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Our Biology Graduate Studies faculty have research interests in a number of exciting areas of Biology. The Graduate Faculty serve as primary advisors.
Biochemistry
The Biochemistry Graduate Faculty approaches the study of biological systems from the perspective of understanding how macromolecules are synthesized, assembled and regulated in cells and organisms. Studies are oriented toward examining the roles of protein structure and bioenergetics in controlling metabolic or physiologically important pathways.
Faculty and students interact with several other groups in the Departments of Chemistry at SU and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at SUNY Upstate Medical Center.
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Cell Biology
Cell Biology is a broad discipline that seeks to describe how components within cells are organized and function to allow cells to proliferate and carry out specialized roles in organisms. Knowledge of how cell structure is regulated is critical to understanding a variety of biological processes such as cell division and development and is important to the design of pharmaceutical agents.
Cell biologists in our department take advantage of the tools provided by many different areas of biology including microscopy, molecular biology, biochemistry and physiology to examine processes at the level of single molecules to individual cells within tissues. This multi-technique approach to research problems affords students the opportunity to interact with a variety of research groups and develop a wide repertoire of scientific skills.
Specific areas of focus within the Department presently include membrane protein structure and function, cell signaling, regulation and organization of multi-protein complexes within cells and the development of pharmacological agents.
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Developmental Biology
The development of a complex, multicellular organism from a single-celled fertilized egg is miraculous transformation that has been the subject of intense study for over a hundred years. The Developmental Biology graduate research group approaches this topic from the standpoint of its genetic control, and makes use of two well-studied experimental organisms, the soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster. Specific aspects of development that are being studied include the role of chromatin remodeling in maintaining cell fate decisions, the signal transduction mechanisms that control germline development, and the role of regulated protein degradation in specific developmental events.
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Ecology
The Ecology Graduate Faculty in the Department of Biology is a diverse and interactive group using state of the art techniques to study fundamental ecological problems in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The group has a long, proven track record for obtaining extramural funding. Research areas include plant and animal physiological/biochemical ecology, animal behavioral ecology, invasive species ecology, ecological genetics, and community/ecosystem ecology.
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Evolution
Evolutionary biologists attempt to interpret biological diversity and organismal design. These ambitious goals can be met at many different levels and using diverse approaches. The diverse and integrative nature evolutionary biology is reflected in the Evolution graduate faculty in the Department of Biology. We are a small yet highly interactive group with research interests in microevolutionary processes that link variation in traits to variation in reproductive success, the extent to which genetics, physiology and history can constrain trait evolution, and in macroevolutionary patterns.
Specific research areas include molecular evolution of vertebrate visual systems, agonistic behavior of fish, the territoriality, foraging and incubation behavior of birds, population genetics and mechanisms of speciation in fruitflies, the evolution of insect life histories and reproductive strategies, sperm-egg interactions, ancient microbes and microbial systematics, and the evolutionary ecology underlying trophic interactions and community structure.
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Genetics
The field of Genetics is a central discipline of biological science that is becoming increasingly relevant to many aspects of everyday life. Breakthroughs in medicine, agriculture, forensic science, and biotechnology are fueled by our growing knowledge of the nature and function of genes, and the completion of the Human Genome Project ensures that Genetics will continue to be a rapidly growing area of research.
The Genetics graduate group at SU consists of several laboratories that use experimental model systems such as yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), worms (Caenorhabditis elegans), and fruitflies (Drosophila melanogaster), to investigate a variety of topics, such as, how genes control specific cellular processes, how the development of a complex organism is orchestrated by its genome, and how mutations drive evolutionary change.
A bi-weekly Genetics Group Meeting provides a forum for informal research presentations and lively discussions among the laboratory groups about their ongoing research
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Physiology
Physiology is the study of how living systems function, from the subcellular to the ecological level. The research interests of our physiology group span this entire range. Specifically, we have research foci in four areas: (1) cell membrane physiology with an emphasis on ion transport mechanisms, regulation and functions, (2) ecological physiology of animals and plants, (3) stress physiology of animals and plants and (4) photosynthetic physiology.
Research by SU Biology graduate labs spans the range from model cell or subcellular systems to field studies with wild species. Our research involves both experimental and modeling approaches. An exciting aspect of physiology research is it multidisciplinary nature. It integrates techniques and approaches from molecular biology, biochemistry, physics, ecology and evolution.
In addition to SU Biology graduate faculty, there are physiologists at the adjacent SUNY campuses (SUNY Upstate Medical University and SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry) with whom to interact.
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Structural Biology
The Structural Biology Graduate Faculty focuses on the determination of macromolecular structures utilizing the techniques of x-ray crystallography and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. With the explosion of knowledge related to genome sequencing programs, it has become ever more important to understand at atomic resolution how macromolecules function and interact within biological systems.
Specific areas of focus within the Department presently include x-ray crystallography of enzymes, proteins, multi-protein complexes and DNA-protein complexes.
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