- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
He will be hosted by fellow bee scientist Brian Johnson, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Zayed leads a research program on honey bee behavioral genetics and genomics. In his talk, Zayed will summarize his group's recent findings on patterns of positive selection in the honey bee genome, and show how integrative genomic analyses can be used to chart the bee's genotype-phenotype map.
Zayed completed his bachelor's degree in environmental science with honors in 2000, and his doctorate in biology in 2006, both at York University. He was awarded the Governor General's prestigious Gold Medal in 2007 for his doctoral research on bee conservation genetics.
Zayed held a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada's Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Illinois' Department of Entomology from 2006 to 2008 in Charles Whitfield's Laboratory. He then served as a fellow for the Institute for Genomic Biology's Genomics of Neural and Behavioral Plasticity Theme (theme leader: Gene Robinson) at the University of Illinois from 2008 to 2009.
Zayed rejoined York University's Department of Biology as an assistant professor in 2009. He received the Ontario Government of Research and Innovation's Early Researcher Award in 2010, and was promoted to associate professor in 2014. He received the Ontario Government of Research and Innovation's Early Researcher Award in 2010.
Plans call for recording the seminar for later posting on UCTV.
Coordinating the seminars is professor Steve Nadler. For a list of the speakers, see this page.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
"Two categories of evolutionary challenges result from escalating human impacts on the planet," Carroll says. "The first arises from cancers, pathogens and pests evolving too quickly, and the second from the inability of many valued species to adapt quickly enough."
Carroll says that applied evolutionary biology offers strategies to address these global challenges that threaten human health, food security and biodiversity and natural resources.
He will highlight both progress and gaps in evolutionary methods across the life sciences that either "target the rate and director of evolution or reduce the mismatch between organisms and human-altered environments."
"Refining and applying these underused tools will be vial for meeting current and future targets for sustainable development."
Carroll does research on patterns of ongoing evolution in wild and anthropogenic environments. He is well-known for his studies on evolutionary changes in soapberry bugs in response to plant introductions. His expertise includes behavioral and evolutionary aspects of adaptation to contemporary environmental change in insects and other organisms.
Related Link:
See latest research on evolutionary biology techniques
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
DAVIS--Research entomologist Jay Evans of the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS) will speak on "What's It Like Inside a Bee? Genetic Approaches to Honey Bee Health" from 12:10 to 1 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 4 in 122 Briggs Hall.
The seminar, sponsored by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will be hosted by the Marin County Beekeepers.
"Honey bees are the preferred agricultural pollinators worldwide, and are important natural pollinators in Europe, Asia, and Africa," Evans says in his abstract. "The European honey bee, Apis mellifera, is both aided and abused by humans, leading to a worldwide distribution on one side, and alarming regional die-offs on the other. Primary causes of honey bee colony death range from inadequate nutrition to stress from chemical exposure and maladies caused by a diverse set of parasites and pathogens."
"Often, domesticated honey bees face two or more stress agents simultaneously. Genetic approaches are being used to determine and mitigate the causes of bee declines. Genetics screens are available for each of the major biotic threats to bees, and screens have been used to determine risk levels for these threats in the field. Thanks to extensive analyses of the honey bee genome, tools are also available to screen bees for heritable traits that enable disease resistance, and to query the expressed genes of bees to infer responses to chemicals and biological stress. This talk will cover genetic insights into honey bee health, disease resistance and susceptibility to chemical insults."
Evans received his undergraduate degree in biology at Princeton and his doctorate in biology from the University of Utah. He did a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Georgia, where he became interested in honey bees. After a brief project on queen production at the University of Arizona, he joined the USDA/ARS as a research entomologist with the USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Beltsville, MD.
He is especially interested in insect immunity and in the abilities of social insects to evade their many parasites and pathogens. He focuses his projects on a range of bee pests including the American foulbrood bacterium, small hive beetles, nosema, viral pests and varroa mites.
Evans was an early proponent of the Honey Bee Genome Project and helped recruit and organize scientists interested in applied genomics for bees. He has improved and applied genetic screens for possible causes of colony collapse disorder and is now heading a consortium to sequence the genome of the Varroa mite in order to develop novel control methods for this key pest.
See research on the varroa mite
The next UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar will be:
Feb. 11
Amro Zayed
Title of Seminar: "Bee Genes, Behavior and Adaptation"
Professor, Department of Biology
York University
Toronto, Canada
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The article, “Triclosan Promotes Liver Tumor Development,” highlights the team's discovery that triclosan, an antimicrobial commonly found in soaps, shampoos, toothpastes and many other household products, causes liver fibrosis and cancer in laboratory mice through molecular mechanisms that are also relevant in humans.
Robert Tukey, a UC San Diego professor in the departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Pharmacology, led the study with Hammock, who has a joint appointment in the Department of Entomology and Nematology, and Comprehensive Cancer Center at UC Davis. Tukey and Hammock are directors of National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund Programs at their respective campuses.
The team, including San Diego-based scientist Mei-Fei Yueh, investigated long-term exposure to triclosan in mice by treating them with triclosan for 6 months, which is roughly equivalent to 18 human years. They then compared the livers of exposed mice with those of mice not exposed to triclosan. Researchers found that chronic exposure to triclosan in mice caused liver damage and liver cell death. They also discovered that triclosan exposure in mice increased susceptibility to tumor formation through enhanced cell growth, liver fibrosis (excessive accumulation of proteins in the liver), and proinflammatory responses, which are circumstances within which human cancer forms.
The scientists found that triclosan interferes with a nuclear receptor, known as the constitutive androstane receptor, that plays a role in detoxifying the blood. To compensate for this interference, the liver overproduces cells, which can lead to fibrosis and cancer.
PNAS co-authors included Koji Taniguchi, Shujuan Chen and Michael Karin, UC San Diego; and Ronald M. Evans, Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
Related Links
The Dirty Side of Soap
PNAS Paper, "The Commonly Used Antimicrobial Additive Triclosan Is a Liver Tumor Promoter"
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
UC Davis's fourth annual Biodiversity Museum Day, to take place Sunday, Feb. 8 from 12 noon to 4 p.m., will showcase collections at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, Center for Plant Diversity, the Botanical Conservatory, the Paleontology Collection, the Anthropology Collection, and the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology.
“Each museum's impressive research/teaching collection documents the biodiversity of life in California and throughout the world, whether it be plants, fossils, human culture, insects or birds,” said co-coordinator Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum.
All participating museums have active education and outreach programs, but the collections are not always accessible to the public.
There is no admission and no parking fees. Visitors are encouraged to stroll or bike around the UC Davis campus and visit all six collections. All collections are located indoors.
Maps, signs and guides will be available at all the locations on the main UC Davis campus.
The locations:
The locations:
Bohart Museum of Entomology, Room 1124 of Academic Surge, Crocker Lane (off LaRue Road)
Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, 1394 Academic Surge, Crocker Lane
UC Davis Botanical Conservatory, Kleiber Hall Drive
Center for Plant Diversity, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive, near Briggs Hall
Anthropology Collections, Young Hall, off A Street
Geology Collections, Earth and Physical Sciences Building, across from Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane
For more information visit the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/UC-Davis-Biodiversity-Museum-Day/316198101914890?sk=timeline. For further information, contact co-coordinator Ernesto Sandoval of the Botanical Conservatory at jesandoval@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-0569.