This summer Christine Oldenkamp (pictured above), a junior in CBS majoring in biology with a Spanish minor, is embarking on a whirlwind, globetrotting adventure to South Korea and Spain. Read her blog as she tries to speak Korean, learns more Spanish, and has an amazing adventure along the way!
CBS graduate Amy Swanson combines her background in genetics with a passion for helping people!
Scientists finished sequencing the human genome in 2003, the same year that Amy Swanson,who completed her graduate degree in the Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology and Genetics with an emphasis on genetic counseling at the University of Minnesota, began working as a genetic counselor. The trove of data that resulted from the Human Genome Project offers nearly limitless potential to develop genetic tests. Swanson is at the vanguard of what is likely to be a boom in demand for healthcare workers trained to interpret the results and guide patients through the emotional and ethical gauntlet that sometimes follows.
As an undergraduate, Swanson had considered medical school like many of her College of Biological Sciences peers, but decided that committing to so many years of training was not right for her. So she went back to the drawing board. Swanson knew she loved genetics. “It’s science and it’s logical and it makes sense and it’s fascinating,” she says. But after spending time in a research lab as an undergraduate she also knew she wanted to work with people. Genetic counseling offered the best of both worlds. Swanson says, “I get a lot more patient contact than any physician I know. I end up feeling that I am useful to my patients because I can really get to know them.”
Genetic counselors can specialize in a variety of areas from pediatrics to cancer. Swanson counsels patients with high-risk pregnancies at a clinic associated with the University of California, San Francisco. She moved to the Bay Area two years ago after several years at Foedert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee where she set up a genetic counseling program. In her role as a genetic counselor, Swanson looks at a variety of factors from the age of the mother to family history for genetic red flags. “I am fascinated by pregnancy. … It’s amazing to me. I loved learning about reproduction in school—embryology and developmental biology—and then taking it a step further and looking at the ways it doesn’t work out.”
College of Biological Sciences Biochemistry undergraduate Xiaoying Lou was one of only two students at the University to receive a 2010 Goldwater Scholarship, widely considered the most prestigious undergraduate scholarship in the United Stated for students studying the sciences. Read along as Xiaoying Lou talks about her past, present, and future...
On being named a Goldwater Scholar:
It was pretty exciting. It’s a national award, so it was unexpected. Winning the Goldwater affirms my desire to pursue an MD/PhD to become a physician-scientist.
On her interest in heart research:
Before freshman year, I had the opportunity to mentor at the VA Medical Center with Dr. Rosemary Kelly. I got to see a real heart and feel it beating in my hand. I was mesmerized, and I’ve wanted to work with the heart ever since. My current research in Dr. Lincoln Potter’s lab deals indirectly with the heart at the basic science, biochemical level. The project for which I received the Goldwater deals with how molecular inhibitors regulate hormone receptors that control blood pressure. Additionally, my clinical research work in Dr. Donald Dengel’s lab deals with mechanisms of vascular function in heart failure and LVAD patients.
On her future plans:
The heart I observed in the OR wasn’t at all what I expected. It was surrounded by fat. It was weak and beat at an irregular pace. Despite recent advancements in heart surgery, it remains risky, and patient recovery is still a long and difficult process. I realized then that I wanted to do more than directly treat the effects of heart disease. I want to be actively involved in preventing these effects and innovating future therapies and drugs that can be applied clinically. That’s why I want to get an MD/PhD. I aspire to become an academic cardiothoracic surgeon and conduct research at the university level, so I can take a multi-pronged approach in the prevention and treatment of heart disease.
5K Run for Research is an annual event that raises money for research at the U of M. This year's event, on Saturday, April 10th, raised money for the National Mutiple Sclerosis Society. Every year the CBS Student Board organzies and hosts the fundraiser.
"Thanks to all of the runners and volunteers for making the 5k run for research such a great event. We had 193 people participate and raised $3,100.74 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society!" - CBS Student Board
Check out more events and activities that you could participate in as a student at the CBS Student Board website.
Job title: Senior Lab Services Coordinator Number of years with the college: 10 Where you work: Biology Program, St. Paul Labs
Describe something interesting or unusual about your work here:
I work with the animal behavior teaching lab and get to work with a lot of fish, insects, and other arthropods. I came back after winter break to find one of the wolf spiders had had babies while I was gone. She was carrying a teaming mass of little spiderlings on her back!
What’s the oddest thing someone has left behind in a lab?
Someone once lost a small diamond from an earring. She contacted me and gave a very good description of where she had been working when she thought she may have lost it. I went to look and it was right where she had thought it would be. She was very happy about that.
How do you get to work?
If there is no snow and ice I ride my bike. When the roads are too treacherous I grab a ride with my husband to the East Bank and catch the first Campus Connector bus to St. Paul.
University of Minnesota students are getting in shape at the University Recreation (Rec) Center just in time for Spring Break. From the Olympic size pool to the Bod Pod, there is a lot to do to get your fitness on at the Rec! Plus, a planned expansion of the Rec Center will make plenty more room for free weights, treadmills, and more gym equipment.
The University Rec Center opened its doors in 1993. Located on the University of Minnesota’s East Bank Campus, the facility serves between 3,000 and 5,000 patrons on an average weekday during the academic year.
The University Recreation Center houses the following:
2 fitness centers with state-of-the-art cardio and weight equipment
12 handball and racquetball courts
5 international size squash courts
2 gymnasiums
Kitchenette (available for rent)
Steam rooms/saunas
Men/women/family locker rooms
Pro Shop and Equipment Room
UCard Office
Courtside Café
Lounges
To learn more about what the Rec Center and its programs, visit the Rec Center Web site.
Listen to CBS students and faculty share their experiences studying biology in the Galápagos Islands!
Discover yourself through studying abroad in the Galápagos Islands, where you will . . .
-Be immersed in a biological paradise and see ancient turtles, finches, marine iguanas, giant land iguanas, sea lions, magnificent frigatebirds, penguins, blue-footed, red-footed, and masked boobies!
-Visit Dragon Hill and Venice at Santa Cruz, and hike to a hypersalinic lagoon behind the beach, occasionally visited by pink flamingos.
-Ride around the islet along the coast of Santa Cruz, where you will have a chance to see marine animals like spotted eagle rays and golden rays, mullets, white tipped reef sharks and Pacific green sea turtles
-Visit the Charles Darwin Research Station.
-Visit the Devil’s Crown, a sunken crater where red-billed tropicbirds and blue-footed boobies breed.
-Hike along the white sand beach filled with sea lions, mockingbirds, and brown pelicans.
-Visit Punta Suarez, famous for its varied colonies of sea birds including large colonies of blue-footed boobies, masked boobies, waved albatrosses, and swallow tailed gulls.
-Enjoy an excursion to Santa Fe Island, which has one of the best locations for swimming with sea lions and is also a great place to catch a glimpse of the Galápagos white-tipped shark and sea turtles.
What determines the variety of trees in a tropical forest? Is it the seed size? Perhaps seed-hungry animals? And what happens to forests that are being drastically changed by humans? Smithsonian Tropical Research Center Botanist, Helene Muller Landau, talks about her attempt to find answers to these questions.
Faculty in the College of Biological Sciences conduct a broad range of research, from molecules to ecosystems, and make discoveries that improve human health, restore the environment, provide new sources of renewable energy and enhance agriculture.
CBS faculty are also committed to training the next generation of scientists. They welcome students into their research labs and guide them through independent research projects. Their enthusiasm for hands-on education is one of the reasons CBS attracts such highly qualified students. Click here to check out the curent research that is being done in CBS!
Craig Packer, a CBS professor and leading expert on lions, is featured in the January issue of Smithsonian magazine in an article called “The Truth About Lions."
One of Packer’s more sensational experiments took aim at a long-standing mystery. A male lion is the only cat with a mane, and some scientists believed its function was to protect an animal’s neck during fights. But because lions are the only social felines, Packer thought manes were more likely a message or a status symbol. He asked a Dutch toy company to craft four plush, lifesize lions with light and dark manes of different lengths. He named them Lothario, Fabio, Romeo and Julio (as in Juilo Iglesias—this was the late 1990s!).
Professor Packer attracted lions to the dolls using calls of scavenging hyenas. When they encountered the dummies, female lions almost invariably attempted to seduce the dark-maned ones, while males avoided them, preferring to attack the blonds, particularly those with shorter manes.
Packer has been running the Serengeti Lion Project for 31 or its 43 years. It is the most extensive carnivore study ever conducted. You can learn more about Professor Packer and his fascinating work in the Smithsonian article.
Check out Biology 2012: General Zoology, and listen to lecturers Frank Barnwell and Keith Barker describe what the University of Minnesota can offer you! After all, this is just one of the many exciting and challenging courses offered through the College of Biological Sciences.
Currently, I am a senior pursuing a major in Genetics, Cell Biology and Development and a minor in Spanish Studies.
Why was CBS a great fit for you?
I chose the College of Biological Sciences because of its dedication to and focus on the students. As a student in CBS, I have never felt like a number; everyone involved in CBS really goes above and beyond to make sure that the students are well taken care of and that all of their needs are met. It is so easy to get involved in CBS through its many student groups, organizations, and leadership opportunities. Overall, I am so happy with my decision to come to CBS--I have learned so much, both in and out of the classroom.
As you may know, this past fall marked the return of football to campus with the opening of the TCF Bank Stadium. It was dubbed 'The Ultimate Homecoming.' Of course, any homecoming isn't complete without a parade, so on Friday, October 9, students, staff, faculty, alumni, and the University community joined together for a night to remember...
To show our school spirit during the parade, approximately 70 students, faculty, staff, and alumni represented the Nature of Life program and all seven departments within CBS. The students created caricatures to represent each of the departments. Dean Robert Elde and CBS founding dean Richard Caldecott rode in a convertible along with Biological Sciences Alumni Society Board of Directors President John S. Anderson. View our full-screen slideshow and see how it all went down!
Many of us are spending more time online and less time paging through magazines. Afterall, you can't watch that exciting video about CBS students making a difference in the world if you're not using a computer. In that spirit, BIO (the College of Biological Science's magazine) has decided to go online to publish without the pulp and produce more timely, media-rich features!
News and information for prospective students about the College of Biological Sciences (CBS) at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, written by CBS admissions counselor Adam Manteuffel.
