Department of Biology

Welcome to the Department of Biology

Our renowned faculty has diverse research interests, including molecular, developmental, cell, ecological and evolutionary biology. Interdisciplinary by nature, we are housed amongst members of the Chemistry and Physics department in Regents Hall, a beautiful, state of the art science facility that opened in 2012.

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What's New

Biology Professors Ride to Support MS Research
September 8, 2019
On Sunday, September 8th, three professors from the Biology Department biked as a part of Team Georgetown at the Bike MS ride, an event that raises money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Professors Peter Armbruster and Steven Singer joined Professor Mark Rose, Chair of the Department, and the rest of Team Georgetown as they biked over 400 combined miles and raised more than $7,000 for the MS Society. As Rookie Team of the Year, these professors made an impact on the event and on the research of treatments for the disease.
Dr. Leslie Ries and her colleagues in Ohio, Oregon, and Michigan recently published a study in PLoS ONE about the decline of butterflies in Ohio.
July 9, 2019
Dr. Leslie Ries, along with researches from Oregon State University, Ohio lepidopterists, and Michigan State University, analyzed more than 24,000 butterfly surveys contributed by trained citizen scientists from 1996 through 2016. They discovered and published in PLoS ONE, the fall of the butterfly population in one Ohio area that provides a baseline for overall trends in the insect population. The data from Ohio estimated population trends for 81 butterfly species and found three times as many species were trending downward as upward. Dr. Ries helps run one of the longest existing systematic insect-monitoring programs in North America.
Article on our very own Dr. Peter Armbruster doing a research on mosquitoes!
June 26, 2019
Davis Family Distinguished Professor Dr. Armbruster has been studying mosquitoes for over 30 years now. His newest project about the insect revolves around studying the genes that make mosquitoes bite in the first place. Armbruster is essentially trying to recreate the natural biting patterns of the yellow fever mosquito, then pinpointing the exact genes for the 'biting behavior'. His research has the potential to eliminate the spread of deadly diseases that transmit through the bite of mosquitoes.
Murad Mamedov (COL '10) Recognized as 2019 Michelson Prize Winner!
June 13, 2019
Congratulations to Biology alumnus, Murad Mamedov (COL '10), who has recently been rewarded the 2019 Michelson Prizes from The Michelson Medical Research Foundation and the Human Vaccines Project! Mamedov is receiving $150,000 for his research using gene-editing technologies to understand an important set of immune cells, which may provide insight into the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of infectious and non-communicable diseases.