| About
the Department of Biology
The
department includes over 110 graduate students and 90 postdoctoral
fellows from all over the world. About half the graduate students
are working in the area of molecular/cell biology/developmental
biology/genetics. There are about thirty five graduate students
in the area of plant biology with roughly comparable numbers working
on molecular and ecological topics. In population and ecological
biology there are 20 graduate students, and there are 15 students
working in marine biology at the Hopkins Marine Station.
Research
Areas
Major
research interests of the Department can be roughly divided into
the following areas:
- Molecular
Biology, Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, & Genetics
- Plant Biology
- Population and Evolutionary Biology and Ecology
- Marine Biology
Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, and
Genetics
Many
of our faculty head research groups studying fundamental phenomena
using the most modern tools of molecular biology, cell biology,
genetics, and developmental biology. Among the systems being studied
are axis formation of Drosophila embryo, the control of eye development,
cellular and molecular organization in the nervous and immune systems,
the biochemical changes triggered by fertilization, the response
of plant cells to light and to plant hormones, the mechanisms controlling
the complex processes of development in the cortex of the mammalian
brain and in the formation of flowers and leaves in higher plants.
Additional
topics under study include molecular analysis of development, gene
amplification and transposition, protein structure and function,
hormone formation and action, analysis of membrane proteins and
ion transport, nitrogen fixation, and histocompatibility genes and
their functions. Experimental organisms include bacteria and their
viruses, yeast, Neurospora, Drosophila, plants and a variety of
animals including man. The Department is superbly equipped for modern
Molecular and Cell Biology research.
Graduate
students in these areas generally take a common core of graduate
courses covering genetics, cell biology, and biochemistry during
their first year. These are frequently supplemented with graduate
courses in areas of particular interest to individual students such
as developmental biology, neurosciences, and immunology. During
their first year, students explore different research areas and
laboratories through lab rotations. In the spring of their first
year students select a thesis laboratory and begin to work on their
thesis project.
Exposure
to research in these areas is enhanced by a variety of seminar series,
journal clubs, inter lab research meetings and an annual retreat
at which all labs present their research.
Plant
Biology
Our
training program in plant biology, currently funded by a triagency
grant from DOE/NSF/USDA, serves as the focal point for graduate
students interested in all aspects of botany. During the first year,
plant biology students participate in appropriate disciplinary courses
- genetics, developmental biology, cell biology, population genetics
- as well as courses that focus on plants.
The
plant biology faculty of the Department and the Carnegie Institution
organize an annual one quarter course and a seminar that bridge
the cell/molecular and ecological/evolutionary disciplines through
a detailed consideration for the physiological, biochemical and
genetic mechanisms that distinguish the growth, metabolism and reproductive
strategies of plants.
While
pursuing a thesis topic in depth, students are encouraged to maintain
participation in the plant seminars and annual plant biology retreat,
and to use these as opportunities to develop a working vocabulary
in disciplines as diverse as global ecology and molecular biology.
The
plant biology program benefits from excellent facilities including
greenhouses and growth chambers at both Carnegie and in the Herrin/Gilbert
laboratories as well as a four acre campus farm with a large greenhouse
and laboratory complex. For additional information see "Plant
Cell and Molecular Biology at Stanford"
Population
and Evolutionary Biology and Ecology
Faculty
in the area of population biology are interested in a broad range
of conceptual and empirical issues - from population ecology, ecosystems
ecology, the biochemistry/biophysics and physiology of adaptations
and evolutionary genetics, floristic and systematic botany to systematic
zoology. Research groups work with a diversity of plants, birds,
insect, lizards, and marine invertebrates.
Approaches
are varied, and include field behavioral observations, field ecological
studies and population genetics, lab and field physiological measurements,
biochemical studies of the mechanisms of adaptation, molecular phylogeny,
computer simulations of population and community dynamics, analysis
of complex population-genetic systems, the mathematical analysis
of ecological models of population and community phenomena, models
of the evolution of metabolic organization, and single- and multi-locus
population-genetic models.
The research in this area has not only enriched our basic understanding
of living systems, it has also provided insights relevant to a variety
of problems of great practical importance, including strategies
for the control of insect pests, the design of nature reserves and
the prevention of species extinctions and habitat destruction.
Research
in population, behavioral and ecosystem ecology benefits from proximity
of the 1,300 acre Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve - the largest
and most biologically diverse preserve on any American university
campus. It is located five miles form the Herrin/Gilbert laboratories.
For additional information see Eco-Evo group page.
Marine
Biology
Research
at Hopkins addresses fundamental questions in biology with particular
focus on marine organisms and the marine environment. Through its
proximity to Monterey Bay (in the heart of the National Marine Sanctuary)
on the site of the Hopkins Marine Life Refuge and because of the
rich and diverse populations of local marine life it is an ideal
location for biological research.
Both
field and laboratory studies emphasize the unique adaptations of
marine organisms in studies of basic molecular, cellular and physiological
functions. The Station is a permanent home to nine faculty members,
and approximately forty graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.
A
wide range of disciplines is represented including Cell and Developmental
Biology, Molecular Biology, Comparative Physiology, and Immunology.
Graduate students are invited to do rotations at Hopkins and they
may choose to complete their graduate work in one of the laboratories
located there.
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