The College of Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences - Connecting the West with the World and Faculty with Students

Division of Biological Sciences

"The University of Montana's Division of Biological Sciences includes many of the most productive research groups at The University of Montana."

• The University of Montana created the Division of Biological Sciences in 1988 by consolidating a number of programs. The departments of botany, microbiology, and zoology were combined with the biochemistry faculty to form the only division within the College of Arts and Sciences
• Grant and contract monies have increased substantially since the formation of the division and currently total approximately four times the state allocated budget. Division members participate in collaborative research with a number of local biotech companies, scientists at the Rocky Mountain Research Laboratories, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and many other governmental and private agencies.
• The division has a large and highly productive graduate program. The division has several areas of strength in graduate education in biological sciences including plant ecology, conservation biology, wildlife biology (in cooperation with the School of Forestry), medical and environmental microbiology, microbial ecology, avian biology, evolutionary genetics, behavior and ecology, and biochemistry.

Graduate Student Meghan Lybecker

Research Mentor: Samuels

Research Topic: Temperature-induced regulation of the alternative sigma factor RpoS by a small RNA in the Lyme disease agent Borrelia burgdorferi.

Meghan has made a significant contribution to the fields of spirochete pathogenesis and small regulatory RNAs. Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, is transmitted from ticks to mammals, which requires that the bacterium senses the temperature of the blood meal.  Meghan has discovered that the molecular thermometer is a small RNA that functions through a novel mechanism.  Her recent research characterizing the small RNA and understanding its role in the cell are clearly the most elaborate and elegant studies ever performed in this experimentally intractable, but medically important bacterium.  Meghan is also a talented and dedicated teacher; her evaluations as a graduate teaching assistant were superb and she has effectively mentored many junior members of the Samuels laboratory.

Graduate Student Rafał Zwolak

Research Mentor: Elizabeth Crone

Research Topic: Effects of wildfire on mouse populations, and consequences for conifer establishment (Twice the mice: Indirect effects of fire on forest dynamics)

Rafał came to the University of Montana from Poland, so represents international research/diversity.  Rafał’s research also nicely merges theoretical questions in ecology (Why are there so many mice in apparently barren burned areas?  Does seedling predation determine forest composition?) with applied issues (wildfire management and rodent pest control during forest regeneration)

Eike Blohm

Eike is originally from Germany where he worked as a paramedic before he came to the United States to pursue a career in Medicine. Upon graduation in May 2007, he will attend an Ivy League Medical School on the east coast. During his time here, he has taken advantage of the vast opportunities of extracurricular activities and volunteer work The University of Montana and Missoula has to offer. Among those were volunteering in a homeless shelter, leading the Pre-Medical Student Association (PMSA), and instructing first aid and CPR at the local Red Cross chapter.  In the future, Eike hopes to work as a trauma-surgeon in one of America's biggest trauma centers.

 

Kelly Hopping

Research Mentor: Anna Sala

Research Topic: The effects that elevation and temperature have on trees’ ability to allocate nutrients to growth and reproduction in subalpine ecosystems.

A biology major with an emphasis in ecology, Kelly has taught an introductory honors course to freshmen, served as a biology peer advisor, and won a Udall scholarship for her commitment to the environment.  As first a technician and then manager of Dr. Anna Sala’s plant physiology lab, she became a certified tree climber in order to work on a long-term project that is investigating resource dynamics and seed production in whitebark pines.  Recently, she was awarded an undergraduate research scholarship to travel to a botany lab in Switzerland to learn a technique for lipid analysis, and she has received funding from the National Science Foundation to continue her collaboration with Dr. Sala and Swiss researchers after she graduates.  Together they will explore the effects that elevation and temperature have on trees’ ability to allocate nutrients to growth and reproduction in subalpine ecosystems.