Current News
May 15, 2011 – At today’s graduation ceremonies, the first class of four year biochemistry majors received their BS degrees. Congratulations to Kevin Backus, Vincent Capparelli, Alyssa Dragone, Tala El-Yousef, John Hull, Brittany Internoscia, Kasey Johnson, Elise Mangione, Shawn Morris, Paulina Ogorzalek, Ian Piro, Victoria Pisciella, Juliette Power, Stephanie Reinhold, Thomas Ruffino, Huasong Tang, Chong Wai Tio, Jenna Weinstein, and Hye Jin Yoo. We know that you will leave your impression on the world.
April 2011 - Undergraduate biochemistry students Paulina Ogorzalek (Biochemistry ‘11) and Russell Miller (Biochemistry ‘13), along with faculty member Jennifer Palenchar, presented a poster entitled “Characterization of a putative Trypanosoma brucei transcription factor” at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Washington, DC, in April 2011. Paulina has entered the Masters program in Food Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
April 2011 - Undergraduate biochemistry students Kasey Johnson (Biochemistry ‘11) and Victoria Pisciella (Biochemistry ‘11), along with faculty member Barry Selinsky, presented a poster entitled “Expression, Purification, and Characterization of a Putative Acetylcholine Binding Protein from Nostoc punctiforme” at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Washington, DC, in April 2011. Kasey has entered the PhD program in neurobiology at the University of Connecticut Medical School, while Victoria is employed at PPD, Inc., as a project assistant in biostatistics.
April 2011 - Undergraduate biochemistry students Huasong Tang (Biochemistry ’11) and Kevin Backus (Biochemistry ’11), along with faculty member Barry Selinsky, presented a poster entitled “Expression, Purification, and Characterization of a Putative Cyclooxygenase from Nostoc punctiforme” at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Washington, DC, in April 2011. Huasong has been accepted into the Commonwealth Medical School in Scranton, PA, and Kevin is.
February 2011 – Dr. Dennis Wykoff published a journal article in the February issue of Eukaryotic Cell entitled “Systematic screen of Schizosaccharomyces pombe deletion collection uncovers parallel evolution of the phosphate signal transduction pathway in yeasts.” Theresa Henry (Biology ’10) is the first author along with two other undergraduate authors - Juliette Power (Biochemistry ’10) and Aishat Mohammed (Biology ’08). All three students performed a senior thesis and were supported during a summer by the Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships. This work identified a new signal transduction pathway in fission yeast and suggests that certain parts of the phosphate signal transduction pathway are highly conserved in eukaryotes.
November 2010 – Dr. Dennis Wykoff published an article with B.S./M.S. student Brianne Orkwis and B.S. student Danielle Davies in the journal Genetics in November of 2010. The article entitled “Novel Acid Phosphatase in Candida glabrata Suggests Selective Pressure and Niche Specialization in the Phosphate Signal Transduction Pathway,” describes a novel gene in a human commensal yeast species that causes genetic isolation from the related brewer’s yeast. Ms. Orkwis is teaching classes in biology at the Philadelphia Institute of Technology and Ms. Davies is attending medical school at UMDNJ. This work is beginning to define the genes required for speciation.
May 16, 2010 – Congratulations to Kathryn Capasso, Melinda Darnell, Stephanie Komura, Bryan McCusty, Lauren Pedicini, Adam Terreri, Paul Weibel, and Alessa Wood, who graduated with Biochemistry degrees at Villanova’s commencement ceremonies this morning. We will miss you!
May 17, 2009 – Congratulations to Natalie Barrera, Michael Barresi, Kyle Doolan, Kristen Koller, Greg Papachristos, and Ryan Spears, who graduated with Biochemistry degrees at Villanova’s commencement ceremonies this morning.
