Welcome
Welcome to the Federated Departments of Biological Sciences, a collaboration between Rutgers University-Newark and the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Please use the links to your left to navigate our site.
The past decade has witnessed tremendous advances in the biological sciences and our Departments have developed a strategic plan to meet the changing needs of our students and our society. We recognize the contribution biology makes to a strong liberal arts education and understand the needs of its majors who are entering a world more biologically complex and sophisticated than a decade ago.
Undergraduate students in the program choose courses from among a wide
range of research fields to both develop a solid foundation in biology
and to build meaningful depth of study in areas of personal interest. In
addition to formal lecture and lab courses, students have many opportunities
for independent study through seminar courses and research with
our outstanding faculty. Learn
more about undergraduate opportunities...
Graduate students can choose an MS or PhD program. Both programs stress
the importance of the research experience and its value to critical thinking. Learn
more about graduate opportunities...
News and Events
11/24: A celebration of the Origin of Species
On Tuesday, Nov. 24th., from 11:30am
to 12:30pm, the Biology Graduate Student Association, supported by
the Graduate Student Association of Rutgers-Newark, will be hosting a celebration
of the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Origin of Species. Come
and join them in 421 Boyden Hall. Click here for
more information.
Recent Awards and Publications
New article
Jonakait, G.M. and L. Ni, (2009). Prostaglandins compromise basal forebrain cholinergic neuron differentiation and survival: Action at EP1/3 receptors results in AIF-induced death. Brain Res. 1285:30-41.
10/2009: Ecologist Dr. Claus Holzapfel has just been awarded a contract from the Department of Defense: Understanding and Combating the Fire-enhancing Impact of Nonnative Annuals in Desert Scrub through the Tools of Population and Landscape Ecology, funded by the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program SERDP/DoD for four years ($1,653,153). Claus and Kirk Moloney (Iowa State University, coPI) will explore how exotic, invasive plants increase fire in previously non-fire-prone desert plant communities on military installations in the Mojave and Sonoran Desert (California and Arizona). A modeling approach will explore and devise management tools to stop and possibly reverse these increasing fire trends.
8/2009: Dr. Gareth Russell (ecology, conservation biology), with Chris Small and Dana Fisher of Columbia University, received funding from the National Science Foundation's Ultra-Ex program for their proposal Understanding the Dynamic Connections Among Stewardship, Land Cover, and Ecosystem Services in New York City's Urban Forest. Click the project name for more info.
8/2009: Drs. Gareth Russell (ecology, conservation biology) and Jorge Golowasch (neurobiology), along with Dr. Victor Matveev of the Department of Mathematical Sciences at NJIT, received three-year funding for their Group Undergraduate Biology and Mathematics Training Program from the National Science Foundation (DUE- 0926232). This grant is to support undergraduate research training in Biology and Mathematics at NJIT. Selected undergradaute students enrolled in Biology or Mathematics programs at NJIT take an introductory one-semester-long course in Mathematical Biology and then immerse themselves full time in summer research for 2 months in a laboratory. Simultaneously they develop methods to analyze and understand biological systems using quantitative and analytical methods (computer models/analysis).
7/2009: Neurobiologist Dr. Jorge Golowasch recently received funding from the NIH for his project Role of neuromodulators and activity in the regulation of ionic currents and neuronal network activity (NIH 2R01-MH64711, 2009-2014). Two mechanisms of long-term regulation of neuronal activity appear to be at work in neurons and neural networks of a model system of rhythm generating networks (the Stomatogastric Ganglion of crustaceans). One appears to be activity-dependent, the other appears to be mediated by long-term effects of neuromodulatory input. The cellular mechanisms of these long-term effects, and their role in producing and maintaining a constant (but modifiable) level of rhythmic activity, are unknown, and they are the focus of most of the research in the lab. For this we use electrophysiology, computer modeling, molecular biology (e.g., RNA transfection and single cell PCR) and imaging tools. One surprise is that neuromodulators, up to now thought to only rapidly activate one ionic current, control the coordination of the levels of expression (or of activation) of several different ionic channels over long periods of time (hours).
Professor Judith Weis has just published a book, Salt Marshes: A Natural and Unnatural History. From the publisher:
Now championed as critical habitats for plants, animals, and people because of the environmental service and protection they provide, salt marshes were once consid- ered unproductive wastelands. Salt Marshes, with an emphasis coastal wetlands in the Atlantic and Gulf regions and the San Francisco Bay area, offers readers a wealth of essential information about a variety of flora and fauna, marshes’ ecological importance, consequences of human neglect and overdevelopment, and insight into how these wetlands recover.
“Judith Weis and Carol Butler have created a clear, wide-ranging, nontechnical
expla- nation of salt marshes that will engage readers at every level of
knowledge. Coastal residents, biology students, environmental planners,
consultants, and naturalists should read this book.”
— Erik Kiviat, executive director, Hudsonia Ltd.
Learn more about it and/or buy it at Amazon:
News for Students
TBA
Research Highlights
Prof. Mill Jonakait wasinvited to give a presentation in Busan, Korea, this summer at the International Society for Neurochemistry. It was entitled, "Can Microglia Direct Neuronal Differentiation?"
Recent paper: I've attached a figure from the paper just 'cause it's pretty.
Just published in Biological Invasions: "Testing the enemy release hypothesis: a comparison of foliar insect herbivory of the exotic Norway maple (Acer platanoides L.) and the native sugar maple (A. saccharum L.)" by Christy Cincotta, Jonathan Adams and Claus Holzapfel. This paper provides evidence that non-native Norway Maples introduced to the United States succeed in part by being less susceptible to insect attack than related native trees. Christy was a Masters student in the Department.
What is Fusion Ecology? Click here to find out…
Other Biology Web Sites
NJIT Department of Biological Sciences. All NJIT departments maintain their own web pages. NJIT-specific information, such as downloadable forms, can be found here. Note that information on Federation-coordinated activities, such as the undergraduate Major curriculum, should be identical to this site. Please let the webmaster know of any discrepancies.