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New MCDB Chair Robert Denver
Neuroendocrinologist Robert Denver is the new chair of MCDB. Most recently he has served the department as Associate Chair for Research and Facilities. His research focuses on the molecular biology of thyroid and steroid hormone action in the developing brain, and how hormones mediate environmental effects on animal development. He uses amphibian and mouse models for his research.
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He was co-founder and first president of the North American Society for Comparative Endocrinology, and he currently serves as president of the International Federation of Comparative Endocrine Societies.
Denver joined the UM faculty in 1994 after a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. He earned his B.S. at Rutgers University in 1984 and the Ph.D. in 1989 from the University of California at Berkeley.
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The Raymond Legacy: Cohesive, Diverse Department; Shaping New Facilities
Pamela Raymond, Stephen S. Easter Collegiate Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, who has served MCDB as chair since fall of 2008, has “passed the baton” to Robert Denver. At a surprise thank-you reception in July, Raymond was praised for her masterful management of administrative duties, her keen attention to detail, and “her ability to lead with both kindness and respect.”
Raymond joined MCDB in 2005. When she became chair in 2008, she was the only female full professor among the faculty. Now as she steps down from her term as chair, she is pleased to have overseen the promotion of three women to the ranks of full professor, as well as the hiring of six women and four men as assistant professors.
Denver says that Raymond was instrumental in establishing robust mentoring of the junior faculty, and fair and equitable faculty review and promotions practices. Read More
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Kimberley Seed joined MCDB in September as an assistant professor. Her research explores the “co-evolutionary arms race” between bacteria and their viral predators—bacteriophages, and how these interactions impact human health and disease. She uses comparative genomics and molecular approaches to identify and validate the strategies that the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of the disease cholera, uses to protect against phages and how the phages interfere with those strategies. Read More
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Monica Dus has arrived at MCDB from a postdoctoral appointment at the Skirball Institute for Biomolecular Medicine. Dus is exploring how the brain responds to changes in internal energy to regulate feeding. She has discovered a gene she named "cupcake" in Drosophila brain neurons. Flies with mutations in the cupcake gene ignore normal metabolic signals of starvation and continue to prefer sweet-tasting substances even though they don't have calories needed to sustain them. Normal flies switch their preferences to substances with more caloric value though the taste is less sweet. Read More
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JK Nandakumar, who joined MCDB in September 2013, has published his first paper since joining the Department. Read More
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Honors, Awards, Publications
2014 Christine Psujek Memorial Award for the best undergraduate honors thesis was earned by Ross Carson, who worked with Associate Professor Catherine Collins. Online: A complete list of the 85 undergraduate students who have earned honors over the last two years and their thesis titles. Honors Recipients
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MCDB graduate students have garnered their share of awards, as well. Among other awards, three students earned National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships. Our faculty have noteworthy publications and awards. Read more in our 2014 News Compilation
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Save the date!
Professor Eva Marder will present the 2015 Connell Memorial Lecture on April 29, 2015 at 4 p.m. in the Rackham Graduate School Amphitheater. Dr. Marder is Professor of Biology at Brandeis and a member of the US National Academy of Sciences. A neuroscientist, she has made seminal discoveries in how circuit function arises from the intrinsic properties of individual neurons and their synaptic connections. Her research group discovered that similar circuit outputs can be generated by different mechanisms, both within an animal during its lifetime, or in different individuals. The public is welcome at this event.
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Support the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
We are grateful for support from our alumni and friends. Give Online
Or mail your check to: MCDB, Kraus Natural Science Building, 830 N. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1048
Please make checks payable to the University of Michigan.
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