- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Fourth-year student Yolanda Franklin of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology won second place for her oral undergraduate research on "Behavioral Response to Catnip in Juvenile Domestic Cats" at the 2014 national conference of the Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS), held recently in Birmingham, Ala.
Franklin presented results of her research that she conducted in the School of Veterinary Medicine, combining her love for plants and animals. Judges scored her work on mechanics, introduction, methods, results and conclusions.
Her research involved Nepeta cataria of the Lamiacae family and its intoxicating effects on felines. "We hypothesized that kittens will display 'cheek rub/head roll' behavior with repeated catnip exposure, she said.
Franklin found that the sensitivity to catnip is present in kittens less than 12 months old, and that catnip physiological response is inherently genetically linked. "Further research needs to be conducted on the interrupted catnip response during pregnancy," she said.
Franklin is a fourth-year student in the animal biology program, hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. For their assistance and support, she credited feline geneticist Leslie Lyons and the Lyons Den laboratory, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine; the UC Davis chapter of Multiculturalism in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences, an affiliate of MANRRS; and faculty advisor Annie King, professor in the Department of Animal Science.
Franklin serves as vice president of the UC Davis of MANRRS. Among her other academic and professional activities:
- Application coordinator of Pre-Vet Students Supporting Diversity, 2013-2014
- Intern, School of Medicine-Surgical Research, 2012-2013
- Member, Chancellor's Blue Ribbon Committee, 2012-2013
- Member, Black Student Union, 2013-present
- Member, Vet Aide Club, 2012-present
- Member, Guardian Scholars Program, 2012-present
- Member, Student Aggie Alumni, 2012-present
- Licensed veterinary technician, State of Michigan (active since 1986)
"One important focus for members is active participation in recruitment of a diverse student population for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the campus," said King. "This includes tabling events during the academic year, discussions of recruitment efforts with the Offices of Admissions and the Registrar as well as oral presentations during summer advising."
The regional clusters, and especially the national MANRRS conferences, provide personal and professional developments for members of the UC Davis chapter, King noted. More than 900 students, plus advisors and industry/governmental agencies, participated in the national conference. Student attendees at the national conferences gain experience in interview techniques, networking, professionalism, public speaking (presentations in a panel setting, impromptu and prepared), oral/poster presentations of original research and properly presenting themselves to various representatives in a career fair.
UC Davis student Gaby Pedroza of Animal Science, was among the list of the national conference winners. Pedroza won second place for public speaking.
Related Links:
Judging of Research
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
He was selected one of 283 scholars nationwide to receive a federally funded Goldwater scholarship from among 1,166 applicants.
The applicants were nominated by faculty from their college. Of the 283, men comprise 172 and women, 111. Virtually all intend to obtain a Ph.D. as their degree objective, a Goldwater program spokesman said. Twenty-two scholars are mathematics majors, 191 are science and related majors, 63 are majoring in engineering, and 7 are computer science majors. Many of the scholars have dual majors in a variety of mathematics, science, engineering, and computer disciplines.
The scholarships will cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500.
Forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey, who serves as the master advisor of the animal biology program at UC Davis, encompassing some 400 students, recalled that Magee initially considered a career in veterinary medicine because he didn't think he could succeed in biological sciences.
"He told me he wanted to be a veterinarian because he did not think he was good enough to do biological research," Kimsey said. Kimsey assured him he indeed could.
Keenly interested in evolution and ecology, Magee studies and researches statistical phylogenetics — estimates of the evolutionary relationships among species. He plans to pursue a doctorate in evolutionary biology and conduct research and teach at the university level.
At UC Davis, Magee holds a prestigious Regent's Scholarship and participates in the University Honors Program. He has worked on three research projects and is now investigating the phenomenon of declining rates at which lineages diversify through time.
The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program honors the late U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater, who served 30 years in the U.S. Senate. Congress established the program in 1986 "to provide a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians, and engineers by awarding scholarships to college students who intend to pursue research careers in these fields."
Since its first award in 1989, the foundation has awarded 7,163 scholarships worth approximately $46 million. Since its first award in 1989, the foundation has bestowed 7,163 scholarships worth approximately $46 million.
Students interested in the Goldwater scholarship should apply to the UC Davis Undergraduate and Prestigious Scholarship Office by November 2014. The office assists high-achieving students to apply for national and international scholarships.
(UC Davis Dateline contributed to this report.)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It promises to be a day of innovation, knowledge-sharing and collaboration, announced Kay Monroe of Zagaya, the event host.
Among the UC Davis researchers participating will be Gregory Lanzaro, professor, and Yoosook Lee, assistant researcher in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology (PMI) in the School of Veterinary Medicine and Shirley Luckhart, professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis School of Medicine. Lanzaro and Luckhart are graduate student advisors in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Lanzaro's Soundbite presentation,"Malaria in the Americas: A New Research Initiative for the UC Davis Vector Genetics Lab," will key in on the challenges of malaria control in Brazil. Lee's Soundbite presentation will be on a new diagnostic tool for malaria mosquito research. Luckhart is scheduled for both a Soundbite and poster.
Two of the UC Davis presenters, Laura Norris and Bradley Main, are National Institutes of Health T32 postdoctoral fellows. They will cover the topic of malaria vector evolution in the face of insecticide pressure from bed net campaign.
The schedule of events will be presented the day of the symposium.
The list of the other UC Davis presenters, as announced by Monroe:
Nazzy Pakpour, Soundbite; and Elizabeth Glennon, Kristen Lokken, Jason Maloney, Jose Pietri, Rashaun Potts and Lattha Souvannaseng, Bo Wang, poster.
Keynote speakers are:
- Tim Wells, chief scientific officer, Medicines for Malaria Venture, Geneva, Switzerland, who will share the latest efforts to develop new drugs aimed at wiping out malaria.
Title: The Pipeline of Medicines to Support Malaria Control and Elimination
View abstract
Joseph DeRisi, professor and vice chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, UC San Francisco, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, who will talk about work in his lab. - Title: "A View from the Trenches – Anti-malarial Drug Development"
View abstract - Regina Rabinovich, ExxonMobil Malaria Scholar in Residence at the Harvard School of Public Health, who will examine the future of malaria eradication efforts, past the 2015 UN Millennium Development goals.
Title: "Beyond the Millennium Development Goals Horizon – What Will Help Drive Success Post-2015?"
View abstract
This year Zagaya has added to the symposium, "The Malaria Artwork Showcase," designed to display artistic representations of malaria, from the molecular to the global scale. The Lanzaro lab will be among those participating in the showcase.
Officials at Zagaya (which means "spear") say this is a critical time for malaria research professionals to come together, as it's one year away from the 2015 UN Millennium Development goal of halting and reversing the growth of malaria incidence. The symposium provides the forum for researchers, implementers, advocates and students to "inspire and catalyze change for the greater good."
Registration is open and ongoing until the day of the event. General registration is $50, and students, $25. A portion of the registration fee--$10--will go toward purchasing bed nets via the United Nation's Nothing but Nets program, a global, grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing malaria.
"Every 45 seconds a child in Africa dies from malaria, a disease spread by a single mosquito bite," according to the From Nothing But Nets website. "There are more than 200 million cases of malaria each year, and nearly 1 million of those infected die from the disease — most of them children under the age of five." Ten dollars can fund a life-saving, insecticide-treated bed net to protect a family in Africa. The nets are considered one of the most cost-effective tools to prevent the spread of malaria. Bed nets have been shown to reduce malaria transmissions by 90 percent in areas with high coverage rates.
For question about the symposium, email Monroe. Anyone interested in volunteering at the symposium should email volunteer coordinator, Gladys De Leon.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
He will speak on "Honey Bees in Seed Crop Pollination" at 6 p.m. Mussen serves as the Extension apiculturist for the entire state, but is also involved in bee activities nationally and globally.
Seed Central is organizing the April 9-10 conference with the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. This is the Veg Research and Development Forum, an annual meeting of the research managers of vegetable seed companies with breeding activities for the North American market. Its purpose: to enable discussion among research managers of long-term, pre-competitive research topics and research-related policy issues of importance to the North American vegetable seed industry. Attendance includes invited participation with university scientists, technology providers to the seed industry and members of the downstream agriculture and food industries.
Seed Central, established in 2010, is an initiative of the Seed Biotechnology Center at UC Davis and SeedQuest and involves a growing number of companies and organizations in the global seed and food industry. It aims to facilitate communication and research collaboration between seed industry members and university scientists.
UC Davis is a world leader in seed, plant and agricultural sciences. Some 100 seed and seed-related companies are located near UC Davis and benefit greatly from its proximity, but the influence of UC Davis extends throughout the USA and far beyond, according to the Seed Central website.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
His seminar is from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall.
“Insects and other arthropods are infected with maternally transmitted endosymbionts,” Jaenike says in his abstract. “ Some of these symbionts spread and persist by manipulating host reproduction in various ways. However, many have no such effects, and the means by which they are retained within species is unknown. We recently found that Drosophila neotestacea carries endosymbiotic Spiroplasma bacteria, which render female flies resistant to the sterilizing effects of nematode parasitism."
"The prevalence of Spiroplasma infection in D. neotestacea increased rapidly in eastern North America in recent decades, and it is now spreading rapidly from east to west across North American. Coincident with the increase in Spiroplasma infection has been a dramatic decline in the prevalence of nematode parasitism, due, we believe, to the much lower reproductive output of nematodes that parasitize Spiroplasma-infected flies. We microinjected Spiroplasma into several other Drosophila species; the infections quickly stabilized with high levels of maternal transmission. In one species, D. putrida, Spiroplasma rendered flies resistant to the sterilizing effects of nematode parasitism. Finally, we microinjected various strains Spiroplasma obtained from other Drosophila species into D. neotestacea and found that only the strain native to D. neotestacea confers any resistance to nematode parasites.
Jaenike, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAA), focuses his research on host-parasite interactions, heritable endosymbionts, and ecology of Drosophila.
He received his bachelor of arts degree in biology from Amherst College in 1971 and his doctorate in biology from Princeton University in 1975. His faculty positions include State University of New York (SUNY), 1979-1983; University of Rochester, 1983-1999; University of Arizona, 1999-2001; and University of Rochester, 2001-present.
A few of his publications:
Early career
Jaenike, J. 1978. On optimal oviposition behavior in phytophagous insects. Theoretical Population Biology 14:350-356.
Jaenike, J. 1978. An hypothesis to account for the maintenance of sex within populations. Evolutionary Theory 3:191-194.
Mid-career
Jaenike, J. 1986. Genetic complexity of host selection behavior in Drosophila. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. USA 83:2148-2151.
Jaenike, J. 1990. Host specialization in phytophagous insects. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 21:243-273.
Jaenike, J. 1992. Mycophagous Drosophila and their nematode parasites. American Naturalist 139: 893-906.
Later in career
Dyer, K. A. and J. Jaenike. 2004. Evolutionarily stable infection by a male-killing endosymbiont in Drosophila innubila: molecular evidence from the host and parasite genomes. Genetics 168: 1443-1455.
Jaenike, J., K. A. Dyer, C. Cornish, and M. S. Minhas. 2006. Asymmetrical reinforcement and Wolbachia infection in Drosophila. PLoS Biology 4: 1852-1862.
Jaenike, J., R. L. Unckless, S. N. Cockburn, L. M. Boelio, and S. J. Perlman. 2010. Adaptation via symbiosis: recent spread of a defensive symbiont in Drosophila. Science 329: 212-215.
Plans call for video-recording the seminar for later posting on UCTV.