Department of biology

Master of Science in Biology

Participating Faculty

The following faculty participate in the M.S. in Biology.  Listed are their research interests.

Frank T. Burbrink            6S-131                 982-3961            burbrink@mail.csi.cuny.edu

Revolves around the following subjects: evolution, phylogenetics, systematics, taxonomy and herpetology.  More specifically, we use and produce DNA sequences and morphological data to
address questions relating to population evolution, genomics and higher level phylogenetics in reptiles.

Gregory P. Cheplick          6S-319                 982-3931            cheplick@mail.csi.cuny.edu

The ecology of plant populations in coastal ecosystems; plant competition; effects of endophytic fungi on growth of grasses.

Robert Corin                     6S-110                 982-3865            rcorin2002@yahoo.com

Mechanisms of reversible and irreversible growth regulation for cancer cells in vitro e.g. the role of histone acetylation during transition of immortal transformed cells to a mortal non-transformed phenotype.

Regulation of mast cell differentiation in vitro 

Role of neuroinflammation in pathology of ALS: in vitro role of inflammatory-related mediators in progression of the disease phenotypes in neurons from a mouse model; inflammatory mediators in progression of disease in vivo in a mouse model system.

Abdeslem El Idrissi           6S-134                 982-3863            elidrissi@mail.csi.cuny.edu

Neuronal plasticity and mechanisms of epileptogenesis

Roles of taurine on neurotransmission

It's really amazing what you can find in abandoned buildings when hunting for snakes!

 

It's really sad when they start crying for Momma

Seed bank sampling with Dr. Cheplick

The cells to below have been treated with butyrate and exhibit numerous cellular processes that are not normally present

Pattern of EGFP expression found in the brain of EGFP transgenic mice.  These are images of a 30-µm-thick sagittal brain section from a homozygotic mouse. All sections were stained with a red  fluorescent Nissl stain (Molecular Probes) to facilitate visualization of neuronal structures.

 

Images were taken at the Advanced Imaging Facility at the College of Staten Island.

Jianying Gu                      6S-126B               982-4123            guj@mail.csi.cuny.edu

My research interests include comparative genomics, functional genomics, and molecular evolution. I am currently doing research on gene expression (microarray) analysis, developing bioinformatic and statistical methods for detecting functional divergence in important human gene families, and applying evolutionary algorithms to sequence analysis. The targets I am particularly interested include: Kinases, G-protein Coupled Receptors, Transcription factors, and Proteases etc.

1. Gene Expression Analysis - Statistical analysis of gene expressions in primate evolution and detecting differential gene expression by different statistical testing methods;

2. Comparative and Evolutionary Genomics - Developing statistical framework for gene family evolution and application in functional divergence analysis in protein kinase superfamily and TGF-b signaling pathway.

3. Vertebrate genome duplication & Origin of human gene family hierarchy

Charles Kramer                   6S-318                     982-3873                kramer@mail.csi.cuny.edu

Reproductive endocrinology of fish; neuroendocrine control of sex change in a protogynous (female to male) marine fish, Thalassoma bifasciatum.  Investigation of the putative role of the rodlet cell in the fish's immune system.

William L’Amoreaux        6S-111    982-3864                lamoreaux@mail.csi.cuny.edu

Deputy Chair                          Director, Advanced Imaging Facility

Signal transduction pathways related to phagocytosis of photoreceptor outer segments by retinal pigment epithelium.
Glycosylation of extracellular matrix components and their relation to retinopathies.
Generation of novel nanostructures using extracellular matrix proteins as templates.

Images from the NSF-funded Leica SP2 AOBS spectral imaging confocal laser scanning microscope.  The award in 2005 was the largest to a non-Ph.D. granting institution.

Jacqueline LeBlanc            6S-302                     982-3872                leblanc@mail.csi.cuny.edu

Acting Chair, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work

Embryonic cell determination and the mechanisms involved in the cell movements of gastrulation that result in the primary axis of vertebrate embryos

Triplasis one of the local grasses

Robert Matlock                    6S-140                     982-3969                matlock@mail.csi.cuny.edu

My research interests fall into three broad categories: theoretical ecology, conservation biology and agroecology, with theoretical research currently predominant. My current research focuses on developing and testing spatially-explicit reaction-diffusion models of population growth and dispersal and on modeling trophic cascades. Both of these projects include testing of models in the field; all of my current field research is conducted in the tropics.

Shaibal Mitra                    6S-135                 982-3855           mitra@mail.csi.cuny.edu

Avian ecology, evolution, and conservation; specifically migration, host-parasite interactions, and mating systems.

Elena C. McCoy              6S-112                 982-3860            mccoy@mail.csi.cuny.edu

Microbial metabolism and the detection of damaging environmental agents using microbial systems

Transmission electron micrographs
of Candida albicans treate
with the plasticizer dibutylphthalate
show great numbers of vacuoles and
peroxisomes when grown in a
high phosphate medium

John Oppenheimer                6S-132          982-3921         oppenheimer@mail.csi.cuny.edu