Yonathan Ararso ’13 recently gave a poster presentation of his summer research project at The New England Science Symposium held in the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center of the Harvard Medical School. The work, titled “Disarming Cancer’s Signaling Corridor: How Deletion of Endothelial Cell Notch Ligand Jagged 1 Suppresses Tumorigenesis,” discusses the role of endothelial cell initiated Notch signaling in the context of tumorgenesis. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute funded project was undertaken during the summer of 2012 at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City and dealt with investigating how inhibition of endothelial cell Notch ligand Jagged 1 affects tumor growth and metastasis in breast cancer.
Established in 2002, The New England Science Symposium provides a forum for postdoctoral fellows; medical, dental and graduate students; post-baccalaureates; college and community college students to share their biomedical and health-related research activities through oral or poster presentations. (www.mfdp.med.harvard.edu/med_grad/ness/)

Yonathan with his poster

Dr. Goodman and students in her Ecology class (BIOL 203) took a 3-day field trip to the Eastern Virginia Birding & Wildlife Festival in October of 2012.  They stayed in a rustic bunkhouse in Kipotpeke State Park and enjoyed campfire dinner, including first ever smores for a couple students!

Highlights of the trip included a keynote lecture by David Allen Sibley, famous for his illustrated bird guides, a visit to the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center, and a workshop / field trip to learn about and identify various species of dragonflies.

 We also took a field trip to the Savage Neck Dunes Natural Area Preserve (image below at trailhead), which is one of the few intact Chesapeake Bay coastal dune ecosystems that remain in Virginia.  Rare plants and animals there include the federally listed Northeastern Beach Tiger Beetle (sign below).