Biological Sciences

Jim Wilhelm

Assistant Professor Jim Wilhelm has received a 2009 New Scholar Award in Aging from the Ellison Medical Foundation. The awards provide $100,000 per year for four years for newly independent investigators who have been nominated by U.S. medical institutions and universities for their outstanding promise in aging research. The awards are intended to allow bright young scientists to staff their laboratories, collect preliminary data and organize research programs of sufficient momentum to obtain ongoing support from other sources. Wilhelm's award is for the "role of RNA granules in stem cell maintenance during aging and resistance to oxidative stress."

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Martin Yanofsky

Division of Biological Sciences professor Martin Yanofsky is among 3 faculty from the University of California, San Diego named Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on April 20th.

Yanofsky, chair of the Section of Cell and Developmental Biology, studies the genes that control flower and fruit development in the model plant system of Arabidopsis thaliana. Over the past two decades his lab has isolated many of the major regulatory genes that are required not only for the initiation of flowers but also for the development of the four types of flower organs: sepals, petals, stamens and carpels. In recent years his group has turned their attention to the fruit, where they have again used molecular and genetic approaches to identify and characterize important fruit development genes, leading to a model that explains the genetic interactions that determine the fruit’s structure. They are now extending this work an earlier phase of the plant life cycle: the development of the female reproductive tract where pollen fertilizes the ovules that will eventually become the seeds.

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Nigel Crawford

Crawford is being recognized for his exemplary work and dedication to the Division of Biological Sciences. For more than 20 years, Crawford has earned rave reviews that praise his captivating lectures and genuine interest in his students’ education and future. In addition to teaching undergraduate biology classes, Crawford has embraced the opportunity to teach freshman seminar courses on topics such as “Integrative Medicine” and “the American Diet,” using them as a platform to initiate and test new material for future courses. These seminars have earned him outstanding evaluations as well with 100 percent of his students recommending him as an instructor.

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