Category: Biology

Amherst College Science Center

A Visual Introduction to Bone Dynamics!

Prior to starting my internship, I thought of bones as rigid structures. I was surprised to learn about all the action that occurs beneath the bone surface! In this video, I use animations to break down how bone develops and adapts over time, also known as bone dynamics….

Sticking together to survive

Model organisms are non-human species that scientists use to study biological mechanisms. They should be easy to grow, mature quickly, have lots of offspring, and have a sequenced genome. Some of the most popular model organisms are yeast, house mice, fruit flies, worms, and zebrafish. Different organisms have unique traits that make studying specific processes…

Why Study Stella?

In my opinion, one of the most amazing things that biologists do is peer into the past by imagining what animals once looked like and how the animals of today are related to each other. If the molecular biological and phylogenetic concepts that biologists use were artistic media, their canvas would be their organism of…

My Summer at MBL

Hello! My name is Javier Londono and I am from Garfield, NJ. I am a rising junior biology major. I am also working on the 5 college marine science certificate. On campus, I am a part of DQ, the oldest Acapella group on campus and I joined DASAC this past spring! I am participating in…

Working with the Wu Orr Lab

Hello! My name is Carl Soderstrom, and I am a rising sophomore majoring in Biochemistry and French. This summer, I will be on campus working as a Greg Call intern for Professor Wu Orr. Our lab is interested in how bacteria utilize small proteins of about 50 amino acids or shorter to respond to stressors…

Fighting a fungal pathogen by inspecting the genome

My name is Skyler Sung, a rising third-year Neuroscience major. I look forward to sharing my reflections as a part of the National Institutes of Health Summer Internship Program (NIH SIP). Through this program, students select a lab from one of the many Institutes and Centers (ICs) to work in and are able to participate…

The very hungry amoeba: Studying kinases involved in macropinocytosis

Hello everyone! My name is Grace Lee, and I am a rising sophomore majoring in Biology. This summer, I am conducting cell research through SURF at Amherst in the Edwards Lab. Using the model organism Dictyostelium discoideum, the Edwards Lab studies cell migration. Though the overall goal of the lab is to understand how cells…

“Heading” towards a new understanding of animal evolution

Hello! My name is Phillip Zhou, and I’m a rising sophomore at Amherst College majoring in biology and mathematics. I love learning about developmental biology, applied mathematics, and evolution. Two weeks ago, I started work with the Gibson Lab at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, where I will be using the starlet sea anemone…

Brilliant Bones

Our lab is especially interested in the spongy region, also known as trabecular bone. Hi! My name is Amritha, and I’m a rising senior majoring in Biochemistry/Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering through the Dual Degree Program. This summer, I am working in the Bone Bioengineering Lab (BBL) at Columbia University through the Amgen Program, under Dr….

A Letter to the Biology Department: Improving Curricula and Access to Research

After careful review of curricula and research opportunities within the Biology Department, Danielle Reed ’21, Eva Nelson’22, and Andrea Mirow’22 (with the support of 105 signatories as of May 11, 2021) call for the following steps to further integrate anti-racist values and practices within the Biology Department. Reed’21, Nelson’22, and Mirow’22 would like to thank…