The Biology Department offers cutting-edge research opportunities in high-tech laboratories.
Students engage in research projects in molecular biology, microbiology, ecology,
cell biology, and physiology. NMT biology graduates are also well-prepared for medical,
dental, and veterinary school. Click Here for Spring 2021 Course Offerings!
Scroll down for department seminars and events.
Biology Department News
BMS graduate Wayne Vigil, Jr, now at UC-Riverside has published his first paper "Spectral deconvolution of redox species in the crotonyl-CoA-dependent NADH:ferredoxinoxidoreductase from Megasphaera elsdenii. A flavin-dependentbifurcating enzyme" in the Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abb.2021.108793
Congratulations to graduate students Marina Hein and Katie McLain for seeking out
funding opportunities and being awarded a grant from the Native Plant Society ofNew
Mexico to further their research.
We are proud to announce that new Biology Accelerated MS student Catherine Batchelder
is the recipient of a Macey Scholarship for 2020-2021!
Biology Acellerated MS student Kasandra Velarde applied for and received her own grant
under PI Dr. Linda DeVeaux to fund her own project. This is the article the NM Water Resources Research Institute wrote about it.
Seminars and Defenses are expected to all be via Zoom for Fall 2020. Monday events
will be from 3:40 pm to 4:30 pm Mountain Time unless otherwise noted.
10/5/2020 Seminar, R. Taylor Raborn, PhD
3:40-4:30 pm Zoom
Assistant Research Scientist, ASU BioDesign Institute, Center for Mechanisms of Evolution.
Title “Identification and analysis of cis-regulatory regions in theParamecium aureliaspecies complex using STRIPE-seq”
10/12/2020 Seminar, Robert T. Todd, PhD
3:40-4:30 Zoom
Postdoctoral Associate at University of Minnesota, his title is "Expandable and reversible copy number amplifications drive rapid adaptation to antifungal
drugs."
Professor of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire. Title
"Going Underground: Unearthing the Role of theSoil Microbiome in a Warmer, Fertilized World"
10/26/2020
11/2/2020 Seminar, Maggie C. Y. Lau, PhD
3:40-4:30 pm Zoom
Visiting Collaborator, Department of Geosciences, Princeton University. Professor, Laboratory of Extraterrestrial Ocean Systems, Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya,
China. "Deep biosphere as an analog for life elsewhere"
Post-doctoral Fellow, Center for Evolutionary and Theoretical Immunology, University
of New Mexico. Title "A gut feeling: New pathways of intestinal resistance against
the opportunistic parasite T. gondii"
11/23/2020 No Seminar
Thanksgiving Break
11/30/2020
Seminar, Susan Amundsen, PhD
3:40-4:30 pm Zoom
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA. Title "Keeping DNA double-strand
break repair on a tight leash"
12/7/2020 No Seminar
Finals
12/11/2020 MS Defense, Angelica Cave
1:00 pm Zoom
Angelica "Angie" Cave, currently enrolled in the NMT Biotechnology PhD program is
completing her MS by defending her thesis.
Her talk is “Discovery of carbapenem resistance in the Socorro Wastewater Treatment Plant”
Ernest Richard (Dick) Greene has been a professor of Engineering and Biology at New
Mexico Highlands University and a Research Professor of Engineering and Medicine
at UNM since 1992. His talk is "Human cerebral blood flow during exercise: a dynamic system."
02/02/2021 NMT Peace Corps
4 pm Zoom
Join us on Zoom for a special event, ‘From New Mexico Tech to Peace Corps’ on February 2nd at 4 pm! You’ll hear from NMT Alumni who served in the Peace Corps about what their
experiences were like and how you can apply to be a Peace Corps Volunteer!
Dr. Seth Daly earned his master's in biology at NMT and his Ph.D. at UNM. He is now
a research assistant professor at UNM in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
His talk is “Sex-bias in S. aureusSkin Infection.”
The NMT Biology Department presents "What to do when your number is called: a COVID-19
vaccine information panel"
Moderated by Dr. Joel Sharbrough with panelists Dr Tom Kieft, Dr Snezna Rogelj and
Dr Daniele Turner, this information session is geared toward the NMT community including
Faculty, Staff and Administration. A second information session will be forthcoming
specifically for students.
Dr. Giovanni Luchetti earned his bachelor's in biology and master's in chemistry at
NMT before earning his doctorate at Stanford University. He is now a postdoc at Genentech
Inc. in San Francisco. He will be presenting “Shigellaubiquitin ligase IpaH7.8 degrades GSDMD to prevent pyroptosis.”
03/08/2021 Seminar William A. Petri, PhD
3:40 pm - 4:30 pm Zoom
Dr. William "Bill" Petri of the University of Virginia Department of Medicine has
been described as the go-to guy for all things COVID. His talk is "IL-13 is a Driver
of Severe COVID-19."
03/15/2021 Seminar Brian Kvitko, PhD
3:40pm - 4:30pm Zoom
Dr. Kvitko is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology, University
of Georgia
"A chemical arms race between onions and their bacterial pathogens"
Dr. Clemencia M. Rojas, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at the University of
Arkansas (and also the instructor for Bacteria Lifestyles, a remote biology elective
course offered through a special arrangement with the U of AR) will be presenting
some of her research in "Plant Defense Responses and Bacterial Virulence Weapons: Tales of Plant-Microbe Interactions."
4/9/2021 MS Thesis Defense Primal Silva
2:00 - 3:00pm Zoom
Primal Silva will be defending his Masters Thesis “The Role of Melatonin on Breast
Carcinogenesis and Metastasis”
