As the culmination of a year-long effort at Hampden-Sydney to discover and characterize new bacteriophages from the environment as part of its associate membership in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Science Education Alliance (SEA), Greg Robertson ’12 presented the findings of the Molecular Biology and Genomics classes from the past year at the HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus in Ashburn, VA as part of the annual national symposium for the SEA program.  The symposium draws together faculty and students from over 70 schools nationwide to share and discuss their data as well as learn about opportunities to pursue careers in biomedical research.

Greg Robertson '12 with his research poster

H-SC's entry in the HHMI program featuring all of the students that contributed to the phage project

Hampden-Sydney’s analyzed phage, Arturo, was discovered by Duncan Oliphant ’12 and characterized by 12 students over the course of the 2011-12 year.  The SEA program allowed these students to engage in an authentic research experience in a classroom setting.

Professor Mike Wolyniak, H-SC administrator of the HHMI-SEA program, with Greg Robertson

Greg presenting his poster

The findings from this year’s class on Artuto and 8 other isolated phages will be used in a number of molecular biology and biochemistry projects with future students.  H-SC will once again participate in the HHMI-SEA project in the 2012-13 academic year through its Molecular Biology class in the fall semester and the opportunity for students to conduct independent research projects based on class findings during the spring semester.

Greg at HHMI, appropriately with a Helix Drive mailing address

By Giovanni Torres ’14

During the fall semester of 2011 I was fortunate enough to attend the Duke University Marine Lab (DUML) in Beaufort, North Carolina and it was an amazing experience. The Marine Lab is on its own island with constant access to the surrounding estuary and the marine life within it. Field experiences and studies were done weekly and included both daytime and nighttime experiments. I was also able to do an independent research project with one of the world’s leading experts on deep sea hydrothermal vents, Dr. Cindy Van Dover, on Scale Worms. While at DUML, during the fall break, a small group of us went to Panama to study ecology on both the Pacific and the Atlantic sides of the country.

Research docks outside the dorms at DUML

Atop of the Ancon Hill overlooking Panama City

The class at the Goethals Memorial outside the Panama Canal Administration Building

Good luck to all of our graduating Biology majors:

Nick Bowling        Raj Clark              Aaron Fisher         Osric Forrest

Barron Frazier   Jonathan Gammon      Ian Giles            Matt Hamblin

C.W. Hammond     Nick Joyce             Alan Luck         Carter Mavromatis

Stewart Neifert   Duncan Oliphant     Jonathan Park        Chris Rhodes

Greg Robertson     Kirk Rohle             Ian Sammler       Zane Sampson

Bryan Wharton

The Biology Class of 2012 as depicted on cake

Chi Beta Phi, the honor society for the sciences, recently held its annual poster session to showcase the wide variety of undergraduate science research that takes place at Hampden-Sydney.  The Biology department was represented well by three projects from Dr. Wolyniak’s genomics class, which spent the semester characterizing a bacteriophage named Arturo by laboratory and computer analysis that was discovered on the H-SC campus last fall.

James Hughes '14: ideal environmental conditions for Arturo reproduction

Barron Frazier '12: Host range of Arturo

Kris Miller '13 and Greg Robertson '12 with their interpretation of "business casual" and an analysis of the effect of UV radiation on Arturo reproduction

The end of the school year brings with it the Final Convocation Ceremony and awards for students who have shown outstanding achievement at Hampden-Sydney.  The Biology Department gives two awards annually. The first, the James R. T. Hewett Biology Award, is given to a biology student who has shown exceptional service to the department and promise in research.  This year’s Hewett award was given to Osric Forrest ’12, who will begin his Ph.D. studies at Emory University this fall:

Biology Department representative Dr. Rachel Goodman with Hewett award recipient Osric Forrest '12

The department’s H.B. Overcash award, presented to the department’s top junior premedical student, was given to Burke Best ’13:

Burke Best '13 with Dr. Goodman

In addition, this year the department was pleased to have one of its new majors, James Hughes ’14, honored with a Sophomore Academic Excellence Award for earning one of the top two GPAs in the sophomore class:

Associate Dean of Academic Support Christa Fye with James Hughes '14

H-SC Ecology (Biol 203) students and Dr. Katie Burke visited York River State Park to learn about wetland natural history and sampling techniques, and, most of all, to have fun.  Our guide, Brad Thomas, took us canoeing and seine netting in this important wetland to the Chesapeake Bay.

Ian Giles and his catch

Stuart Neifert catches a crab

Guide Brad Thomas with the catch of the day, C.W. Hammond, and Brett Heyder

On Saturday, April 21, junior biology major Yonathan Ararso gave a poster presentation at the 2012 Spring Conference for the Virginia Collegiate Honors Council Meeting held at Randolph-Macon College.  Yonathan presented research conducted in the summer of 2011 under the supervision of Hampden-Sydney College biology professor Dr. Kristian Hargadon.  Yonathan’s research focused on comparing the gene and protein expression profiles of immunosuppressive molecules in two melanoma cancer cell lines, the highly aggressive B16-F1 melanoma and the poorly tumorigenic D5.1G4 melanoma.  Yonathan identified TGFbeta1 and VEGF-A as two immunosuppressive molecules that were more highly expressed in the highly aggressive tumor.  He will continue this research as part of a Senior Departmental Honors Project in Biology with Dr. Hargadon to evaluate the roles of these two immunosuppressive factors in the suppression of dendritic cells, an immune cell whose function is critical to the activation of anti-tumor immune responses.

Th recent volume of Herpetological Review featured results of surveillance for two wildlife diseases, ranavirus and the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, conducted by Dr. Rachel Goodman and HSC student Yonathan Tarekegne Ararso ’13.  This study found the fungus, which has been implicated in global amphibian declines, in low prevalence among frogs from campus ponds and a nearby Wildlife Management Area.  However, no frogs showed any symptoms of disease.  The survey failed to detect ranavirus in area frogs, despite the presence of this pathogen in a co-occurring turtles species.

5 of Hampden-Sydney’s graduating biology seniors recently completed their year-long independent Honors studies.  First, 4 of these students presented Department Honors projects.  Ian Giles presented his project, which was advised by Dr. Herb Sipe of the department of Chemistry and focused on the chemistry of kava root extracts:

Ian Giles

Next, Osric Forrest presented a multi-year study on cancer immunology that was advised by Dr. Kristian Hargadon.

Osric Forrest

Stewart Neifert presentation on the genetics behind human evolution was advised by Dr. Alex Werth:

Stewart Neifert

Finally, Jonathan Park gave a talk on the molecular basis of herbivory defense in plants based on his project advised by Dr. Mike Wolyniak

Jonathan Park

The department’s final Honors student, Barron Frazier, presented his Senior Fellowship project on Cherokee medical practices and its potential application to Western medicine, a project co-advised by Drs. Sharon Goad of the Department of Anthropology and Mike Wolyniak.  Senior Fellows devote half of their academic workload to immerse themselves in the pursuit of an interdisciplinary project.

Barron Frazier

These projects are the culmination of many months of hard work on the part of motivated and passionate scientists…..congratulations to all of our Honors students!

This summer, 8 Hampden-Sydney students will be engaging in research projects with department faculty.  The projects are financially supported by the College’s Honors Council as well as a variety of external sources, including the Jeffress Memorial Trust, the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, and the National Science Foundation.  Work will span the gamut of biology, including genetics, microbiology, ecology, and bioinformatics.  Congratulations to all of our research students:

Drake Bishop ’14

Alan Fish ’14

Brandon Fox ’14

Charlie Hand ’14

Christian Lehman ’14

Henry Loehr ’13

Francis Polakiewicz ’14

Sam Smith ’13