![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2022\/05\/220510_Campus_0043.webp\")
Paula Schlax <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Title<\/strong><\/strong>: Stella James Sims Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry There are umpteen good reasons for a Bates student to meet one-on-one with their professor, including this example: Casey Kelemen ’22 meets with Paula Schlax in her office on Feb. 10 to prep for his thesis presentation to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senior chemistry and biochemistry majors are required to make two seminar presentations of their thesis work. Students call it a \u201ccheminar\u201d or \u201cbiocheminars.\u201d (Fun fact: The clever portmanteau \u201ccheminar\u201d was used as far back as 1938 by Bethel College in Kansas to describe, you guessed it, presentations by senior chemistry majors.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kelemen\u2019s thesis work reflects the major thrust of the Schlax lab, which is to investigate the spiral bacteria that causes Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty long and ridiculously narrow,\u201d is how Schlax describes it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Schlax holds a grudging admiration for the tiny organism. \u201cReally pretty amazing,\u201d she says. While the genome of B<\/em>. burgdorferi<\/em> and similar spiral bacteria, known as spirochetes, were sequenced in the 1990s, even today \u201cwe still don’t know what some of their genes do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In nature, B. burgdorferi <\/em>is found almost entirely in deer ticks. When an infected tick bites a dog, cat, squirrel, or human, the bacteria gets its meal ticket \u2014 a blood meal, that is. And when they feed, things start to happen inside the tick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe temperature that the bacteria experiences in the tick changes. Different nutrients are around. The acidity and salt concentration changes,\u201d says Schlax. \u201cAll those things give the bacteria an idea that it’s time to grow up and move out.\u201d Move out of the tick, that is, and move into the mammal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As part of the moving-out process, the bacteria stops making certain proteins that have helped it bind to the tick host, and start making new ones \u2014 at least 100 new proteins to get ready for the new host.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m interested in how this process happens,\u201d Schlax says. \u201cWhat are the molecular switches that allow that to occur?\u201d She says the answers are probably related to messenger RNA, made famous by their use in COVID-19 vaccines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Schlax isn\u2019t asking these questions alone: \u201cMy students study this with me,\u201d she says, including Casey, who is researching novel imaging techniques to visualize the localization of mRNA within B. burgdorferi.<\/em> Schlax is impressed by her seniors\u2019 work this year. \u201cThey\u2019ve helped the lab define the strengths and limitations for how we can monitor gene expression in real time in B. burgdorferi,<\/em>\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reacting to another photo taken the same day, Schlax is asked what she was thinking at that moment. \u201cProbably that I needed a hair tie,\u201d she says wryly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She was helping a student set up an observation of how specific RNA molecules spread out within bacterial cells, and how that might be related to how the RNA is used by the cell, and recycled back into its building blocks.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The lab\u2019s work to better understand the workings of B. burgdorferi <\/em>is helping to inform the design of better diagnostic and treatment strategies. And for Schlax, there\u2019s joy in the work itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI really love working with our students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Title: <\/strong>Helen A. Papaioanou Professor of Biological Sciences We learned over the winter that Bonney Science Center, the newest and most modern building at Bates, has ants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Specifically, there\u2019s Lasius nearcticus,<\/em> the yellow meadow ant, and Tetramorium immigrans<\/em>, the pavement ant. But we don\u2019t need to pester the local pest services for a Bonney call just yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The critters are part of honors thesis research by biology major Etti Cooper \u201922 of Denver, Colo., whose adviser is Ryan Bavis, Helen A. Papaioanou Professor of Biological Sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cooper has been investigating how temperature changes might differently affect pavement ants, which spend their lives above ground, and the entirely subterranean meadow ant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cooper didn\u2019t have to go far to collect her specimens. The pavement ants came from, well pavement: the sidewalk outside Carnegie Science Hall. And the meadow ants came from, well, a meadowish place, around Mount David.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But because ants refuse to wear name tags, Cooper spent careful time in the lab confirming the taxonomic identification of her specimens, i.e., whether the ants actually were who Cooper thought they were. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to tell some species apart, even under the microscope,\u201d explains Bavis. Although Bavis and Cooper were confident of their identification, Cooper sent a few specimens off to an expert at Providence College, James Waters \u2014 whose lab website is LoveTheAnts.org<\/em><\/a> \u2014 to confirm the identification. (This spring, Waters was the outside examiner in Cooper\u2019s thesis defense.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cooper compared changes in the metabolism of the two species when exposed to temperature changes. \u201cLike other animals, they consume oxygen and produce carbon dioxide through their metabolism,\u201d says Bavis. \u201cSo we were measuring the rate at which carbon dioxide was being produced to see how sensitive they are to changes in temperature.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bavis is a respiratory physiologist whose primary research looks at how the nervous system controls breathing<\/a> in mammals and birds, specifically the changes that occur in breathing around birth and how environmental conditions influence development of the respiratory control system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI know almost nothing about ants,\u201d he admits. But as part of a major redesign of the college\u2019s antiquated introductory biology curriculum (see the profile of biologist Larissa Williams, below) Bavis will teach a new, innovative intro course this fall that gives young Bates students real research experience by exploring how insects may respond to climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEtti\u2019s interest in ants and my interests in all-things-physiology converged this year,\u201d Bavis says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Bonney, Bavis shares a spacious lab with two Bates neuroscientists whose expertise range from the neural circuitry that gives us the sense of smell (Jason Castro) to how neurons speed around our bodies telling us what to do (Martin Kruse). All of which makes the lab quite nervous in a different sense of the word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe used to all be isolated in our labs\u201d back in his former digs in Carnegie Science Hall, said Bavis. \u201cThis is a more collaborative environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Title<\/strong>: Associate Professor of Biology Last fall, Associate Professor of Biology Larissa Williams taught a course that was introductory in name only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her course, Biology 195K, represents a new type of intro science course at Bates. It delivers a cure. Or, more correctly, a CURE, in the form of a \u201cCourse-Based Research Experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Increasingly popular in STEM curriculum nationally, CURE courses have recently been introduced into the Bates biology curriculum by Williams, who is department chair, and her colleagues. CURE courses introduce research experiences earlier than ever in a student\u2019s college career \u2014 not to accelerate the process, but to improve how students learn science, even at the introductory level: by doing real, hands-on research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The name of Williams\u2019 course ends with the letter K because there\u2019s an alphabet soup of Bio 195 variations, 195A through 195K. Each one takes on a different research project covering various topics: marine biology, forest life, host-parasite evolution, and the fluid dynamics of sponges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Williams\u2019 students did investigations on how poison exposure affects animals. As she said midway through the semester, “Literally, this is science. I have no idea how any of this is going to turn out.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Williams taught two sections of the course, on Wednesday and Friday afternoons, in the biochemistry teaching lab on the third floor of Bonney Science Center. During one session, on Oct. 20, she led her students, mostly first-years, through the process of designing primers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPrimers are used to \u2018copy\u2019 nucleic acid in the cell,\u201d explained Williams. \u201cWe were doing so in order to understand how lead exposure impacts developing animals\u201d at the molecular level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A bit later in the class session, she explained the cycles involved in copying nucleic acid in cells, \u201cin particular how heat can break hydrogen bonds between nucleic acids, a key step in the copying process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bates professors are teachers and scholars. When it comes to the former, Williams is an award-winner<\/a>. The latter sees Williams conduct research on how toxicants<\/a> affect the development of aquatic species, such as zebrafish, a powerful model organism in biological research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The spaces in Bonney Science Center blur those two identities, a good thing, says Williams, who is now better able to \u201ccombine my research interests in developmental toxicology in a lab setting with students,\u201d Williams says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The teaching lab is near her research lab, which is close to the equipment room, all of which \u201cmakes asking cutting edge questions possible even at the first-year level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Meet three biology and biochemistry professors: one who finds the Lyme bacteria is “pretty amazing”; another whose honors student has ants in her plans; and a third who’s delivering a CURE for first-year students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":146284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[4,217],"tags":[12283,11942],"class_list":["post-146283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-life","category-science-technology","tag-bonney-places-and-faces","tag-bonney-science-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146283"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146473,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146283\/revisions\/146473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Joined Bates<\/strong><\/strong>: 1998
Date Photographed<\/strong><\/strong>: Feb. 10, 2022
She says<\/strong><\/strong>: \u201cI really love working with our students.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2022\/05\/220210_Bonney_Paula_Schlax_Labs_Office_0652_3000.webp\")
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2022\/05\/220210_Bonney_Paula_Schlax_Labs_Office_0231_3000.webp\")
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nRyan Bavis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Joined Bates<\/strong>: 2003
Date Photographed<\/strong>: Nov. 9, 2021
He says: <\/strong>\u201cThis is a more collaborative environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2022\/05\/211109_Bonney_Ryan_Bavis_Thesis_Student_0131_3000_A.webp\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2022\/05\/211109_Bonney_Ryan_Bavis_Thesis_Student_0151_3000.webp\")
\n\n\n\nLarissa Williams<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Joined Bates<\/strong>: 2012
Date Photographed<\/strong>: October 20, 2021
She says<\/strong>: “Literally, this is science. I have no idea how any of this is going to turn out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2022\/05\/211020_Bonney_Larissa_Williams_0448_3000.webp\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2022\/05\/211020_Bonney_Larissa_Williams_0010_3000.webp\")
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n