Quynh Chu-LaGraff, associate professor of Biology, recently presented an abstract at the annual Experimental Biology meeting in Washington, D.C. The abstract was titled “Drosophila Ppt1, a Batten Disease Homologue, is Required for Normal Embryonic Neural Development.” Co-authors were research students Erika Selli ’07 and Cassandra Denefrio ’08. Earlier in April, Chu-LaGraff also presented a paper at the National Drosophila Conference in Philadelphia.
“Incline Thine Ear (Psalm 86),” an anthem by Hilary Tann, the John Howard Payne Professor of Music, recently had its American premiere at the Cappella Clausura spring concert in Newton, Mass. Tann was a guest at the concert. Her work, scored for mixed choir, organ and trumpet, was for the first time surrounded by its set partners, “Luminaria Magna (Psalm 136)” for full chorus and organ, and “Praise, My Soul (Psalm 104)” for chorus, organ and two trumpets.
The San Francisco Chronicle recently featured the research of Assistant Professor of Biology Jeffrey Corbin in a review of the invasion of California grasslands by non-native plant species, titled “Don’t blame the newbies for grasses gone brown: For coastal prairies, the real culprit may be disease, animal grazing.” Corbin’s research has demonstrated that established native grasses can successfully compete with the non-natives, suggesting that domination by exotic species requires disturbances such as grazing or drought to proceed.