Biological Sciences

Biological Sciences Colloquium: Dr. Judith Smit
2025-09-12 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago) | Lapham Hall, N101, 3209 N Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Dr. Judith Smit, NOMIS-STRI postdoctoral fellow, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panamá will present a talk about her work entitled, ‘Communication in changing environments: urban túngara frogs & vibrationally duetting treehoppers‘
The Abstract is as Follows: Animals have evolved elaborate sexual signals, including songs, dances and substrate-borne vibrations, to attract and localize mates. Finding a mate is essential for reproduction, but is challenging in a complex and changing world. Urbanization is an example of drastic environmental change, with animals needing to deal with interference from sensory pollutants, such as artificial light at night and anthropogenic noise. On a smaller scale, animals can interact with different conspecifics that potentially vary greatly in their phenotypes. Feedback from and adjustments to conspecifics can shape sexual communication. Focusing on urban túngara frogs and vibrationally duetting treehoppers, my research explores how animals adjust their sexual communication to environmental changes.
The presentation will begin at 3:00 PM in Lapham Hall N101, preceded by an informal reception from 2:45 – 3:00PM.

Biological Sciences Colloquium: Dr. Jeff Karron
2025-09-19 15:00 | Lapham Hall, N101, 3209 N Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Dr. Jeff Karron, Professor, UWM Biological Sciences, will present a talk about his work entitled, ‘Paternity in Flowering Plants’

Biological Sciences Colloquium: Dr. Shan He
2025-09-26 15:00 - 16:00 | Lapham Hall, N101, 3209 N Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Shan He, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin – Madison, will present a talk about her work entitled, ‘Structure and regulation of the CO2-concentrating organelle, the pyrenoid’
The Abstract is as Follows:
Approximately one-third of global CO2 fixation occurs in an algal organelle, the pyrenoid. Engineering the pyrenoid into crops has great potential to increase yields. The pyrenoid enhances photosynthesis by clustering the CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco into a dynamic liquid-like condensate and supplying it with concentrated CO2. A molecular understanding of pyrenoid biogenesis and regulation will facilitate the engineering of the pyrenoid and shed light on how the pyrenoid plays such an important role in the global carbon cycle. However, both the structural basis of the pyrenoid condensate and how its phase separation is regulated were unknown. In my talk, I will share our structural characterization of how the pyrenoid condensate is formed by a linker protein that clusters multiple Rubisco holoenzymes, which reveals a critical motif that mediates the assembly of the pyrenoid’s three sub-compartments. Furthermore, I will discuss our discovery and characterization of a protein kinase that regulates the size and number of the pyrenoid condensate through disrupting phase separation. Our findings advance the structural and regulatory understanding of the pyrenoid, paving the way for its engineering into crops. More broadly, our work makes the pyrenoid a powerful model for studying biological and biophysical mechanisms of biomolecular condensates in cell biology.
The presentation will begin at 3:00 PM in Lapham Hall N101, preceded by an informal reception from 2:45 – 3:00PM.

Medical School Information & Networking Event
2025-10-07 16:00 - 17:30 | Lubar Enterpreneurship Center: First Floor Atrium, 2100 E Kenwood Blvd, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Dreaming about med school? 👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️ We’ve got just the event for you!
Join us for the 2nd Annual Medical School Information & Networking Event
📅 Tuesday, October 7 | ⏰ 4:00–5:30 PM
📍 Lubar Entrepreneurship Center (1st floor)
This event is your chance to:
✨ Connect with medical students from the Medical College of Wisconsin who get it—they’ve been where you are and are ready to share what it really takes to thrive.
✨ Hear insider tips on balancing pre-med life, surviving the MCAT grind, and navigating the med school application process.
✨ Meet Anton Johnson II, Admissions Recruiter at MCW, who will give you the lowdown on admissions requirements and pre-med enrichment programs you won’t want to miss.
Oh—and did we mention? Free refreshments + a raffle with awesome swag 🎉
If you are interested in attending, please register here: https://tinyurl.com/medschoolinfo25.

Biological Sciences Colloquium: Battle of the Organisms!
2025-10-10 15:00 - 16:00 | Lapham Hall, N101, 3209 N Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
This year we will be holding our second annual “Battle of the Organisms“. Members of the Biological Sciences Labs will create brief presentations about why their study organism/system is the best of the best. What makes an organism the best? It could be that it’s adorable, has outrageously cool facts, or perhaps it has the most important implications. After hearing from the contenders, the audience will vote on the overall best organism. Points will be awarded for various categories spanning the organism itself as well as the quality of the presentation. The winner of the best organism will receive perhaps the most invaluable prize — bragging rights until the next battle.
The presentation will begin at 3:00 PM in Lapham Hall N101, preceded by an informal reception from 2:45 – 3:00PM.

Biological Sciences Colloquium: Dr. Dominique Alfandari
2025-10-17 15:00 - 16:00 | Lapham Hall, N101, 3209 N Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Dr. Dominique Alfandari, professor of developmental biology at UMASS Amherst, will present a talk about his work entitled “ADAMs in Motion: A Cellular Odyssey from Surface to Nucleus.”
The abstract is as follows:
Cranial neural crest (CNC) cells are key stem cells that contribute to most of the facial structures in vertebrates. ADAM (A Disintegrin And Metalloprotease) proteins are essential for the induction and migration of the CNC. We have shown that Adam13 associates with the transcription factor Arid3a to regulate gene expression. Here we show that Adam13 modulates Histone modifications in the CNC. We show that Arid3a binding to the tfap2a promoter depends on the presence of Adam13. This association promotes the expression of one tfap2a variant expressed in the CNC that uniquely activates the expression of genes critical for CNC migration. We show that both Adam13 and human ADAM9 associate with proteins involved in histone modification and RNA splicing, a function critically affected by the loss of Adam13. We propose that ADAMs may act as extracellular sensors to modulate chromatin availability, leading to changes in gene expression and splicing.
The presentation will begin at 3:00 PM in Lapham Hall N101, preceded by an informal reception from 2:45 – 3:00PM.

Biological Sciences Colloquium: Fatemeh Cheraghi
2025-10-24 15:00 - 16:00 | Lapham Hall, N101, 3209 N Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Fatemeh Cheraghi, a PhD student in the De La Cova lab, will be presenting a talk about her work entitled “Investigation of RASopathy variants and Raf protein regulation.”
The abstract is as follows:
RASopathies are a group of human developmental disorders caused by mutation of genes encoding components of the ERK signaling pathway, including RAF1 and BRAF. Although most RASopathy-associated variants enhance Raf signaling, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. We hypothesize that variants affecting different domains of RAF1 and BRAF may alter signaling through distinct mechanisms, such as changes in Raf protein expression or subcellular localization. To test this hypothesis, we used Caenorhabditis elegans and CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to generate variants of the C. elegans Raf gene equivalent to those found in human patients. We analyzed phenotypes, Raf protein expression, and localization for five disease-associated variants. We will discuss how results from our C. elegans model may correspond to symptoms observed in human RASopathy patients.
The presentation will begin at 3:00 PM in Lapham Hall N101, preceded by an informal reception from 2:45 – 3:00PM.

Biological Sciences Colloquium: Dr. Alita Burmeister
2025-10-31 15:00 - 16:00 | Lapham Hall, N101, 3209 N Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Dr. Alita Burmeister, professor of microbiology at UWM, will present a talk about her work entitled “Bio Sci Treehouse of Horror: The Grim Reaper is said to carry a scythe, but it’s seven times more likely that he carries tuberculosis.”
The abstract is as follows:
Every day, evolution shapes our lives. Through the rapid change of bacterial and viral populations, pathogens rapidly evolve new genotypes and phenotypes. Sometimes these new traits allow microbes to evade the immune system, to become more pathogenic, or to increase in resistance to antibiotics and antivirals. My group uses molecular genetics and evolutionary biology to understand populations of bacteria and bacteriophages (‘phages,’ viruses that infect bacterial cells). We also use bacteria and phages to study evolutionary processes, such as the evolution of innovation and relaxed selection. In this talk, I will present ongoing and new projects, seek community feedback on future directions, and share a spooky inspiration for grant writing and teaching. There will be references to Ghost Busters and the Teenage Ninja Mutant Ninga Turtles, among other organisms that frequent the sewers.
The presentation will begin at 3:00 PM in Lapham Hall N101, preceded by an informal reception from 2:45 – 3:00 PM.

Biological Sciences Colloquium: Graduate Rep Q&A
2025-11-07 15:00 - 16:00 | Lapham Hall, N101, 3209 N Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Colloquium this week will be a Q&A with the Graduate Rep, Gerlinde Hoebel. Questions about grad school? Suggestions to improve student life in the department? Come chat with the Graduate Program Representative!
The presentation will begin at 3:00 PM in Lapham Hall N101, preceded by an informal reception from 2:45 – 3:00PM.

Biological Sciences Colloquium: Dr. Ignacio Escalante
2025-11-14 15:00 - 16:00 | Lapham Hall, N101, 3209 N Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Dr. Ignacio Escalante, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at University of Illinois-Chicago, will be presenting a talk about his work entitled “Bouncing together: behavioral and biomechanical defenses in Neotropical arachnids.”
The abstract is as follows:
Animals have evolved various defenses against predation. My research focuses on animals that use multiple lines of defense—how they evolve, what their costs are, and whether they are effective in multiple contexts. I will present three case studies of an understudied arachnid group, Opiliones (“daddy long-legs”): (1) They often lose legs voluntarily to escape from predators. I found that leg loss brings consequences for locomotor performance, from which they can recover. (2) They perform a quick upand-down movement (bobbing). I found that bobbing can serve as an anti-predator strategy. (3) I explore their multispecies aggregation behavior. These aggregations are highly variable in terms of species composition and the individuals present. My work shows that they use shared and unique signals to coordinate this defensive strategy. Overall, these studies illustrate the diversity of defensive strategies that animals may evolve to counter predation.
The presentation will begin at 3:00 PM in Lapham Hall N101, preceded by an informal reception from 2:45 – 3:00PM.

Biological Sciences Colloquium: Dr. Gerlinde Höbel
2025-11-21 15:00 - 16:00 | Lapham Hall, N101, 3209 N Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Dr. Gerlinde Höbel, professor of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at UWM, will be presenting a talk about her work entitled “Sexual selection theory meets frog behavior: on the architecture of mate choice decisions.”
The abstract is as follows:
Mate choice is an important cause of natural and sexual selection, driving the evolution of ornaments and promoting diversification and speciation. Mate choice decisions arise from the interaction of several components, and knowledge of whether they interact, and how, is crucial for understanding their contributions to selection. Research in my lab has focused on the relationship between preference functions (attractiveness ranking of prospective mates) and choosiness (effort invested in obtaining the preferred mate). We have shown that those are independent components of mate choice decisions in two species of treefrogs, suggesting that the joint study of variation in both components is required to gain a complete understanding of how mate choice contributes to sexual selection and speciation. We also uncovered surprising levels of individual variation in preference functions, which suggests that population-level curves may accurately capture the direction of sexual selection, but depending on the properties of the constituting individual functions they may over- or underestimate the strength of selection.
The presentation will begin at 3:00 PM in Lapham Hall N101, preceded by an informal reception from 2:45 – 3:00PM.

Biological Sciences Colloquium: NSF-IRES Research from Grenada
2025-12-05 15:00 - 16:00 | Lapham Hall, N101, 3209 N Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
The 2025 NSF-IRES research cohort will be presenting a talk entitled “Is newer better? Comparing established and emerging methods for tropical conservation in Grenada.”
The abstract is as follows:
Tropical conservation depends on accurate data. Traditional approaches, such as in-person observations and transect-and-quadrant surveys, have long guided management decisions. But new technologies can make data collection more efficient and affordable. This seminar features an overview of five student research projects comparing old and new methods, using Grenada’s reefs and rainforests as case studies:

From Transects to Technology: Comparing Methods in Grenada’s Reefs
Reframing the Reef: Evaluating Photogrammetry Against Traditional Benthic Survey Methods
A Tale of Two Grenadian Research Projects: Habitat Suitability Analysis and Tree Canopy Cover Methods Comparison
Diet Composition and Prey Availability for the Grenada Frog
Comparing biodiversity richness between federally protected areas and non-federally protected areas of terrestrial and marine ecosystems in the tropical island of Grenada

The presentation will begin at 3:00 PM in Lapham Hall N101, preceded by an informal reception from 2:45 – 3:00PM.

Biological Sciences Colloquium: Maisie Buntin
2026-02-13 15:00 - 16:00 | Lapham Hall, N101, 3209 N Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Maisie Buntin, Outreach Programs Coordinator at Milwaukee Public Museum, will be presenting a talk entitled “Museum Careers,” and the abstract is as follows:
Museums offer a unique and exciting work environment, blending academic research, educational outreach, and collections care. Learn more about career opportunities in a museum setting with Maisie Buntin, Outreach Program Coordinator at the Milwaukee Public Museum, and graduate of UWM’s Museum Studies Certificate program.
The presentation will begin at 3:00 PM in Lapham Hall N101, preceded by an informal reception from 2:45 – 3:00 PM.

Biological Sciences Colloquium: Lauran Liggan
2026-04-17 15:00 - 16:00 | Lapham Hall, N101, 3209 N Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Lauran Liggan, PhD candidate in the Alberto lab, will be giving a talk about her work entitled “Unlocking the microscopic life of kelp: molecular monitoring reveals gametophyte-driven processes that shape kelp habitat persistence and recovery.” The abstract is as follows:
Nearshore ecosystems such as kelp forests support high biodiversity and valuable ecosystem services, yet they are declining rapidly worldwide. A key challenge in understanding their recovery lies in resolving processes occurring in cryptic early life stages, particularly the microscopic gametophyte stage that underpin kelp population dynamics. My research utilizes a molecular approach to quantify these cryptic stages in-situ, integrating environmental DNA, population genetics, and spatial analyses to link early life-stage dynamics with patterns of recruitment and recovery. By making these hidden processes measurable, this work provides new insight into the mechanisms driving kelp forest resilience and offers insights for improving monitoring and restoration in rapidly changing coastal ecosystems.
The presentation will begin at 3:00 PM in Lapham Hall N101, preceded by an informal reception from 2:45 – 3:00PM.

Biological Sciences Greenhouse Open House
2026-04-22 14:00 - 18:00 | Northwest Quadrant C, Room 4600, 1930 E Hartford Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Join us for the 8th annual Biological Sciences Greenhouse Open House on Wednesday, April 22nd from 2:00PM-6:00PM to celebrate Earth Week.

Location: Northwest Quadrant Building C 4th floor (use the red elevators).

Experience: You’ll have the opportunity to tour this wonderful UWM resource, explore and learn about UWM’s instructional plant collection and fascinating cutting-edge NSF and USDA-funded research. Explore the Greenhouse webpage for details about this facility.
Bonus: There will be free plants available, while they last!

Biological Sciences Colloquium: Xiaosa Jack Xu
2026-04-24 15:00 - 16:00 | Lapham Hall, N101, 3209 N Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Dr. Xiaosa Jack Xu, Professor of Plant Biology at University of California Davis, will be presenting a talk about his work entitled “An Evolutionary View of Plant Inflorescence Development from Single-Cell and Spatial Profiling.” The abstract is as follows:
Inflorescence architecture is a major determinant of reproductive success and crop yield, yet how its developmental regulation evolves across phylogenetic scales remains incompletely understood. Here, we integrate single-cell transcriptomics, spatial gene expression, and gene editing to examine inflorescence development across three hierarchical evolutionary levels: a deep comparison between monocots and eudicots, a closer comparison within cereal monocots, and a near-scale comparison between maize and its wild progenitor, teosinte.
At the broadest scale, we generated a comparative single-cell atlas of developing inflorescences in Arabidopsis and maize. This analysis recovered thousands of stem cells marked by CLAVATA3 and WUSCHEL and uncovered conserved stem cell regulators, including members of the SERPINE1 mRNA-binding protein family, revealing deeply conserved mechanisms underlying shoot meristem maintenance across monocots and eudicots.
At an intermediate scale, we performed an integrative analysis of single-cell transcriptomes from developing inflorescences of five cereal crops: maize, wheat, barley, rice, and sorghum. We identified shared cell populations and resolved distinct meristem subdomains, revealing a conserved core of meristematic cell identities and regulatory programs, alongside divergence in transcriptional programs associated with lateral organ initiation and differentiation that likely underlie species-specific cereal inflorescence architectures.
At the closest scale, we constructed a single-cell atlas of developing teosinte ears and compared it with maize to investigate domestication-associated changes in ear development. We identified cell-type-specific differentially expressed genes in inflorescence stem cells and axillary meristem-initiating cells, many showing signatures of selection during domestication. Higher-order mutants in SPL, UB2, UB3, TSH4, and GLUTAREDOXIN genes reverted ear morphology toward teosinte-like forms.
The presentation will begin at 3:00 PM in Lapham Hall N101, preceded by an informal reception from 2:45 – 3:00PM.

Biological Sciences Colloquium: Chandika Rani Ganesh Babu
2026-05-01 15:30 - 16:30 | UWM Student Union Alumni Fireside Lounge, 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Chandika Rani Ganesh Babu, PhD candidate in the Latch Lab, will be presenting a talk about her work entitled “Applied Genomics for White-tailed Deer Management: Population Monitoring and Chronic Wasting Disease.” The abstract is as follows:

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal neurological disease affecting deer and related species. As it continues to spread across North America, it presents growing challenges for wildlife conservation and management. Understanding why some animals are more susceptible than others and developing better tools to monitor wild populations are critical steps toward effective disease control. This talk will explore how genetics and genomic tools are advancing our understanding of white-tailed deer populations and the biological mechanisms underlying CWD susceptibility. Using large-scale, range-wide sampling, the talk will highlight how modern genomics can reveal patterns of population structure, disease vulnerability, and pathways that may shape future wildlife management strategies. Join us to learn how genetics is helping address one of the most pressing disease challenges facing North American wildlife.

Please note that this week, colloquium will be taking place at 3:30pm in the Union Alumni Fireside Lounge as the keynote talk of the 2026 Biological Sciences Research Symposium.

Biological Sciences Colloquium: Dr. Daisy Sahoo
2026-05-08 15:00 - 16:00 | Lapham Hall, N101, 3209 N Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Dr. Daisy Sahoo, professor of biochemistry at Medical College of Wisconsin, will be giving a talk about her work entitled “Receptor-mediated Approaches to Reducing Cardiovascular Risk.” The abstract is as follows:
Atherosclerosis, a major cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD), is an inflammatory disease resulting from the build-up of cholesterol in plaque along the artery walls. As such, the development of strategies to lower plasma cholesterol levels remains a high priority. While various lipid-lowering therapies designed to prevent cholesterol from accumulating in the blood have proved successful, such treatments are sometimes accompanied by adverse side effects and residual CVD risk. In this seminar, we will discuss three different receptor-based approaches to reducing plasma cholesterol and CVD risk. At the level of the macrophage, we will focus on the roles of CD36 (an oxidized LDL receptor) and free fatty acid receptor 4 (FFAR4) in the development of atherosclerosis. We will also discuss SR-BI, a receptor responsible for mediating HDL-cholesterol delivery to the liver for whole body cholesterol excretion.
The presentation will begin at 3:00 PM in Lapham Hall N101, preceded by an informal reception from 2:45-3:00 PM.

Beers with Biologists
2026-08-02 20:00 - 22:00 | Black Husky Brewing, 909 E. Locust St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Join UWM’s Department of Biological Sciences for a fun and engaging learning experience at Black Husky Brewing, 909 E. Locust St. Enjoy TED Talk-style science presentations from graduate students and researchers on topics including the curious cognitive world of spiders, the ecology of kelp forests and the fascinating science taking place beneath Antarctica’s sea ice.
We’ll also be hosting a themed potluck: Bring your favorite arachnid- or ocean-inspired dish to share, and come ready for an evening of great food, great beer and fascinating science.
