Eberly News

Tagged with Biology
Pesky, yet dangerous ticks are no longer latching exclusively onto hunters and outdoor enthusiasts. Milder winters and disrupted habitats have driven them out of the woods, with Lyme disease cases in the United States tripling since the late 1990s. Now researchers at West Virginia University are working toward a vaccine that prevents humans from contracting the tick-borne illness that afflicts more than 300,000 Americans a year.

Ticked off

Eberly News /

Pesky, yet dangerous ticks are no longer latching exclusively onto hunters and outdoor enthusiasts. Milder winters and disrupted habitats have driven them out of the woods, with Lyme disease cases in the United States tripling since the late 1990s. Now researchers at WVU are working toward a vaccine that prevents humans from contracting the tick-borne illness that afflicts more than 300,000 Americans a year.

Thirteen first-year college students, including four enrolled in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, connected with West Virginia University in July for a virtual summer camp to get a head start on their college experiences. The students are part of the First2 STEM Success Network, an INCLUDES Alliance and statewide collaboration supported by the National Science Foundation. The WVU Center for Excellence in STEM Education is one of the five lead organizations in the alliance and WVU was one of nine research immersion host sites this summer. The alliance is working to improve the college enrollment and retention rates of rural, first-generation and other underrepresented undergraduate STEM students from around the state, specifically during their first two years of college, a critical time when many students drop out.

Experience, guidance and community

Eberly News /

Thirteen first-year college students, including four enrolled in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, connected with WVU in July for a virtual summer camp to get a head start on their college experiences.

Just as nerve cells don’t work in isolation when we think, speak or move, scientists don’t work alone when they study the nervous system. A new center at West Virginia University—the Center for Foundational Neuroscience Research and Education—will help researchers from different departments collaborate in a similar way. By teaming up, the researchers will use their unique skillsets and backgrounds to make neuroscience discoveries that might take much longer otherwise.

New center for neuroscience research brings together faculty, students across WVU

Eberly News /

Just as nerve cells don’t work in isolation when we think, speak or move, scientists don’t work alone when they study the nervous system. WVU's new Center for Foundational Neuroscience Research and Education will help researchers from different departments collaborate in a similar way. By teaming up, the researchers will use their unique skillsets and backgrounds to make neuroscience discoveries that might take much longer otherwise.

Known for their brilliant colors and captivating scents, orchids are a favorite household plant. But many types of orchids are endangered due to constant threats from invasive species and habitat loss driven by climate change. Since few resources are available to protect these endangered species, one West Virginia University biology student is developing new ways to sustain them.

Love orchids? Thank their fungus.

Eberly News /

Since few resources are available to protect these orchids, one biology student is developing new ways to sustain them.

Eberly College announces 2019-2020 outstanding student awards

Eberly News /

Congratulations to our outstanding seniors and graduate assistants for 2019-2020!

The West Virginia University Eberly College of Arts and Sciences is ahead of many other universities across the country in offering all biology, chemistry and physics labs online this summer. This is the first time WVU has offered all basic labs online. In many classes, it means students can experience even more in the online lab than they could in a face-to-face lab.

WVU offers all biology, chemistry and physics labs online this summer

Eberly News /

WVU's Eberly College is ahead of many other universities across the country in offering all biology, chemistry and physics labs online this summer. This is the first time WVU has offered all basic labs online.

Eight Eberly College students inducted into Order of Augusta

Eberly News /

Students who have exceeded classroom boundaries and demonstrated an unwavering commitment to solving complex global challenges and serving others—among them a distance learner with autism, a gymnast and an alternate Mountaineer Mascot—will receive WVU's highest student honor, the Order of Augusta.

WVU biology PhD student Joanna Ridgeway is the recipient of the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship, a prestigious and competitive award that will fund her graduate study for three years. She is researching how a sustainable bioenergy economy can contribute to greenhouse gas reductions.

The climate superhero

Eberly News /

Biology student Joanna Ridgeway wins NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

WVU’s Eberly College announces 2019-2020 Outstanding Faculty Awards

WVU’s Eberly College announces 2019-2020 Outstanding Faculty Awards

Eberly News /

The Eberly College has named recipients for its 2019-2020 Outstanding Teacher, Researcher and Service awards.

New neuroscience research from West Virginia University has the potential to improve technologies used by the human body’s five senses, ranging from hearing aids to cameras. Gary Marsat, an assistant professor of neuroscience in the Department of Biology, has received the National Science Foundation’s prestigious CAREER Award to study sensory systems, which process all the signals from the eyes, ears, mouth, nose and skin and delivers that information to the brain.

From electric fish to electronic gadgets

Eberly News /

New neuroscience research has the potential to improve technologies used by the human body’s five senses, ranging from hearing aids to cameras. Gary Marsat, an assistant professor of neuroscience in the Department of Biology, has received the National Science Foundation’s prestigious CAREER Award to study sensory systems, which process all the signals from the eyes, ears, mouth, nose and skin and delivers that information to the brain.