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UNI 2+2 Program |
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| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Workshops for Community College Staff
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PPST Workshop • Biology Workshop • Presenters • Registration |
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Biology SeminarTuesday, May 9, 1 – 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 10, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Thursday, May 11, 8 – 11:30 a.m. with luncheon from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
This 3-day seminar will partner community college biology faculty with UNI biologists. UNI biology faculty will guide and facilitate multiple updating sessions spanning biology topics of interest. Community college biology faculty will interact and share ideas with UNI biology faculty during the sessions and during meals and evening free time. You will meet biology faculty from other community colleges. Plus, some high school faculty may also be invited to participate. The program topics include: Seminar TopicsVertebrate Relationships Dr. James Demastes
A hippo’s closest relative is a whale? A lot has changed in the field of vertebrate relationships. This session will review recent advances in exploring the relationships among the major vertebrate groups (including groups no longer considered vertebrates!). We will look at recent classification schemes using easily accessible web resources and discuss how the ever-changing classification schemes for “well-known” groups can be used as an example of the nature of science in general. We will also discuss how species have come to be distributed as they are. For example: Why are there more mammalian species in the southwest than anywhere else in the U.S.? To answer this question, we will use a hands-on lab simulation demonstrating how climatic fluctuations during the ice ages actually acted as a “species pump” and had a dramatic effect on the number (and distribution) of species in North America.
Genetic Control of Flower Formation, Plant Reproductive Biology Dr. Jean Gerrath
How are pine cones and rose flowers connected? Recent research has shown that the same families of regulatory genes are found in both, and that the fate of plant reproductive organs is quite tightly controlled. This session will review new information about the control of floral development and how this is correlated with phylogenies of land plants. We will also examine what is currently known about control of variation in flower forms and how this is related to the pollination biology of common plants. Easily prepped lab exercises from readily available material will illustrate the main points of the discussion portion of the session.
Highlights of How Plants Work Dr. Virginia Berg
How can they get all that water up a tall tree? What are plants made of and how do they get the materials? How do biological solar panels (leaves) work? Where does our oxygen actually come from? How do plants control the earth’s atmosphere? How do we start with an acorn and end up with something shaped like an oak tree? How do Easter lilies know when it’s time to bloom? We will do a quick survey of plant physiology with many illustrations you can see with your eyes.
Dr. Robert Seager
Who are we biologically and how did we get that way? We will discuss the considerable biological insights we have gained into cancer, autoimmune diseases and aging, and techniques such as DNA forensics and gene therapy. We will also look at previously unknown human genetic disorders involved with parental imprinting, mitochondrial DNA and triplet repeat diseases. We will discuss the consequences of our primate heritage, such as bad backs, injury-prone knees, and brains that have been selected to recognize patterns even when they are not there. We will also look at the often misguided assertions that certain human traits such as violence, gender roles, and sexual preference are strongly genetically determined, mostly unchangeable, and a consequence of our evolutionary ("animal") past. Advanced Molecular Genetics Dr. Robert Seager
We will discuss recent advances in molecular genetics, including human, and the practical applications of that knowledge. Topics in human genetics will include: the Human Genome project; cancer, autoimmune diseases and aging; previously unknown human genetic disorders involved with parental imprinting, mitochondrial DNA and triplet base repeats; and human gene therapy and DNA forensics. We will also discuss insights into basic molecular process, including micro- and interfering-RNA's, enhancers, DNA methylation states, and protein interaction networks (the proteome).
Evolution and Intelligent Design Dr. Robert Seager
Are we intelligently designed? Does life in general show evidence of intelligent design? We will discuss this and other attempts to discredit evolutionary biology. We will examine the arguments and proposed examples of intelligent design and ask if they stand up to scrutiny. Included will be two major issues: the origin of life, which is not well understood scientifically and may never be; and human evolution, which is very strongly supported by fossil, molecular and morphological data.
Current Topics in Immunology and Infectious Diseases Dr. Lisa Beltz
This session will be divided into two major areas. The first area to be explored is current topics in the field of Immunology. Following a brief introduction to antibodies, we will examine the mechanisms by which a single human gene can produce antibodies that react with over a trillion different molecules. We will then discuss the underlying causes of several immunological diseases, including common allergies, autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, lupus, and diabetes, and immunodeficiencies, including AIDS and SCIDS (the boy in the bubble syndrome).
The second area to be discussed is the status of several important infectious diseases. We will discuss the disease symptoms, causative agents, and importance in the U.S. and the world of several diseases that are currently in the news. These will include bird flu, Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever, Mad Cow Disease and other prion diseases, and time permitting, tuberculosis or malaria.
Reconstructing the Past: How to Infer Ancient Lineages Dr. Steve O’Kane
When scientists say that humans are more closely related to chimps than they are to gorillas, how did they arrive at that conclusion? How did we figure out that many cases of AIDS originated from a dentist in Florida? How did we conclude that fungi are more closely related to animals than they are to plants? How do scientists take data from morphology, fossils, and DNA and reconstruct an ancient history? This session will be a hands-on exploration of the ways historical data are analyzed using readily available computer programs. The logic behind maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian analysis will be presented in a non-mathematical fashion. |
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