Teresa Miller

April 29, 2026

The Society for Undergraduate Biology Students have met with several distinguished scientists this semester, giving undergraduate students the chance to have real conversations on research and life, and ultimately aiming for students to leave feeling supported, inspired, and curious about science! Take a moment to learn about these world-class scientists with the information below.

Leslie Griffith is a professor at Brandeis University specializing in molecular and cellular neuroscience. Dr. Griffith’s work focuses on understanding how the brain forms, stores, and retrieves memories—a key area of investigation with implications for neurodegenerative diseases and cognitive disorders. Her pioneering studies have advanced our understanding of neural circuits and the molecular mechanisms underlying learning and memory.

Michael Young, Richard and Jeanne Fisher Professor and head of the Laboratory of Genetics at The Rockefeller University, is also the university’s vice president for academic affairs. Young is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society and an honorary member of the Physiological Society of London. Along with colleagues Jeffrey Hall and Michael Rosbash, Young received the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries of molecular mechanisms that control circadian rhythms. 

Michael Young is also a Fellow at The Hagler Institute for Advanced Study at Texas A&M University, class of 2022-2023.

Susan C. Alberts is renowned for her behavior, ecology, physiology and genetics of wild populations of large mammals. She directs one of the longest-running studies of wild primates globally: a 50-plus year study of baboons in the Amboseli ecosystem in Kenya. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, as well as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Susan Alberts is also a Fellow at The Hagler Institute for Advanced Study at Texas A&M University, class of 2024-2025.

Jenny Tung, the founder of the Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, has helped spearhead work to demonstrate how social environment influences gene regulation, population genetic structure, and health and survival in nonhuman primates and other social mammals. Her research unifies organismal perspectives on behavior, life history, and evolution with molecular and genetic approaches that provide exciting new insights into long-standing questions in biology that were previously unattainable. 

Jenny Tung is also a Fellow at The Hagler Institute for Advanced Study at Texas A&M University, class of 2025-2026.

August 13, 2026

A New Look at Brain Wiring

A new study from the Farhy lab in the Texas A&M University Department of Biology sheds light on how astrocytes, a type of non-neuronal brain cell, help wire developing neural circuits. The research, published in Communications Biology, focuses on how these important cells contribute to the formation and function of excitatory synapses of the visual circuit.

Dr. Farhy joined the Department of Biology in 2020. Her lab studies how astrocytes and neurons communicate to build and maintain synapses, work that directly links to human health, as synaptic dysfunction is a hallmark of conditions including autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Tracing a Calcium Pathway

The study, led by first author Gillian Imrie, a Ph.D. student in the lab, examines a calcium signaling pathway mediated by endoplasmic reticulum receptor IP3R2. Using a mouse model, the team found that without this signaling pathway, astrocytes failed to develop their normal branching structure, and nearby neurons showed disrupted synapse development in the visual system. Mice lacking the pathway also showed reduced neuronal activation in response to light and impaired behavioral responses to visual threats.

Together, the findings point to a mechanism linking astrocyte structural and functional development to how well the brain’s neural circuits mature. Because problems in astrocyte-neuron communication have been tied to neurodevelopmental disorders, the results offer a new angle for understanding what might go wrong when astrocyte development is impaired.

A Long-Standing Debate, Resolved

“There’s been a long-standing debate about the importance of this signaling pathway for brain function. Our work helps resolve this controversy by showing its role is context-specific rather than universally required, which truly highlights the versatility and complexity of astrocytic calcium signaling, and opens up new and exciting research avenues,” said Dr. Farhy.

The paper, “Astrocyte store released calcium modulates structural synapse development and circuit output in the visual system,” by Gillian Imrie, Isabella Farhy-Tselnicker and colleagues, is now available online in Communications Biology. Co-authors include Farhy lab Ph.D. students Jordan Mar and Madison B. Gray, and undergraduate researcher Tatiana Quiceno.

November 11, 2025

After more than a decade of research, a team led by Drs. Deborah Bell-Pedersen and Teresa Lamb in the Department of Biology at Texas A&M University, has uncovered how the body’s internal clock fine-tunes the cellular machinery responsible for making proteins.

The study, published in Cell Reports, demonstrates that the circadian clock rhythmically alters the composition of ribosomes – the molecular machines that translate genetic information into proteins. These daily changes, the researchers found, regulate both when proteins are produced and how accurately they are synthesized.

 Using the model organism Neurospora crassa, the team discovered that levels of specific ribosomal proteins in ribosomes, including eL31, fluctuate with circadian time and directly influence daily rhythms in cellular protein production. A surprising discovery was that clock-regulated incorporation of eL31 into ribosomes affects the accuracy of protein synthesis, linking temporal ribosome remodeling to daily changes in protein diversity that extend beyond the static genetic blueprint.

“These findings reveal that the circadian clock doesn’t just control when protein levels peak, but also how it expands the functional diversity of proteins beyond the encoded genome sequence,” said Bell-Pedersen. “By uncovering how the clock influences translation at the molecular level, we open doors to understanding how disruptions in circadian rhythms, such as those caused by shift work or jet lag, might contribute to diseases involving protein levels or protein synthesis accuracy.”

The work provides a new understanding of how timing mechanisms within cells influence nearly every aspect of biology. Because protein synthesis fidelity is critical for cellular homeostasis and longevity, the study suggests that circadian regulation helps balance translational accuracy to maintain proteostasis, particularly under stress. As clock function declines with age, this regulation may falter, increasing protein errors and driving age-related disease. Preserving circadian clock function could therefore enhance protein quality control and promote healthy aging.