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News Archives


Below are archived stories from the front page of our website, beginning from the website launch in April 2018.

11 November 2022: Dr. Morgan Churchill contributes to research that used cranial shape to identify social behavior, parental care, and herbivory as major drivers of evolution among placental mammals. [Goswami et al. 2022, Science]

7 October 2022: Dr. David Krause leads a study revealing the evolutionary history of anaerobic growth in yeasts [Krause & Hittinger 2022, Mol. Biol. Evol.]

1 September 2022: A team of researchers including Dr. Robert Stelzer and Dr. Shannon Davis-Foust have been awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation to study the conditions that contribute to toxic algal blooms in freshwater ecosystems.

3 August 2022: Dr. Shannon Davis-Foust discusses campus initiatives to enhance the habitat of monarch butterflies.

23 May 2022: Dr. Jessica Lucas reports on the loss of motor proteins in land plants [Lucas & Geisler 2022, Plant Physiol.].

17 May 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Jessica Brandt, who has been selected as one of the 2022–23 Wisconsin Teaching Fellows and Scholars.

12 May 2022: Dr. Morgan Churchill contributes to research that identifies periods of rapid evolution in baleen and toothed whales. [Coombs et al. 2022, Curr. Biol.]

15 April 2022: Dr. Shannon Davis-Foust explains the benefits of the region’s recent No Mow May initiatives.

8 April 2022: UWO is partnering with California-based biotech company Fauna Bio to expand university research on the 13-lined ground squirrel.

2021 Archives

8 December 2021: A new opossum species has been named after Dr. Greg Adler, who collected the type specimen in central Panama.

2 December 2021: Dr. Bob Pillsbury is part of a team of researchers studying the aquatic phenomenon sometimes referred to as “rock snot.”

28 October 2021: Dr. Rob Mitchell has received a research grant from the National Science Foundation to study the evolution and olfactory genomics of longhorned beetles.

20 September 2021: Stelzer lab graduate Nathan Nozzi (M.S., 2021) has published his thesis research on the response of stream fish communities to thermal gradients. [Nozzi & Stelzer 2021, Environ. Biol. Fishes]

24 June 2021: Dr. Morgan Churchill contributes a chapter to The Atlantic Walrus, a new book on walrus biology and its intersection with human culture. [The Atlantic Walrus, 1st Ed.]

2020 Archives

4 December 2020: Environmental health major Jacklyn Morales discusses her experience as a contact tracer and managing COVID-19 testing data.

1 December 2020: Faculty members Dr. Sabrina Mueller-Spitz and Dr. Courtney Kurtz and their students find that ingestion of titanium dioxide, a common food additive, alters the gut microbiome and induces obesity in mice. [Kurtz et al. 2020, J. Appl. Toxicol.]

1 October 2020: The department has launched its newest major, Biomedical Science!  This major is foundational for those interested in biomedical research and it comprises the common requirements for most graduate health profession programs, such as PreMedicine, PreDentistry, PreOptometry, PrePhysician Assistant, or PrePharmacy.  See the major page for details.

10 July 2020: Biology faculty member Dr. Morgan Churchill contributes to research describing a new species of giant dolphin and the evolutionary history of toothed whales. [Boessenecker et al. 2020, Curr. Biol.; Coombs et al. 2020, BMC Biol.]

17 January 2020: The department has revised its radiologic science curriculum into a new major: Medical Imaging!  Students may specialize in one of two emphases: Radiologic Science or Sonography.  Read more about the major at UWO Today.

2019 Archives

11 October 2019: Associate lecturer and sustainability officer Brad Spanbauer negotiates a donation from 4Imprint for reusable recycling bags at UWO.

5 September 2019: Faculty member Dr. Dana Merriman contributes to research describing how hibernating ground squirrels survive months without water. [Feng et al. 2019, Curr. Biol.]

30 August 2019: Graduate student Nathan Nozzi (Stelzer lab) discusses his research on the effect of climate change on trout fisheries.

5 August 2019: Members of the Mitchell lab lead a study describing the receptors that govern the sense of smell in beetles. [Mitchell et al. 2020, Insect Mol. Biol.]

10 May 2019: Faculty member Dr. Courtney Kurtz explains why there has been a rising number of measles cases in 2019, even though the highly contagious disease was nearly eradicated from the U.S. around 2000.

27 March 2019: The department’s electron microscopy suite receives a new scanning electron microscope, opening new research opportunities for faculty and students across numerous departments on campus.  The microscope was donated courtesy of Oshkosh Corporation.

13 February 2019: Faculty member Dr. Morgan Churchill contributes to research that suggests an earlier extinction of the giant shark Megalodon, which may have been due to competition with great white sharks. [Boessenecker et al. 2019, PeerJ | coverage on CNN]

1 February 2019: Congratulations to the Michalski lab, which has been awarded a further two NIH grants to provide filarial parasites to the Neglected Tropical Disease research community.

2018 Archives

13 November 2018: Congratulations to faculty members Dr. Dana Merriman, Dr. Courtney Kurtz, and Dr. Michelle Michalski, who were awarded grants from the National Institutes of Health to study eyesight regeneration, obesity, and tropical disease, respectively.

27 August 2018: Faculty member Dr. Sheldon Cooper contributes to research on the effect of habitat fragmentation in black-capped chickadees, which was selected by the journal as an Editor’s Choice research article for August 2018.  [Latimer et al. 2018, Oikos]

18 June 2018: The Michalski lab hosts a mini-conference at UWO focusing on the techniques used in filariasis research.

3 May 2018: Faculty member Dr. Dana Merriman contributes to research investigating the cellular pathways that are critical for cold tolerance in ground squirrels, which is featured on the cover of the journal CellClick here for a video that explains the research.  [Ou et al. 2018, Cell]

24 April 2018: Congratulations to all our students who presented research at the UW Oshkosh Celebration of Scholarship!  Further congratulations to biology undergraduates Joseph Mercen, Hannah Nauth, Konrad Fondrie, Phillip Gruber, and Hayley Vandenboom, and graduate students Jane Ballesteros, Shelby McIlheran, Kasey Stewart, Matthew Gondek, and Doua Yang, who have been awarded institutional grants to conduct research this summer.

11 April 2018: Dr. Sabrina Mueller-Spitz and members of her lab present their research at the State Capitol as part of the annual Research in the Rotunda event.