Department of Biological Science

FSU researchers unravel mystery of how, when DNA replicates

Published: December 27, 2018 | 11:00 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

Dave Gilbert, the J. Herbert Taylor Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology

A team of Florida State University researchers has unlocked a decades-old mystery about how a critical cellular process is regulated and what that could mean for the future study of genetics. In cells, DNA and its associated material replicate at regular intervals, a process essential to all living organisms. This contributes to everything from how […]

FSU researchers update global record of medically significant scorpions

Published: October 18, 2018 | 3:33 pm | Posted in: Multimedia, Video Stories

Scorpions can be found at every corner of the globe and on six of the seven continents, from the southern tip of South America to the arid expanse of the Sahara Desert. That makes any rigorous accounting of the world’s venomous scorpions — and their various effects on human beings — an extremely tall […]

Scorpion census: FSU researchers update global record of medically significant scorpions

Published: October 8, 2018 | 10:24 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

The deathstalker scorpion, pictured here, produces a toxin that has been used to treat and operate on brain tumors.

FSU researcher: Family of rodents may explain how some groups of animals become so diverse

Published: October 3, 2018 | 2:39 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

Researchers examined how rodents of the Sigmodontinae family branched out into 400 species across South America. (Peter Meserve and Mammal Images Library of the American Society of Mammalogists.)

How did a single species of rodent invade South America and then quickly branch off into 350 new species? The answer is simple — the rodents were able to move quickly across the continent unencumbered by geographic boundaries that can’t be easily crossed such as an ocean. FSU Professor of Biological Science Scott Steppan and […]

Recent FSU graduate receives Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship

Published: July 19, 2018 | 2:32 pm | Posted in: Students & Campus Life

Recent Florida State University graduate Taylor Merritt has been awarded a $5,000 fellowship by The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi — the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. Merritt is one of 57 recipients nationwide to receive a Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship. Merritt, a native of Pensacola, received […]

FSU research: Zika suppresses virus-fighting cells

Published: July 5, 2018 | 11:00 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

Hengli Tang, professor of biological science

New Study Examines Cellular, Molecular Differences Between Dengue, Zika More than two years after reports of skyrocketing Zika rates surfaced worldwide, questions still loom about this complicated virus. Florida State University researchers are one step closer to finding answers. In an article published today in the journal Stem Cell Reports, Professor of Biological Science Hengli […]

Ivonne Mendieta

Published: June 4, 2018 | 2:22 pm | Posted in: Student Stars

Florida State University senior Ivonne Mendieta has combined two unlikely subjects — biological science and religion — to foster a college experience that reflects her goal of becoming a physician. Mendieta’s relationship with religion began at a young age. She grew up around her family practicing different versions of Christianity and Catholicism while alternating living […]

Worm-eating mice on small island hold clues to evolution

Published: May 15, 2018 | 1:27 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

Mt Halcon forest mouse on Mindoro Island in the Philippines. (Credit L.R. Heaney, The Field Museum)

When animals are isolated on an island, all bets are off as to how they will evolve and whether an animal will branch out into a new species. Australia has several types of kangaroos and Madagascar has many different lemurs. But just how much space a given species needs in order to evolve is a […]

FSU researcher: Ocean acidification means major changes for California mussels

Published: January 5, 2018 | 1:56 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

McCoy and her team found that increased ocean acidification is affecting California mussel shells on a fundamental structural level. (Photo: Sophie McCoy.)

Accelerating ocean acidification could be transforming the fundamental structure of California mussel shells, according to a new report from a Florida State University-led team of scientists. For thousands of years, California mussel shells have shared a relatively uniform mineralogical makeup — long, cylindrical calcite crystals ordered in neat vertical rows with crisp, geometric regularity. But […]

Researchers first to unlock key molecular mystery of premature aging syndromes

Published: November 27, 2017 | 4:00 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

FSU postdoctoral researcher Juan Carlos Rivera-Mulia used an advanced approach to disease marker discovery developed at Florida State to conduct breakthrough research on premature aging diseases called “progeroid syndromes.”

New research from Florida State University is beginning to piece together the stubborn puzzle posed by a family of rare and debilitating premature aging disorders. Most of these diseases, called progeroid syndromes, share physiological symptoms characterized by the appearance of accelerated aging, such as skin disorders, loss of hair, skeletal and dental abnormalities and cardiovascular […]

Rival sperm and choosy eggs: FSU researcher finds that when sperm compete, eggs have a choice

Published: November 8, 2017 | 10:29 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

During his research, Chair and Professor of Biological Science Don Levitan induced male sea urchins to spawn using a potassium chloride solution. Later, he collected tiny parcels of sea water in syringes stocked with unfertilized eggs. (Photo: Keeha Levitan)

The delicately mannered dance between discerning eggs and vying sperm is more complicated than scientists once believed, and it may hold secrets about the evolution of new species. In a paper published in the journal American Naturalist, Florida State University Chair and Professor of Biological Science Don Levitan investigates a root mystery in our scientific […]

Researcher reveals how beetles bounce back from forest fires

Published: October 27, 2017 | 9:46 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

Jessie Mutz, an FSU graduate student in the Department of Biological Science

For decades, forestry services have used prescribed burns to promote ecological resilience in areas vulnerable to wildfires. Now, research from Florida State University has illuminated the piecemeal patterns of recolonization among a hardy species of beetle regularly affected by these managed burns. Using herbivorous tortoise beetle populations in Florida’s Apalachicola National Forest — where management […]