shen of Nanjing University in China have concluded that earth experienced a previously underestimated severe mass-extinction event, which occurred about 260 million years ago.
Uncovering the intricacies of the "on/off switch" that creates cell differentiation
Small lab discovers how cells become different from each other during embryogenesis, a finding that offers new insights into genetic activity and has implications for better understanding the onset of disease and birth defects.
Neville Sanjana awarded Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers by White House
Neville Sanjana has been awarded a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), which identifies outstanding scientists and engineers who will broadly advance science and the missions important to federal agencies.
Removing damaged proteins helps neurons resist ALS
The Mazzoni lab develops a stem-cell-based modeling system that identifies how some neurons are resistant to ALS—a breakthrough that offers potential for battling neurodegeneration.
Michael Purugganan elected Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Science and Technology of the Philippines
Purugganan has remained very connected with science in the Philippines - he is on the advisory board of the Philippine Genome Center and works closely with the International Rice Research Institute, which is based in the Philippines.
Congratulations to the 2019 NYU Biology undergraduate award winners and Honors students!
Biology Honors students and undergraduate award winners celebrate their achievements and hard work during their time at NYU.
Gloria Coruzzi elected to the National Academy of Sciences
Gloria Coruzzi has been elected to the membership of the National Academy of Sciences, recognizing her scientific accomplishments and leadership of the Arabidopsis community.
Using high resolution microscopy to visualize transcription
Rushlow lab has uncovered new rules that cells use in making decisions about which genes they activate and under what conditions, findings that add to our understanding of how gene variants affect human traits.
Coruzzi lab uncovers genome-wide responses that limit crop growth in nutrient-poor soils
The Coruzzi lab tests how each gene within the genome of rice—one of the world’s most important staple crops—senses and responds to combinations of water and nutrients.
Alex Mogilner publishes a paper in eLife revealing how cofilin regulates actin network
Using both in vitro and in silico approaches, Manhart et al. found a mathematical formula that predicts treadmilling actin network length as a function of width, actin and ADF/Cofilin concentrations.
Award-winning teaching from Steve Small
Professor Stephen Small turns his office hours into a flipped classroom where students guide the conversation.
Analyzing genomic data, Purugganan lab unlocks history of the North African Date Palm
Genome analysis reveals that North African date palms are a hybrid between cultivated date palms from the Middle East and a different, wild species of palm that grows on the island of Crete and in small areas of Southern Turkey.