WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Teaching Associate Professor
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Teaching Assistant Professor
- Teaching Assistant Professor / Undergraduate Neuroscience Academic Advisor
Job Titles:
- Service Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Emeritus
The Arnold Lab is currently interested in questions such as how growth is regulated in an animal that can perpetually regrow all of its tissues, which genes underlie the ability of an animal to asexually reproduce, and how regeneration proceeds in different contexts of tissue loss. To tackle these questions, we employ a variety of molecular biology, microscopic imaging, behavioral analysis, and bioinformatic approaches.
Job Titles:
- Emeritus
- Associate Professor Emeritus
Our lab focuses on basic questions in plant evolutionary biology, including relationships among plant species, support for those relationships, and how evolutionary forces shape plant diversity. We use genomic data, in combination with morphology, physiology, and ecology to address these questions. Our studies range from the population level to across monocot angiosperms, spanning over 100 million years of evolution, diversification, and extinction.
Job Titles:
- Academic Laboratory Manager II
Job Titles:
- Service Professor, Director of the Herbarium
Ford-Werntz' interest in plants germinated during childhood and took root as a high school volunteer in the University of Cincinnati herbarium. She studied botany in college, focused on plant systematics, with major fieldwork in Chile. Her current faculty role is WVU Herbarium Specialist, where extensive curatorial tasks have flourished under her direction, blossoming as a computer database of West Virginia specimen labels. Ford-Werntz co-authored the Checklist and Atlas of Vascular Flora of West Virginia and the West Virginia FloraID software program. She has brought to fruition various funded projects, including West Virginia floristic research and WVU Herbarium digitization.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Advisor for the WVU Chapters of UNICEF
- Research Interests
- Teaching Professor, Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies and Interim Director of the Undergraduate Intercollegiate Biochemistry Program
Dr. Huebert Lima works to expand scientific research to the broader community. At WVU, this has included giving talks about genetics and epigenetics with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, designing and presenting activities for K-12 students and adults and judging local and regional science fairs. Whenever possible, students in her classes are encouraged to develop activities that engage public audiences and address social issues. She is also the faculty advisor for the WVU chapters of UNICEF and the Muslim Students' Association.
Research Interests
Dr. Huebert Lima's research has focused on epigenetic regulation of gene expression. Early in her career, she investigated how the position and types of histone modifications contributed to gene expression and cell differentiation. Her Ph.D. thesis research (University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2011) explored the interaction between nucleosome position, transcription factor binding and mRNA expression genome-wide as yeast responded to environmental changes.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor and Associate Chair for Graduate Studies
It is easy to mistake soil for an inert, lifeless substance. Although too small for us to see, soil is teeming with microorganisms including bacteria, fungi, and animals. Indeed, a handful of soil contains billions of live microorganisms. Dr. Morrissey's research focuses on soil microbial ecology, beneficial plant-microbe interactions, and soil carbon and nutrient cycling. The overarching aim of Dr. Morrissey's research program is to better understand ecosystem, and improve soil health, through the consideration of microbial communities. Her research program studies both natural and agricultural systems.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Teaching Assistant Professor
Dr. Savoy-Burke's interest in Biology is at the organismal level. Her background is in entomology, but she is fascinated by the diversity of life big and small. She teaches introductory Biology for non-majors (BIOL 102), Invertebrate Zoology (BIOL 340), and will be developing a course focused on Biology and Art in the future. Her primary goal as an educator is to help students understand and connect major concepts while developing the critical thinking skills they need as scholars and engaged citizens. She aims to create a welcoming, inclusive environment in the classroom where students can find their passion within Biology by engaging curiosity and exploration.
Seguel, A., J.R. Cumming, P. Cornejo, F. Borie. 2016. Aluminum tolerance of wheat cultivars and relation to arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization in a non-limed and limed Andisol. Applied Soil Ecology 108: 228-237.
Desai, S., D. Naik, and J.R. Cumming. 2014. The influence of phosphorus availability and Laccaria bicolor symbiosis on phosphate acquisition, antioxidant enzyme activity, and rhizospheric carbon flux in Populus tremuloides. Mycorrhiza 24: 369-382. DOI 10.1007/s00572-013-0548-1
Levy, M.A., and J.R. Cumming. 2014. Development of soils and communities of plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on West Virginia surface mines. Environmental Management 54: 1153-1162. DOI 10.1007/s00267-014-0365-0
Why are individuals from a population different from each other? The genetic makeup of a population is stratified so that the individuals survive and continue the species when challenged by different environments. To understand which genetic differences matter the most between individuals in response to environmental challenges, we address these questions in the laboratory using yeast as a model organism. What can a single cell organism teach us about how individuals are suited for their environments? Yeast is a single celled eukaryote with a compact sequenced genome. Different strains of yeast are individuals in a population. There is more genetic diversity between two strains as there is between two human individuals. Using this wealth of genetic diversity, we can ask which kind of genes vary and how that variation influences response to different chemicals.
This genetic variation can be in the form of polymorphisms in coding regions, non-coding regions and regulatory elements, and copy number variation. Genetic variations in transcription factors and their binding sites can change gene regulatory networks allowing rapid adaption to new environments and provides insights into molecular mechanisms of these pathways. These changes in gene regulatory networks alter transcription and the cellular proteome, ultimately impacting an organism's response to stresses and disease. Future experiments will explore how different chemicals such as chemotherapeutic drugs, hydrocarbons from mining and food additives affect cellular pathways.
Dr. Gallagher's lab uses high throughput genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics to address the impact of genetic diversity on cellular mechanisms within a species.
Systems biology addresses the cell as a whole by not focusing on a gene or one pathway; it instead incorporates new technologies to understand biological networks. As limits of detection in proteomics decrease exponentially, new questions in genomics and transcriptomics can be addressed. The correlation between levels of the transcriptome and the proteome is around r=0.4-0.7, depending on the method of measurement. Is there biological significance to the mRNAs whose levels are different than its protein level? The cells may contain a store of untranslated mRNAs to be used for coping with different environments. Cells can be faced with challenging conditions rapidly and these mRNAs could be ready to be translated in a moment notice. The cells could sequester these mRNAs in stress granules. Stress granules are amorphous RNA-protein bodies that have been difficult to biochemically purify and study.
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Teaching Associate Professor and Eberly College Assistant Dean for Curriculum & Assessment
Job Titles:
- Professor Emeritus
- Professor Emeritus / Research Interests
Soil stresses play critical roles controlling the structure, function, and productivity of ecosystems worldwide. Dr. Cumming's lab focuses on soil stress resistances in plants and the role of soil mycorrhizal fungi in moderating plant response to soils, while his teaching includes Plant Physiology, Water and Nutrient Relations of Plants, and Methods in Environmental Biology.
Job Titles:
- Service Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Student Success Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Teaching Associate Professor and Associate Chair for Advising, Recruitment, and Retention
Job Titles:
- Eberly Family Distinguished Professor in
Job Titles:
- Building Manager
- Office Administrator
Job Titles:
- Academic Laboratory Manager II
Job Titles:
- Professor, Associate Provost for Graduate Academic Affairs
Job Titles:
- Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies
Job Titles:
- Teaching Professor and Eberly College Director of the STEM Collaborative
Job Titles:
- Professional Technologist II
Job Titles:
- Service Associate Professor, Director of the Arboretum