The Salem State Biologist Newsletter Spring 2018

THE SALEM STATE BIOLOGIST SPRING 2018

THE SALEM STATE BIOLOGIST NOTES FROM THE CHAIR

SPRING 2018

Welcome to the spring 2018 issue of our newsletter the Salem State Biologist. Life in your biology department is, as usual, somewhat busy as we head into exams week.

Notes from the Chair

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Biology Student Award Winners

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Biology Teaching Awards

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New Faculty and Staff

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Girls Incorporated

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SCUBA Club News

This year we say goodbye to Susan Case, PhD, who will be retiring at the end of May 2018. Sue has been with us for 36 years and her presence has been felt and seen in so many ways from her teaching of BIO402 Genetics, to the coordination of BIO105 Biological Systems, to organizing the annual Darwin Festival and, being chair of the department for nine years! Thank you, Sue! This year we welcomed two new colleagues to the department in Tess Killpack, PhD, and Jennifer Carr, PhD. Tess is our new secondary education coordinator and Jen is our anatomy and physiology lab coordinator. We also welcomed Thea Popolizio, PhD, in a slightly different capacity (she had been a member of our team for a few years) as our first lab manager. You’ll be able to read more about them in this issue.

As I write this on a warming, spring Tuesday afternoon I can report that: • Last Friday a few of our students (Ellen Acheampong, Emanuel Chaveco, Shanna Morin, Diane Migneault and Amanda Munafo) attended the annual Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference at UMASS Amherst.

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BioSociety 5 SEAPHAGES 6 Aquaponics 7 NEMAC Offshore Mussel Farm

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Alumni in the Field

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Publications 9 A Photo Guide to Biology

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• Last Tuesday evening, two of our students, Ellen Acheampong and Victoria Kako were inducted into Sigma Xi (the scientific research society) at the induction ceremony here at Salem State.

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The following students were awarded Biology awards and scholarships this spring: Ashlee Molla and Shyanne Smith-Lizotte, Walter Demkowicz III, Victoria Kako, Caity Wilkins, John McCarthy, Dawn Forgione, Megan Spiewack and Michael Potter. Well done to all of you!

• In March, our BioSociety hosted a ‘Women in Science’ panel discussion that included Biology and Chemistry/Physics professors.

• We faculty are working on a new biology curriculum that will embrace the Vision and Change report (visionandchange.org/finalreport/) that came out a few years ago. This report focused on what content and skills Biology students should be acquiring at the undergraduate level in the 21st century. We plan to implement this new curriculum in Fall 2019.

• Our Nuclear Medicine Technology team based at Salem Hospital (Professor Mindy Walker, Jim Milton, Russ Arey and Dr. Himanshu Gupta) worked extremely hard at the self-study report for the program’s reaccreditation with the JRCNMT (jrcnmt.org/). The site visit will be this summer.

• Alan Young, PhD and three alumni, Jimmy Elliott, Joe Incatasciato and Mae Taylor published in the Journal of Crustacean Biology. Tracy Ware, PhD was a co-author in a paper in Nature Communications. Tess Killpack, PhD had a co-publication in PLOS One and Jennifer Carr, PhD also had a co-publication in the Journal of Anatomy. For full details read on.

The biology department at Salem State University seeks to foster in its students an understanding of the human organism as an interactive member of an enormous and diverse biological community.

• Our lab support team of Thea Popolizio, PhD, Ms. Taryn Janeliunas and Mr. Nick Rudolph have been extremely busy getting the department updated on all safety issues with the university’s new safety officer.

• We hosted our 39 th annual Darwin Festival!

As you read these pages you will note how active your biology department continues to be.

To current students please stop by the biology office if you have any questions and/or concerns and to alumni please do come by for a visit!

Ryan Fisher May 2018 1

THE SALEM STATE BIOLOGIST SPRING 2018

BIOLOGY STUDENT AWARD WINNERS

Each year we have a number of student awards and this year is no different.

The new awardees are:

Patricia Welch Award in Botany

BIOLOGY TEACHING AWARDS Our biology department is jam-packed with passionate professors and this is reflected in the appreciation students express for their instructors and mentors, but also by university awards that they receive!

This year we can congratulate both Tess Killpack, PhD and Sheila Schreiner, PhD for excellence in their teaching. The details of the awards:

Tess Killpack, PhD –

one of two Salem State faculty to be awarded the Outstanding First Year Advocate Award by the first year experience office.

Ashlee Molla – Project: aquaponics Shyanne Smith-Lizotte – Project: research into plant intelligence

Alan M. Young Award Walter Demkowicz III – Project: soft shell clams at Cat Cove

Johnes K. Moore Cat Cove Student Internship Award Victoria (Tori) Kako – Project: various projects based at Cat Cove

Alfred L. Borgatti Biology Scholarship

Tess Killpack, PhD with her award ‘key’.

Sheila Schreiner, PhD – received the ‘National Society of Leadership and Success’ Excellence in Teaching Award.

Caitlyn Wilkens – Project: behaviors between the Green Crab and Asian Shore Crab John McCarthy – Project: aspects of cilia function in the green alga Chlamydomonas

Frederick A. Meier Science Award Dawn Forgione – a project is not required for this award

Kathy Murphy Summer Research Academy Award Megan Spiewack with Drs. Tess Killpack and Thea Popolizio – Projects: pilot research questions for new introductory labs including DNA barcoding of local organisms Michael Potter with Dr. Joe Buttner – Project: Aquaculture in Liberia” 2

Sheila Schreiner, PhD proudly shows her award certificate

THE SALEM STATE BIOLOGIST SPRING 2018

NEW FACULTY AND STAFF IN BIOLOGY 2017-2018 Jennifer Carr, PhD Jennifer Carr jointed Salem State University from Tufts University where she was a Post-Doctoral Fellow from 2016-2017 and from Harvard University where she was the A&P lab coordinator from 2008 to 2016.

Carr received her BS in biology from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and her PhD in comparative morphology from Northeastern University. She has taught anatomy and physiology in the Boston area at Harvard University for nine years and was a part time lecturer at Emmanuel and Simmons College. Carr’s research examines how skeletal muscles have evolved for particular forms of locomotion both in terms of form and function. In particular, she studies comparative muscle anatomy and function in bipedal birds which run in a manner similar to bipedal humans. Carr is excited to be working with students here on the North Shore where she makes her home.

Tess Killpack, PhD Hello everyone! My name is Tess Killpack, and I am very excited to join the team of biology professors at Salem State!

I am a physiological ecologist by training—I love to think about how animals “work” and how their physiology is adapted to the environments where they live. I earned my PhD at the University of Wisconsin, where I performed field and laboratory studies on songbird nestlings. Songbird nestlings are “altricial,” which means that they hatch in a very undeveloped state (eyes-closed, no feathers, completely dependent on their parents for food). Yet within two-three weeks they reach adult size and fly away from the nest! I studied their growth, digestive physiology, and immune function during this awesome developmental period.

During my postdoctoral fellowship at Tufts University, I shifted gears to study microbiology and immunology. I worked with a team that was examining how mammals respond to Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme Disease. I enjoyed adding new lab techniques to my toolkit and working on a project that had implications for human health.

I am excited to integrate my diverse research experiences into the introductory biology courses that I will be teaching at Salem State!

I also have a passion biology education. Prior to my PhD, I taught high school science in Los Angeles, and earned a MA in secondary education.

My current research focuses on how to create inclusive classroom environments and how to actively engage students to enhance their learning and self-confidence in science courses. I will be coordinating the Secondary Education program for Biology majors who are interested in becoming high

school teachers. If you would like to explore a teaching career path, please contact me—we are assembling our first cohort of biology secondary ed students this year!

When I am not teaching, I like to do yoga, ride my bicycle, and spend time with my son Rowan, who was born in May. I look forward to the new semester and to getting to know all of you!

Thea Popolizio, PhD During the summers of my youth, you could often find me turning over rocks in the intertidal on the coast of Maine. I was a gangly kid wearing a bathing suit full of sand, carrying a bright plastic pail for my collections. I’ve always been curious about the natural world, especially life in the ocean.

I am exceptionally fortunate to have channeled that curiosity into a career in science and education.

I earned a PhD in biological and environmental sciences at the University of Rhode Island. My research experiences and interests span many categories, including marine biology, evolutionary biology, biodiversity science, and phycology (phyco = algae). I study the biodiversity and evolutionary history of seaweeds, with a particular focus on tropical red algae. Most recently, my colleagues and I expanded our previous work cataloging the macroalgal flora of Bermuda (0-30 m) to include specimens from the islands’ mesophotic reefs (30-90 m), as part of a collaborative deep-sea exploration mission with the non-profit organizations Nekton Foundation and Project Baseline.

For over a decade, I’ve been teaching at either the high school or undergraduate level. I was a high school biology teacher in the Revere and Boston public school systems, then taught and mentored several cohorts of undergraduate students as a graduate assistant at URI. These experiences, in addition to the last two years teaching in the biology department at Salem State, have helped significantly to shape my professional goals. Bigger challenges bring bigger rewards, and it is our kind of diverse student body that I hope to continue to serve throughout my career.

Outside of work? I’ll ideally be spending time with family and friends, especially my husband, three step kids, and two furry, four-legged children, Henry and Wiley. These are a few of my favorite things: picnics, islands, live music, pasta, tall trees, the beach when afternoon is transitioning to evening, and outdoor adventures in any season. My happy place? In, on, under the sea.

In my new role as biology lab manager, I’ll be working alongside the lab team to keep our labs safe, productive and efficient. I also look forward to continued collaborations with colleagues on curriculum design, and to creating new and meaningful opportunities for students to assist with teaching, mentor their peers, and conduct biological research. I am thankful for the opportunity to play such an important role in student learning and faculty support here at Salem State University.

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THE SALEM STATE BIOLOGIST SPRING 2018

MY SUPPORT FOR GIRLS SCUBA CLUB NEWS INCORPORATED OF LYNN Ethel Gordon, PhD, Associate Professor I have been a longtime supporter of Girls Inc. from my time at UMass Medical School in Worcester, so it was only natural that I sought out this organization when I joined the Biology at Salem State University. I found the Lynn branch of the national organization, and met with coordinators of middle school programs and STEM programs. These dedicated women provide a safe and nurturing environment for girls to learn.

They provide a non-judgmental atmosphere and plenty of encouragement for these energetic young thinkers. I discovered my role in supporting the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs for Middle School girls. In this capacity, I would provide some scientific background for the experiments the girls were doing. They learned to understand how we make molecules and the chemistry behind common cosmetics, among other skills. I continued to work with the STEM Program Director and the Director of Middle School Programs on other activities.

I was selected as a “SMART Woman Presenter” for Girls Incorporated of Lynn’s 2015 SMART Girls Summit, where I presented two workshops entitled “Be SMART, Learn About the Heart.” I was asked to repeat the workshop again the following year because the girls cited my workshop when asked what impressed them about the day’s activities. So what did I share with the girls?

I started by introducing myself to the girls and telling them a bit about my journey. I asked if they know why the heart is important and if they can locate the heart. There were stethoscopes available, so I taught them to listen to their own heartbeat. I asked if they knew what a pulse is, and showed them how to take their own. Since they had become so proficient, we moved on to a little exercise. I asked if they felt comfortable doing some moderate exercises (if they are able) such as dancing, jumping jacks or skipping. No pressure. They could do this if it sounded like fun. Afterwards, they took their pulse again to see if there is a difference. They learned about resting and active heart rates, how to take their pulse, and how the beating of their own hearts sounded.

I cleared all of the activities with the coordinators in advanced; and I got permission to borrow a few models from the anatomy and physiology laboratory. The models showed the girls how the heart really looks inside and what it does. They will each have a chance to handle the models and learn about the chambers and the valves. They soaked up the information as fast as I could supply it.

At the end of the workshop, there were many smiling confident girls.

I had prepared some certificates for each girl who attended. I awarded them their certificate and some candy – “smartees” of course. I am now helping the girls to learn about the many systems of the human body.

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This year the Salem State SCUBA Club has participated in many events on the North Shore, and is open to all students, regardless of major and a SCUBA certification is not required to join. This year we were pleased to sponsor Andrew J. Martinez as a guest speaker for the Darwin Festival in February.

Andrew Martinez is an underwater photographer who lives in Massachusetts, and has taken fascinating pictures that can be seen on the poster in the Bio Society room on the fifth floor. The Atlantic spiny Lumpsucker was a particular hit at the festival, as it is a very cute and friendly orange fish common in the Gulf of Maine. Martinez also showed marine species that inhabit the Northwest Atlantic waters, all the way from the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada to Cape May in New Jersey. After his talk he stayed for a meet and greet where students could ask him about his endeavors under the sea.

One of the benefits of the club is that any certified diver can use our gear and tanks and go diving anytime, including if someone has a particular interest in practicing underwater photography! In March the SCUBA Club was able to see Andrew Martinez for a second time at the Boston Sea Rovers Show in Danvers. We had our own booth in the exhibit hall where we promoted our SCUBA Club along with the NAUI Green Diver Initiative.

At our booth we were selling this year’s club T-shirts designed by Jaclyn Caruso, we sported proudly. The weekend before Earth Week at Salem State University, we collaborated with the Bio Society to participate in a beach cleanup at the Salem Willows. This beach cleanup turned out to be a full park cleanup after we finished ridding the beaches of plastics.

Although it was very windy and cold, it was a great way to interact with another club in community service.

We are proud to say that the NAUI Open Water Dive course is officially reinstated! The course is now offered in the Fall semester, and has already been filled up with future divers. We hope the course encourages students throughout the university to become more involved with the underwater community in New England, and further represent the Salem State SCUBA Club.

THE SALEM STATE BIOLOGIST SPRING 2018

BIOSOCIETY The Biological Society (BioSociety) is an active part of the biology department and the current officers are: President - Tomas Lopez, Vice President - Kailee Silva, Secretary - Irune Aparicio, and Treasurer Ellen Acheampong.

The BioSociety arranges numerous fun and educational trips including hikes in the Mass Audubon Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary. Â In the past, members have been exposed to all that the sanctuary has to offer including birds feeding straight from their hands. The BioSociety enjoys the outdoors and exploring nature to take much needed breaks from studying.

In addition, leisurely activities such as ice skating and snow tubing are also enjoyed!

Fund raising events such as bake sales and a T-shirt contest for the Darwin Festival are held every year. Other events that are in the pipeline include: beach cleanups in association with Salem Coast Sound Watch, pharmaceutical and hospital tours.

Drop by the BioSociety Room, MH533, to meet with us and chat!

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THE SALEM STATE BIOLOGIST SPRING 2018

SEA-PHAGES: THE CURE FOR ENGAGING AND RETAINING INTRO BIOLOGY STUDENTS WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS PROLIFIC USE OF ACRONYMS! SCIENCE SUPERVISION IS REQUIRED. Amy Sprenkle, Associate Professor Salem State biology is piloting the ‘CURE’ for ‘well-travelled’ introductory bio labs as a member of Cohort 11 for SEA-PHAGES within a lab section of BIO 131 and BIO 132 for AY 18/19. CURE stands for Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience and is an effort to involve undergrads at their earliest training level with an international group of scientists gathering, analyzing and communicating their research in biology.

SEA (Science Education Alliance) is sadly not a reference to the fascinating oceans of Earth, but a program managed by HHMI (Howard Hughes Medical Institute) that provides training, curriculum, assessment and a collaboration arena designed to support an authentic research experience for the freshman biology student. PHAGES stands for Phage Hunters Advancing Genomic and Evolutionary Science. Phage is also a word on its own; the name given to a virus that reproduces in bacteria. Phage is from the French for ‘to eat’ and can be found in the more familiar terms ‘phagocyte’, an eating cell, and ‘macrophage’, a big eating cell of the immune system. The history of the study of viruses in bacteria is firmly rooted in places like the Pasteur Institute; the HHMI of France, but existing for much longer. Both are nonprofit, non-governmental institutions dedicated to the study of infectious disease and human health.

The first part of the acronym, Phage Hunters describes the activity of the first semester of the course, where students find an ecosystem of their choice from which to take a soil sample. That sample is then used to infect a defined, non-pathogenic strain of bacteria to hunt for the presence of viruses that will kill the bacteria. Students will develop the basic skills of working in a biology laboratory, along with the important concepts of the scientific method and scientific record keeping, hypothesis testing and communication of results. Any phage that is found in the hunt is preliminarily characterized with regard to host specificity, imaging by TEM (transmission electron microscopy), and broad DNA structure. New or unique phage are then sent out for the DNA sequencing of their entire genome.

Genomics, the latter part of the acronym, is the study of the entire genome of an organism. You may be familiar with the Human Genome Project that was undertaken at the end of the 20 th century which ushered in a new array

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of tools and techniques for studying the genomes of all organisms. This is in contrast to other modern techniques which identify the presence of a given organism in a sample across a population in a sample (metagenomics) or the identification of the phylogenetic relationships between organisms (DNA barcoding).

The second semester of the course takes the DNA sequence data from the new phage and uses BIOINFORMATICS techniques to analyze and annotate the genome. The students will use software provided by the SEA to look at the genome for the proteins and regulatory elements present by comparison with existing genomes. Comparison of genomes is currently the foundation of the understanding of evolutionary relationships among all organisms on Earth (the vast majority of which are prokaryotic or viral in nature!). Annotation is the process of specifically naming and labeling the signals that the virus uses to make viral-encoded mRNA and proteins in the bacteria. This will provide a deep understanding of the central dogma of biology; that genes are transcribed into message which is then translated into protein. The annotated genomes are submitted to GENBank, and students are authors on those submissions, as well as any publications that result from those submissions. Yes, freshman authors on publications!

The third part of the program is the communication and collaboration portion. Students compete to attend the SEA-PHAGES Symposium, which is held on the Januvia Campus of HHMI in Maryland annually in the month of June. The symposium is the arena for the communication of the annotated genomes. HHMI pays for the travel and accommodation of the students and faculty chosen, and the data is presented along side the international assembly of other schools participating in the program.

The students will self-select into the lab section of the course and attend the regular lecture section of BIO 131 or BIO 132. Yes, the successful student in this scenario will have to work a little harder than their peers in the rest of the intro bio class, but the experience should be more than stimulating and valuable to the student from their freshman year on.

For any additional information regarding SEA-PHAGES, please contact Amy Sprenkle, PhD, who will be the instructor for the piloting of the program at SSU: asprenkle@salemstate.edu. You can find out more about the program at large by visiting the SEA-PHAGES website: seaphages.org.

THE SALEM STATE BIOLOGIST SPRING 2018

STUDENT RESEARCH BLOSSOMS WITH AQUAPONICS Joseph K. Buttner, Professor Research can be an important part of an undergraduate experience; the opportunity to work collaboratively with a faculty and other students while gaining experience and validating or refining ones professional aspiration(s). Since 2010, biology students at Salem State University (SSU) have developed and managed an evolution of aquaponics systems, both on and off campus. Aquaponics is a form of sustainable food production composed of three biological players: fish, plants, and bacteria. Fish are maintained in a tank where they live, eat and excrete. Water flows from the fish tank into and through one or more tanks with an inert medium, such as ceramic chips. The media provide a surface for nitrifying bacteria to colonize and structural support to anchor plants. Bacteria in the system transform nitrogenous wastes, essentially ammonia, produced by fish into nitrates an essential nutrient for plants through the process of nitrification: Ammonia Ú Nitrites Ú Nitrates Plants remove the nitrates, generating new plant tissue. The water, now cleansed of metabolites is returned to the fish tank. Aquaponics is a sustainable form of aquaculture where the ecological footprint is minimal.

The waste of one species (fish) becomes and is used as a nutrient for another species (plant).

Initial aquaponic efforts at SSU were suggested and pursued by biology majors Kelan Joshua (2011, now in Florida) and Frankie Vetrano-Olsen (2012, now at Novartis in Boston) during the 2010-2011 academic year.

Using and modifying information and insight generated by Kelan and Franki, Ethan Fertsch (2014, now at Far from the Tree Craft Cider, Salem MA) and David Simon (2014, now M.Sc. student at UNH) setup and operated an aquaponics systems during the summer 2013 on a knoll behind a storage shed at the Cat Cove Marine Laboratory (CCML). The system, fabricated with materials available from our “bone pile” at CCML was employed successfully to grow tilapia and lettuce in a makeshift system.

Aquaponics systems housed in the greenhouse are powered by solar energy and maintained by a dedicated crew to grow a variety of plants on wastes generated by largemouth bass.

After being inspired by her experiences Beverly, Anastasia enlisted the assistance of Laura Presutti (2017, just relocated to Austin, TX) to fabricate and operate a small scale aquaponics system suitable for use in the home and classroom The system is setup in Meier Hall’s greenhouse.

I has been modified and is currently managed by Biology students Ashlee Molla (recipient of The Patricia Welch Award in Botany) and Erbo Ou (international student from China). Materials used to construct and operate the system are inexpensive and locally sourced. The system has been integrated into K-12 schools as a science learning tool.

Ana and Laura’s system has been modified to increase plant production, eliminate fish loss by jumping, and to reduce management.

Kelan and Franki weigh fish and plants in RAS to quantify their growth.

David (lt), Dr. Joe (md) and Ethan (rt) manage a “jimmy-rigged” aquaponics system.

In 2014, a collaborative project was initiated with funding from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources. An 800 ft 2 greenhouse was constructed and multiple modest-size aquaponics systems were installed at Long Hill Reservation in Beverly, MA. Solar power is used to operate the systems. Many SSU students have been involved in the project including Eliza Kesseler (2016, now at Impact Technology Department, Worchester, MA), Ali Kluge (2016, now with a Cambridge technology firm), Joe Incatasciato (Geology 2016, now with Blue Planet, Ltd., Los Catos, CA) and Anastasia Perullo (2017, recipient of the 2016 Alan M. Young Marine Biology Scholarship Award, now at Aquatics Unlimited, Milwaukee, WI). The greenhouse and aquaponics systems continue to produce fish, grow plants and train people as part of a nonprofit, Full Circle Earth.

Weekly harvest of “delicious” leafy greens varies, but averages 140 grams.

Aquaponics at SSU illustrate the process of science from inspiration and conception, through construction and experimentation, to standardization and application. SSU students have applied skills gained in the classroom to a real-life research experience.

In the process they learned about aquaponics. What they accomplished with their aquaponics experiences has provided the foundation for their personal growth and the growth of aquaponics.

Teachers at the O’Maley Middle School (Gloucester, MA) construct aquaponics systems to use as teaching tools in their classroom. Nearly a dozen systems have been constructed and are ready for students to use in their classroom as they learn by doing science.

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THE SALEM STATE BIOLOGIST SPRING 2018

NEMAC AND CAT COVE OFFSHORE MUSSEL FARM HAS FIRST HARVEST Mark Fregeau and Ted Maney have successfully established the first Atlantic coast offshore mussel farm in federal waters in cooperation with Legal Sea Foods, our seafood industry partner and Bill Lee, Captain of the FV Ocean Reporter. In 2016, we deployed a single 400 ft. longline at the NEMAC site off Rockport, Massachusetts. Socked mussel lines were deployed in October 2016 and were harvested in September 2017. Our first year of operation has provided positive results. Preliminary growth and harvest results from the first deployment indicate that mussels grow as well as those grown at coastal sites, even at depths up to 75 feet.

Mussels reached market size (55-60 mm) in 9 months with line densities of five pounds per foot. Our site was specifically chosen to minimize any interactions with endangered species and to date there have been no observed interactions with any protected species. Another thing to note is that the longline and mussels were not affected by any of the March storms where wave heights up to 32 feet were recorded offshore.

ALUMNI IN THE FIELD James (Jimmy) Elliott ´16

I graduated from Salem State University in May 2016 with a BS degree in biology and minors in both chemistry and psychology. After graduation I worked at Qiagen in Beverly where my responsibilities largely involved protein purification and enzyme development. I was also fortunate to work as an instructor for The Princeton Review where I held courses on both content and strategy in order to prepare students to take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). The content of those lectures included topics such as biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, anatomy, and physiology.

Last August I moved to Bangor, Maine to begin work in the Master of Science program at the University of Maine. At UMaine, I am investigating the parasitism of the winter tick (Dermacentor albipictus) on the Eastern moose (Alces alces). There is currently no evidence that the winter tick carries or transmits disease of any kind, so I am essentially trying to fill this knowledge gap in what zoonotic diseases might be carried by either organism.

Heavy winter tick infestations on moose have been implicated in recent declines in some moose populations, but little to nothing is known about the effects of tick-borne pathogens on moose health or the role of moose (and winter ticks) as zoonotic disease reservoirs. This interdisciplinary study first proposes a thorough investigation of risk perception of Maine residents to gauge zoonotic diseases’ effects on cultural assets, natural resource-based economies, recreation behavior, and individual wellbeing.

Next, several winter ticks that are different spatially and temporally will be screened for pathogens (relevant to the state of Maine) using a highthroughput genetic approach. Working together with the Maine Medical Center Research Institute, the University of New Hampshire, the Penobscot Indian Nation, and the department of Inland Wildlife and Fisheries, I plan to integrate the prevalence and distribution of zoonotic pathogens in moose and winter tick with recreationists’ risk perceptions and behavioral responses to see if perceived and actual risk align.

Although I was sad to leave the “real world”, I am becoming more comfortable in Maine as time goes by. I attribute my adaptability to the excellent mentors I had at Salem State University. Thanks to all the professors and instructors in the Salem State University biology department! You helped me more than you can imagine.

Alex Cintolo ’16

I graduated from Salem State in 2016 with a BS degree in biology with a marine biology concentration. I am currently the senior zebrafish technician for the Yelick Laboratory at Tufts University. We research dental medicine and different skeletal mutations, like scoliosis, using the zebrafish, Danio rerio, as an animal model. I am responsible for the health and welfare of the fish, husbandry duties, micro-injections, and the oversight of summer students.

The first offshore mussel harvest last September (left to right: Mark Fregeau, Captain Steve Fritch, Ted Maney, and Captain Bill Lee).

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A lot of classes were helpful to me during my time at Salem State but there are two in particular that really stand out. One was a small, informal seminar with Tracy Ware, PhD on resume building and job searching in STEM fields.

The other was an independent study with Alan Young, PhD on green crabs.

The seminar with Ware spanned most of the summer of 2015 and during that time I got two excellent volunteer experiences and my first part time job in a lab. The week of graduation that same lab ended up hiring me full time.

During my independent study with Young I learned not to over think setting up an experiment on my own as well as the importance of repeatability in an experiment. It really brought a lot of what I learned in the biology program full circle and it was an important growing experience for me.

THE SALEM STATE BIOLOGIST SPRING 2018

PUBLICATIONS IN THE BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT Faculty and students had success in publishing the following this academic year:

PEER REVIEWED JOURNALS

ONLINE

Glifton, G.T., Carr, J.A. and A.A. Biewener. (2017) ‘Comparative Hindlimb Myology of Foot-Propelled Swimming Birds’, Journal of Anatomy 232 (1): 105-123.

Peabody Essex Museum Blog by Dr. Lisa Delissio – “19th Century Herbarium Bears Fruit”

The link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joa.12710 Fassbinder-Orth, C.A., Killpack, T.L., Goto, D.L., Rainwater, E.L., and V.I. Shearn-Bochsler. (2018). High costs of infection: Alphavirus infection reduces digestive function and bone and feather growth in nestling house sparrows (Passer domesticus). PLOS One April 2018.

The link: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal. pone.0195467 Laura C. Collopy, Tracy L. Ware, Tomas Goncalves, Sunnvør í Kongsstovu Qian Yang, Hanna Amelina, Corinne Pinder, Ala Alenazi, Vera Moiseeva Siân R. Pearson, Christine A. Armstrong and Kazunori Tomita. 2018. LARP7 family proteins have conserved function in telomerase assembly. Nature Communications 9:557.

Dr. Lisa Delissio has completed a wonderful blog on her work on 19 th century Essex County flora – a great read!

The details: https://www.pem.org/blog/19th-century-herbarium-bearsfruit Project Nekton in Bermuda Dr. Thea Popolizio area of expertise is tropical/sub-tropical red algae.

She let me have the link to her work on Project Nekton – great work: The details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= 0Md63UljlDM Professor Ted Maney featured in a video snippet talking about aquaculture in the USA on the Ocean Conservancy web site.

The details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCCIl3UNdi8

The link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02296-4.pdf Young, A.M., Elliott, J.A., Incatasciato, J.M., and M.L. Taylor. (2017).

Seasonal catch, size, color, and assessment of trapping variables for the European green crab Carcinus maenas () (Brachyura: Portunoidea: Carcinidae), a nonindigenous species in Massachusetts, USA. Journal of Crustacean Biology 37(5): 556 – 570.

The link: https://academic.oup.com/jcb/article-abstract/37/5/556/4158081

As you can see from this screenshot, Madeleine Dahl is doing exceptionally well, completing a REU – Research Experience for Undergraduates – at Harvard University.

View this online at mrsec.harvard.edu/pages/madeleine_dahl.php.

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THE SALEM STATE BIOLOGIST SPRING 2018

LIFE IN SALEM STATE’S BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT Here follows, some photographic reminders of the diverse range of things that occur each year in Biology.

Irune Aparicio (extreme left) and Ellen Acheampong (third from right) participating on a student panel that explored ways of creating STEM student clubs at the January 2018 meeting of PKAL (Project Kaleidoscope – aacu.org/pkal/ regional/massachusetts) entitled ‘You Can Do It: Create Your Own Student Organization that Supports Multicultural STEM Student Success‘ at Bridgewater State University.

A group of Salem State biologists attended the First Annual Meeting of the Society for Women in Marine Science (swmsmarinescience.com/) at the University of Rhode Island in late winter 2018. A full report of the day can be read at: oceanbites.org/2018-society-for-women-inmarine-science-spring-symposium/ From left: Tori Kako, Jaclyn Caruso, Thea Popolizio, PhD, Kristen Lewis and Alexa Fiorillo.

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Victoria (Tori) Kako and Ellen Acheampong, proudly show their Sigma Xi (sigmaxi.org/) members’ certificates at the Induction Ceremony held in late April 2018 at Salem State.

THE SALEM STATE BIOLOGIST SPRING 2018 Students gather round Joe Buttner, PhD, during the luncheon at the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium held in early May 2018.

Jesse Moreira and Brian Bouchard admiring Cassandra Soffron’s poster at the 2018 Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Emanuel Chaveco and Diane Migneault in front of their poster at the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium – May 2018.

Biology students, aka “Team Cilia,” at the Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference held at UMASS Amherst in late April, 2018. All these students work with Jason Brown, PhD, on various aspects of genetic mutations in the cilia of the freshwater alga Chlamydomonas.

Left to right: Emanuel Chaveco, Ellen Acheampong, Shanna Morin, Diane Migneault, Amanda Munafo and Jason Brown, PhD.

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THE SALEM STATE BIOLOGIST SPRING 2018 The BIO322 Biological Oceanography class, led by Alan Young, PhD, on their field trip to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. They are shown in front of the research vessel ‘Atlantis’.

Students examining a sediment sample during their cruise off New Hampshire in April 2018. This is part of their BIO322 Biological Oceanography course with Alan Young, PhD.

Biology 352 Lafayette Street Salem, Massachusetts 01970

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