In May, Dr. Goodman assisted a group of ecologists working on a unique island system in Great Abaco, Bahamas.  For 10 days, she and Amber Wright of University of Hawaii caught, marked, and measured Anolis sagrei lizards derived from populations introduced to 16 tiny islands two years ago.  These islands will be compared to 16 additional islands that did not receive lizard introductions to determine the impact of “top down” predator effects on these ecosystems.  Plant growth and invertebrate populations are being monitored by ecologists Jonah Piovia-Scott, Louie Yang, and David Spiller.  This island system is also being used to determine the impact of “bottom up” effects of resource subsidies, in the form of hundreds of pounds of seaweed delivered to 16 of the 32 islands.

Every June, representative from institutions participating in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) program gather for a student symposium at HHMI’s Janelia Farm Research Campus in Ashburn, VA.  Hampden-Sydney has participated in SEA-PHAGES since 2011, with students isolating bacteriophages from the environment and performing molecular and bioinformatic characterization as part of a national project on bacteriophage evolution based out of the University of Pittsburgh.  This year’s H-SC student representatives were Joshua Dimmick ’15 and Taylor Meinhardt ’16.

Taylor Meinhardt ’16, Joshua Dimmick ’15, and Professor Mike Wolyniak with the H-SC research poster

Dimmick and Reinhardt were both in Professor Mike Wolyniak’s Molecular and Cellular Biology class in the Fall 2014 semester in which the class discovered several Bacillus-based bacteriophages, including one isolated by Stephen Woodall ’15 called Archie14 that was the subject of further investigation for the symposium.

Dimmick and Meinhardt present their poster

The symposium attracted students and faculty from ~80 institutions nationwide that participate in the SEA-PHAGES initiative and was keynoted by Eric Betzig, co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2014 for his work in microscopy.

Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Kristian M. Hargadon ’01 recently published a major research article on melanoma-altered function of dendritic cells in the journal Immunology and Cell Biology.  Published by Nature Publishing Group, one of the leading publishers of scientific and medical journals, Immunology and Cell Biology places particular emphasis on the cellular biology of the immune system.  Dr. Hargadon’s article, entitled “Melanoma-derived factors alter the maturation and activation of differentiated tissue-resident dendritic cells,” includes 5 Hampden-Sydney College student co-authors who have worked on various aspects of this project in his lab over the past 3 years.  These student authors are Drake Bishop, Jay Brandt, Charlie Hand, Yonathan Ararso, and Osric Forrest.  Osric Forrest is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Immunology Graduate Program at Emory University, Drake Bishop and Jay Brandt are both pursuing an M.D. at Eastern Virginia Medical School, and Yonathan Ararso is in the process of applying to M.D./Ph.D. programs.  The research reported in their article (http://www.nature.com/icb/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/icb201558a.html) describes how aggressive melanomas compromise the function of dendritic cells in a way that may ultimately promote tumor escape from host immune responses.  Dr. Hargadon’s research program is currently funded by a grant from the Commonwealth Health Research Board.

This summer two H-SC students, Jefferson Thompson ’16 and Travis Goodloe 16′, are conducting melanoma research in the laboratory of Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Kristian M. Hargadon ’01.  In addition to support from the College’s Honors Council and a Commonwealth Health Research Board grant to Dr. Hargadon, both students have also received external funding for their work.  Travis Goodloe received a Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research for a project entitled “Validation of a Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR)-based Method for Detecting Lymph Node Metastasis by Melanoma Cells.”  He is developing an assay to measure the spread of regional melanomas into tumor-draining lymph nodes, and this work will serve as a foundation for future studies that aim to investigate how lymph node involvement by melanoma cells impacts the induction of immune responses to this tumor.  Jefferson Thompson received a Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges Undergraduate Science Research Fellowship for a project entitled “Generation of a Foxc2 Gene Knockout Murine Melanoma Cell Line via CRISPR-Cas9 Genome Editing Technology.”  CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing has revolutionized the field of genetic engineering since its discovery in 2013, and Jefferson is the first student to employ this technology at Hampden-Sydney College.  He will be editing the nucleotide sequence of the Foxc2 gene in a mouse melanoma cell line so that the protein encoded by this gene is no longer produced.  This “knockout” cell line will be used in future studies to investigate the role of the FOXC2 transcription factor in regulating melanoma metastasis, and those studies will utilize the metastasis assay being developed by Travis.  If the FOXC2 protein is shown to promote melanoma spread to lymph nodes, it may serve as both a clinical marker for the progression of this cancer as well as a novel therapeutic target for cancer treatments designed to eradicate metastatic melanoma.  Both Jefferson and Travis plan to attend medical school upon their graduation from H-SC!

Jefferson Thompson ’16 (right) and Travis Goodloe ’16 (left) hard at work in the lab!

Jefferson has become a pro at gel electrophoresis!

Travis dissecting a melanoma tumor-bearing mouse!

Five Hampden-Sydney College sophomore students were recently accepted into medical schools through Early Assurance Programs that the College has established.  James Lau ’17 was accepted at Eastern Virginia Medical School, Brant Boucher ’17 and Will Echols ’17 were both accepted at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine, and Benjamin Lam ’17 and Robert Kerby ’17 were both accepted at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.  Through articulation agreements established between Hampden-Sydney College and each medical institution, competitive students apply during their sophomore year for admittance into medical school.  Once accepted, successful students complete their 4 years of undergraduate work at H-SC and have guaranteed admission to medical school following their graduation.  Congratulations to this year’s successful applicants and future doctors!

The traditional rendering of the biology graduates on cake for the end-of-year picnic

William J. Banning

John P. Brandt

E. Davis Carter

Mitchel D. Cavallarin

John A. Collie

Justin C. DeChirico

Joshua T. Dimmick

Christopher M. Ferrante

Brandon K. Fox

Aaron S. Gilani

Grayland W. Godfrey

Jeffrey D. Gray

W. Tucker Hudgins

Erik W. Kellogg

Sean G. Kellogg

Andrew W. Oliver

Daniel Osarfo-Akoto

Gavin D. Paul

T. Samuel Robinson

Garrett R. Salyer

Robert L. Stephens

Spencer T. Wiles

Stephen L. Woodall

The H-SC Biology Class of 2015 has been especially productive when it comes to original research.  Below are a list of the topics covered by this class in their Departmental Honors and Senior Fellowship projects that gives a flavor for the wide array of research opportunities for present and future students in the Biology Department.

Departmental Honors:

“Effects of herbicides and ranavirus, an emerging infectious disease, on juvenile Red-Eared Slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans)”–Davis Carter ’15

“Analysis of substrates on growth performance of Centaurea stoebe ssp. micranthos (Asteraceae) using field and lab studies”–Erik Kellogg ’15

“Greenhouse and Field Studies of the Invasive Aster Centaurea stoebe (Asteraceae) and a Native Competitor Lespedeza capitata (Fabaceae)”–Sean Kellogg ’15

“RNAi analysis of Lag-1 Isoform D in Caenorhabditis elegans, a homolog of Suppressor of Hairless (Su(H))”–Daniel Osarfo-Akoto ’15

“Genetic Engineering of the Murine Melanoma D5.1G4 to Express a Model Antigen for Evaluation of Anti-tumor CD8+ T Cell Responses”–Stephen Woodall ’15

Senior Fellowship:

“Synthesis and Application of Small Cationic Peptides as Potential Antibiotics”–Jay Brandt ’15 and Christopher Ferrante ’15 (in cojunction with the Department of Chemistry)

“The Generation of Trichromatic Vision via Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) Vector Expressing Red-Shifted Channelrhodopsin (ReaChR)”–Aaron Gilani ’15 (in conjunction with the Department of Psychology)

“Evolution of the Eye and its Extreme Capabilities”–Jeffrey Gray ’15 (in conjunction with the Department of Physics and Astronomy)

Each spring, the College of William and Mary invites Virginia participants in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (HHMI SEA-PHAGES) project to their campus for a meeting for students to share their research work on the isolation and characterization of novel bacteriophages from the environment.  This year, Hampden-Sydney students Josh Dimmick ’15, Grayland Godfrey ’15, and Taylor Meinhardt ’16 accompanied Professor Mike Wolyniak to Williamsburg and gave the College’s presentation on Archie14, a Bacillus thuringiensis bacteriophage discovered by Stephen Woodall ’15 on the H-SC campus.

Taylor Meinhardt ’16, Josh Dimmick ’15, and Grayland Godfrey ’15 give their presentation to the William and Mary audience

The SEA-PHAGES program has expanded to include over 70 institutions nationwide and more than 4,800 undergraduates conducting original research on bacteriophage genomics and evolution based out of the University of Pittsburgh.  Participating institutions include small liberal arts colleges like Hampden-Sydney, Smith, and Gettysburg and large research universities like Brown, Ohio State, and Washington State working towards a common research goal of a better understanding of bacteriophage diversity.  In Virginia, the SEA-PHAGES project is done at Hampden-Sydney, William and Mary, Mary Washington, James Madison, Virginia Commonwealth, and Old Dominion.

Dimmick, Godfrey, Thomas Jefferson, and Meinhardt on the central campus of William and Mary. Given as a gift by the University of Virginia, Jefferson’s statue at William and Mary, his alma mater, faces Charlottesville and the university he would eventually found in the latter years of his life.

The biology department was well represented at the College’s 2015 Final Convocation ceremony, held each April to honor the achievements of members of the Hampden-Sydney community over the past year.  The Biology Department gives two awards at this event.  The first, the R.T. Hewitt Biology Award, is given to the graduating senior who has distinguished himself in his work in the classroom and the laboratory over his 4 years at the College.  This year’s recipient, Davis Carter ’15, has worked extensively with Professor Rachel Goodman over the past two years on research in virology and herpetology and is beginning a research position at the University of Tennessee this summer as the first step towards a career in ecology research.

Davis Carter receives the Hewett Award from Biology Chair Alex Werth

Next, the department presented the Overcash Award, a prize awarded to the top junior in the department who is planning a career in the health sciences.  This year’s recipient, Travis Goodloe ’16, will undertake research this summer with Professor Kristian Hargadon and will be the co-Editor-in-Chief of the Hampden-Sydney Journal of the Sciences in the 2015-16 academic year.

Travis Goodloe ’16 receives the Overcash Award from Professor Werth

In addition to the Biology Department awards, James Lau ’17 and Brant Boucher ’17, double majors in Biology and Chemistry, were given the Sophomore Academic Excellence Award for carrying the highest GPAs in the sophomore class.

James Lau ’17 receives the Sophomore Academic Excellence Award from Associate Dean for Academic Success Christa Fye

Brant Boucher ’17 receiving the Sophomore Academic Excellence Award from Dean Fye

Finally, Professor William Shear celebrated his retirement at the end of the academic year by receiving the John Peter Mettauer Award for Research Excellence for the fourth time in his 41-year Hampden-Sydney career.  Professor Shear has authored 205 papers on a variety of topics including insect taxonomy and evolution and ranks among the most prolific researchers in the 240 year history of the College.

Professor Shear addresses the crowd after receiving the Mettauer Award

The students in Prof. Werth’s Biology 343 traveled to the Middle Peninsula of Virginia to check out various sites where farmed oysters are bred and raised at a hatchery and then grown in cages in natural habitats. First they visited the Rappahannock Oyster Company on Locklies Creek in Topping, VA, where student Jamie Howard works with other ROC employees. They toured a facility and spoke with staff who farm Crassostrea virginica, the local oyster, whose populations nearly collapsed in recent decades. Now, baby oysters are placed in cages and grown in various regions where differences in salinity and other aquatic factors cause oysters of each place to develop different tastes. Each year, the Rappahannock Oyster Company grows millions of oysters, selling them locally and shipping them around the world. Students saw the boats, tanks, cages, and other equipment used by the ROC aquaculture operation, and discussed the ecology of the species that so many people like to eat.

Touring the Rappahannock
Oyster Company

Next, the class drove to the Oyster Seed Holding Company on Gwynn’s Island, where sterile triploid oyster embryos are produced from brood stock and where these tiny oysters are raised on different species of “clean” algae that the oysters filter from circulating water. The class discussed many aspects of oyster (and general estuarine) marine biology, particularly the fascinating aspects of algology necessary to grow the algae on which the growing oysters depend. Each year OSH sells millions of spat to companies (like ROC) that culture them until the oysters are large enough to be harvested and eaten. The class learned a lot about the life of oysters and this species’ importance to Virginia science, economics, and the restaurant and aquaculture industries.

Checking out the stock at the Oyster Seed Holding Company